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My review of Noah Andre Trudeau’s book Southern Storm: Sherman’s March to the Sea is available at Amazon.com here.
This volume is very much worth reading. The only reason I can think of for not buying it at Amazon is that I found a copy in the bargain bins at my local Barnes and Noble for $5. How a book this good ended up in that bin is beyond me.
…one about the past and one about the present.
Nasty Thought #1: All this draft nonsense:
Do you get the feeling that MSNBC and the left are pushing and talking draft right now because they are afraid of Gen Petraeus? Not afraid of him politically but afraid of him as a general. I have the horrible and uncharitable feeling that they are afraid he will actually win this war.
Success in the war would mean a more powerful US. One more likely to act rather than talk. The concept of the US military as a force never to be used is even more sacred to the left than the first black president. They aren’t in a position to attack Petraeus so the only way to counter him is to get the country talking draft. With a high unemployment rate and college so expensive it is a tempting solution to several social/economic problems but it would scare the britches off of many in the ME generation.
The left has never lost their love of 60’s radicalism, it was their greatest moment, it is their dream to bring it back in living color.
Such an appraisal is not very fair to most of the left and is as I said a nasty thought, but right now it is stuck in my head and won’t come out.
Nasty Thought #2 Al Gore
For years I’ve wondered why Al Gore didn’t assert himself during the Clinton Impeachment stuff. It would have been up to Gore to talk to the president and say it was time for him to go. If he had conventional wisdom says he would have easily won election in 2000 and maybe even in 2004. Not only did he not assert himself but he after the impeachment vote made that ludicrous speech calling Mr. Bill “One of our greatest presidents” (talk about grading on a curve)! In my mind the question has always been: Why did he play along?
I have the nasty feeling that question has now been answered. Does anyone believe for one moment that if the Clintons knew Gore had some ahem “interesting diversions” they wouldn’t have held that over him? Al understood that people judge a Rogue differently than a “strait arrow”. It’s the expectations game. People were not surprised that Clinton was messing around and judged him accordingly, but Gore? He would be judged by his strait arrow image.
Again this is a nasty thought and assumes Gore’s guilt but I can’t get it out of my head.
Are these thoughts a sign I am becoming paranoid or am I just becoming more street savvy? What do you think?
My review of David Laskin’s latest: The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War is available at Amazon.com here.
Considering the context of the current immigration debate it becomes timely while reminding people of a war all but forgotten.
Do you remember this story from a couple of weeks ago:
Since when were arms for jihadis considered aid? Watch this unfold.
Iranian aid ships head for Gaza Yahoo
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran is sending aid ships to blockaded Gaza, state radio said on Monday — a move likely to be considered provocative by Israel which accuses Tehran of arming the Palestinian enclave’s Islamist rulers, Hamas.
One ship left port on Sunday and another will depart by Friday, loaded with food, construction material and toys, the report said. “Until the end of (Israel’s) Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid,” said an official at Iran’s Society for the Defense of the Palestinian Nation.
Well it has unfolded or should we say unraveled?
Iran announced that the aid ship to Gaza, which was to leave on Sunday, will not be leaving. The secretary general of an Iranian organization supporting Palestinians, Hussein Sheikh el-Islam, said during a press conference that the main reason for the cancellation was “the Zionist regime’s violence and inhuman response to humanitarian aid.”
He said the aid would be transferred to Gaza in other ways, and not in Iran’s name
Not in Iran’s name? They are not only backing down, but they don’t even want their name associated with the “aid”. We haven’t seen such bravery since the days of Camelot.
The prophetic Michael Ledeen notes several lessons from the Iranian backdown:
1. They talk a lot but they’re afraid, profoundly afraid (can you imagine the RG generals talking to the Supreme Leader? “But Excellency, they will kill us all…”);
2. They will not risk direct confrontation, because any defeat will encourage the Iranian people to bring them down;
3. They talk a lot about the glories of martyrdom, but the martyrs they have in mind are the Arabs they send into battle or on suicide missions against us;
4. The trouble with American leaders is that they want to be loved, whereas a healthy dose of fear will do wonders for the region.
The emphasis on #3 is mine. It should be read by every Arab who has been taken in by these bastards to be used as cannon fodder. With the brave Iranians running away the question becomes will the Turks seeing the actions of Brave Brave Sir Robin the servants of Ahmadinejad the tough guys getting nukes ready, will they decide to stick out their necks alone? I think not. The strong horse/weak horse theory still applies.
Via Glenn Reynolds who brings back memories with this Gem.
At your throat or at your feet. It’s not just the Germans.
I haven’t heard the Germans described that way in years. Many years.
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