March 31, 2004

Middle Earth Parenting

So I went surfing over at Quizilla and dredged up the following results:




Which Lord of the Rings couple would be your dream parents?
brought to you by Quizilla




Your ideal Middle Earth parents are Celeborn and Galadriel. You’re an elf and you live in the beautiful woods of Lothlorien.

Your parents are very wise and will always be fair with you. They also give very good presents that seem cheesy until you realize that they are exactly what you need. Your mother is as beautiful as the dawn, which means that you will be handsome. Arwen is your niece; Elladan and Elrohir are your nephews. Elrond’s your brother in law.

Your mother’s a psychic, which means that you can never, ever lie to her. She’s the disciplinarian and will do her best to see that you become a wise and noble elf. All of your male friends will want to hang out at your flat constantly, in order to look at your mom.

Your father will try to be your best friend. He’s the one to ask when you want money for concert tickets or permission to go to a party. Since he’ll really want to impress you with his hipness, you’ll be forced to listen to him butcher teenage jargon. For example: “What up, homechild? Thou are trippin’ in that tunic, yo.” Try to keep him from doing this in public. Even with all that, Celeborn will spoil you—you’ll enjoy it—so live it up!

Some elements of the parenting quiz have been re-arranged as a result of your correspondent's monomaniacal interest in better format and whatnot. I'm a law student; it's my job to mess up other peoples' writings.

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March 30, 2004

Losing Politely

I've been paying attention to several "official" United Methodist Church internet outlets recently in the wake of the acquittal of the so-called "Reverend" Karen Dammann, in order to understand exactly what's going on here.1

A key talking point that keeps coming up is the need of Methodists to, as the latest article puts it, "[stay] in Christian conversation". There's been a distinct whine from officialdom about the need for everyone to remain civil and let's all be friends while the ship sinks. This fits into the model I've generally observed:

-Supporters of Karen Dammann, who are generally favorable to homosexuality, "tolerance", and "diversity". They generally don't get wrapped up in this resurrection of Christ nonsense, and prefer to focus upon political action.

-"Centrists", for lack of a better word, who tell everyone to be nice. "Stop shooting the nice xenomorphs, Corporal Hicks. If you wouldn't shoot it, it wouldn't bleed all over you as it tore your head off."

-Supporters of the traditional UMC. They're usually labeled 'fundamentalists' or something similar, always a pejorative.

You can, of course, guess which bloc I fall into; I'm squarely behind backing the UMC's on-paper laws. To me, the Karen Dammann thing was yet another event where left-wing social revolutionaries shirked their institutional duty in order to advance a social agenda that was incompatible with the establishment they swore to uphold.

At this point in time, it is difficult to imagine why I ought to be "civil" to someone who holds a diametrically opposed view of things, and who would run over me if given a chance. Charles Schulz's Peanuts used to have an on-going gag about Snoopy and the Cat Next Door. In an anthology I've got from the 1970s, Snoopy extends a paw with the proverbial olive branch to the Cat, but pulls back a mauled wreck. I get that kind of feeling from assessing the other side.

They're not interested in peaceful discussion nor are they particularly interested in anything but what they want, because they "know" they're right. This is actually a bad thing. Just "knowing in your heart" that you're right and therefore anything is justified is a dangerous scenario. After all, Adolf Hitler didn't get up in the morning to the sounds of George Thorogood singing "Bad auf der Bone"; the Little Corporal thought he was doing the right thing. And no, I'm not trying to smear the other side as having common cause with Adolf Hitler, but I bet their ranks will call me a Nazi simply because I think we ought to stick to the established rules.

At any rate, I don't see how maintaining "civility" is going to do much more than make me fight with one hand tied behind my back. The other guys are going to fight as dirtily as possible, but lo if I retaliate proportionately, then it's Yankee Air Pirate time in the UMC. This seems like the Geneva Convention and other assorted rules of war in that they're great if everyone follows them, but the one who decides not to is in a good position to win, especially when the referees let them them do it. In a way, it's like the conflict in Vietnam: The North Vietnamese were free to do whatever they wanted---rape, torture, murder, assassination, the like---but U Thant (or whoever) forbid that we use B-52D Stratofortresses against their military-industrial complex.

The North Vietnamese ran a pretty intelligent PR campaign and it worked very well on what Ben Kenobi would have called simple minds. The mess of it is that traditionalists in the UMC are in the same boat as the United States back then. A favorable media establishment reports all claims of the pro-homosexual forces with great gusto and scorn for our side. The other side demands, and has an ally in a mindless center, that we play fair while they don't.

