Sic Semper Tyrannis

The DADT Report

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/dont-ask-dont-tell/DADTReport_FINAL.pdf

The MSM are beating the drums for this and ignoring any negative data in the report.

Looks like most of the troops will hold their noses and accept this.  A lot of wives don't like it.  What a surprise!  Lots of people among the actual fighters in the ground forces don't like it.  Another big surprise!  Most people will continue to soldier, at least until they are vested for retirement.

Some gay activists have said that service members who don't like this should leave. OK.  Will we see a surge in enlistments for the combat arms among openly gay people to replace those young people from conservative families who decide not to serve?  How about a draft to make up any shortages?

I expect that over extended periods of time the force will become a haven for homosexuals in the same way that the Catholic clergy and religious orders have become such havens.  The HIV/AIDS rates among such are astronomical.

Will this affect effectiveness?  I do not know.

There are enough who are opposed that it is likely there will be some ugly incidents.

There are some stupid recommendations, i.e.,  don't let them have married family quarters.  How are you going to do that if they are married in whatever state they are residing in?  The report says that soldiers should not be forbidden to accept their religion's belief that homosexual acts are sin, but that if they display such belief then they can be punished or transferred.  Where?

Traditional Army garrison life will come to an end with this.  The Army I was raised in will be gone.  The social life of units will largely end.  Nearly all the people who were surveyed have no knowledge of service in a peacetime force.  The Army is mostly about life in peacetime.  By my calculation of the history of my village (the US Army) the Army has been at war about 50 of the 235 years of the history of the Republic.  I do not include the constabulary campaigns against the Indians.

Are West Point grads looking forward to same sex marriages at graduation in the Cadet Chapel?  I doubt it.

I am opposed to this coming change but I am of a different generation, several generations actually.  pl 

pl

Wikileaks, the diplomatic turn

I am not terribly interested in this story.  The material is of only passing interest even to those mentioned.  Life goes on.

On the other hand, foreign affairs cannot be successfully conducted without the capability for private conversations and reporting.  If the material was stolen and released by someone with authorized access then that person should be prosecuted for some appropriately severe crime.  Assange?  The USG should seek to extradite him and his associates for trial on some other serious crime.  This should be done to ensure that people who think that their conscience or desire for notoriety outweigh their fear of prison have something to think about.  pl 

Restrepo the movie

 
I think this film should be required as an experience of the present war in Afghanistan.  I think the production by Junger and Heatherington is very good.

At the same time I have questions about what I see in the film.  I know that according to some famous dictum it is impossible to observe something without changing the thing itself.

Nevertheless, I have spent a lot of time in my "sort of life" hanging out with combat troops in combat, ours, theirs, etc. and this film disturbs me in a number of ways. 

This half platoon of parachute infantry and the officers who stuck them out on the end of a ridge finger in "apache" country for a year without apparent relief seem odd to me.

I am going to write some more about this after I see the film again and read the comments of the veterans who visit this place.  pl

http://restrepothemovie.com/platoon/

"American exceptionalism" Tumulty

"with Republicans and tea party activists accusing President Obama and the Democrats of turning the country toward socialism, the idea that the United States is inherently superior to the world's other nations has become the battle cry from a new front in the ongoing culture wars. Lately, it seems to be on the lips of just about every Republican who is giving any thought to running for president in 2012.

"This reorientation away from a celebration of American exceptionalism is misguided and bankrupt," former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney writes in his campaign setup book, "No Apology: The Case For American Greatness."  Tumulty

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This kind of thinking is on the rise.  A lot of people now seem to have the deep seated belief that we Americans really are better than everyone else.  This is reflected in Stephen Colbert's moronic chants of "USA!, USA!"  I didn't quite understand what he was getting at in the beginning but it is crystal clear now.  

Jingoism.  There is no other word for it.  I have seen it in a lot of other peoples.  I have never liked it in any of them, but it is new to me in the US.  The strength of this feeling is now merging in the US with an ignorant hostility to other cultures and peoples and an assumption that "foreigners" must be backward and subject to tuition rather than just different from us.

This tendency brings to mind the college professor of political science who said to me a few years ago that if it were true, as I had said, that the people of the Islamic World generally did not want to be transformed into new Europeans, then he would have to re-evaluate our culture and civilization.

