I May Go See This One

An American Carol

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.

Good Point

A Very Good Point from XKCD:

OK...

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?

Edward Luttwak Strikes Again!

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

Male/Female by Website:

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

Locating Authority:

Via both our friend Dad29 and our friend Feddie at Southern Appeal, a little lesson in authority.

From the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

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.

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."

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.

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.

So bear in mind: Obama really does think that, at least some of the time, the Holy Spirit is moving him when he speaks.

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.

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.

Learning to hunt.

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

A Further Thrust:

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

Sabers and Spurs:

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

Solidarity Between the Georgias:

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?

What?

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.

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!

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?

Another Judicial Outrage

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

A Satisfied Woman Speaks:

A quote for the ages:

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

Women and Senators First:

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.

Bipartisanship

Bipartisanship:

Ouch. This one's kind of good.

Goodness

A Vision of the Future?

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

A Warning on 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.

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.

Read it through, and let's discuss.

Dogs on the Furniture??

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.