More snippets

This little piece of wisdom from Doghouse Riley sums it all up.

I'm not opposed to the unstaffed insane asylum that is the Republican party because I imagine I'll get my way some magical morning. I'm opposed to it because, as anyone who can support the pretense of sanity can see, the last six years have demonstrated what an intellectually and morally bankrupt little carnival it's been since Goldwater.

There's more, relating to the charades which are the pundit class, but that nugget sums up where, and; to some degree, why I stand, though I think I might put the timeline back at least a few years earlier.

What a stupid list

Popular mechanics, referring to Glenn Reynolds (WTF?) has a list of things a "Man" should know how to do.

Such lists are always intereting, more because they reveal the social predjudices of the list maker, than they reveal much about those who take the test.

1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network

I can do all of those (and some of them, like 13, I can do a lot more besides, I can catch, clean, fillet, and cook the damn thing too. For 19, I can strip, tune, reassemble and dope it in too).

When they say unstuck, in 15, from what? Deep sand, mud, being parked in?

I notice that of the 25 6 relate to cars, and one (use a torque wrench) is; for most people, something which only comes up when working on cars.

And what is "male" about extending a network, hooking up a TV, or retouching a digital photo (not to mention... huh? A real man wouldn't need to retouch them :).

That's the interesting thing, actually. What makes any of these things which are essential to being, "A man,"?

The answer is... nothing.

Me, I hold to the theory that:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

There aren't any skills which belong to one gender over the other, and I can't really see any "set" like this to be telling, even if one were to make it "people".

Being able to communicate, check.

Being able to understand, check.

After that, yeah, it's nice to be able to change the head-gasket on my car, but if I didn't, I know where to go to find someone who can.

So maybe First Aid is one of those things which one can't afford to leave to other people.

But hell, one of the things which makes being human so different from (so far as we know) every other animal on the planet is that we can preserve the knowledge our predecessors collects, and refer to it, as needed.

We don't have to be remember every last thing we might need.

I'm a phony soldier, or something

It's no secret that I think the War in Iraq was a bad idea from the get-go, and that staying there is an idea even worse.

Rush Limbaugh says that makes me a phony soldier.

Someone who says he's a soldier called in.

LIMBAUGH: There's a lot more than that that they don't understand. They can't even -- if -- the next guy that calls here, I'm gonna ask him: Why should we pull -- what is the imperative for pulling out? What's in it for the United States to pull out? They can't -- I don't think they have an answer for that other than, "Well, we just gotta bring the troops home."

CALLER 2: Yeah, and, you know what --

LIMBAUGH: "Save the -- keep the troops safe" or whatever. I -- it's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.

CALLER 2: No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.

So Limbaugh's caller is of the Andrew Sullivan school of what a soldier is (i.e. a warmongering, bloodthirsty, sort).

There's no way to know if this guy is a soldier, or not.

Mind you, if he is a soldier, he's not talked to his mates, because an Army Times poll found that 1 in 5 agrees with me that we ought to be pulling out. 1 in 3 agrees going in was a bad idea. He also doesn't read the NYT, nor hear about things in it, like the seven NCOs who said the cause is lost, and the question is how much good money we intend to throw after bad.

They were such phony soldier that two are dead, and one's in hospital.

The "keep the troops safe, or whatever," comment is harder to evaluate. Being in a war zone is dangerous. On that level his comment is understandable; but I've listened to Rush, and that's not quite the way it reads. He seems to be just brushing aside the question of value (if the cause be not just, then getting soldiers killed isn't acceptable).

So, are all those senators who were so up in arms about MoveOn slamming Petraeus going to be clamoring for the censure of Rush?

I'll wager not.

Why? Because the Pearl Clutching about the MoveOn add was cynical, partisan and false.

How can I say this?

I can say this because they didn't give a damn when it was Wesley Clark, carrying out the policies of Clinton being attacked.


“For MoveOn.org and their left-wing allies to brand General Petraeus a traitor and a liar crossed a historic line of decency. It was a despicable political attack by a radical left-wing interest group. I’m pleased that majority of the Senate, in a bipartisan vote, has repudiated it.

We will not tolerate the patriotism and integrity of our troops and their leaders in the field being dragged down into the swamp of Washington politics.”

That was John Cornyn, on the Senate's censure of MoveOn.

"The problem is Wes Clark making--at least approving--the bombing decisions," said one such diplomat, who then asked rhetorically: "How could they let a man with such a lack of judgment be [supreme allied commander of Europe]?" Through dealings with Yugoslavia that date back to 1994, Clark's propensity for mistakes has kept him in trouble while he continued moving up the chain of command thanks to a patron in the Oval Office.

That was an anonymous source, reported by Bob Novak, who said, in his own words, "Balkan failure is Clark's

Who is responsible for an air offensive that is building anti-American anger across Europe without breaking the Serbian regime's will? The blame rests heavily on Gen. Wesley Clark, the NATO supreme commander.

That was, apparently, on the fair side of the line Cornyn was talking about.