I still believe that the VP pick is of little consequence this year, but you have to admit, this one is amusing. The reaction is remarkable, given the affection the press has for Sen. Obama -- recall the recent AP story that said it was "innuendo and false rumor" that Sen. Obama had "attended a radical black church, explaining, "In fact, Obama... attended Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago." (Oh, well, our mistake!)
This morning, though, the AP has not one but two pieces declaring that lack of confidence is shown by the pick, and questioning if Obama is ready for the Presidency based on the choice. Oof.
What interests me is if this, coupled with the news that Sen. Obama's pulling his ads in red states, means that his internals are more negative than what we're seeing in the public polling. He was expected to choose Sen. Bayh, to help out in Indiana (and may have paid someone to print bumper stickers to that effect); or Sen. Kaine, to help bring Virginia aboard. Does this suggest that the plan to 'remake the map' is now admitted to be a fantasy in the private councils of the Obama campaign?
The choice does make Sen. McCain's job easier in some respects, as explored here. There's tape of Biden questioning Obama's experience, and stating that the Presidency is no place for 'on the job training'; he's about the same age as McCain, taking age off the table somewhat; he's been in Washington and the Senate even longer, since the Nixon administration; people who feel that Sen. Obama is arrogant will probably not be charmed by Biden's "My IQ is higher than yours" approach; etc.
Oh, and he voted to authorize the war in Iraq. Then he spoke kindly of Sen. McCain's push for the Surge. Then he rammed through a bill condemning the Surge as not in the nation's best interests. Then he...
Heh.
Joltin Joe Biden!
Who Serves?
This is a discussion we've had here occasionally through the history of the Hall, but I thought you'd like to see the latest figures. The US military continues to draw volunteers who are better educated than average, wealthier than average, and strongly disproportionately Southern:
What you'll see from the graph is that every single region in the nation is underrepresented except for the South, and the Mountain West. The Mountain West pulls 1.07 volunteers for every 1.00 recruit in the military; the South as a whole region, 1.19. The Midwest is close to parity, but just under, at 0.98 per 1.00. The Pacific states are all the way down at 0.88, but the Northeast and New England drag the tail at 0.73.
(The numbers are actually somewhat worse for the North than suggested here, because Maryland and Deleware are included in the "South Atlantic" region with Georgia and the Carolinas. We don't normally think of either as a Southern state. If they were broken out, the South's percentages would rise, and the north's drop yet further.)
All of this just confirms earlier data, but it's interesting to see that the trends hold in spite of a long war.
Clinton Dems
I've gotten an email tonight from a new group calling itself "Clinton Democrats." They wanted you to see this video, and as I did endorse Hillary back during the Primary season, I suppose I should show it to you.
So, if you're interested, here it is. It's long, and full of fairly serious charges.
It's an ad for a documentary about Texas voter fraud by the Obama campaign. This one is shorter and flashier, though it lacks a lot of the eyewitness accounts of fraud:
So the question we were discussing at Cass' place the other day is: is this a popular insurgency, or a Clinton-faction led insurgency?
Well, there sure are a lot of people from Texas in that video.
Dig that hole!
Awesome.
"This is my American Prayer."
"This is the church you cannot see."
Yeah, I give up.
Strong Beere
Some things never change.
Two soldiers of old acquaintance, having beene long asunder, chanced to meete, and after salutations they agree'd to enter an Ale-house, where a formall fashionable Tapster fill'd them as much nicke and froath with Petars of Tobacco, as made them (in his estimation) to bee reckoned at two shillings; they fell to the discourse of their severall Fortunes and Services, the one of Russia and Poland, the other of Germany and Sweaden; they talk't of hunger and thrift, cold, and nakednesse, sieges, and assaults, Artillery, Ammunition, Guns, and Drummes, wounds, scarres, death, and all the perils incident to men of the Sword.If that puts you in the mood for a "gunne" of strong beer and a mighty feast, the site has quite a few Medieval and early Modern English recipes. In fact, that's how I happened on it -- I was looking for a good way to cook some Rock Cornish Game Hens. (Eric would have liked the result, as it featured bacon.)
Bacon Bourbon
I always appreciate it when you separate the sheep from the goats early.
[S]ince bacon and bourbon are two Agitator favorites, I thought a post about how to deliciously combine the two was the least I could offer. (Why would you want to put bacon in your bourbon? If you have to ask, this isn’t the post for you.)Roger that.
(H/t: Southern Appeal, who were rather more enthusiastic about it.)
Sports and Fighting 3
The discussion to the introductory post was great: enlightening, intelligent, spirited and courteous. I commend all who participated.
William's remarks are insightful, and I note that one of his early comments contains the resolution to the dispute on the subject of children displaying courage 'without training.' As he points out, this is not quite so: they train for it all the time.
This is why children day dream of being great warriors and standing against (insert enemy du jour). They are training their mind to choose options in frightening situations. The enemy they are facing is both “real” and a surrogate for other frightening things that they will have to overcome in life. Hence, this applies not just to the warrior aspect, but to every aspect of life.However, my own sense comes closest to the one Doc Russia put forward. Training in armor can create and nurture courage, if it is done correctly. If it is not -- if the spirit of the thing is lost -- what follows is of no use.
Doc points out the importance of training for stresses in excess of what is probable, so you can minimize your concerns in the event. By the same token, training should emphasize that the way to end the stress is victory, and only that. Anything else is destruction: of the reason to train, of the chance to nurture the virtue being sought, and of the spirit of the man.
G. K. Chesterton wrote of courage:
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. “He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,” is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. This paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice.Miyamoto Musashi, in his Book of Five Rings, pointed out the error of the fighter in the video below -- and the virtue of the victor there.
He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.
When a warrior draws his sword the main intention must be to cut the enemy down. There is no reason to change your grip when you strike the enemy. When you have forced the enemy to lose control of his sword because of your parrying thrust, do not change your hand position.... Likewise, when you put aside the enemy's sword, or block the enemy's strike, you must be intent on following up with a powerful attack to win the fight. The martial arts are not a game to see who is stronger and who is faster. You must mean it when you strike the enemy. If you do not, you will certainly get hurt.The martial arts are not the only sport in which this matters. It occurs also in horseback riding. When a horse panics, there is a fatal voice in the head that says: "Stop. Let go. Get off." If you do, injury or death await. The only chance is to sit deep and ride it out.
Even then, of course, the world may prove too strong for you. Yet that is the only chance: and it is the spirit that the fighting arts, and any warrior's sports, must train.
This is part two in the series. There will be another, but before we move on, let's talk about this.
Retro
Kim du Toit -- winding down his blogging career, with a planned retirement date about 100 days out -- speaks to ladies associated with metrosexual men. Shy away from the men who wear mascara, he warns!
...[M]ore interesting was the number of women who told me that they had once been attached to metrosexual men, but soon tired of them, and tossed them aside for men who were, well, men and not ur-women. And were now as happy as could be, content in their role as women, while the men were being men, and the women loved them for it.If we're giving advice to young ladies on this subject, here's mine. Today was hot. My dog was hot, and panting hard. Finally I had to stop the truck, open up the back, take off my Stetson and pour a pint of water into it for my dog to lap up. When he was finished, I put the hat back on my head and we finished the drive home.
In fact, although I know that mnost of my Lady Readers are attached, and well so, to Real Men, I would suggest that if any casual Lady Reader is unhappy with their current relationship, they should check for signs of metrosexuality in her partner. If the Metro Quotient is high, I would bet money that the lady’s unhappiness would disappear if she tossed the girlyman out of her life, and found instead a man who was not afraid of being a man.
