Comments Posted By Hawkeye
Displaying 11 To 20 Of 23 Comments
OFF THE RAILS AND INTO THE DITCH
"Hence, when lefty bloggers call right wing bloggers “fascists†they really don’t mean that we all walk around in brown shirts with swastikas on the sleeve giving the stiff-armed salute in slavish devotion to George Bush."
Are you kidding? That's exactly what they mean!
As for the drivel form the moonbats, when you have a losing hand, Play the race card!
Same crap, different day. Pathetic, but what can you expect.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 10.03.2006 @ 16:37
DUBAI-BAI: IT'S ALL OVER BUT THE WHIMPERING
"My opposition to the deal has always been based on a realization that this Administration has not gotten serious about a host of homeland security issues 4 years out from 9/11. Our airports are a seive. Our borders, worse. And we inspect 10% of the containers coming into the ports in this country."
I don't disagree with any of this. I find our southern border situation in particular very disturbing.
"This was poorly handled and it remains to be seen whether or not it was poorly vetted. Congressional hearings would focus attention on this subject which is what we need."
And here we reach the core of the problem that generated my original comment. It will not happen, at least not as it should, because this has become another Plame/NSA. In other words, it has become a pure political football and all the palyers on both teams, or enough of them at least, have taken complete leave of all rationality for reasons base or foolish (that is for immediate cheap political gain, or because of intellectual laziness).
Congressional hearings can be very useful processes; they can also be worse than useless and actually harmful. At this point, with things as they are, I don't see hearings producing anything of value, just more posturing and nonsense.
More unfortunate perhaps is that anything useful they could produce would not make it to the public except in a limited and twisted form because of our media. That is a large part of the problem now. Americans have been repeatedly told we are "selling our ports." The message is inescapable, even Leno's monologue last night.
We have reached the point where we might as well make national policy decisions by reading tea leaves. Hearings would simply provide a theater for more grandstanding with the media a enablers.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 9.03.2006 @ 17:59
"UAE firm to transfer port operations to 'U.S. entity’"
With due credit to Academic Elephant for the inspiration, I'm praying the "entity" is a Haliburton subsidiary!
I would so enjoy whatching the left have a meltdown over that one.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 9.03.2006 @ 17:15
I can't seem to muster up as much sympathy for "the concerns of Congress and many conservatives" as you have, Rick. Probably because too much of it looks like political grandstanding with a slight tone of hysteria thrown in.
We have been treated to incessant claims of turning our ports over to "foreign ownership" and "foreign control" with this deal, none of which holds up.
The ports remain the property of the U.S. no matter who manages them.
Managing the port is not "control" of the port. They are running a terminal operation.
Security affairs would remain in the hands the the US Coast Guard and U. S. other agencies - exactly those who now deal with it.
The sudden hysteria about foreign control is at best misinformed (and that's being charitable). The company that now has the management of the six terminals in question is British - i.e. foreign (though you woud never know that from listening to the media and the congressional sound-bites). And if you want foreign presence to worry about, several American ports operations are apparently run by companies from Communist China, and eleven (I think was the number) run by SAUDI owned companies. A lot more terrorist activity has come out of Saudi Arabia, and out of Britain than out of Dubai.
And none of this considers other matters related to Dubai. Money may funnel through the country to al Queda - the same can be said of Britain. For that matter, significant funds have, and probably still do get funneled to AQ from sources in the U.S. In this kind of war there truly is no front (or more accurately the front may be in your neighbor's basement, or his checkbook).
The SecDef and General Pace had some interesting things to say on this matter to Congress today. It is worth reading their remarks very carefully while checking a map of the Persian Gulf.
This issues at least equals, and may surpass the Plame and NSA non-stories for the massive shoveling of pure bravo seirra by the media and parts of Congress.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 9.03.2006 @ 17:10
Re #12, I think hunkafunk told us pretty much what we need to know to evaluate his comment in these brilliant passages:
" . . . attempts of mainstream right-wing demagogues . . . right-wing mainstream figures like Michele Menkin, the strange woman . . .or Ann Coulter, the bizarre square jawed neocon attack dog . . . These are the rude partisan toadies . . . These are the lackeys of the established political machination . . ."
I find it interesting that I don't ever recall seeing a conservative critic of Coulter's writing (and yes hunkafunk, they exist and are rather numerous) bring up her physical appearance. That only seems to be a target of those on the left. You know, the ones who are always railing about right wing sexism . . .
I'm not sure who "Michele Menkin" is.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 10.03.2006 @ 16:14
"WW2 is a perfect example, the Nazi Army was very efficient, tremendous kill ratios, but the Allied Army, while inefficient, was effective."
Fritz,
Though the other points in your comment are well taken, I must respectfully suggest that here you are in the grip of a myth that deserves deconstruction.
The early high kill rates and successes of German arms were made possible more by the incompetence of their enemies than their own competence. This did not last even through the first part of the war, and in the later part of the war, their kill ratios really do not live up to expectations for an army fighting mostly on the defensive from prepared lines of resistance. The fact is that the allies all dispalyed a steep learning curve, and very quickly caught up to and passed the German forces in most catagories: weapons, overall were as good or better, training at all levels was superior, and operational skill superior.
