I cannot believe I spent the last week doing nought but work. Light blogging, indeed.
Being a responsible grownup sucks.
Now if I could just go back in time, convince my dad to not die, and convince him to give me a whopping huge allowance, I could spend my days & nights working on a masterpiece of the rhetorical arts. But no, it is not to be.
I guess I'll have to win the lottery.
Whoops - I guess we'll have to get a lottery here in NC first.
Since that won't be happening (not if I can help it), and since I won't be producing my own masterpieces today, I'll instead urge you to read "Victory" by the inimitable Bill Whittle.
It's long, but read every word. It's marvelous.
And in lieu of clicking on my non-existant donation button, click the one on Bill's main page.
According to some self-appointed damned silly poltroons environmentalist-type people, if everyone were like me, with my environmental footprint, it would take 12.8 Earths to support the human race.
I imagine that most of it comes down to the fact that I drive a big gas-sucking SUV - always alone. And I eat a lot of meat. And I am the sole occupant of my house. And I am an American.
I had no idea I was such a greedy bastard. Therefore, I shall adopt a new slogan, a new way of life - a new way of looking at environmentalism:
Earth First! - We'll get around to raping the other planets later.
I'll be burning down the house (with the SUV in the garage), moving to Haiti and converting to veganism... uh... soon. Ya, soon....
Don't hold your breath, unless you're an eco-nazi, in which case, please hold your breath - forever.
(Thanks to Acidman for the pointer.)
UPDATE: Steve at Little Tiny Lies helpfully points out that I left out any mention of guns. While I don't really think they impact the world as much as my SUV does (until I flip out and start shooting the bunnies in my backyard, etc.), they do make me more evil merely by the fact that I own them. Yes, them. Rifles. Shotguns. Pistols. Note that all are mentioned in the plural.
How evil am I now?
(Also, Steve, please note that "TacJammer" might be defined as "one who operates a TacJam.")
"France is like someone who’s been given a glimpse of the future, sees himself committing suicide, and resolves to spend his remaining days making it look like murder."
- James Lileks' Bleat, 21 April 2003
There is a meme afoot that must be killed, smothered now, before it is allowed to go any further.
After the looting of the Baghdad museum, a recurring theme in the media (as partially detailed by the Media Research Center) is "the US cares more for preserving Iraq's oil fields than for preserving its culture."
Well, perhaps this need not be killed, so much as converted. Fortunately, this can be done without a lot of argument, discourse, or other hullabaloo.
The correct answer when you hear accusations that "the military cares more about protecting the oil than the museums" is "Damn straight it does."
Given the forces available in Baghdad, could the museum have been protected? Sure. A platoon of Army MPs or Marines could have done the job admirably. But can the critics really be so dim as to think that GEN Franks' staff expected anything like the looting which has occurred? Some civil disturbance, sure, but if examined honestly, even the critics have to admit that no one, not even a very large set of staff officers, can anticipate every eventuality. The result of this episode, from the military's point of view, will be lesson learned, let's move on.
But this ignores the bigger issue: given a finite set of resources, what is more important to protect? Oil or antiquities?
It's actually a little more complicated than that. Perhaps the question could be better phrased; for "oil", substitute "a nation's only natural resource."
Taken to its logical conclusion, the question boils down to "is it more important to preserve the possibility of a prosperous future, or to potentially condemn a nation to years of a poverty brightened only by the opportunity to see reminders of the past?"
If the answer isn't blindingly obvious, your name is probably Peter Jennings. Or maybe Robert Fisk.
America should be less concerned with the museums than the oil: the former is the Past, contributing nothing to the people of Iraq except dreams of past glories, while the latter is the Future, with the potential to make the Iraqi people the most prosperous and free in the Persian Gulf region.
I've often wondered what the best way to advance my career might be. I guess I could have used these lessons.
Is world conquest your gig?
- When you go home from the office, do you wish it were a Subterranean Island Base with optional Volcano Upgrade instead of a crappy apartment?
- Would you prefer to drive yourself home in your "Li'l Crusher" Economy Mobile Offensive Unit, or is being chaufferred in your SPV Advanced Armored Vehicle more your style?
- Do you dream of outfitting your henchmen with Exploding Obedience Collars?
- Is your concealed-carry weapon of choice a Gizesukarisito Mark 1 Multidimensional Handcannon?
- Does nothing get you quite as squishy as the prospect of owning your very own Morbitek Zombification Ray (Mk 1)?
- And when you're down and out, do you dwell on ending it all with a Planet Kabanger?
If so, then Villain Supply may just be your one-stop shopping center!
Kim du Toit writes something I've been thinking for a while, but does so in a way I was unable to express adequately without significant amounts of foul language (something any reader here knows I try to do without, despite my soldierly past.)
The anti-American Left has gone so far off the deep end that they've essentially departed the arena of ideas, where logic and discourse could once be counted on to persuade, or at least to reasonably exhort. Civil discourse, of course, is essential to the conduct of civil society.
No longer. The extreme Left is no longer capable of persuading or being persuaded. Rancor is their stock in trade, and hate is their motivating emotion. Thought, logic and reason rarely enter into the Left's conduct.
So like I said, Kim says it better than me: There is no "we" anymore.
One of my regular reads Trevalyan posts a Most Righteous Fisking of that Iraq Minister of Information wannabee himself, Robert "25 loo roll" Fisk.
"BBC Style" can only be used in the same oxymoron competition as "French hygiene" or "Jean Chretien's Clarity Bill" but I'll bite. It's because more than 40 countries are gunning for America to win this war, and Poland, Australia, Britain, Spain, and CANADA (in the strangest military policy in human history, we have more Allied military assets in theatre than anyone but the USA or UK, yet can't even support the American action. Go figure.) are all helping bring down the den of evil. How many countries are actively hoping Saddam will win?Not even their idiot governments have that large a death wish. I assure you, however, the free peoples are taking notes.
Read the whole thing. (Harsh language warning....)
Acidman - usually gruff, crude, sarcastic and funny as heck - turns off the cynicism and manages to get me all sniffly.
I am put in mind of that photo of JFK Jr. saluting as his father's casket passed by... that one always tears me up.
Imperial Department of Hegemony By Force
