History’s Lessons June 30, 2009
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
I don’t know what will happen in Iraq but to suggest it will be the same as it was except for Saddam is sort of like saying the Transylvanian village will be the same now that Dracula is gone.
As for how well North Vietnam has managed since we left, well, there’s that little matter of 2 million Cambodians that died with their tacit help. There is also the little matter of Singapore and Malaysia, two successful countries that almost certainly would have turned Communist had the United States not fought there.
Does this justify the blood and treasure we spent in IRaq or Vietnam? I don’t know. what I do know is the equation is a lot more complex than today’s Left makes it out to be. Even Joan Baez may have seen the light.
Someone’s Lucky Day (And A Conspiracy Theory) June 30, 2009
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in News Of The Weird, World Events.Tags: airbus crash, boeing, children, ntsb, sole survivor, toddlers
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Another Airbus took an untimely dip in the ocean this morning, and it got me to thinking. First off, there was a “senior pilot” interviewed on CNN this morning, who went into great detail about what safe airplanes these Airbuses are, how one takes off nearly every minute somewhere in the world, and how the French Airbus and the Yemeni Airbus are radically different planes. Umm…yeah, but two have crashed into the ocean within a month. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but if I was an NTSB investigator, I’d be interviewing some guys from Boeing, who’ve had significant problems selling their latest 787 passenger plane. I’m just sayin’.
The other half of this crash story is the miraculous survival of a five year-old child who was plucked from among the wreckage in the ocean. In my aging and sometimes flawed memory, it seemed to me that quite often in these stories of sole survivors, the lucky soul is a baby or very young child, so I checked it out: Top 10 Sole Survivors Of A Plane Crash – Listverse and sure enough, three of these ten were children, a very high proportion given that the overwhelming majority of fliers were adults. I found one other: Toddler survives deadly plane crash – Americas- msnbc.com. So it makes you wonder what it is about children that might make them more likely to survive a multi-g-force decceleration injury, or whether these kids had particularly vigilant guardian angels. I also wonder if these kids became extraordinary adults in any way. It would make an interesting sociological study for some enterprising grad student (and if someone does it, I expect attribution…).
BW
More Like Vietnam Redux June 30, 2009
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in Politics, World Events.Tags: benefit, iraq, suicide bomb, vdh, vietnam
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Iraq suicide bombing kills five U.S. soldiers – CNN.com
Iraq: Suicide truck bombing kills dozens – CNN.com
4 US Soldiers Killed During Iraq Cities Pullout
I could say that VDH’s glass is half-full and mine is half-empty, but I’d prefer to say he’s full of something, and it ain’t kool-aid.
Eventually, on some glorious day, not only will American troops be absent from Iraqi cities, but they’ll be absent from Iraq entirely, and at that point, if someone goes back and looks carefully, they’ll see just about the same things they would have seen a year before a single US soldier set foot in Iraq, although without Saddam Hussein and minus a couple of gaudy palaces. The Sunnis will still be fighting the Shiites and the Kurds won’t get along with any of the above. The government will still be corrupt and the billions in oil money still won’t feed the masses. Our experiment in imperial social engineering will be just as bereft of benefit as it was fifty years ago in Vietnam…although all things considered, the commies have done a pretty good job since taking over the country, even if the inevitable was delayed by the French and the Americans by several decades. The only thing we’ll have to show for either of these wars is a lot of headstones in a lot of meadows. Woo hoo! Break out the flags and the firecrackers!
BW
Birthday Explanation June 30, 2009
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in reader interaction.2 comments
Oh, yeah…Cory and I were both born on this day, but I in 1953 and he in 1954, explaining my greater wisdom and maturity. Inexplicably, I don’t seem to garner my appropriate level of respect from the youngster. Go figure.
BW
Happy Birthday To Me (And Dr. Right) June 30, 2009
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in reader interaction.1 comment so far
What with a week of celebrity deaths, including Michael Jackson’s at age 50, and me acheiving another click on the odometer, I just had to share a little folk wisdom that’s funny because it’s true:
YouTube – Heywoods Banks – Famous Dead Guys
BW
You Never Hear About This From PETA June 30, 2009
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! June 30, 2009
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
I’ll let the senior partner explain.
Sotomayor June 30, 2009
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
I don’t think today’s decision will affect her chances much but she will be in for a harder line of questioning. Ironically, it wasn’t her decision that was called into question today- 4 justices ruled the same way she did – but there are some serious questions about the facile nature of how she went about it. This was obviously a very tough case for the whole court, dissenters included and she and her associates made it look easy. Makes you wonder how much her opinion was predetermined.
Time For Affirmative Action On SCOTUS? June 29, 2009
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in Politics.Tags: affirmative action, confirmation, firefighters, senate, sotomayor
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High court backs firefighters in reverse discrimination suit – CNN.com
For all intents and purposes, Sotomayor just got reversed by her future employer. This is undoubtedly going to make the path to confirmation bumpier, but she’ll still make it. As I’ve previously noted, once she gets there, it’s anyone’s guess how she’ll rule in similar cases. It seems the air is a little thinner up on that lofty bench. Sometimes the justices get a little dizzy.
BW
