OOH-Rah -- I tell you what, every now and then that Bush fellow really gets one right.
Speaking of getting it right, Michelle Malkin's WWII-poster Photoshop contest results (here and especially here) are something to see. I hope we'll be seeing serious prosecution for these leakers, who took oaths to keep our secrets and then betrayed them. In the meantime, as Darleen's Place put it:
Don't Kill Her Daddy with Careless Talk!
This afternoon I took the wife to the Borders bookstore in Warrenton, so she could look at art magazines. She loves to look at art and flower and horse magazines. Actually, she's the biggest magazine-reader I ever met. In addition to looking at these things at the store, and then buying the ones she likes best, she has numerous subscriptions. She reads every one of them cover to cover. Last Tuesday the mail brought two of them at once. When I handed them to her, I said, "Well, there goes a week's productivity." She hit me.
(Yes, Cassidy, I know.)
Anyway, we went to Borders. After the first hour or so, I had looked at everything in the store twice and decided to just go get some coffee.
The coffee shop is upstairs on a ledge overlooking the rest of the store. That's just the way they designed it.
I went upstairs and there was this young guy running the coffee stand, flirting with his female customer. He was laughing and passing her coffee and change and receipts, and making what were intended as witty comments and trying to make her laugh. Finally, he turned and suddenly tossed her the container of cream cheese for her bagel --
-- which missed her by quite a bit --
-- and landed at my feet.
He looked abashed, looked at me, looked more abashed, and managed to get the girl out of there quickly and without any further witty banter. She left, and he watched her go as he spoke to me. He was twirling a roll of tape around his finger as he talked -- 'welcome to Seattle's coffee, what can I get you' --
-- when suddenly the tape came off his finger --
-- flew past my head --
-- and landed just behind me.
He cleared his throat. I handed him his tape back, and ordered a cup of regular coffee.
He nods, turns around and sets up the cup, and opens the tap so that coffee starts to pour into my cup. He steps away to get the cream, asks if I want cream, I don't want cream, all right no cream then -- he puts the cream back.
By this point, the coffee is pouring over the top of the cup and off onto the floor.
He turns around, sees it, and with a shout -- 'Ah!' -- he shuts it off. "Well," he said, "seeing as that cup is now scalding hot and soaked I'll, er, get you another one."
He looks at the coffee machine, and notices he has poured all the coffee out on the floor.
"Would you prefer a lighter or a darker roast?" he asks.
"Dark," I said.
"Oh, good, that's all that's left." He fetches a new cup and fills it from the "DARK ROAST" pot at the end. I paid him, and sat down to read the newspaper.
A little while later, I saw two soldiers walking through the bookstore below. They were in uniform, and I noticed they were wearing the flag patch on their shoulders. They walked up into the cafe and off to the restrooms.
While they were in the restrooms, I went over to the guy and told him that -- whatever they ordered -- he was to refuse to take their money, and just let me pay for it. I told him not to tell them who'd done it. I have a good reason for that. If someone does something nice for you, you think, "What a nice guy." But if something nice is done for you by someone unknown, you think of all sorts of different people who might have done it. You think about why these people might have done it. And that gives a better sense to the soldier of just how much they really are owed.
They got their drinks and left. I studiously ignored them, in case they were searching for a sign of who might have bought them drinks. I didn't want them to know, so I just continued to read the paper.
A little while later, the wife finally came upstairs. I asked if she wanted some coffee. She said she did, so I gave her some cash and told her to go over and get whatever she wanted, and pay the man what I owed as well. She didn't understand why I would owe anything, but I told her -- don't worry about it, he'll know. She gave me a funny look, and went to pay.
A few minutes later, I hear this exchange:
"I'd like a frozen vanilla coffee. Oh, and my husband wanted me to pay what he owed."
(It turns out another clerk had come on duty, so I hear a female voice). "Who's your husband?"
"The gentleman over there."
"Hm. I don't know. Let me ask [the name of the male clerk]."
So the lady clerk called over the other clerk, and my wife repeated, "My husband said to pay what he owes."
"Who's your husband?" the male clerk asks.
"The gentleman over there," my wife ever-so-patiently repeats.
"Oh," said the clerk. "The gentleman with the hat and the big knife?"
"Yes, that one," the wife agreed.
"He doesn't owe anything," the clerk replied. "Neither do you."
And then he opened up the register, and gave her back the money I'd paid him for my coffee.
"Your drinks are on the house."
I tried to talk him into taking the money, but he flatly refused. It's a good world, you see -- sometimes.