Augh. After a long conversation with a friend of mine, we came to the conclusion that I'm far more comfortable with a 'humans fix it' approach instead of hitting the floor to send some 'knee-mail' to the Almighty for help. I've read a couple of message boards discussing this topic that seem to reflect a similar split in attitudes.OK, so I'm going down the same path as others, but I still am not able to see the value of being polite while being punched in the mouth.

1 On background: The United Methodist Church (hereinafter UMC) is governed by a set of rules called the Discipline. While I've yet to buy a print copy of the thing, I will get it sooner or later and I'll see about providing the relevant information here.

These rules proscribe openly homosexual men or women from serving in the ministry. Recently, the Reverend Karen Dammann wrote a letter to her bishop (two steps up the ladder and who head the UMC's national administrative regions) proclaiming her practice of homosexuality. As such, she was brought before a jury of churchmen in the area for trial, but was acquitted.

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March 29, 2004

Move Along, Move Along

No posting for today; I'm on the road.

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March 28, 2004

Food City 500

Another majority snoozer race. I'm distinctly bored with Nextel's corporate presence, and every time I see one of the "legacy" commercials, I'm reminded of how the sport has changed heavily since I started going to Bristol in the mid-1980s.1 This is a bad thing, in my opinion. I'd prefer the good old days when names like Waltrip, Allison, and Earnhardt ruled the track.

Enh. On top of that, probably a third of the bloody seats had someone wearing red and black in them. Inasmuch as I loathe Dale Earnhardt, Jr., it's annoying to see the latest bandwagon driver with as much market penetration as he has. I thought it was bad with Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin fans in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jeff Gordon fans in the mid-1990s, and then Tony Stewart fans in the late 1990s, but this takes the cake. None of the guys I like will ever be at risk for 'bandwagon' status, but that's just fine with me.

At any rate, I finally didn't have to have a seat cushion at the Winston Cup2 race, which is either a sign of my increased ability to tolerate aluminum seats or the fact that law school has padded my previously-lean posterior.

I was disappointed by the red flagging of the race at the end. I distinctly despise Kurt Busch, and I'm not in favor of him getting to win. I've hated Rusty Wallace since the Reagan Administration---spin Darrell Waltrip and die, punk---but I'd rather him win than that jug-eared Roush brat. Busch was managing to get great restarts, and it kept taking a while for Wallace to run him down. Naturally, if there's only two laps left in the race when the green flag comes back out, Busch can jump to a lead and be essentially safe from harm. Wallace needed a long green flag run where he could have gotten up to the brat and put the Sharpie Ford into the nearest retaining wall.

Alas, that's not the way it was meant to be by Mike Helton and the NASCAR bureaucracy.

On the bright side, I saw Bobby Allison, Ward Burton, Jeremy Mayfield, Sterling Marlin, and some other drivers who I can't recall at the moment. I got to listen to a brief conversation with Representative Richard C. Boucher (D-9th) of Virginia, and I saw Senator William Frist (R-TN), Senate Majority Leader, as he was speaking to Mike Helton, the head of NASCAR.

1 Yes, and I've got the hearing damage to prove it, I'd bet. Lawsuit for Larry Carrier, Bruton Smith, and the France family for not warning me!

2 I know it's not Winston Cup any more, but I learned "Winston Cup" back when they started calling it that, and I see no real need to change now.

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March 27, 2004

Sharpie Professional 250

Good God, this race was boring. I literally went to sleep at the track, but the flyovers by the F-16s and F/A-18s were nice. I would have rather seen F-15Cs and F-14Ds, but one can't be picky, I suppose.

I managed to get my hands on a couple of 1/24 Action Performance cars of my favorite "available" driver for real cheap, so I was happy. Yeah, so this isn't exactly the mental heavy lifting post, but bah. I'm half fried by the sun.

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March 26, 2004

Friday Five 26 March 2004

Er, they don't have one for today. This stinks. At the same time, I'm off to the NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, so the postings will be somewhat backlogged.

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March 25, 2004

A Modern-Day Guide to Military Conduct

I've found an account of a compiled military code of conduct, assembled from service experience in the Balkans upon the peacekeeping effort there.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to the blogosphere, for I no longer recall where I found the link to this. more...