This is the proper use of a Stetson. Heck, it comes with instructions printed right on the liner.
If your man won't do that for his dog, he may not be the right man for you. Proverbs 12:10.
Sport 2
While I compose the next piece for discussion, a video that clarifies something of what I intend to say. This is the difference between sport and fighting, in spite of the ring, in spite of the rules. I've been sent this video by about a dozen of you folks:
As with the law, it's really the spirit of the thing that matters.
Obvious
A news story: apparently the Democratic Party leaders will be reviewing their nominating process. Can't imagine why.
Dell
My new motherboard arrived last night, accompanied by a Dell service representative who had never seen a dirt road before. Apparently there was some error at the factory with the old one, and it burned out cleanly; but so far, the new one works fine.
Dell seems to have moved its help center to India (along with the rest of the tech industry), and the experience of dealing with them is much like what you'd expect. However, once they determined (in the step-by-painful-step method that such call centers employ) that the error was indeed critical, they arranged to send someone to the house. The experience was painless: I borrowed the wee wife's computer for email and so forth, and now I'm back.
So: it looks like I need to sit down and read through an excellent discussion in the "On Sport" post, before I go further. I should leave you folks alone more often!
While Grim's Away...
...the peasantry will play. Full disclosure: this is going to be an utterly mindless post.
When the Editorial Staff were expecting our first grandchild (promptly dubbed "The Burrito" by his father upon arrival) we only half-jokingly began suggesting Manly Names for the prospective grand-progeny. Can you tell we were hoping for a boy? Since our eldest boy is of the law enforcement persuasion, our first Helpful Suggestions were "Law" and (our personal favorite) ...
[drum roll]
..."Justice".
Inexplicably, our well thought out contributions were heartlessly disregarded. Apparently, the offspring had their own ideas about what our grandchild should be called. The *nerve* of some people.
This is what we get for all those years of loving care and attention. O! How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is, to have a thankless child...
/hand to forehead
But hope springs eternal in the grandmaternal breast, and so we have not given up. There is always the chance of further rugrats down the road. Consequently, we were gratified to see this list of The Manliest Names in the World, and even happier to see it included one of our fav actors.
Check it out. And feel free to suggest a name for our next grandchild in the comments section.
Death of Motherboard
Due to a dead motherboard in the computer, I'll be away for what I hope will be a short bit. I regret the timing, as I had what I hoped would be an interesting series of post prepared for this week; but we'll get back to it as soon as we can.
Sport
As the Olympics continue, we see some sports that were originally martial in origin. This reminds us of the Laches, in which Socrates is asked whether practice fighting in armor can actually build the courage needed for real fighting in armor. It was a critical question to Greek city-states whose survival depended on producing that kind of men: it remains a critical question.
The video is from A Knight's Tale, which (by the way) I suggest as an entertaining film. The film makes a highly risky choice in its musical score: so-called classic rock, in a Medieval setting. I fully expected to hate not only the music but the movie as a consequence, but in fact it comes off wonderfully. The film uses mostly tracks that are frequently used in modern American sports, and the effect is to make the emotions felt by Medieval characters immediately relevant to modern audiences. The film has a small amount of the usual Hollywood preaching about how we ought to feel on social issues, and a somewhat overwrought ending; but those are minor flaws. It is generally a good film, one you'll enjoy viewing again and again.
The part relevant to this discussion begins at 07:25 (although some of you, most especially Cassandra, will enjoy the earlier parts). Notice how, when "Ulric" is to strike, he does so at first with care, in a martial fashion: but after his first victory, he becomes increasingly flashy, showy, doing things (like turning his back on his foe) that no one would do in combat.
It is just that quick that the spirit of the thing is lost. Masters have made this mistake.
In Autumn Lightning, Dave Lowry writes about being instructed in Japanese swordsmanship by an old teacher from Japan. One night, after long practice, the sensei tries to convey the point.
"The swordsmanship we do, that is nothing. What is cutting with a sword? If I have an atomic bomb now, it will melt your katana and you.... We keep the Yagyu Shinkage tradition alive for another reason than fighting. Because it is like--" he paused, reaching for the right word, "it is like an antique that is living. Because we have the ryu [school of teaching], we have something of the past. We can depend on it. All the bugeisha in the old days, they are just like us. Same problems, they loved and hated, just like we do. Since they went before, they are an example for us."In fact, the man who practices a fighting art to preserve it, as a moral guide, is doing nothing like what the samurai was doing. The samurai wanted to kill. He would change anything about his technique, in an instant, if it gave him an advantage. The man who carefully preserves kata is the opposite of him. The man who seeks to preserve unchanged the techniques as a moral lesson is nothing like the man who would change any technique for a momentary advantage.
Yet it is possible to be "like" the fighting men of old. It is possible to learn courage by practicing fighting in armor. In coming days, we'll talk a bit more about this: and perhaps I'll finally get around to answering Eric, who has long said that "chivalry" was largely a romantic ideal, whose forms we have mostly of the 19th century.
Football
Feddie at Southern Appeal has a little Notre Dame film up, "Just because I can." They have to make films, because they don't have Larry Munson.
"We just stepped on their face, with a hobnailed boot, and broke their nose!"
That reminds me of a story.
Interesting
We looked at an article on Sen. Obama's faith the other day; here's one on Sen. McCain's. It's a very different kind of faith -- less intellectual, and less public:
Although polling suggests voters view faith as an essential ingredient in a president, McCain has never been a candidate to invoke God or dwell on religion. "In our case, faith is private," said his wife, Cindy, adding that once voters get to know him, "they will know he is a man of faith."I thought this was remarkable:
About six months later, they were back in the ironically named Hanoi Hilton, and Day, the senior officer, chose McCain as the group's chaplain. His first lesson — he doesn't like to call them sermons — recounted the biblical story of the man who asked Jesus whether he should pay taxes. Jesus replied, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and render unto God what is God's."I imagine not! Yet it is a highly plausible reading, and one achieved against personal interests and while under extraordinary duress.
McCain's point was that the prisoners should not pray for freedom, nor for harm to come to their captors.
"What I was trying to tell my fellow prisoners is that we were doing Caesar's work when we got into prison, so we should ask for God's help to do the right thing and for us to get out of prison if it be God's will for us to do so," McCain said. "Not everybody agreed with that."
I May Go See This One
Now this is kind of remarkable:
That's a fair set of big Hollywood names, thrashing a well-known and influential filmmaker. You don't see this kind of infighting very often. I may have to go see this movie, just since it has my (very) distant relative George Patton as a character.
OK...
I get about three of these conspiracy-theory mails a week from friends and family. I think I can honestly say that I've been diligent in pointing out the holes in them. I'm certainly opposed to Sen. Obama's election as President, and ready to use any true and fair weapon that comes to hand against him; but not untrue or unfair ones.
I normally know what to say about them, but I got one today that one I don't have an answer for. Probably some of you have seen it, and know what to say:
An AP photo appears to show Obama's school registration in Indonesia, listing his religion as Islam. I see that Obama's Fight the Smears page doesn't mention it, though it denies that he was "raised as a Muslim."
So: is the photo real? Does "not raised as a Muslim" mean that his father in law stepfather [UPDATE per ML: see comments] may have considered him a Muslim, but nobody else? Or just not him? Or what?