Heidi at Euphoric Reality points me to a story about a Nike advert that is apparently causing some objections among incredibly brain-dead kind-hearted British folk. The image in the ad is of a soccer player, who has painted himself white with a red cross that makes up his hands and arms, and from his face to his belly. The red cross is done in a ragged sort of style, with the effect that the soccer man looks a bit like a bloody albino.
It isn't the bloody-albino effect causing the protest, though, but rather:
Rev Rod Thomas of Church of England evangelical group Reform was not convinced. ‘It’s quite a disturbing image and because the paint is wet, it really looks like blood,’ he said. ‘It therefore brings to mind the crucifixion to many people, and why Nike would want to do that, I haven’t a clue, unless it is simply as a publicity stunt.’Now, we all know -- as does the Reverend Rod, who mentions it later -- that the red cross on a white field is the Cross of St. George, which happens to be the national flag of England. It is also the flag used by supporters of England's soccer team. So, as to why you'd want to paint an English soccer player with the Cross of St. George, it takes very little imagination for a thinking man to sort that out.
I don't know about this, but in my part of Virginia, it's too hot to think. I trust you will all forgive me, but it's almost 9 PM, the heat index is still over 92 degrees, humidity is high and rising, and I haven't had much of a coherent thought in hours.
Blackhawk, sir, when you are ready to claim your hat, please drop me an email.
Oh, yes -- the DOD did finally decide on that contract it's been pondering over for three years. It awarded it to some firm I'd never heard of until a few days ago. I've obviously made many plans and options ready in case of such an action -- when you're working on "you might be unemployed in 20 days!" for three years, your thoughts do tend to turn to contingencies -- but if anyone out there is in possession of an especially adventurous option, I would be inclined to hear it.
Celestial Junk Blog warns us to prepare for the outrage:
As news reaches us that two US troopers were “slaughtered” by Islamo-fascist terrorists, we must brace ourselves for the inevitable Mainstream Media outrage, human rights organization fury, and overall international do-gooder annoyance. It’s going to be quite something as page after page of editorials from BBC to NYT scream headlines like, “US Troopers Denied Geneva Rights”, or, “Islamist Crime Evidence that Freedom Fighters are Just Terrorists”. Daily KOS will launch into days of angry profanity filled rage against the Islamist thugs who committed the crime, and even Al Jazeera will bemoan in giant headlines, “Islam Slandered Once Again by Islamist Extremists.”I'd better go get ready.
Brace yourselves boys and girls, it’s going to be ugly. Amnesty will of course decry the fact that Islamist terrorists, after this sadistic act, are now even more depraved than the Abu Ghraib bum-pile perverts. Leftist blogs the world over will warn Muslim fanatics that they had better start wearing uniforms if they want to be accorded Geneva convention rights. And, the CBC in Canada and the BBC will come to the conclusion, that the murder of the two US servicemen, proves once and for all that “Terrorism is the enemy of all Civilization”.
Strong words from Austria:
The EU has welcomed US president George W. Bush's statements on ending the Guantanamo prison camp, with the Austrian chancellor saying after Wednesday's bilateral summit that it is "grotesque" to claim that the US is harmful to world peace.I think we'd all like to see GitMo closed. The problem is -- what do you do with the people there if you close it? Bush says he'd like to send them home, except a few to be tried in US courts. I have opposed, and still do oppose, the idea of using criminal courts to try terrorists: they aren't criminals, entitled to the protections of a civilization even when they defy its laws. They're hostis humanii generis, enemies of all mankind, like pirates.
Initially, a federal judge dismissed the Filartigas’ claims on the grounds that Paraguay’s treatment of its own citizens was not governed by international law. But the Court of Appeals rejected this reasoning. Specifically, the Court of Appeals found that torture was a violation of international law, and that torturers—like the pirates of the 18th century—were hostis humanii generis (enemies of all mankind) who could be brought to justice anywhere.Amnesty and I agree that there are enemies of that type -- people for whom civilization should set aside its protections. The questions on which we differ are these:
In the Filartiga v. Peña-Irala ruling, the appeals court relied on the 1975 United Nations Declaration Against Torture and All Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the United Nations promulgated following Amnesty International’s first international campaign against torture. The relationship between human rights activism and success in the courtroom could not have been clearer.
