The
proliferation of dark chocolate "microbrews" could overwhelm my feeble
abstinence instinct -- this is the candy equivalent of
Salma
Hayek showing up on my
doorstep wearing nothing but a terrycloth robe and asking for a foot
massage.
Well, thanks for
that
image.
-------------
That
thing I mentioned t'other day, about it being a bad idea to square off with the
US Army, in garrison?
And Donald Sensing (from whence
the preceding links were raked) sends us to read James Dunnigan at the Strategy
Page:
After a
three day siege, and lots of gunfire, Saudi Arabian police killed 14 Al Qaeda
terrorists, including international fugitive, Moroccan Abdulkarim al Mejjati,
and captured six alive. Another al Qaeda leader was killed as well. The battle
took place 320 kilometers north of the capital. The police suffered 14 wounded.
Al Mejjati planned and carried out a major 2003 attack in Morocco, and was
involved in the 2004 Madrid bombing as well. He was one of the 26 most wanted
terrorists in Saudi Arabia, and security officials believed he had fled the
country. But there are few places for known al Qaeda members to hide, and travel
is difficult as
well...
...al Qaeda began a
series of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia after the United States invaded Iraq
two years ago, and brought themselves into direct conflict with the Saudi
Arabian government. This war has not gone well for al Qaeda. The attacks killed
mostly Moslems, and many Saudi Arabians as well. This turned most Saudis against
the terrorists, despite the Islamic conservatism of most of the population. In
the last two years, about a hundred terrorists, and 39 policemen, have been
killed. Early on, Saudi Arabia drew up a list of the 26 most wanted terrorists.
Only three of these are still at
large.
Hard to read that as anything
but good news, although I suspect some folks will
try.
To be perfectly fair and
balanced (ed: is to stand
alone) however, it's worth pointing out that
some folks have been digging through the entrails of birds and goats for so long
looking for "good news" to balance all the "bad coverage" that you'd think by
now we'd be sending envoys to the middle east looking to bring back new ideas on
just government.
News coverage
focuses on the dramatics because, well - bad news sells. If you don't believe
me, search the archives of any major paper for an article discussing the number
of planes that do, in fact, arrive on
time.
But everything I'm reading and
seeing is making me more and more (cautiously) optimistic. I
think
we're approaching that mature stage of a campaign wherein the side facing
inevitable defeat starts to wonder whether it's worth dying for a losing cause -
a similar dynamic occurred in World War II after the German army was thrown back
from their salient in the Battle of the Bulge - the last great gasp of offense
before a long and costly retreat to the core. Some fanatics fought on, but
entire army groups surrendered. The first group, the really committed types, are
analogous to the Salafist jihadis, the "foreigners" in Iraq, come to fight the
infidel. The other group, the ones who are left now to reckon the costs are the
nationalists and former regime types. The former will fight and die for death's
own sake - the latter only to win. If Interim Prime Minister Jaafari and
President Talibani can in fact co-opt the Sunnis into joining them in crafting
Iraq's future, then the internal security of Iraq will quickly become more
nearly a police issue, like that in Saudi. At which point, the massive army of
occupation (or security and stabilization if you prefer) can withdraw, leaving
only a few thousand trainers for external security's sake.
We are so close, I think, to the
tipping point. It may be that we are already beyond
it.
But it does mean we've passed
some strange divide, duddn't
it.
-------------
This
was a lovely story , I thought - lovely and very
sad:
In January 1945, at
13, (Edith Zierer) emerged from a Nazi labor camp in Czestochowa, Poland, a waif
on the verge of death. Separated from her family, unaware that her mother had
been killed by the Germans, she could scarcely
walk.
But walk she did, to
a train station, where she climbed onto a coal wagon. The train moved slowly,
the wind cut through her. When the cold became too much to bear, she got off the
train at a village called Jendzejuw. In a corner of the station, she sat. Nobody
looked at her, a girl in the striped and numbered uniform of a prisoner, late in
a terrible war. Unable to move, Edith
waited.
Death was
approaching, but a young man approached first, "very good looking," as she
recalled, and vigorous. He wore a long robe and appeared to the girl to be a
priest. "Why are you here?" he asked. "What are you doing?"
Edith said she was trying
to get to Krakow to find her
parents.
The man
disappeared. He came back with a cup of tea. Edith drank. He said he could help
her get to Krakow. Again, the mysterious benefactor went away, returning with
bread and cheese.
They
talked about the advancing Soviet army. Edith said she believed her parents and
younger sister, Judith, were
alive.
"Try to stand," the
man said. Edith tried - and failed. The man carried her to another village,
where he put her in the cattle car of a train bound for Krakow. Another family
was there. The man got in beside Edith, covered her with his cloak, and set
about making a small
fire.