Goodness knows we've had our disputes with, or about, the writings of Edward Luttwak. His COIN theory drew a rebuttal from David Kilcullen (and a harsher response by Frank Hoffman that suggested he 'was off his medication'); his piece on "leaving the Middle East alone" provoked some arguments here as well (and another rather rude rebuttal). The comments to those pieces, even here at the Hall, have been contentious. One describes one of his works as a book "so bad I tried to make my officers read it so they could recognize a bad thesis when they saw it"; but another of our co-bloggers found his work sometimes "excellent" and sometimes, well, not.
So it is with some trepidation, metaphorically at least, that I offer his latest barn-burner. Called "A Truman for our times," it is a work strongly praising the foreign policy of George W. Bush. Not that it is entirely kind:
The swift removal of the murderous Saddam Hussein was followed by years of expensive violence instead of the instant democracy that had been promised. To confuse the imam-ridden Iraqis with Danes or Norwegians under German occupation, ready to return to democracy as soon as they were liberated, was not a forgivable error: before invading a country, a US president is supposed to know if it is in the middle east or Scandinavia.Yet in the end, Luttwak asserts, the problems will not be remembered: what will be remembered was that Bush was the man who threw back Islamism in the Muslim world, made it unacceptable to support in public among the leaders of Muslim states, and made great strides in denuclearizing the dangerous parts of the world.
Read it all, and let's discuss it.
Male/Female
I see Cassidy is in a panic over her male/female rating. No need to worry! The program is very poorly designed. To get an accurate reading, it would need to look at a far broader range of websites in your history than it does.
For example, if it finds a lot of stuff like this in your history, you're probably male:
"MapQuest"? It's really not that reliable an indicator by comparison.
Via Dad and SAppeal
Via both our friend Dad29 and our friend Feddie at Southern Appeal, a little lesson in authority.
From the Westminster Shorter Catechism:Presumably, the Senator meant to say something like "one's own values," which is a highly contestable definition -- but still a far kinder reading than, "Sin is when one doesn't align with my values."
Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
From the Baltimore Catechism:
Q. 278. What is actual sin?
A. Actual sin is any willful thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the law of God.
From Senator Obama:
Q. Do you believe in sin? OBAMA: Yes.
Q. What is sin? OBAMA: Being out of alignment with my values.
In fairness, however, read the whole interview. They ask some very difficult questions. It might be worth trying to see if you can answer them yourself. There are a few I would want a long time to consider.
A far more serious confession is here:
OBAMA: When I’m talking to a group and I’m saying something truthful, I can feel a power that comes out of those statements that is different than when I’m just being glib or clever.So bear in mind: Obama really does think that, at least some of the time, the Holy Spirit is moving him when he speaks.
GG:
What’s that power? Is it the holy spirit? God?
OBAMA:
Well, I think it’s the power of the recognition of God, or the recognition of a larger truth that is being shared between me and an audience.
That’s something you learn watching ministers, quite a bit. What they call the Holy Spirit. They want the Holy Spirit to come down before they’re preaching, right? Not to try to intellectualize it but what I see is there are moments that happen within a sermon where the minister gets out of his ego and is speaking from a deeper source. And it’s powerful.
That's a bold statement: that a politician's work is like a minister's; that he is doing God's own work, and speaking words inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Do you believe that? About him? About yourself?
Oh, dear.
Victor, the Victory Elephant?
I am not sure why I get RNC emails, since I know I've never sent them any money; maybe they share mailing lists with the NRA or something. Anyway, is this really a good idea?
I guess they just mean 'victory in this year's elections,' but the word "victory" has a very different connotation right now. That fact can't be avoided. A lot has been paid for the victory we've won in Iraq. It is a word that should be used, but solemnly.
Probably this is meant as innocent fun, perhaps like the Purple Heart band-aids of a few years ago. As with that, though, there is a failure to consider how it would look to those whose minds were drawn to the war the symbol must necessarily invoke. Good intentions cannot answer for everything.
Everything old is new again.
Hunting used to be one of those skills that was always wanted for soldiers. The Roman author Vegetius explicitly mentions the desirablity of enlisting huntsmen in his De Rei Militari 1700 years ago. The Greek author (and soldier) Xenophon, wrote On hunting some 800 years before Vegetius, in which he says:
Therefore I charge the young not to despise hunting or any other schooling. For these are the means by which men become good in war and in all things out of which must come excellence in thought and word and deed.
Smart guys, those Ancients.
Today, Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Georgia, has a letter in The Wall Street Journal.
Arts & Letters Daily has several background pieces on the conflict that are worth reading. Because they don't do permalinks, I'll list them here: one from the New York Times, one from the Washington Post, and a second from the New York Times.
Gwendolyn, in the comments below, offered this, which I see is also endorsed by Michael Totten (himself en route to the Caucasus region).
Charles King, in the Christian Science Monitor, has a perspective on the conflict that would like to offer conditional support to Russia. I pass it on out of respect for the publication and a willingness to hear everyone out.
A bit further
Looking a bit more into the sword site, I found this video:
It starts simply, but moves on to show some sword-binding and maneuver techniques. If you follow it to its YouTube page, there are a number of similar videos that demonstrate accurate Medieval martial arts.
One of the best ones is this (which is also noteworthy for its subtitles):
This shows a great deal of knife and dagger techniques, the fundamentals of which have not changed. Those interested in bladework may find these most amusing, and may find a few concepts worth thinking about to employ in your own training.
Sabers
I join Kat at the Castle in congratulating our womens' saber team for their sweep at the Olympics. Strong work.
On which topic, reader G.M. sends an interesting page for those of you who have an affection for sabers -- particularly, the British 1796 light cavalry saber. 
Sure, it looks good: but how does it manage if you wanted to chop an entire six pack of bottled water in half at once? Or if you had some old tires you needed to mince?
Go see.
Solidarity
I met some fine soldiers from the Republic of Georgia in Iraq, where they have heretofore kept a brigade of their fighting men to help the Iraqi people free themselves from the tyrant Saddam, and the petty tyrants who sought in so many places to replace him. The emergence from long tyranny into constitutional liberty is a difficult one, often a painful one, but the Georgian people understand that too well.
As we watch Russia invading their sovereign territory, we should remember that the Georgians have been our friends and allies. They are a good and noble people, though bitterly poor in many places: and we have ties of culture to them as well as our current alliance. The Cross of St. George flies over Georgia as it did over England; one of my friends from Georgia in Iraq was named for the Greek hero Hercules. They are a part of the West, and should enjoy Western liberty and self-determination.
For too long the Soviet Union sought to force Georgia and so many others under the shadow. We should stand by the Georgians at this time and ensure Russia understands that Georgia is not prey to be gobbled up. They have been our friends and our reliable allies, and we have much in common with them.
I suggest that you write to tell your Senators and Representatives today that a strong endorsement of Georgian independence is needed. A wider and more dangerous war may be avoided if Russia is shown that it cannot have an easy victory over a weaker neighbor. They have often stood by us. We should be strong in our support for them now, when they need us.
What? Georgia?
Via our friend and regular commenter Dad29, an oddity.
And so, last Friday, in stumbled Sens. Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson -- alongside five Senate Democrats. This "Gang of 10" announced a "sweeping" and "bipartisan" energy plan to break Washington's energy "stalemate." ... the plan is a Democratic giveaway. New production on offshore federal lands is left to state legislatures, and then in only four coastal states. The regulatory hurdles are huge. And the bill bars drilling within 50 miles of the coast -- putting off limits some of the most productive areas. Alaska's oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still a no-go.That's both of my Senators. I haven't gotten any letters or emails explaining why the Senators from the Great State of Georgia are united in their opposition to drilling... have any of the rest of you Georgia readers?