The Filartiga case led to dozens of other cases over the next two decades against human rights violators found within the United States, including Ferdinand Marcos and Radovan Karadzic. Under the ATCA, the federal courts accepted claims of torture, extra-judicial killing, prolonged arbitrary detention, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The Geek with a .45 notices a little tampering with a review of the new Superman:
Quote:Commenter Rick C notes that the trailer contains a similar formula:
-----------
In "Superman Returns" (written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story they cooked up with Singer), the caped crusader for truth, justice, etc. (Brandon Routh) returns to crime-ridden Earth after a five-year detour...
-----------
Truth, justice, etc?
Perry White demands to see if he still stands for "truth, justice--all that stuff."
Much has been made of the anti-patriotic rant by one or another of the Dixie Chicks:
"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."What makes this an astonishing question is that the Dixie Chicks arose from a tradition whose most famous members have directly addressed the very question asked here. Maines can't be ignorant of the answers proposed, because no one who once made a successful living as a country music singer could have failed to encounter those responses. She will have heard, for example, John Wayne's direct answer to the question, which begins:
And so he does, at length -- not only in the song, but in a book of the same name. John Wayne, feared and loathed by parts of the Left even to this day for his iconic power, was in love with a land of beauty -- truly, and purely, in love.You ask me why I love her?
Well, give me time, and I'll explain.
For my part, I've spent the last three years working on a novel that features a thinly disguised John Wayne as the villainous central figure in a 13-year-old girl's coming-of-age story.Why should John Wayne, of all people, seem villanous -- particularly to a 13-year-old girl? My wife tells me that she spent her childhood dreaming of growing up to marry John Wayne. Still, some people do think he is a secret villian, somehow dark and evil.
Wayne's greatness lies in his ability to embody this figure utterly while somehow retaining a hint of innocence, of hope. He's the hard-boiled man out on the frontier, after all, not trapped in the decaying, decadent city. While personal psychic redemption may be beyond him, he stands a chance of breaking clean ground for others, of protecting the women and the fresh-faced, naive young men (Montgomery Clift, Jeffrey Hunter and, most oddly, the 54-year-old Jimmy Stewart in "Liberty Valance") who wander into the unfinished, dangerous West. America might have a chance for greatness on the back of a man like Wayne, but he'll always take others to the mountain top, never get there himself. He's seen too much ugliness, in the breaking and mastering of this wild land, in the purging of the hostile natives. In himself.Yet this is just what the patriot can do, that the anti-patriot cannot. He can love in spite of his pain; it does not twist his love into something else. The world has hurt him, yet it is still his world. The country, his mother, they are not perfect -- but they are his country and his mother. His loyalty is not diminished. He retains hope, and love, and faith.
Quarterly taxes being due yesterday, I don't have much to offer to Project VALOR IT right now. I will, however, make a personal sacrifice if anyone will make a donation to the cause: I have a Stetson I would send to any reader who wishes to wear one of Grim's own hats (or decorate your horse with one, or whatever). It is a Chevron, which is more suitable for city wear than most Stetsons, yet still good for the countryside. It's in size 7 5/8 (or "61," in the Australian terms).
Readers must pay for shipping, and make a donation to Project VALOR IT. The size of the donation isn't as important as getting some money toward serving our wounded -- pick any amount you think fair. Email or comment if you're interested.
UPDATE: Blackhawk's offer states that he needs a hat right away to deal with the Texas summer sun. I'll leave this open the rest of the day only, to give all readers a full workday to encounter the offer and consider it, but if there are no other bids I shall close the offer tonight. We wouldn't want a man going hatless in this weather.
I have only one comment about this story: these people have outstanding taste in gifts. I'd be happy to receive any of those things.
Grim's Hall has always supported Operation VALOR IT. Sadly, events here continue at a pace such that I haven't been able to blog much -- or read much outside of my professional readings -- the last week or two. As a consequence, I haven't mentioned the current drive to fund the operation. If you haven't seen it at other websites, please visit the link.
Read this from Monday, too.
I went into see the doctor today to get a tetanus shot, on account of having stepped on a rusty nail. It took three hours -- it's getting hard to get in and out of a doctor's office, as I imagine all of you have noticed.
While I was there, I got a little taste of Gunny Therapy. It wasn't a bad wound, and I wouldn't have gone in at all except for the tetanus risk -- I cleaned it out carefully with a knife and some rubbing alcohol yesterday, so by this morning it was mostly healed and just a little sore if I put my full weight on it. After sitting for two hours waiting on the doctor, she finally turned up and asked to see the wound.
"Not much to see," I said, but she insisted, so I pulled off my boot and sock. She peered at the foot for a second or two, and so did I.
