Archive for August 9, 2010

Joe Scarborough in command at Spotsylvania Court House

Posted: August 9, 2010 by datechguy in Afghanistan war, opinion/news
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On Morning Joe again today Joe Scarborough brought out his favorite number “50 Al qaeda” when talking about Afghanistan and if we should be there. (it was not the most ridiculous statement of the show as a guest talked how it costs $1 mil per GI there saying we should spend it on their people instead as if a ten man medical team was not just slaughtered there two days ago) Every time the subject of Afghanistan is brought up the 50 al-Qaeda number is trumpeted by Joe in his argument that we should cut and run withdraw.

By an odd coincidence I was re-reading about the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House this weekend. It was a seminal moment in the war because Grant after being defeated soundly at the Wilderness instead of retreating as other Union generals did raced for Spotsylvania to get around Lee by the left. Grant’s troops raced for the courthouse in the hope of getting there first.

James Longstreet had been badly wounded and his division was now under the command of the unexciting Richard Anderson. Anderson’s division, not renowned for speed, raced for the same point on a road that was being cleared even as he marched

At Spotsylvania the Cavalry of course got there first. There was a clash at a rail pile where Confederates defended against the Union Cavalry trying to dislodge them but the infantry was just behind them. When the first Union elements arrived General Warren (one of the heroes of Gettysburg told his Brigadier John Robinson to attack informing him that there was nothing but dismounted cavalry ahead of him.
It was true at the time he said it but between that moment and the time of attack, the first infantry brigades made it to the line, beating the union troops there by less than a minutes and insuring that the massive bloodshed that the country had gone through for 3 years would be prolonged for at least one more.

Under the Joe Scarborough theory of warfare there will never be anything more than Fitz Lee’s dismounted cavalry in front of the rail piles and all decisions to be made should be on that basis. There will always be just 50 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the Taliban are not our business.

I like Joe but lucky for us the tactical and strategic decisions in Afghanistan are not his.

I missed Saturday’s paper for the CNMC conference so I didn’t see this article…

Posted: August 9, 2010 by datechguy in local issues, local stuff
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…at the Fitchburg Sentinel on the Planned Parenthood protest:

As Friday’s protest began at 1 p.m., there didn’t seem to be any people heading into the office, causing Hanley to question whether it had opened.

Jesse Mermell, vice president of external affairs for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, denied that the office would open Friday. Mermell declined to provide any details on when the office will open.

But at around 1:30 p.m., a woman and her son knocked on the locked door of the Planned Parenthood office, telling a man who looked to be a security guard inside she had an appointment.

Afterward, the woman, Tamu Brobbey, confirmed she had an appointment Friday. emphasis mine

You mean Planned Parenthood lied about something? Who woulda thought it?

What cowards! They know they are going to be protested, anyone following our posts here since January KNOW they are going to be protested regularly, there have been protesters almost daily since day one, and yet Planned Parenthood with the power of the Federal Money and the City Council, the Mayor’s office and the City Solicitor backing them up all the way is too afraid to either put up their shingle or even admit that they are open.

Nothing like the courage of your convictions.

Even when long unemployed and the financial future uncertain…

Posted: August 9, 2010 by datechguy in personal
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…it is still less scary than knowing your oldest is going off with somewhere where a friend is trying to set him up with a girl.

Oddly in the digital age you can look up said girl on facebook etc, doesn’t make it less scary for me.

It’s worse when you are Italian. He is at college on an academic scholarship and works 25 hours a week as well. You want as few distractions as possible since that Scholarship is the only way we will pay for college right now, but when you are of Italian decent the first instinct is “Why don’t find a nice Catholic girl and settle down?”

It’s a crazy time.

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