The highlight is instead $84 billion in tax credits, subsidies and federal handouts for alternative fuels and renewables. The Gang of 10 intends to pay for all this in part by raising taxes on . . . oil companies!
Another Judicial Outrage
Assuming the facts are even close to what is presented here...
As Elaine Jones said in a letter published by the Idaho Press-Tribune, “A good, honorable widower is leaving his daughter to others to raise, and is going to prison for following the rules, obeying the law and helping his friends stay safe from flooding.”Via Kim du Toit, who challenges readers -- after finishing the essay in full -- to write a 100 word essay explaining why the judge shouldn't be hanged. I presume anyone submitting such an essay will say something about the importance of formal judicial processes and so forth, since that's the only thing I can think of as a reason not to hang him.
QotD
I am now the happiest woman on earth. When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them.Another wife says, "As soon as I met him the headache was gone. God told me it was time to be his wife."
Don't mess with success, I say.
Media Love Affair
So we've seen the story about the idiot bail bondsman from Florida. "Man held in Fla. on charge of threatening Obama," says the story.
But you get down to paragraph six, and he apparently also told a student that he wanted to 'put a bullet in George Bush's head.'
Since when is threatening to assassinate a President not that big a deal? Much, much, less newsworthy than the fact that you also intended to maybe shoot a Senator? Since when is the threat to the Presidential candidate the headline, and the actual sitting President a very minor footnote?
That's the media space of summer 2008. Barack Obama is the news. Nothing else matters.
UPDATE: Heh. Old Bob Owens is on the task. Apparently CNN and CBS4 found the AP story too Bush-focused, and edited him out altogether.
Goodness
Here's a question I'd like to ask the Obama campaign: was this just a campaign gimmick, or do you intend to push for PSAs like this if elected?
Gas Station TV, which provides video content on gas pumps around the country, decided against running an ad for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Wednesday saying it’s decided to stay politically neutral. At the same time, however, Obama campaign staffers are telling media they believe the refusal had more to do with the content of the ads — which attacked oil companies for creating high gasoline prices — than for simply staying away from politics.So, if given the levers of power, would a President Obama push to require such ads? The government has in the past forced people to carry PSAs as a consequence of holding a broadcast license; it could do so in the future as a consequence of having a license to sell gasoline. Or alcohol. Or tobacco.
These aren't normally issued by the Feds, but the Feds can push states to comply with their guidelines because of funding concerns. So the question is: does he intend to follow this up if elected? And as a followup, do I really want to listen to lectures from Sen. Obama while going about my daily business?
Warning:Science
Our friend Jeffrey was recently speaking on this very topic, so when I saw that the Chronicle of Higher Education had written about it, I thought it might be a topic of interest to all of us.
In March, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, testified before the House Committee on Science and Technology about the abject failure of American schools, colleges, and universities to prepare students for advanced study in the sciences.Read it through, and let's discuss.
Well, that's not exactly what he testified. The purpose of his trip to the Hill was to impress on Congress the need for more H-1B visas.
Dogs on the Furniture??
What kind of house is Cassandra running, anyway? I trust that readers recognize the incivility associated with... hey, what's that noise?
...never mind.
La Quete du Graal
Here is a short sample of a haunting piece of music by a group called La Nef ("The Ship"). It treats the Grail legend, and the arming of a young knight to wander in search of something beautiful -- though he cannot quite say what.
The full version is available here and here.
Do you recognize the song being sung? The lyrics are different, but the tune -- now slow, with polyphony -- is the old drinking song "The Star of the County Down."
But the tune is surely older, and it is no sin to imagine it ancient: for it well might be, fitted to other songs in other times, as is so often the case.
WTF?
So today, Sen. Obama endorsed the California Model as the road to energy independence.
The state of California has implemented such a successful efficiency strategy that while electricity consumption grew 60% in this country over the last three decades, it didn’t grow at all in California. There is no reason we can’t do the same thing all across America.I was in California last in 2001. As the author points out, "rolling blackouts" was the watchword of the day. And "brownouts." This wasn't a "Model" to emulate, but a failure. As I recall, at the time we were last discussing who was responsible for the failure. Liberals cited deregulation as the cause of the failure (which means that for liberals the "California Model" is one to be avoided by governments in the future, as it was nothing but an abdication of their responsibility to act in the interest of the people); conservatives pointed to the governor (and succeeded in having him recalled over the point).
It's a demonstration of a complete misunderstanding of the facts, which ought to be telling in a man who is running as the smart guy. Sen. McCain may have the IQ, but Sen. Obama has the reputation. I assume Sen. Obama is not intending to "endorse blackouts," as HotAir puts it, but it's plain that he doesn't know what he's talking about. The whole thing was a misery for everyone involved, not a model to emulate.
More, it shows how short the candidate is falling from his rhetoric.
The Obaman New Politics was going to put the South in play. Tell me one more time how endorsing California and Europe as your models is going to win Southern votes? Are you sure Hank done it this way?
The media is doing its best to keep Sen. Obama in the bubble. They sent the son of the great writer James Dickey down South to take the waters:
Dent argues that when Southerners criticize Obama, "They say, 'He's a Muslim, he's a mulatto Muslim, or quadroon Muslim … [only because] they don't want to use the old N word.""Quadroon"? Seriously?
I have lived in the South most of my life, and I have heard the word "quadroon" exactly three times. The first was in a class on 'the social construction of race' that I took as an undergraduate at Georgia State University, where it was used to explain that places other than the American South had an "escape valve" from "blackness." Whereas in the South there was the "one drop rule," in places like the Dominican Republic a family could move from black to white through a series of carefully-calibrated marriages. Americans, the professor explained, had a notion that this was much more racist than our system, because it tracked how "black" you were to a sixteenth percentage, and took serious stock of who your grandfathers and even great-grandparents had been; but islanders thought we were the racists, because we offered no escape.
The second time I heard the word it was from a fellow student at the university, who was making a satirical point. The third time was yesterday, when I read the article from the younger Dickey.
The younger Mr. Dickey seems eager to repeat the favor his father -- a man I once met, and whose experience as a night-fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater of WWII I greatly respect -- did for the South. As Deliverance painted the South for a generation of outsiders, so too the Newsweek articles manages to find a host of improbables. A guy who sells evil bumperstickers and muses about "quadroons." A sheriff with a noose-wielding supporter. A group re-enacting a lynching -- indeed, lynching occupies a remarkable percentage of the article. Given the actual prevalence of lynching -- that is, its close-to-nonexistence in the last forty years -- one might almost say it's what he came to find. If all he found of it was theater, well, we'll just talk about that, then.
He paints the immigrants to the region as fearful, whether Spanish-speaking girls yelling "la migra!" when he approaches, or Hindi-speakers in Savannah who didn't want to talk to him. Certainly there are many immigrants to the South, including Hindi-speakers: when I lived in Savannah, some of our neighbors included a family like this, headed by a kind-hearted grandfather that language proved no barrier to befriending. I can attest that Dairy Queens throughout Georgia are largely run by a family of Indians, including the one not too far from here: but I never heard of them suffering anything but wealth from their chosen occupation.
"Obama's going to win," the article closes. "And if he does not?" Well, if he does not, it may be because you came to the task with such an odd view of what it entailed. You can't sway people you can't even imagine.
What?
Here's something I didn't expect to see when I got up today: Knights Templar sue Pope.
