The End of War

The End of Wars:

We have seen the beginnings of wars in our lifetime. Would you like to see the end of one?

Read this, then. (h/t John Donovan)

Then, if you like, you might read this review.

The Lone Pine:

A piece you ought to read, from the Belmont Club.

Extremism

Extremism in America:

I have a post on the subject at Winds of Change.

Imp. Laq

Operation Imposing Law:

A report from Baghdad by Omar Fadhil.

Cherokee vote

The Civilized Tribe:

The Cherokee nation today voted to revoke the citizenship of descendants of their former slaves. This is an interesting matter, since tribal citizenship isn't covered by the 14th Amendment (i.e., Alabama can't vote to revoke the citizenship of descendants of slaves, b/c the nature of "citizenship" in Alabama is established in the Federal Constitution). The Cherokee are therefore presumably free to do it, but it opens a lot of interesting questions about why they would.

I'm not sure why the Cherokee wished to do it, as the article offers no explanation but "racism." I wonder if "gambling receipts" aren't a more plausible explanation -- I believe I'm right to say that the Cherokee operate the only functioning casino within hundreds of miles of Georgia, Tennessee, or the Carolinas in Cherokee, NC.

Yet by cutting off their freedman branch, they're also cutting down on the number of votes they have in US government elections, as well as state elections. It's an odd thing to have done, then, to alienate a substantial number of your supporters.

One thing that many people have mentioned over the last few years is the degree to which multiculturalism and 'identity politics' have led to a fracturing of America. Here we see that happening literally: even an established identity is being fractured, with advocates of the break claiming that it's really about who they are as a people. Turnout for the vote was higher than for the vote on their national constitution, so it's an area that really is of deep meaning and importance to them.

Something to watch -- a canary in the mine, maybe.

Yo, ho

Yo, Ho:

Looks like they found Blackbeard's ship.

Several officials said historical data and coral-covered artifacts recovered from the site - including 25 cannons, which experts said was a large number for the area in the early 18th century - remove any doubt the wreckage belonged to Blackbeard.

Blackbeard was a fascinating character, in that he seems to have used literal terrorism to achieve his ends rather than violence. He built up a mighty reputation for cruelty and violence, and yet there is no historical evidence that he ever killed anyone at all.

Contrast with the French pirate L'Ollonais:

L'Ollonais approached it from its undefended landward side and took it. His pirates then proceeded to pillage the city, but found that most of the residents had fled and that their gold had been hidden. L'Ollonais' men tracked down the residents and tortured them until they revealed the location of their possessions. They also seized the fort's cannon and demolished most of the town's defence walls to ensure that a hasty retreat was possible.

L'Ollonais himself was an expert torturer, and his techniques included slicing portions of flesh off the victim with a sword, burning them alive, or "woolding", which involved tying knotted rope around the victim's head until their eyes were forced out.

They probably won't find any relics of L'Ollonais, however, as he was apparently captured and eaten by cannibals.

Adding Francis

Bookkeeping:

I have finally remembered to add Special Forces blogger Francis Marion to the blogroll. I am terrible at the tech side of this blogging business, I know.

If any of you want me to add some links, let me know in the comments or by email. Joe, you should know that you're entitled to a "Joe's Favorites" section if you've got some blogs or whatever that aren't already on the list. Same for you, Karrde.

Finally, Karrde reminds me that we need to do a Grim's Hall Movie Club soon. Eric Blair gets to pick the film this time. Take it away, Eric.

PJM Today

PJM Has a Good Day:

Some very interesting stuff in the morning mail from Pajamas Media. The Glen & Helen show is on training the Afghan police; and you can read about the successes of the surge from Baghdad editor Omar Fadhil, in "Life During War."

Jules Crittenden has a piece wondering about a coming dark age, which is rather old hat for most of us here, but it's interesting to see the concept penetrating into the mainstream. For now, he's still writing elegies for the glories that may be past; keep your eyes out for when they start running simulation games.

Texas Independence

Happy Texas Independence Day!

In a shack alongside the majestic Brazos River, my native country was formed. On March 2, 1836, the Convention of 1836 led by Richard Ellis declared their Independence from Mexico. They elected David G. Burnett as Interim-President. He wasn't very notable, but he did challenge Sam Houston to a duel in later years.

Four days after it was signed, the Alamo fell.

Contest - Novel/Movie

Contest: Finding Yourself

I'd like to propose a contest to Grim's Hall readers. If the first phase goes well, I have a second phase in mind; but let's see how the first phase works.

I'd like you each, in the comments, to tell me what character from literature most reminds you of yourself. Then, what movie and which character from that movie most reminds you of yourself going through your life.

If you know how to do links, and want to link to the novel/movie at Amazon, that'd be a good idea. Also, if you are planning to cite an obscure work, you can also cite a second-best example that people are more likely be familiar with. Your call.

The main rule here is not to laugh at anyone for what they come up with. Obviously, movies are more dramatic than real life usually is. If somebody says that James Bond reminds him of himself, and you happen to know that he is an accountant (say), no laughing. :) The point here is that he relates to the stories; they mean something to him.

Finally, the last question for the third phase is: is there any character created in the last ten years, either from literature or the movies, who you really feel relates to you or your life? In other words, are our stories getting better -- or is the story-creating industry losing touch with us? I suspect the latter, but I want to put it to the test.

Permalinks

The Permalink Situation:

Castle Argghhh! linked us this morning, with this note:

Grim provides an old school example that seems to support JRobb’s Global Guerillas theory. Scary. [Armorer's interjection - Grim's permalink URL isn't behaving as expected. The post Ry is referring to is "The Old Model Army" which is the top post for 27 Feb at Grim's Hall.]

That's right -- all permalinks have been broken since we moved to New Blogger, including both the old ones from before the move, and the new once since. I've been trying to work a solution out through Blogger's help mechanisms (such as they are), but have given up.

Anyone who might know about moving a blog from Blogger to another service, please email me by clicking on the shield, above. I know how to use both MovableType and TypePad, but I don't know how to move the archives and stuff. Any help would be appreciated.

7 Words

The "7 Words" Test:

Proposed by InstaPunk, now performed by Newsbuckit, who gives his methodology. I ran the test on Grim's Hall, and our score is zero.

Now, the method he chose won't search the comments here, so it's possible some of you folks have been profane on occasion down in the HaloScan section of the blog. My good co-bloggers, however, have demonstrated gentlemanly restraint (given the topics we discuss here sometimes, a whole lot of restraint).