MSNBC - Interview: 'People Are More Hopeful'

On Courtesy:

I'm sure you all saw this interview with former President Bush, since Drudge linked to it. The same thing that interested him interests me:

I'll give you one example of the courtesy he showed me. There is one bedroom on that plane -- a government 757. There's a kind of VIP bedroom with its own bathroom. Then the next room has two tables and eight seats. He decided ahead of time that we want President Bush to have the front room, which was heaven for me, because if I don't stretch out, lie flat, I really hurt my body these days -- spoiled -- so anyway, he was going to have the other room. Well, he got in there and he wanted to play cards at night, and the next morning I got up and stuck my head in and I found him sound asleep on the floor of the plane. We could have switched places, each getting half a night on the bed, but he deferred to me. That was a very courteous thing, very thoughtful, and that meant a great deal to me.

I have very strong, negative opinions about some most of the policies the Clintons pursued while in office. When they were in office, I had very strong negative opinions about them, too.

With time to reflect, though, I have to say that Bill Clinton was a far better man than I thought he was. I retain a perfectly negative opinion of much of his staff, especially Ms. Reno. I know, too, that many of my readers retain a wholly negative opinion of Clinton himself.

Still, I can't help but feel a certain kinship with a poker-playing Southerner who feels it is important to give up the bed to an older gentleman, and who would never think of waking that gentleman out of his sleep halfway through the night in order to improve his own comfort. It is even more impressive when remembering that Clinton is himself a heart patient who nearly died only months ago.

Courtesy and chivalry are important components of the manly virtue of honor, and they impress me when I see them. The fact that there is so much to disagree about, the fact that I was sometimes horrified by certain actions the man took as President, the unfair and tenditious speeches he gave in favor of the recent Democratic presidential candidate, these things remain.

I think we must, though, remember the new facts too: his boldly pro-American words when speaking abroad to anti-American audiences; this kindness to an old gentleman. I salute the man for what he has done well. It is the sort of thing that means a great deal to me, too.

Michael Ledeen on Peter Malchin on National Review Online

Eulogy for the Invisible Man:

Zvika, as he was known. Ledeen isn't a big influence of mine, but I thought this was a well-written and insightful portrayal of one of the 20th century's master spies.

The Spectator.co.uk

A Companion Piece:

Once you've read Doc Russia's piece, below, you might try Mark Steyn's latest:

I hope if ever I find myself one of the unfortunate subjects of a totalitarian dictatorship, that it's Bush and the Republicans who take up my cause rather than the Left.

The other day I found myself, for the umpteenth time, driving in Vermont behind a Kerry/Edwards supporter whose vehicle also bore the slogan FREE TIBET. It must be great to be the guy with the printing contract for the FREE TIBET stickers. Not so good to be the guy back in Tibet wondering when the freeing thereof will actually get under way...

If Rumsfeld were to say, "Free Tibet? Jiminy, what a swell idea! The Third Infantry Division go in on Thursday," the bumper-sticker crowd would be aghast. But for those of us on the arrogant unilateralist side of things, that's not how it works. FREE AFGHANISTAN? Done. FREE IRAQ? Done.

Cuba Libre. It's not just a cocktail.

bloodletting.blog-city.com

"The Death Throes of Hope"

Doc Russia has a post you really ought to read. Brace yourself, first.

"Big Dwarf Rodeo": Reverend Horton Heat: Compilation Albums: Where In The Hell Did You Go With My Toothbrush?

Blues:

The mother-in-law is sick, so the wife and boy are off visiting them this last little while. As I was telling Sovay yesterday, when I happened to have a chance to talk to her for a few minutes, the experience has been enlightening.

As a youngster, I always thought I was a loner by nature. Turns out, that's not quite true. I don't have much use for people, and am happy going whole days without speaking to anyone or seeing anyone -- except my family, which extends to my closest friends. So, turns out I'm not a loner but a family man. I just want to locate my family way out away from the rest of humanity.

In the meantime, life around here is a bit like the Rev. Horton Heat song, "Where In The H*** Did You Go With My Toothbrush?" The house seems suddenly and surprisingly empty, but the unpaid bills keep turning up in the mail.

No reason any of you should care about that. Still, since there's nobody else around to listen to my stories, you're stuck with it.

Belmont Club

Indonesia at the Belmont Club

Wretchard has a thorough piece on reactions to the Bashir sentence. Those interested in the Southeast Asian front will find it worth reading.

TODAYonline

More Fun From PACOM

I'll bet Admiral Fargo is glad to be retiring:

Tensions in the Sulawesi Sea rose a notch yesterday when three Indonesian warships moved into the waters to bolster Jakarta's claim to the potentially-oil-rich area over which they are in dispute with Malaysia.

Meanwhile, across Indonesia, students and workers protested against diesel fuel price hikes in massive street rallies, describing the move to raise prices a mark of government arrogance. Their anger rose further when plans for transport fare increases were announced in Jakarta.

All too soon, it seemed, the goodwill generated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's recent visit to Malaysia, where Malaysian Prime Minster Abdullah Badawi warmly feted him, was fast evaporating.

Well, what's three little warships? Or four, or...

The warships were now patrolling the disputed area off the coast of Malaysia's Sabah state and the Indonesia's East Kalimantan province, Navy spokesman First Admiral Abdul Maliki Yusuf told AFP.

A fourth ship was on its way, Adm Yusuf said, adding that the navy was also considering sending a submarine to the area.