The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, whose members claim to be descended from the legendary crusaders, have filed a lawsuit against Benedict XVI calling for him to recognise the seizure of assets worth 100 billion euros (£79 billion).Ok... one thing I think I know about the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon is that they were under a vow of chastity. I realize that not every priest, even of the church militant, kept his vows with absolute faithfulness. Neverthless, is it really possible that there is a whole "association" of people in Spain who, seven hundred years after the Order was dissolved, can show that they are "descended" from knights of this Crusader order? Would a modern court really accept their standing to sue, on a seven-hundred year old question?
I'm guessing, since Google shows nothing about this before today's story, that the association has a different name in Europe -- in Spanish? Latin? If anyone knows more about the question, and can point me in the direction of better information, I must admit to being deeply intrigued by the subject.
Introducing over 175 Movie Posters of Classic War Films that are Outstanding Reproductions in Original Colors.
Enjoy.
Update: link fixed. (I think. Works for me, anyway)
Simon over at Classical Values, thinks McCain (or his campaign) is getting inside Obama's (or his campaign's) decision cycle.
Elections are nothing if they are not time competitive. Evidently the "freezing of the opponent" that Alinsky recommends has not worked on McCain. He was not frozen. Once that happened McCain was operating inside Obama's decision loop.Discuss.
(via Instapundit)
Heh
One that will not involve questions from the voters.
Barack Obama’s campaign made its distaste for free-style debates more or less official yesterday in their letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates. Team Obama only will agree to three debates, which has been the tradition through the last several presidential cycles, and all of them in the standard moderated format. He will not accept McCain’s challenge to meet him in a format where voters can ask the questions...Team McCain hits back with humor, which they have apparently decided will be the trademark of their campaign.
“We understand it might be beneath a worldwide celebrity of Barack Obama’s magnitude to appear at town hall meetings alongside John McCain and directly answer questions from the American people, but we hope he’ll reconsider.”We've talked about the disconnect between rhetoric and reality in this campaign before, so this is just another example. Sen. Obama is running on "a new politics," but in fact wants the campaign to run just as previous ones have run. He wants the media to continue to serve as the moderator and filter (no surprise, given that they are strongly allied with him), and to limit debates to the traditional number.
Sen. McCain, whom rhetoric would have as the candidate of Not-Change, not only wants to move to frequent Town Hall debates where the voters can question the candidates directly -- he also has adopted laughter, rather than fear, as his mode. Karl Rove's former employees may be working for him, but it's clear that the tone is being set by the candidate, not the campaign. Indeed, the tonal difference between McCain 2008 and Bush 2000 or 2004 could hardly be greater.
So, which one is the change candidate again? Which one actually changes things? Whether for better (as here and in Iraq) or for worse (as in campaign finance reform), if actual change is what you want, McCain is your man.
Non-Prophets
Francis Beckwith at Southern Appeal offers some advice to Obama on how to answer the latest McCain ad:
Here are some lines that I thought of on the way home from the gym today:(So, did you know that there were two financial entrepreneurs mentioned in the Bible? The first was Pharaoh's daughter, who went down to the river and pulled a little Prophet from the water...)
* I was going to invite Senator McCain to the Transfiguration. Not anymore.
* Ye of little faith.
* Next time he asks for me to heal his melanoma, the answer is “no.”
* I’ll turn water into wine for him, but I draw the line at being his designated driver.
* I’m surprised Senator McCain didn’t say, “I knew Moses; Moses was a friend of mine; Senator Obama, you are no Moses.”
* Ironically, more men named “Jesus” will vote for me than will vote for Senator McCain.
* The people want more jobs and less Job.
* This just shows us that the McCain campaign is a non-prophet organization.
Too Far
Eric will be delighted to know that I have found the limit beyond which I will not accept something into my life simply because it has echoes of chivalry and knighthood. You can see that limit right here.
If there is an item in worse taste than a toilet seat featuring the arms of Richard the Lionheart (albeit with the wrong base color), I am not sure what it would be. Nominations are not solicited.
(I've gotten this catalog for several years now, for reasons unknown to me. They have the strangest mixture of really wonderful things, like this; kind of nifty things, like this; and truly horrid things like, well, heraldic toilet seats.)
False Prophets
We've all seen McCain's newest piece on Obama:
So what about this?
A new video which features popular talk show host Oprah Winfrey denying Jesus as the only way to God has received over 5 million views on several reporting video sites.Here is the video:
The approximately seven-minute video entitled, "The Church of Oprah Exposed," was posted less than a month ago and has claimed the a Top Favorites spot in the News & Politics category of a popular social networking site.
Skip to 5:50 to where Barack Obama is explictly brought into the matter.
As for the claims Oprah is making, they aren't actually new at all; what she is advocating is nothing but Theosophy, which was also a major interest of the British upper classes in Chesterton's day, and which drew his ire. (There is more to object to theologically, for a Christian, in the teachings of the Rev. Mr. Wright and his mentors, which are also more closely and fairly attached to Sen. Obama.)
McCain clearly intends his ad for humorous effect, but the folks downloading the Oprah video are in earnest. If you follow the link to the site, it is called "BlackVoices.com," and references another site which appears (based on the content of the ads) to be a Black spiritual site. These things are starting to percolate through the Christian churches in America, and race is no barrier to them. Insofar as they harmonize with the satirical point that McCain is making, the sense of satire may be lost.
The BlackVoices site has a video -- already removed by YouTube, but I watched it this morning -- that explictly makes the connection between Obama and Biblical false prophets. We spoke of that a couple months ago (also here).
I am strongly opposed to Senator Obama's election, for many and what I think are excellent reasons. I have no special love for Oprah. I hope that people will recognize, however, that Oprah is simply the modern version of the 19th century British aristocrat, seeking a faith that eliminates conflict in the Otherworld, so that it harmonizes with her current world. Having wealth and power, comfort and luxury, naturally she wants it to endure forever: and so a faith that promises no conflict through all Eternity is an attractive one.
Who is wrong here? Some will say that Oprah is wrong, and there is a great deal of argument to be had there on theological grounds. Others may say that McCain is wrong, to mock Barack in a way that might be misconstrued (just as they said he was wrong to permit an ad that featured even a glimpse of white women, in case that might be misconstrued). That seems a bit overbearing for me, but I expect it will be said. Others will say that the Christians are wrong, to bring what are essentially non-rational concepts to bear on day to day life; but they are explictly licensed to do this by the First Amendment, which itself only recognizes an inalienable right the Founders attributed to "their Creator." I have said myself that Sen. Obama has only himself to blame, for adopting prophetic language in a country that has a strong faith tradition about such language: it's easy to be understood as a false prophet when you speak as a prophet, but are false as a politician.
It's worth thinking through, though. I don't care for the Senator, and have little love for the Oprah movement either, but I would see everyone treated fairly.
UPDATE: By the way, watch the McCain video, 0:16-0:20. Pay attention to the dancing in the shadowy background. The line, "Can you see the light?" is surely meant to evoke this:
"Jake, are you all right?"
"We're on a Mission From God!"
In the late 1980s, Internet users adopted the word “troll” to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities. Early trolling was relatively innocuous, taking place inside of small, single-topic Usenet groups. The trolls employed what the M.I.T. professor Judith Donath calls a “pseudo-naïve” tactic, asking stupid questions and seeing who would rise to the bait. The game was to find out who would see through this stereotypical newbie behavior, and who would fall for it. As one guide to trolldom puts it, “If you don’t fall for the joke, you get to be in on it.”
Today the Internet is much more than esoteric discussion forums. It is a mass medium for defining who we are to ourselves and to others. Teenagers groom their MySpace profiles as intensely as their hair; escapists clock 50-hour weeks in virtual worlds, accumulating gold for their online avatars. Anyone seeking work or love can expect to be Googled. As our emotional investment in the Internet has grown, the stakes for trolling — for provoking strangers online — have risen. Trolling has evolved from ironic solo skit to vicious group hunt.