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March 24, 2004

Poetic License


You are Homer! An epic poet circa 800 B.C., Homer
is the expression of the ancient Greek ideal.
His characters embark upon long and wordy
quests and engage in battles of heroic length.
Monsters are slain and cities are razed. Fun
and glory all around!


Which famous poet are you? (pictures and many outcomes)
brought to you by Quizilla

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Boots and Sabers.

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March 23, 2004

New Derb Interview

There's an honest-to-God interview with Derbyshire as done by that chap Frank J over at IMAO. Click here for the whole thing. It's witty, enraging, and everything you can usually expect from a guy who doesn't mind saying that, "I do have some opinions that aren't very respectable."

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to none other than Derb himself.

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March 22, 2004

What Book Am I?

I've been notoriously bereft of reporting quiz results in the last little while, mostly because it's a pain to deal with the graphic results. Nevertheless, here's a non-triumphant return to the copious posting of tests:


You're The Mists of Avalon!

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

You're obsessed with Camelot in all its forms, from Arthurian legend to the Kennedy administration. Your favorite movie from childhood was The Sword in the Stone. But more than tales of wizardry and Cuban missiles, you've focused on women. You know that they truly hold all the power. You always wished you could meet Jackie Kennedy.


Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Kennedy. Kennedy?! !@#$% You know, of course, that this means war. More dreadful an insult could not have been made! I'd be a faithful husband, I don't drink and drive, and I'm not a little dirtbag who dilly-dallies with Marilyn Monroe. (She's a bit dead, which tends to simplify things. Drop her in your lap while wearing that diamond dress and cooing 'Happy birthday, Mr. Country Pundit' and we'll see what tune you're whistling. --Ed.) What could I possibly have in common with the Kennedy family? Oh yes, living on this planet.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Deuddersun.

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March 21, 2004

Mel's Next Movie

It appears that, according to the Internet Movie Database, Mel Gibson isn't finished mining the Middle East for religiously-themed movies:

[Gibson] wants to make a movie about the origins of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Gibson - who was criticized by some quarters of the Jewish church, who accused his epic The Passion Of The Christ of blaming Jews for Jesus Christ's death - has hinted he may make a filmed account of the Revolt Of The Maccabees, the story behind Hanukkah.

The 46-year-old says, "The story that's always fired my imagination is the Book of Maccabees. "The Maccabees family stood up, and they made war. They stuck by their guns and they came out winning. It's like a western." The Maccabees led a three year war, 200 years before the birth of Jesus, against Antiochus, a king who forced the Jews to worship false gods. The war led to the liberation of Jerusalem.

Gibson's interest in Jewish history concerns the Jewish Anti-defamation League. National director Abe Foxman says, "My answer would be, 'Thanks but no thanks.' The last thing we need in Jewish history is to convert our history into a western."

--

Well, if Mel makes it, I'll watch it. I'm not Jewish (y'think?) and so I'd probably miss out on the culture-specific tidbits, but it couldn't be all bad. As for the odious Abe Foxman, I would suggest that the last thing Jewish history needs is someone like him trying to control it.

A good swords 'n sandals epic about a revolution against an oddball king which leads to victory (in the short term) and the establishment of Hannukah would probably be interesting. We know that Gibson would be faithful to whatever source material his research people could turn up. Phooey on you, Foxman.

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March 20, 2004

So I Went to the Movies...

...and I finally saw The Passion of the Christ.

It is, arguably, one of if not the finest movies I've ever seen. From an artistic point of view, it is an excellently-made film.1 From a content-focused perspective, it is an excellently-made film. The overwhelming reaction that I had to it was, "You are not worthy of this man's sacrifice."

I'll leave it to the cadres of religious bloggers to nitpick over the import of the foregoing statement. At the same time, let me try and inject a bit of something that I hope C.S. Lewis might have said: "Well, of course. That's the very point that you and the rest of us are unworthy and that since we didn't deserve Christ's sacrifice, then it could only be an act of supreme love et cetera, so therefore kindly cease your quibbling."

Now, to the various numbered points: more...

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March 19, 2004

den Beste Does It Again (Part One)

This started as a two-topic post that I've decided to split into two pieces (kind of like the Roman Empire's Western and Eastern divisions) due to the fact that I a) want the first piece out the door and b) haven't finished writing the second piece despite having several days to mull it over.