Even on a strategic level, German perfomance was disappointing. In spite of the damage inflicetd on Soviet industry by the invasion, the USSR still managed to produce 2x the thanks, planes, and heavy guns that Germany did on half the German output of coal and steel. This was in 1942-43 BEFORE the bombing campaing could reduce German production. And production by the USSR and other allied nations paled in comparison with the US which produced 65% of ALL war material world-wide. General Motors alone produced 10%, and Ford alone produce more than Italy.
This industrial superiority did not, however win the war, though it did hasten its end. Allied training and learning in operational arts mattered more. The tide of the Axis advance, world wide, was turned in a roughly 6-8 month period beginning in late 1942:
The land and sea battle for Guadalcanal-Aug 42
El Alamain offensive- 28 Oct 42 &
Operation Torch (invasion of N. Africa) 8 Nov 42Operation Uranus (encirclement of German forces in Stalingrad) 19 Nov 42.
Within 6 months of the beginning date of each of these operations, Axis forces had suffered crushing defeats and lost the initiative the theater.
The period from Aug 42 - ~Mar 43 is the tipping point when the Axis tide was stopped and began to edd. The great flood of American production did not even start until late 43-early 44, and it hit full stride even later.
It has been the conventional wisdom for at least 50 years that the allies won against superior opponents (or at least one superior opponent - Germany) simply because they because they swamped the better force in oceans of men and machines of inferior quality. That may be a comforting idea to talk about over a beer at Wehrmacht unit reunions, but it does not accord well with the facts.
If you have a genuine interest in the subject, may I recommend Richard Overy's _Why the Allies Won_. It is a 1995 work available in hardcover or paperback, and is a pretty good read; Overy writes well and it is only a bit over 300 pages plus notes, index, etc.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 9.03.2006 @ 19:38
Thanks for a good piece.
I have noted to others, on a number of occasions, the similarities in the opposition to Lincoln and Bush, even down to the nature of the insults. McClellen called Lincoln a gorilla and expounded on his stupidity. One of his own cabinet officers remarked on his "painful imbecillity." Major papers trashed his Gettysburg Address with one saying he was a national embarrasment to enlightened foreigners.
It all sounds familiar, doesn't it?
The same venom, for many of the same reasons, from essentially the same people.
Anyone who will dare to challange the status quo and its vested interests to follow the moral course will end in the same position. Whether that interest is in maintaining the oppression of slavery or the oppression of compliant middle eastern tyrants matters not, the reaction will be the same because the threat to those who benefit from the oppression of others is the same. They are on the wrong side of history, but they will never see or admit that and the struggle against them will always be difficult. No tyrany goes away of its own accord.
There are many parallels between the mid-nineteenth century and our own time. Many of the fundamental principles in contest then are being contested again, right now, though often disguised in different issues. In 100 years, public perceptions of this president will likely undergo a great shift, as they did with Lincoln.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 9.03.2006 @ 18:40
AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID HACKETT FISCHER
I have not yet gotten to _Washington's Crossing_ though it is on my reading list; maybe this summer. _Paul Revere's Ride_ is great. It is an easy, pleasent read, and most Americans, raised on the myths preserved and transmitted by Longfellow, et al, will find much of it qiute a shock. Fischer is a rare bird: a gifted historian who is also a gifted writer.
Rick, I also recommend you read _Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America_. That was the first of DHF's books I read, and I became fan then. His thesis is considered controversial (or worse) by some, but it cannot be ignored as social or cultural history. This book is not the engaging narrative of _Revere_, but if you are a true diehard history nerd, you will love it.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 5.03.2006 @ 21:24
WHY I'M NOT WATCHING THE OSCARS
I finally saw _Pride & Prejudice_ the other day on DVD. I thought it was very well done. It is not simply a remake of the version from the 1940s. This was a different approach and it paid off - sets, costumes, story developmnet all a great leap ahead of the previous effort.I'm a historian with a life-long passion for the subject so I can be very hard on period pieces; this is a good one.
That said, however, the overall point about Hollywood is well taken, and is one I have also made for some time. I think though that it is a mistake to see the slant of HW ideology and the dearth of creativity as unconnected. Creativity seems to me to have declined as open leftist activism has risen.This should not be surprising. Hollywood is now too busy promoting social change and striving for "The Greater Good" by preaching to the ignorant masses to truly pursue its art.
They might start making good films again when they stop trying to make propaganda films.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 5.03.2006 @ 21:05
CIA PLOT TO DESTROY THE MOONBATS
This is not a satire.Go to the following address and you will find that Darrow Baggiano is completely serious even if not to be taken seriously.
http://art.citysites.com/news/Further, I also googled Darrow Boggiano and found a few more items. First, Mr. Boggiano is apparently Ms. Boggiano:
http://www.local.citysites.com/IAW/
and is a San Fransisco "web publisher."
Boggiano is the far end of the lunatic fringe - the brief view Rick provides doesn't gegin to do her justice.
Comment Posted By Hawkeye On 27.02.2006 @ 15:24