The article is disturbing on several levels.
Followup clubs
Again via FARK, a worthy followup to the post on clubs v. guns. Sometimes, older arms still work just fine:
Iwasaki, a Hillsboro native and decorated veteran, was honored last weekend as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of the U.S. armed forces. He served in a segregated unit that became the most decorated Army infantry group in U.S. history.Generally, what matters is the spirit. If the spirit is right, the mind follows: if the mind is right, the body follows.
Iwasaki fought across France and Italy during World War II and was wounded three times. He earned a Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters and a Bronze Star before returning to Hillsboro in 1946.
Despite Iwasaki's military experience, Washington County deputies are wary about people confronting gun-wielding suspects.
End of Racism
Jake Tapper is not happy:
There's a lot of racist xenophobic crap out there. But not only has McCain not peddled any of it, he's condemned it.Ed Morissey agrees:
Back in February, McCain apologized for some questionable comments made by a local radio host. In April, he condemned the North Carolina Republican Party's ad featuring images of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
With one possible exception, I've never seen McCain or those under his control playing the race card or making fun of Obama's name -- or even mentioning Obama's full name, for that matter!
(The one exception was in March when McCain suspended a low-level campaign staffer for sending out to a small group of friends a link to a video that attempts to tie Obama not only to Wright but to the black power movement, rappers Public Enemy and Malcolm X.)
...
I've seen racism in campaigns before -- I've seen it against Obama in this campaign (more from Democrats than Republicans, at this point, I might add) and I've seen it against McCain in South Carolina in 2000, when his adopted Bangladeshi daughter Bridget was alleged, by the charming friends and allies of then-Gov. George W. Bush, to have been a McCain love-child with an African-American woman.
What I have not seen is it come from McCain or his campaign in such a way to merit the language Obama used today. Pretty inflammatory.
I warned about this over a month ago, when Obama first accused McCain of racism without any evidence whatsoever. The McCain campaign has exercised considerable restraint in its choice of criticisms, frustrating some Republicans over his refusal to even mention the Jeremiah Wright debacle. It has roundly condemned other Republicans who have tried to use that argument in an attempt to show good faith in this electoral cycle, and the only payback McCain has received is to be called a racist anyway.Cassandra scoffs at the attempt to call 'racism':
I agree that the Celeb commercial is pretty weak, but if it’s racist, then Obama has defined the term so far downward as to have no meaning at all.
Yessir, there is nothing like a little honest dialog about race relations in America to dispel all that wrong/bad tension between blacks and whites. Because the Other Side, you know, they operate from the Politics of Fear. And the only way to combat the Divisive Fear and Hate perpetrated by those hateful, divisive fear mongers who keep dragging race into this campaign even though I'd prefer not to mention it is by constantly reminding you of Fear and Race. Because we all know that any criticism of Me during a hotly contested political campaign can only be based on 400 years of simmering racism.And Professor Reynolds notes:
I imagine that we'll see a lot of this kind of thing if Obama is elected President. And perhaps the best reason to vote against Obama is to spare the country an administration that reflexively characterizes any criticism as racist.It occurs to me that this -- if not quite a reason to vote for Sen. Obama -- could be a major consolation prize if he is elected. It's already the case in America that "racism" has gone from actual racism -- I remember the KKK passing out their literature on the courthouse square when I was a boy -- to "institutional" racism. "Institutional" racism is combatted in this country via a huge arrangement of what are meant to be counterbalances, but which are now the only way in which race is openly considered. Thus, the only formal recognition of race in society is designed to redound to the benefit of minorities.
This is a rhetorical shift in the same direction as the shift we've already made politically: racism as a concept is being emptied of meaning, except as a hedge for those groups once disadvantaged. What does it mean? Anything. Therefore, nothing. The McCain campaign is guilty of racism even if they can only be suspected of having subconscious impulses that might have possibly informed an ad they put out; even if they strictly forbid actual racism; even if they squash attempts at legitimate criticism that might make an issue of race; even if they have been subject to actual racism themselves, in an earlier day, and learned to despise it.
Therefore, they must always be guilty of racism; and therefore, racism is not a charge to be taken seriously. It is instead a condition -- like the necessity of having oxygen around to breathe -- that you simply accept and ignore as a basic feature of reality.
Once we get there, the advantage of raising charges of "racism!" will wane to the point that it will likely go away. Four years of a President Obama waving the flag over every criticism will probably do it for most of America; the holdouts will find their currency so debased that, though they may continue to try and spend it, it will buy them little.
Thus we might really "hope" to "end racism" through President Obama after all. Middle Americans, to the degree that they are conscious of race -- the younger generations seems much less so even than mine, and mine far less than the one before -- already think of it only in terms of ameliorating the harm of historic racism. When people become convinced that the charge is finally empty, we may at last walk away from this most poisonous of weeds.
Politics Aside
This is the reason to visit the wounded:
“We have come … to express our gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices made by these great warriors, soldiers, in freeing the Iraqi people and in helping us in Iraq recover from tyranny and dictatorship,” Jawad Karim al-Bolani, Iraq’s minister of the interior, said through a translator... “We also want to express our gratitude to the families of all these great men and women and express how important their sacrifices are for our nation,” he added.I haven't mentioned the subject of another visit that didn't happen, and don't intend this post to serve as a proxy for it. This, though, is what it's supposed to be about: and it's genuinely inspiring to see this man speak so.
The interior ministry, if you don't know this, controls much of the police function in Iraq: so he speaks as a man who has had occasion to watch the fall of violence firsthand. Here speaks a man who knows what these wounds bought for his nation.
GWTW
Cassandra is compiling lists of great war movies today. This is something we've done a few times, but I have to remark on a couple of the entries suggested.
Bthun suggested "Casablanca." That's an interesting choice. It's not a "war movie" according to what I would normally think of as the defining features of the genre: all the actual fighting is quite a long way away. It's very much on the fringes of a war, though the war is large enough that it drives the plot.
More, though, it was written to encourage the United States to join a war. In that way, it is truly a war movie.
Another one that is mentioned is "Gone With The Wind." This is the point where I have to make my own confession, similar to those literary confessions from a day or two back.
I have never seen "Gone With The Wind." I realize, for a Southerner -- and a proud one -- this is a shocking omission. Nevertheless, I have not.
Guns, yes. Clubs, no.
Via FARK, a story about how Texas animal control officers can't use a stick against an angry dog:
Harris County's animal control division wants the Legislature to allow its officers to use telescoping batons to fend off attacking dogs amid a sharp increase in the number of aggressive stray pit bulls in unincorporated areas.Texas state law allows the carrying of firearms, of course: just not clubs.
Animal control officers say the batons, called "bite sticks," can prevent serious injuries by intimidating aggressive, charging animals and blocking their attempts to bite. But they currently are prohibited in Texas under a state law that bars most people who are not certified peace officers from carrying clubs.
Georgia law is no better. I have a firearms license, which means that I can carry -- openly or concealed -- pretty much anything short of an automatic weapon. .44 Magnum revolver? No problem. A pair of Glocks and a dozen extra clips? Perfectly legal.
A knife? Well...