If I were in more of an irreverent mood, I would have titled this post "Nobody Does It Better", in a conscious nod to Carly Simon's schlocky (and double entendre-sporting) theme song for The Spy Who Loved Me. By the way, she's got a concert DVD out that dates from 1987 or so; it's inexpensive and is supposed to be pretty good. Got to buy that.

Anyways. Den Beste usually has some sort of phrase or section in his writings regarding the war on Islamists that gives me the Evil Calvin Grin. When I get a scanner or something, I'll show you exactly what that is. He's also able to invoke a "huh huh huh" on the order of Butt-head, and I thought I'd point out his latest success:

Nations which are weak or craven increase their chances of being targeted when they appease the Islamists. The Islamists don't seem to be seriously targeting the US any longer because they know that we'll fight back. After 9/11 and after months of sustained operations against Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq, it's now clear that the US won't retreat because of such attacks. Instead, we respond violently to them, causing huge casualties to the attackers, in men lost and organizations obliterated and even nations captured. (Italics mine.)

I was instantly reminded of a quip I found in Harry Turtledove's The Guns of the South, made by a character, Piet Hardie. Hardie held views on racial relations that I found unacceptable, but that doesn't mean the author couldn't give him a good line. He speaks to a Federal army veteran and now slave that he's just purchased: "I can lick you any way you name: bare hands, axes, whips, guns, any way at all. Any time you want to try, you tell me, but you have your grave picked out beforehand."

I suppose that's why I understood President Bush's "Bring it on!" remark. Every time the al-Qaeda types or their cohorts in Iraq get together for a stand-up fight (i.e. force on force, not drive-by assassinations of missionaries, you dirtbags), they lose, and lose badly. We like those fights. Now, occasionally they get lucky and kill some of our people. This is, of course, regrettable. I would prefer that none of our people die in this annoying war. However, a man with a rifle, body armor, training, and comrades of like mind and circumstance is in a better position to defend himself than is a half-awake commuter on his way to the City of New York from the District of Columbia. Thus, I find that sending our troops into battle is preferable. And by the way, Godspeed. I pray every single night for your safety and for your swift & victorious return.

At any rate, we're probably pursuing the proper strategic doctrine. I use 'strategic' in what must be a simplistic understanding of a professional military meaning for the term: "[Strategy] is the area of the practical activity of the higher military and political leadership of the supreme command, and of the higher headquarters, that pertains to the art of preparing a country and the armed forces for war and conducting the war."1

One can quibble about our operational level decisions such as Iraq. Since I'm more often than not the cold-eyed practitioner of realpolitik (helps that I'm not actually in a position of responsibility), I'll note that while we may have yet to see tremendous gain from inside Iraq, we have seen a positive external benefit in that Libya has decided to come clean. That by itself is almost worth the cost of the war. Crush one bully, and others may conform their conduct to the law, if you will.

When it is also considered that many millions of people no longer live under the boot of an odious SOB and will now have a chance at national self-determination, both the bottom line and the heart are satisified in terms of Iraq.

Second half coming on Saturday.

1 Scott, ed. Soviet Military Strategy [1975], p. 11).

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March 18, 2004

I'm Backing A New Candidate

I was rolling on through the blogosphere when I had my Dantooine Road experience. I've found a new candidate for President in 2004, and this guy's not going to be susceptible to questions about his military service.

Courtesy of My Pet Jawa, I bring you my man for 2004: Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

THE VADER RECORD

On Terror: When faced with a revolutionary bunch of terrorists from the upper class of society, Darth Vader didn't fall back and suggest that force wasn't a solution. Lord Vader stepped up to the plate and personally led efforts to stop a terrorist "Alliance" dedicated to overthrowing the government.

Everyone's seen the Alderaan example. George Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, but he's rebuilding these terrorist havens. By comparison, Darth Vader obliterated Alderaan. There may be more Alderaanians in the future, but you can bet for darned sure that there won't be any more terrorists operating out of Alderaan. Lord Vader will spare no nation in his efforts to root out political extremists who strike against the government.

On Terrorists: When faced with a dangerous bunch of religious fanatics prone to suicidal attacks, Lord Vader personally led the campaign that exterminated the so-called Jedi Knights. He personally struck down an tall bearded fanatic who had led an impressionable youth away from the straight and narrow. Can George Bush say the same?

When the time came to get information from captured terrorists, Lord Vader didn't pass some un-Constitutional act that would be harped on for years. In the case of Captain Colton Antilles, he took the matter in hand, literally. There was no dithering about while consulting lawyers to see if he could get the information necessary to guarantee the safety of the citizens and the government.

