Comments Posted By Old Guy
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THE GRAHAM-DeMINT AXIS OF THE GOP
If we promote people like Graham who agree that up is down 20% of the time, eventually everybody will forget what up really is. We're speeding towards a cliff; we won't survive by compromising and veering slightly right as we fly off into the void.
Comment Posted By Old Guy On 29.11.2009 @ 15:22
HATE TO RUIN YOUR WEEKEND, BUT...
I would like help figuring out how to get more bailout money for myself.
Comment Posted By Old Guy On 14.02.2009 @ 14:34
THE BATTLE OF GREASY GRASS CREEK
Both the personalities and the politics involved are far too complex for an article of this length and even well informed people will come to differing conclusions (certainly "Custer's Last Stand" makes for an interesting cultural Rohrschach's test - it is notable, for instance, that the "anti-Custer" revisionists gained credence during the Viet Nam War, which was not dissimilar in many ways to the Indian Wars, while Custer's redemption began after that nightmare was put to rest). The only thing in the article I find patently objectionable, however, is the calumny of Reno. Custer, either out of ignorance of the size and disposition of the foe or out of sheer hubris, sent Reno to do, with a hundred men, what Custer quickly found out he could not do with almost 300, namely to charge straight through the encampment. Reno did not panic and retreat to a defensive position out of cowardice, quite the contrary, he was halted by Indian firepower blocking his attack and he retired when it became clear that he was in danger of being outflanked, while pinned down from the front (exactly what the Indians then did to Custer, who might have benefited had he minded the same tactical considerations). Reno's only failure was in being commanded by an officer who should have known the necessity of scouting his enemy before committing his forces (esp. committing them piecemeal, in a manner in which they could not act to withdraw and mutually reinforce each other - Bentinck was only able to link up with Reno, and to save the remnants of the Regiment, through sheer luck). One wonders, too, if Custer, had he not been so recently maltreated by the Grant Administration and had that not left him so desperate for "glorious redemption", might have played it differently. As it was, he felt he had to "do or die" and bad tactics and over-zealousness dictated that it would be the latter.
Comment Posted By Old Guy On 23.07.2007 @ 11:36