You can carry a knife, with certain exceptions, if it is carried openly, OR if it is not "designed for the purpose of offense or defense"; but that latter has been defined by the court in really strange ways that I still haven't fully sorted out. A cop I know tells me "it's OK if it has a clip on the outside, and it folds," but there's nothing in the law to suggest that, and I see no reason a DA couldn't decide to prosecute you on the plain meaning of the language. On the other hand, I know several knifemakers, and could get a letter from them stating that they'd made me a custom knife "not at all for the purpose of offense or defense, but purely for the enjoyment of being able to open boxes and cut onions with a handmade work of art"; but presumably that plain-language defense wouldn't stand up.
And a club? Well...
As we begin to talk about the ramifications of Heller, it will matter how "arms" are defined. The second round of lawsuits is now under way, challenging Chicago's handgun ban to try and get the 2A incorporated to the states; and also challenging DC on its attempt to ban semiautomatic handguns by fiat, though they are the most common form of firearm chosen for self defense.
There is no obvious reason, however, that more primitive forms of arms should be banned. The Founders took the field with everything from muskets and Kentucky Long Rifles to knives, swords, and clubs of the type in common use among the Indian tribes of what was then the frontier.
Go, Iraq
I've never been a big fan of the Olympic Games. I did my best to avoid them in Atlanta in 1996, at a time when I was living there. On the other hand, I was in China during the 2000 Olympics, and I can tell you that the Chinese take it very seriously: it was absolutely eerie how the streets became empty. Millions of people disappeared, in order to watch the games huddled around whatever television they could find. And when China would win a medal, everyone would cheer.
My wife and I, walking through the darkened and empty streets of a normally-bustling city, would suddenly hear a high cry as a few million voices raised together: everywhere, but out of sight.
So it is with tremendous pleasure that I read that at least two of Iraq's Olympic hopefuls will be competing this year. It is a disgrace that the Olympic Committee couldn't get off its... ah, couldn't find a way to resolve the matter in time for the other hopefuls to compete. It will mean a lot, though, to the people of Iraq to get to see their champions in competition with those of the other nations of the world.
I'll be rooting for Ms. Dana Abdul-Razzaq. In the Olympic spirit: Good luck. Bon chance. ¡Buena suerte! I'd put it in Arabic, but I don't have enough of the language to know the form.
Science at work
A new study, which got attention from slick Time Magazine, purports to show that moderate exercise won't help you with your long-term weight goals. How scientific was this study?
The study, led by John Jakicic at the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, followed nearly 200 overweight or obese women ages 21 to 45 through a two-year weight-loss program. The women were given free treadmills to use at home, regular group meetings and telephone pep talks to help keep them on track...I love that phrasing: "A slightly different data set than they had planned for."
The problem was that not enough of the women stuck with their assigned exercise categories for the researchers to gather enough meaningful data. Within a few months, most of the participants had resorted to exercising as much as they chose to. That left researchers with a slightly different data set than they had planned for...
Actually, I think what the scientific study has definitively proven is that laziness is very hard to overcome. Even with free treadmills, regular group meetings, and telephone pep talks.
The rest of the study's data, breathlessly reported in a major news magazine, are called into serious question by the utter breakdown of their methodology. I'd love to know who was responsible for funding a program for two years when "within a few months" it was clear the methodology had failed, and the results from the study would therefore be entirely unusable for the intended purpose.
Confess
I think my favorite of these confessions is the professor who got top marks for his paper on Wuthering Heights. (H/t Arts & Letters Daily.)
This points to a serious problem with far more than literature theory, though: the academic world has become extremely derivative. Nothing will produce greater disdain than writing a paper on a work of literature or history, or a scientific topic, which does not show that you have read the important secondary works on the subject. In a way, this makes sense: if you aren't aware of the important work already done on a topic, how do you intend to build on what we already know?
Yet it quickly becomes the case that there is so much secondary literature to read that there isn't really time to read the primary sources. Instead, you become a specialist on a small handful of topics -- or less, even -- mastering all the secondary literature on that little demense. In doing that, though, your own mind is quite limited in its capacity to investigate the original work. How will you tell me about Bronte if you haven't read her contemporaries? You may know everything about her, but if you didn't read the works that influenced her... or know about the politics troubling her lifespan...
We are pushing against the limits of human capacity. There is a short span in which a man lives, learns, writes, and dies. The need to build on what has come before us must, of necessity, cut into our capacity to see the original picture. As we were discussing Sidney Lanier, look again at his capacities: Middle English and French, Welsh, Anglo-Saxon. A man who today wished to be an expert in Anglo-Saxon poetics, as he was, would scarcely have time for any of the others. He would be swamped in secondary sources.
What is the answer? A second ring of generalists of the old sort, to check the specialists against the bigger picture?
Muzzle Discipline
Via The Donovan, the funniest thing I have seen in ages. This guy looks exactly like an Army Reserve Captain I used to know.
Military Deception
As a continuation of yesterday's post on the ethics of manipulation, an interesting example from the Hundred Years' War.* Sir John of Norwich is commanding a garrison in a city that comes under siege by a large French army. Discovering that the citizens are inclined to the French, that he has few provisions, and that there is little hope of aid from the main army, he decides to escape with his trusted companions.
He summons the Duke of Normandy, commanding the French army, and obtains a one-day truce to honor the Feast of Candlemas, "in honor of Our Lady." Then he packs up his stuff, and boldly rides out on that day directly through the French Army. Obliged by his word and his honor, the Duke allows them to withdraw in peace.
The poet Sidney Lanier,** in his redaction, adds a footnote: "This act of Sir John Norwich was mean and small beyond all decent words; for he took the basest advantage of the Duke of Normandy's honorable confidence in his fidelity to the sacred obligations of a truce."
In truth, I doubt the Duke minded much, since the result was that the city surrended to him peacefully. He obtained whole and without bloodshed what might have come to him in a far poorer condition, and with some loss.
Military deception has advantages and also disadvantages: a man who keeps his word and his truce in war does profit by it, especially in counterinsurgency efforts to win the population. Part of the reason the people of the city were inclined to be ruled by the Duke of Normandy was his honorable and decent character.
By the same token, American efforts in Iraq have profited strongly by the understanding that we would keep our word. Of all the actors in Iraq, of all the factions, we have been the most reliable: our terms are clear, and if you adhere to them, we will defend you and further your interests. While Iraq's factions still want self-rule, not American protection, they find it easier to trust and work with us as brokers than they do even with each other. Deception, while useful in certain cases, will dissolve that key advantage if overused.
On the other hand, trusting the enemy's word leaves you open to manipulation. It worked to the Duke's advantage in this case, but obviously it does not always. Likewise, there are times when deception is the only chance for a weaker party to attempt a danger: Sir John of Norwich saved his command unharmed for future battles this way; and centuries later, Allied forces were able to attempt Normandy due to careful efforts to distract its defenders.
The existence of war obviously changes the terms somewhat. We're looking at three different kinds of cases now: deceptive manipulation in intelligence work, deceptive manipulation in war, and deceptive manipulation between neighbors. It would be tempting to say that deception was licensed in a decreasing degree along these types of cases: nearly always in intelligence work, sometimes in war, and rarely in peaceful relations with neighbors. (And how about in a fourth case: politics?)
Insofar as men must carry out these deceptions, we should still try to establish an idea of exactly when "sometimes" is.
* If you follow the link and head down to the next chapter, starting on p. 122, you can read an interesting account of medieval counterbattery fire.
** It should be noted that Sidney Lanier practiced what he preached. He was a pilot on blockade runners, assisting English vessels in shipping Confederate cotton out through the Union blockade. On one occasion the ship was borded, and he refused to don an English uniform or deny his status as a Confederate. The Federals imprisoned him, and he contracted tuberculosis in prison, which tormented him the rest of his life. He has, therefore, earned the right to speak on the subject as a man who has sacrificed for his principles.