"Could be this is the wrong foot," I said. That's when she hit me.
Hey, I told her I just needed a tetanus shot.
Nice girl, for a New York Yankee. She was a vet -- Air Force -- and we talked for a little while before she went on. I did get my shot (another hour later, when someone could spare the time to give it to me), so it all worked out. Got home just in time to go pay the taxes. Happy Second Quarter to you, too.
Via Russ Vaughn, again:
Thank God our safety is in the hands of these guys from the Midwest and South and not those snivelly effeminates from Brown, Brandeis, Columbia and NYU. If it were so, we'd by now all be prayer rugs.Just don't forget our brothers in Texas, who deserve their own mention.
A wee cartoon from the Arizona Republic:
Russ Vaughn sends, and suggests that you might want to write them a letter. Which, of course, is the point -- we'll be writing letters. Even the mention of "war" in the headline is just a reference to old Bugs Bunny cartoons. The blood-soaked, murderous Marines that the media loves to scorn will express their wrath with carefully-worded letters. They will explain, again, the honor and discipline of the Corps; its extraordinary history of service and the glory of its battle-record; and so forth and so on. It won't make any impression at all, except we might get a letter of apology from the editor, who probably told his administrative assistant to go ahead and dash one off for him at the same time he decided to publish this cartoon.
Not to mention any names, but I can think of some people who get more respect from various cartoonists these days. Something about arson and death threats, I think. Apparently that's the path to respect where the newspapers of the world are concerned. Maybe someday they'll stop to reflect on that fact, and what it says about them.
Thailand has an interesting new counterinsurgency strategy it is considering: pay civilians to shoot insurgents.
As you read the article, it will help to know that Pattani is one of four Muslim-majority provinces in the south of Thailand, which are experiencing a bloody insurgency. Like most such things, this insurgency has mainly directed its violence at the defenseless -- monks, schoolteachers, immigrant workers from even poorer countries than Thailand -- though insurgents have demonstrated a capacity for fighting off the Thai military and police on occasion. Thailand, whcih has strict gun control, began arming teachers some time ago, and certain trusted citizens. Police General Chitchai Wannasathit, in addition to being Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, was recently the acting Prime Minister -- in other words, a very important man. General Sonthi is the chief of Thailand's army, also a very important man, and the first Muslim to occupy that position. It was hoped his appointment would 'win hearts and minds' among the southern insurgents, but it has not: he is a Muslim, but an ethnic Thai, whereas the insurgents are Muslims but ethnic Malays.
Now that you know all that:
The governor of Pattani wants to offer cash rewards of 50,000-100,000 baht to civilians who kill or injure insurgents in gun fights. He says rewards would give people an incentive to fight back, but academics and law experts argue it would just encourage more extra-judicial killing."People should trust the government" is not a very reassuring slogan, but "people should learn to proctect themselves" certainly is.
However, caretaker Justice Minister Chidchai Wannasathit and army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin appeared to second the idea yesterday.
Pattani governor Panu Uthairat said his proposal was a security measure aimed at protecting the lives of innocent people in the province. ''In some cases, people want to retaliate. Some have fired warning shots into the sky. Others clashed with insurgents who were killed or wounded in the process,'' he said.''Some wounded insurgents were caught. In the past, we handed out 5,000 to 10,000 baht in cash to civilians to boost their morale so they will fight back in self-defence,'' he said.
A source said civilians would be given 50,000 baht each if their return fire hit any insurgents, leading to their capture. The amount would double if the insurgents were killed.
Mr Panu said the authorities could not provide security for people around the clock. People should learn to protect themselves. They should be permitted to carry guns but only use them in self-defence, he said.
Legal experts questioned the Pattani governor's authority to offer a cash reward. Outgoing Bangkok Senator Sak Kosaengruang, formerly president of the Lawyers Council, said the idea was dangerous and unlawful.
If the reward was offered to police, it would lead to extra-judicial killing by unscrupulous officers, he warned....
Pol[ice] Gen Chidchai, also a deputy prime minister, downplayed fears a reward-system would give rise to extra-judicial killings. He promised to consider both sides of the proposal.
Gen Sonthi said the reward offer was a strategy by the governor to stimulate people to be extra careful. People should trust the government's judgment in tailoring anti-insurgent strategies to the region.
With a possible exception for certain foreign countries, there is no such thing as a gun-free man.I would be happy to accept this as the mark of manhood--but if you feel that something else should be used, feel free to comment on it.