When it comes to security, Lord Vader believes that "no one [should] stop us this time". He'll not flinch at sending troops into danger to protect us from terror. Ask the pilots who followed the Millennium Falcon into an asteroid belt.

In War: Lord Vader led from the front in the Empire's war on terror, personally striding into a war zone on the hostile world of Hoth as he attempted to capture a champagne socialist "princess" and her outlaw lover.

Darth Vader flew a fighter and managed to score several kills in pitched space combat against enemy starfighters at the battle of Yavin IV. Did George Bush shoot down anything in the Texas ANG? Did John Kerry get any kills other than helpless South Vietnamese villagers?

On Efficiency: Lord Vader doesn't tolerate incompetent officers in the Imperial Navy who think they can survive by pleasantries and perfumery. He would have dealt decisively with Wesley Clark the first time Clark tried to end-run him. You could ask Admiral Kendall Ozzel, had he not run afoul of Lord Vader. Captain Lorth Needa is also a testament to Lord Vader's efficiency focus. He wants results, not excuses.

In dangerous times, we can't trust either waffling ex-vets who by the way served in Vietnam or ANG playboys who never left the continent. We have to trust a fearsome warrior who by his very visage commands respect among the lawful and fear among the lawless.

The choice is clear-cut, as if made by a lightsaber: Vader 2004

Tip of the Executor hat to My Pet Jawa.

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March 17, 2004

An Alternative Galadriel

Long-time readers know that I was really fond of Cate Blanchett's turn as Galadriel in The Fellowship of the Ring. This stands in stark contrast to Joseph Pearce, who prattled something about Galadriel-as-Mary, mother of Jesus and how Blanchett was "disturbed and disturbing". Right. It's my understanding that Mary's turn in history was as mother to Jesus, not as some ageless and immortal insurrectionist sorceress, which is what I understand Galadriel was up to before we got around to the Age of Men. At any rate, Blanchett's Galadriel was a babe, and although I didn't think much of the green scene, I didn't let it detract from my overall enjoyment of the performance.

Anyways, I was browsing the blogroll and found something from Mr Free Market:

Petite Kylie Minogue missed out on a part in Lord of the Rings - because she is too small.Director Peter Jackson reckoned the pop star did not measure up.She wanted to play the part of elf queen Galadriel.But she lost out to fellow Aussie Cate Blanchett, who at 5' 9" is nine inches taller.

I'm not sure what I would have thought of this. Miss Minogue, although a good looker in her own right and everything, probably couldn't carry the "Immortal Ice Queen of Lorien" vibe like Cate Blanchett did. Plus, I haven't the foggiest as to how well Minogue can act. Sure she can prance about on stage, reinvent her career on several occasions, and be featured in the Sydney Olympics (!) but that doesn't automatically translate into qualifications for Galadriel. On the other hand, Cate Blanchett's breakthrough role was playing a woman who got hailed as an icon of an era, and I would think that such experience would mean more.

Nevertheless, Mr Free Market is true to his British roots and includes a wee little JPEG that makes reading his original entry all worthwhile.

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March 16, 2004

Foreign Leaders for Kerry

Everyone's familiar with John Kerry's recent quip to the effect that world leaders have told him that Bush has got to go and they're for Kerry '04. Well, he's backed away from that (No he didn't, you Republican troglodyte; it's called nuance. --Ed.) but the damage has been done:

Foreign Leaders For John Kerry

Heh heh heh. "Ten out of ten foreign leaders support John Kerry! 100% approval from some of the world's most worthless men!"

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to KJL@NRO.

UPDATE: The more I think about it, I think Senator Kerry would respond to this sort of post by saying, "That's not the issue. The issue is that George W. Bush has driven these reasonable men to great distraction in his unilateral war with Iraq, his unilateral occupancy of the White House, his unilateral occupancy of a singular marriage bed with one woman, and his unilateral insistence upon being called 'Mr. President' at appropriate times. That is to say, phrased differently that I would not object to being called 'Mr. President', but rather that it would not be necessary, because I served in Vietnam and by the way, do you know who I am?"

Who needs the Unisom ticking pill when you've got John Kerry's voice? I'll throw out my sleep machine thingamajig and just put a tape of him on continuous repeat.

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I Suggest A New Strategy...