Manipulation as a virtue
One of the writers I admire most is Judith Martin, better known as "Miss Manners." Sometimes, though, she reminds me of a conversation I once had with an intelligence professional, which began with a question about what connotations I thought the word "manipulation" had. Were they negative?
I was especially annoyed at my neighbor who was complaining to me about this two days ago -- and just yesterday her daughter went into my cooler and took out my container of grapes and brought them over to my lounge chair and began eating them.An elegant solution -- a diplomatic one, even. Manipulative, however, from conception.
Her mom said "Susie, no" and the little girl just laughed and said, "But I like them" and continued to eat. I was so annoyed that I didn't know what to do, so I turned to my husband and asked if he would like to go swim with me.
As I said, we are friends, and our kids play together, but this is getting old. It is not a matter of not being able to afford it, either, because most of our neighbors live a much higher lifestyle than we do. Please help me know what to say without making enemies out of my neighbors!
The neighborly thing to do would be to show concern for the children and organize the parents to do something about it.
"The children always seem to be hungry at the pool," you can tell them. "Should we take turns bringing them snacks?"
Miss Manners does not expect such an enterprise to be the result. Rather, some parents will say that they don't want their children eating between meals, and others will argue about what they consider to be proper snacks.
This will empower you to say, the next time some child tries to help himself, "No, dear, I'm sorry, but your parents don't want you to have that."
So, an ethical question: Is manipulation a virtue? Under what circumstances? What are the necessary constraints to keep it from becoming vicious rather than virtuous?
Another
A little while back, I wrote:
It's interesting, in terms of how disconnected this election is from reality. If you want campaign finance reform, McCain is your candidate: he's really done things for you, hard things. Yet Obama has been running as the campaign finance reform candidate -- though he has no actual commitment to the issue, has done nothing but talk about it in terms of advancing it, and undercut the project at the first sign of advantage.Gateway Pundit has another example:
Similarly, if you are concerned about "change" in Iraq, McCain is your candidate. He stood up to the Bush administration and forced them to undertake the Surge, which Rumsfeld and others did not wish to do. The current successes are in many ways his progeny. He can honestly claim to be the candidate of a very positive change: the chance to wind up the Iraq war on a positive note, with relative stability and upcoming provincial elections, and a status of forces agreement of some sort rather than a withdrawal and collapse of the state of Iraq.
Obama has done nothing but talk, and hasn't updated his concepts on Iraq since 2006.
Twice, apparently. As for the scourge of AIDS in Africa, I'm not sure how much Sen. McCain has done, but Bush has done quite a bit."Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?"Barack Obama talks.
Barack Obama
Campaign Speech in Berlin, Germany
July 24, 2008
Barack Obama talks about lifting the child from Bangladesh from poverty.
John McCain already did it.
As Eric likes to say, 'Facta, non verba.'
Smart
John Derbyshire has an article on America's issue with intelligence. On the one hand, it's an amazing change in the world, because for the first time intelligence is the primary factor in whether you rise or fall -- a fact with huge implications. On the other hand, it's at odds with the notion that 'men are created equal.' He thinks this is the real issue with Sen. Obama:
It seems to me that we are starting to be a little more open and truthful about these matters. Columnist Chris Satullo in the Philadelphia Inquirer back in May pointed out that the charges of "elitism" then being hurled at Barack Obama were really about smarts.I never thought Sen. Obama was all that smart. He doesn't come across as being particularly intelligent -- certainly not stupid, probably above-average, but I've met some real geniuses in my time, and he is not among them. He has a Harvard education and has been given positions of academic honor, but has produced no scholarship of note. His prose is forgettable; it sounds good at the time, but no idea is so clearly expressed and insightful that it stays with you. If he meant any of it, he might think deeper and come up with better lines: but in general, he strikes me as someone of reasonable but not shocking intelligence, who has a talent for speaking but nothing worth saying.
The charge of elitism isn't about people flaunting income; it's about people flaunting IQ. Americans, as a rule, don't resent people who have more money than them — particularly if the wealth is seen as earned. Envy, maybe, but not resent. You don't resent people whom you hope to emulate. And most Americans dream easily about having much more dough than they do. What Americans more readily resent is someone who is smarter than them, who knows it, who shows it, and who seems to think being smart makes you better than everyone else. A gap in income, you can always dream of closing. A gap in IQ, not so much. It's more personal, thus easier to resent.
I've never found intelligence worthy of resentment: admiration, rather. If I resent anything about Sen. Obama, it's that he's risen so high on so little actual accomplishment -- I don't even resent that he's done it on so little work, since that's a sort of accomplishment in itself. It's just that nothing he's turned his hand to has prospered; no one who has befriended him, except his fair wife, has gained the honors that friendship rightly earns. Yet he rises on, ever, with those in his trail forever disappointed, wondering why he promised so much and then left them behind. This is the clear message of the Boston Globe's piece on the slums his housing efforts produced, and the New Yorker interviews with those who used to work with Obama in Chicago. It is the clear message also of his relationship with the preacher who sponsored him in Chicago politics, and his grandmother (and indeed, answering Hitchens, I can quote a line from his speech on race from memory: that line. It is the one he made memorable, by his deeds).
No, what bothers me is that no one seems ever to have stopped him and said, "Fine -- but before you advance again, tell us: What have you done?"
UPDATE: I have deleted a paragraph here, because on reflection it distracts from the discussion of the concept of Derbyshire's piece, which is the interesting part.
UPDATE: According to Steve Sailer, John McCain tested at IQ 133, which is not bad. (Assuming standard distribution, it would place him in the top few percentage points of humanity. It's also more than "two standard deviations" above the mean IQ of 100. If Derbyshire were right, that would mean Sen. McCain was too intelligent to communicate effectively with the majority of Americans -- if you add up the ones right at 100, and the ones below it, it would only be the most intelligent Americans who could understand him. Sen. Obama, being a famously great communicator, should sit lower on the curve according to that model: somewhere around 120 would be optimal, as it would allow you to be intelligent enough to communicate well with the most intelligent (up to around 150, which is close to everyone) as well as the bulk of people sitting from 90-110.
I doubt that the model is right, though -- I mention it only because it runs strongly counter to what appears to be the popular impression. Sen. Obama has been accorded an impression of being a serious thinker by the press; Sen. McCain is assumed to be somewhat slower. Yet Sen. McCain is in fact confirmed to be of reasonably high IQ .
Sen. Obama's does not appear to be public; I've seen estimates Googling around from 125-148, but they all appear to be SWAGs not based on any actual test results. The higher end results (130-148) estimate off the LSAT, but not Sen. Obama's actual LSAT, which isn't public -- just the median scores for Harvard law. The LSAT is not actually an IQ test, nor is it particularly difficult.
These popular impressions about the candidates' intelligence are probably rooted more in our prejudices than in their actual intelligence. As a culture, we think of older people as being mentally slow -- a hostile prejudice undeserved in the case of those who remain mentally engaged and active; in fact, research indicates that intelligence changes with age, but does not necessarily decrease, and may even benefit in some areas.
By the same token, we tend to think of Ivy League graduates as being exceptionally intelligent. Yet this prejudice is generally set aside when someone runs counter to our own decision-making process: it would be hard to find anyone who thought George W. Bush and John Kerry were about equally intelligent, though both are members of Yale's Skull & Bones. The normal opinion is that one is a sharp character and the other is a buffoon; but which one is which depends on where your own prejudices lie.