His name, he told
Edith, was Karol
Wojtyla...
I do not know
what moved this young seminarian to save the life of a lost Jewish girl. I do
know that his was an act of humanity made as the two great dehumanizing forces
of the 20th century, the twin totalitarianisms of fascism and communism, bore
down on his nation,
Poland...
In his early, and
very personal, observation and absorption of this suffering lie the roots of the
late pope's core belief: the inalienable value and sanctity of each human
life.
Stalin, when warned of the Holy
See's probable objection to his murderous tyranny, scoffed "How many divisions
has the pope?"
All of this
was summed up by a Polish publisher and intellectual named Jerzy Turowicz, who
had known Karol Wojtyla when they were young men together, and who had gone on
to be a supporter of Solidarity and member of Poland's first postcommunist
government. Mr. Turowicz... told Ray Flynn, at the time U.S. ambassador to the
Vatican, "Historians say World War II ended in 1945. Maybe in the rest of the
world, but not in Poland. They say communism fell in 1989. Not in Poland. World
War II and communism both ended in Poland at the same time--in 1979, when John
Paul II came home."
Of course, if
you're interested in a more "balanced" view, I suppose you can try to get
through this bit of tedious, tub-thumping incoherence
from the
Guardian's
Polly Toynbee.
What an ugly, angry
person.
-----------
Speaking
of ugly: Taxes,
ugh.
-----------
By
the way, while I'm on about that, many thanks to those made donations. It's very
much
appreciated.
-----------
I haven't (much) dabbled my toes in the muddy waters of the political puddle for
a while, but found this an interesting
read:
A Pew Survey
that was released yesterday
provides a fascinating
portrait of supporters of the Dean campaign. It undercuts all of those
self-righteous claims that it was the Deaniacs who were the genuine tribunes of
the Democrats battling against those evil forces who would transform the party
into "Republican lite". They have about as much in common with the Democratic
mainstream as Tom Delay has with Christie Todd
Whitman.
Divisions on the left are
more than interesting, especially if the Deaniacs are serious about pulling
their party further left, and away from both the American and Democratic
mainstreams. Of course the political right is clearly riven as well - between
those who are more or less pro-life, fiscal penny-pinchers and federalists vs
big-government conservatives, neo-cons and theo-cons vs the
Realpolitik
set (these folks aren't dead yet, just bleedin' bad). Not to mention the
libertarians, who are getting just a smidgen uncomfortable, right now, with all
this loose talk about God and values and
such.
But the political left, I
believe, is far more ready to look for heretics to burn than coalitions to build
- at least since the Clinton crewe left office, carrying the spoons. I think the
reason for this is that psychologically, the right, having spent long decades in
the oppositional wilderness, still tends to think of itself as a party of
opposition, one which needs to keep moving the tent pegs out in an expanding
radius in order to get a few more heads in under the canvas.
The left, on the other hand, while
willing to concede a weakened Presidency to the other party from time to time,
understands quite well that the Congress, having as it does the power of the
purse through taxation and dispensation, will always be triumphant. But having
grown up in power for, well, pretty much ever, it doesn't quite seem to
comprehend a world in which they don't control the real levers of power,
Congress, at the very least. So rather than build coalitions, the left develop
litmus tests and purification
rituals.
Which is why the Deaniac
thing is so important.
Hey, you want
deep political analysis? Go to the dailyKos, or
whatever.
-----------
It's
funny the way the world turns. One Chris Parkes , from the wonderful land of Oz,
went searching the web one day (on night shift, I gather) to prove his point
about naval argot, to wit: The callsign "Slider," in the movie Top Gun, probably
derived from the fact that a "slider" is, to a naval aviator, a cheeseburger.
(In case you're curious, a "roller" is a hot dog. And a burger with bacon,
cheese, guacamole and a fried egg is called a "Barney Clark ," or, interchangeably, a "Jarvik-7 ." And yes, people eat them - anyone
who flies off aircraft carriers day and night and worries about heart disease is
an incurable optimist.)
But anyway.
Chris stumbled on to my blog in his search for details, and left a nice note, as
well as this link to a place where even more info on
Navy call signs may be found for those
interested.
------------
I
noticed that someone had been trawling through the archives quite assiduously in
the preceding weeks. And then a nice fellow left a note saying that he'd gone
through the whole thing. Which always makes me feel just a little unworthy,
frankly. Oh, there are some good bits, much of what's left over is not entirely
awful, but there's also a great deal in there is pretty banal, not worth effort,
frankly.
So thanks for your patience,
and your custom, and I'll try to do better going
forward.
------------
Without
making any promises.
Posted @
09:31 AM
|
Posted in
""
|
Sendit
|
Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