My, My.  pl 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/28/AR2010112804139.html?hpid=talkbox1

 

Good Work by the FBI

"The FBI began tracking Mohamud in August 2009 when they discovered he was e-mailing a former Oregon student who was living in Pakistan's lawless northwest region, where Al Qaeda has a stronghold. The Associated Press reported that the bureau was led to Mohamud by a tip from someone concerned about him."  LA Times

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The FBI has developed the ability to provide would be terrorists the opportunity to live out their dream of violent Jihad.  In the last year or so there have been several instances in which this technique has been used with success.  I hope the FBI continues to do this.

I was consulted by the defense in one of these cases.  After considering the available evidence of what had occurred my opinion was that the Bureau had acted appropriately and that the man was both guilty and a danger to the American public. Accordingly I informed the defense that although the man was entitled to a defense he was not entitled to have me participate in it as an expert witness and I declined to do so.

Consider a typical scenario.  A young man develops the urge to violent jihad.  He contacts someone to say that.  This communication is brought to the attention of the FBI.  The Bureau responds by contacting him with a role player or two to ask if he is serious.  He indicates that he is.  That resolve is tested by offering the suggestion that he might want to act.  A planning process emerges in which the wannabe jihadi is a willing participant in reconnaissance, target selection, weapon design, etc.  He is reminded several times including at the time of simulated attack that many civilians will die or be wounded in this attack.  He persists.  A fake weapon is constructed by the FBI and provided to the "jihadi" who triggers the weapon in the full belief that he is killing hundreds.  In the case that I am most familiar with the "attacker" rejoiced in the existence of a child care center in the targeted building and suggested where to park the truck so as to kill as many children as possible.  He then radio "detonated" the bomb and was arrested.

Bravo FBI!  Bravo!  pl 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-portland-bomb-plot-20101128,0,7641294.story

National Journal Blog - 27 November 2010

 
Col. W. Patrick Lang Responds to As Deficit-Cutting Pressures Mount, Will Congress Cut Defense??.

"Opponents Hit Emanuel Where He Lives." WSJ

Could this be more perfect?   This might be  a film comedy or, maybe a Roman comedy, something by Plautus, "Politicus Gloriosus?"

The revenge of the parochial school boy/cab driver/real estate developer/Republican, how difficult would it have been to check the law on this?   Maybe RE can yell at him or curse or something.

Perhaps we see in this some indication of why the Obama WH has been so, so...   pl 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704008704575639103760556576.html

 

"Iran has role to play in Lebanon's stability: Hariri" AFP

 
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has a natural role in the region, especially in resolving crisis and strengthening stability in Lebanon."  Sa'ad Hariri quoted in AFP

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Now this IS amusing.  Sa'ad Hariri has been the darling of the AIPAC/Israel/Bush Administration collegium.  He has been described for years in those circles as a potential "savior" of Lebanon from the Hizbullah/Iran/Syrian forces that lurk in the background.

Now, apparently, the realities of life and politics in the eastern Mediterranean have penetrated his Saudi money filled head. 

Lebanon is once again on the brink of attack based in Israeli rage and frustration.  Hariri was supposed to know that he had been bought, not rented, but alas, his Saudi mentors have probably told him to go make peace with the Iranians.

So much for the AIPAC/Israeli belief that the Saudis are the implacable enemies of Iran.

Oh yes, let us not forget that in this speech he described Israel as the greatest threat in the region.  pl

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i18hmZ3YDg5mPjtaDyspGhDi9KAA?docId=CNG.0c72364653fa48fde37dd48eded0946e.ac1

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=121926#axzz16QlSyFHb

 

Korean War II?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/11/25/2010-11-25_hoping_china_chills_n_korea.html?r=news

 

 

Mice lead the way to immortality.

"Stem cell injections boosted the leg muscles of mice and warded off the typical loss of muscle mass that comes with aging.

The discovery could be useful in treating humans with degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy, as well as help everyday people prevent at least some of the ravages of time, the researchers said."  Discovery

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I'll have some of those for Christmas and I would like them to start with the stenosis in my Lumbar vertebrae.  pl

http://news.discovery.com/tech/stem-cells-create-mighty-mice.html