Two Nomad maritime aircraft to conduct reconnaissance for possible incursions into Indonesian territory, including airspace violations by foreign aircraft, had also been deployed, Lt Col Guntur Wahyudi, a spokesman for Indonesia's Eastern Fleet told dpa.

Then there's a little excursion into some reporting on oil prices, which news you probably saw on today's Drudge. The one marked OPEC: Prices Could Hit $80. That's the kind of thing that will inconvenience a lot of Americans, but it can drive poorer states to the brink of resource war.

MC WWII

Leathernecks:

I had occasion last night to play poker with a World War II Marine.

There isn't much to say about it, even thought I thought it was a remarkable experience. The fellow is now nearly eighty, and still a good poker player though he had a bad night. As a consequence, I also had a bad night -- I was damned if I was going to leave the table having made money off a World War II Marine. I ended up playing to lose until he left for the evening. I won my stake back on the last few hands, but I barely came out better than even for the evening.

I asked if he was a Marine because he was, nearly sixty years after having left the Corps, still wearing a cap with the USMC emblem on it. He allowed that he was, and said nothing more about it. Others at the table filled me in on his record with enthusiasm, but he only growled about it and insisted that somebody cut the #$@!ing cards.

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

It made me remember that it was time to change the charity linked behind the Leatherneck Tartan at the top right of the blog. I've set it to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. Those of you in a giving mood, etc.

The Courier-Mail: Cleric Bashir gets 2� years [03mar05]

Bakar Bashir:

Well, he didn't walk. Not exactly. The death-penalty prosecution, in the most important terror trial in Asia, did manage to find a charge that pinned 2 1/2 years on the fellow. He was, however, cleared of most of the charges.

The trial is telling. At the end, supporters from the Indonesian Holy Warrior's Council (Majelis Mujahedeen Indonesia) cried aloud, dominating the courtroom and the streets beyond. "Allah Akbar!

The judges, meanwhile, immediately vacated the court, and vanished behind the protection of the state.

signandsight

Sign & Sight

That is the name of a new website, devoted to European thinking. It is to be published in English, which Arts & Letters Daily describes as 'the only pan-European language.'

Curiously, S&S has an article on just that topic: Manifesto. It begins with the death of a famous French writer, who hated the French press, but loved the German one. So, he stipulated that his final work could only be published in France after it had been published in Germany:

What happened was nothing. Several months after Bourdieu's death, Suhrkamp published "Esquisse pour une auto-analyse" as a slim volume. Utter silence. The German media failed to understand this as a scoop, a text that was awaited elsewhere, a gift from Bourdieu to what he considered a qualified German public. Months later the press published a few obligatory reviews. The French didn't bat an eyelid. While a small excerpt had provoked a scandal only a few months before, the full text went unnoticed. No one in the French media reads the German papers thoroughly, and no scouts are keeping track of cultural trends in Germany. Only when the volume was published in France did the usual brouhaha begin.

The author of this piece asks, "Is there a Europe beyond milk quotas?" If the cultures are that disconnected and disinterested, to what degree is there a Europe at all? Not only are the cultures disconnected, but their understanding of core symbols is often reversed:

The Bourdieu effect is not uncommon. When Jürgen Habermas launched his "Core Europe" initiative, no one joined the debate. Who outside the Netherlands had heard of Theo van Gogh before he was murdered? And when everybody in Paris was celebrating the 60th anniversary of the city's liberation in August last year, no one was aware of what was happening in Warsaw at the same time. While a few streets in Paris were being named after members of the communist resistance, whose valour is indisputable, Warsaw was fixated on the enduring memory of Stalin's icy smile as he watched Hitler bomb the Polish resistance into the ground. The end of liberation.

The piece then turns to the case for, and against, English; and by extension, for and against America. It's an interesting read, but it finishes with this conclusion: "Let's talk European!"

By which they mean English.

Mudville Gazette

Chains:

The Mudville Gazette has a photo essay on the breaking of chains. De Oppresso Liber.

Al Basrah.net invites US military men to break their own chains:

If you are united states military personnel and a conscientious objector to the war in Iraq, don’t wait any longer! As soon as you get back to America, pack your bags and head north.

You can go to the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. for more information however, in order to make a clean escape, it is recommended that you tell as few people as possible of your plans and just make a break for the boarder.

When you arrive in Canada, head for the first government building you see, and tell them that you are in the united states military and that you would like to seek asylum in Canada.

What are the advantages of desertion? There's a list:

CANADA IS THE CLEAR CHOICE AND THIS IS WHY:

CANADA OFFERS:

* HIGH QUALITY OF LIFE. YOUR LIFE IN CANADA WILL BE JUST AS FUN AND EXCITING AS IT IS IN THE UNITED STATES; WITHOUT ALL THE HEADACHE!

* CANADIAN COLLEGES ARE TOP NOTCH AND THEY ARE FREE! NO INFLATED COST OF TUITION OR BOOKS - LIKE IN THE UNITED STATES.

* HEALTH CARE IN CANADA IS FREE! NO MORE HAVING TO PUT YOUR LIFE IN DANGER TO HAVE MEDICAL COVERAGE!

* THE PEOPLE IN CANADA ARE NICE - NOT VICIOUS LIKE THE PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES!

ONCE YOU MOVE TO CANADA, YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE AGAIN.

So really, we're all on the same side here. We just want to free people. Just some of us are vicious about it.