And no, it's not "Let the Wookiee win", although my strategy could theoretically be compared to pulling peoples' arms from their sockets.

The Spanish electorate has demonstrated that you need less than a dozen or so bombs and 200 casualties to force them to the bombing party's will. Keep that in mind. So what? Well, perhaps we ought to lose track of a three-ship cell of B-52H Stratofortresses every so often. It appears that it only takes a few bombs to make the Spaniards cry 'no mas'; for the price of just a few Mark 82 500 pound bombs, we could make Madrid do whatever we wanted it to. Live-fire accidents and navigational errors happen all the time, don't you know?

"Madrid, Tehran, Mecca, they all look alike. Shaddup about being off-course and drop the bombs, will ya?" We can even get Slim Pickens or Powers Boothe & Rebecca DeMornay (!) to fly the lead Buff. We then of course issue the appropriate apologies---completely sincere, I assure you---and have a junior Administration official make some crack to the appropriate reporters that, "We took a cue from the Islamists and decided to demonstrate that the price of disobeying America was higher than the price of disobeying al-Qaeda."

When you consider that a three-ship cell of Stratofortresses carries in the neighborhood of 300 Mark 82s, we could put 20 bombs in each of the European Union countries and rule those lands forever, all in a single night and without refueling. Leave RAF Fairford before lunch and be back by supper with the whole of Europe in your hand!

World domination has never been easier.

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A Figurative Spanish Casualty

Comrade Commissar, when he's not busy shooting wreckers, kulaks, or bourgeois capitalists in the basement, managed to dig up something from the time of the Soviet Union's first big military effort beyond its borders. His post, Pasionara, has a link to the full story of the thing in question. Read the whole thing, of course.

Apparently, there was a woman on the "Republican" (People's Democratic Republic, you mean. --Ed.) side who went around making speeches in support of the anti-Franco cause. (Lots of talk, lots of fratricide; I tell you, these Marxists stay busy. --Ed.)

Levity aside, Comrade Commissar gives us two phrases that the woman used as signature lines, both of which are now meaningless in the Spanish political scene:

"It is better to be the widows of heroes than the wives of cowards!"

and

"[T]he Spanish people would rather die on its feet than live on its knees."

It boggles the mind to think that a nation whose people spent something like seven hundred years in warfare to eject the Moorish/Islamic presence would roll over and die, crying "No mas!" like Roberto Duran simply because some dirtbag Islamist decides to hit a train.

I find it ironic that Socialists, who are usually always ready to fight against this or that, are so willing to knuckle under when something really worth fighting comes along. Well, I said it before, and I'll say it again: We've won a world war without the help of the Spanish (and probably against their covert efforts, if Das Boot is to be believed) and we'll do it again.

One might be justified in thinking that all their real men moved to Mexico back during the days of Nueva Espana, or went down with treasure galleons.

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March 15, 2004

Another Sprint PCS Website

Found this one at sprintusers: Sprint PCS Info.

In their own words: "[L]ike all carriers, Sprint PCS has some major problems. This site is created to help you work around them, get the best service, and hold Sprint accountable for the stuff that they screw up on."

I haven't fully explored the site yet, but I figured I'd pass it along to all the other SPCS users out there.

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March 14, 2004

Well, Too Bad

Winnie the Pooh puts it best: "Bother!"

Apparently, the Spanish electorate has held Aznar's party responsible for the Madrid bombings and have chosen the Socialists to lead them. CNN reports that the Socialist Workers' Party (!) has defeated the incumbent Popular Party in a 43-37ish split.

The leader of the SWP has pledged to bring the Spanish troops home from Iraq and to concentrate on "all forms of terrorism".1 Also, he has promised to create a government of change that will work for peace.

Isn't that special?

At any rate, the loss of Spain to the Franco-German alliance is unfortunate and we will struggle on without them. It won't be the first time that English-speaking nations have had to fight a war with the Spanish either sitting the fence or helping the other side. Note to the Spaniards: Last time it happened, we won the war. Just a little note.

Insert the made-up Robert E. Lee quote: "Too bad. Oh, too bad." General Lee slammed a fist on the saddle of Traveler when he "spoke" that. I don't have a horse, so my desk will have to do.

1 How much do you want to bet that "the terrorism of poverty and the terrorism of the rich" or worse, "the terrorism of George W. Bush" will be on that list? A national Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, eh? Hrrm. Might have to dig into what their real beliefs are.

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