SLEEPER CELL
The husband and I have been watching the show Sleeper Cell lately. I remember reading reviews when this show came out that it seemed too PC because the members of the terrorist cell were all white. But AirForceWife recommended the show, and I know she wouldn't give it her stamp of approval if it were too hokey or actually-America-is-the-bad-guy feeling.
We have watched several episodes so far, and I really like how nuanced the show is. It shows all the different types of Muslims: the "jihad means inner struggle, Islam is a religion of peace" type, the "jihad means killing every single American" type, the "we should kill soldiers in Iraq, not plot terror attacks on innocent Americans" type, the conflicted "others are hijacking my religion" type, and even the goofy white kid who becomes a Muslim to tick his mother off. Plus it shows white people who mean well but who just don't get how hard it is to be a non-psycho Muslim today. I think it's really well done; it lures you into feeling sorry for some of the characters, and then you have to shake yourself and remind yourself that they're murdering a-holes. It's complex, and I like that.
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So, what does that mean? That he is not going anywhere until they tell you where, or he is going to stay put, end of story? doesn't sound that simple...
Posted by: Kate at February 16, 2008 06:49 AM (JIGe1)
LETTERS
Lorie Byrd posted a touching story of finding old Valentines in her grandmother's belongings. I have had a similar experience. I came across some letters last year that my grandmother wrote to me when I left for college. She passed away in 2003 after a long battle with dementia, so it had been a long time since I'd seen my grandmother's true personality. Reading those letters brought back memories of what my grandmother had once been like and helped me remember her as a fiesty lady instead of the frail shell she was at the end of her life. I was so glad that I had those old letters from her.
Despite how attached I am to the internet age, I am still a fan of writing letters. I love old fashioned correspondence. And those letters from my grandmother are cherished.
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After Fred's Grandmother died, they were cleaning out her house and found a card signed for Fred for his graduation at AOBC. We still keep that card on our bedroom mirror. Thanks for reminding me to think of her. We miss her very much!
Posted by: Angie at February 15, 2008 03:46 AM (BJEkk)
AMERICAN DREAM
My husband found a link: Homeless: Can you build a life from $25?: "In a test of the American Dream, Adam Shepard started life from scratch with the clothes on his back and twenty-five dollars. Ten months later, he had an apartment, a car, and a small savings."
I just love this. I thought Spurlock was full of baloney. Actually he was full of baloney, as he had his employer intentionally lower his wage to make his point.
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What a great find, Sarah! I really enjoyed this article!
My oldest daughter was born my senior year in high school, and AFG and I had some very rough years where we made about 750$ a month total to get through college. Granted, 1995 prices weren't what they are today, but it wasn't a princely sum by any means, and McDonalds was a luxury to us then!
And yet we did it - for three years. And now I'm very proud of what we've accomplished.
Posted by: airforcewife at February 14, 2008 12:07 PM (mIbWn)
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What an inspirational story! I especially homed in on where he wrote, "It wasn't so much as where we were coming from, it was where we were going."
So true.
I recently had a conversation with a friend who has spent himself into financial difficulties. As he complained about being screwed by everyone from the Government to his employer to the grocery store, I pointed out that perhaps he could cut back on some of the luxuries. That perhaps he didn't need the expensive cell plan, the big screen TV, and super-premium cable channels. He looked at me like I was crazy and retorted, "It's my right to have it!" That ended the conversation.
Yep, it gives me hope.
Posted by: R1 at February 14, 2008 04:49 PM (y1Xat)
KISSES
MSN rated the top 10 movie kisses. They went with Brokeback, of course. But if they had to choose a guy-to-guy kiss, why not Parker and Stone in BASEketball? Heh.
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Top Gun's not on that list.
Maybe it makes me a total plebian with no artsy-fartsy credentials, but still to this day the song "Take My Breath Away" gets me all hot and bothered.
It's even withstood Tom Cruise's Scientology craziness and the jumping on the couch thing.
I was always all about Iceman, though. And now he's fat and greasy.
Oh well.
Posted by: airforcewife at February 14, 2008 07:01 AM (mIbWn)
(This is my favorite Valentine's Day tradition; I now think this is one of the most romantic songs ever. See here if you don't get the joke. And yes, I know I'm weird.)
See also: another favorite Valentine's Day tradition.
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THE OLD AND THE NEW
My friend here has a 19 year old son. I was alone with him for a while at their house yesterday and, not knowing what else to talk about, I asked him about music. We began trading favorite songs and bands. He knows all the new stuff -- he knew of Weezer because of "Beverly Hills" but didn't know the blue album, for heaven's sake -- and none of the old. Shoot, he was born in 1989; I loved hearing the question, "What is Styx?" (In all fairness, my husband reminded me that Styx is even before my time; I have my dad to thank.) He taught me some new bands and I filled him in on some old and some esoteric; he now knows what alt-country is (he liked the Jayhawks and Wilco, but Uncle Tupelo was "too twangy" for him). And I confessed that I had indeed been to a Snoop Dogg concert; I think that solidified my coolness.
You know, my new cell phone is also a music player, but I have no idea how to use it yet. I also don't listen to music like I used to. When I was in France, I practically wore out my cassette walkman. Riding the bus all over that town, I was constantly in my own little world of music. I don't do that anymore, I don't walk through the world with headphones on.
But talking to this kid yesterday, I have taken a second look at my CD collection with fresh eyes. I have pulled out stuff I haven't listened to in years. And it takes me back...
It also makes me want to spend more time with this kid. I could show him Seu Jorge and Jude. And let him listen to "Come Sail Away."
Man, I remember vividly the first time I listened to "Come Sail Away."
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“My friend here has a 19 year old son. I was alone with him for a while at their house yesterday and…”
Whoa, for a second there I thought on was on the wrong blog.
Anyways, besides AM talk radio I only listen to new stuff known as alternative music, on a non-commercial station. The best part is theyÂ’re on the internet. Some of it sucks, but the best part is itÂ’s on the web-for free! Also, New Age Wednesday on Wed. morning with all the old 80Â’s stuff is killer.
Btw, may I suggest some Cake, (no not the food), a great band.
I couldn’t link the station, something about “Your comment could not be submitted due to questionable content:” which is odd, but anyways, try searching: wber
Posted by: tim at February 14, 2008 06:30 AM (nno0f)
VIGILANTE
Most bloggers talk about current events; I, on the other hand, like to discuss movies that are ten to sixty years old. That's how I make sure I'm not saying the same thing as everyone else. I talk about the outdated stuff.
At any rate, the husband and I watched the movie The Boondock Saints last night, and it got me thinking about vigilantism. Many of our modern heroes are actually vigilantes: Batman, Spiderman, Jack Bauer, Dexter. They right the wrongs that slip through our justice system.
But, I mean, why are there so many wrongs to right?
I re-read last night Bill Whittle's section of Responsibility dealing with prairie justice. He's right that if you read that section to someone from 1880's America, they wouldn't get it.
The idea of punishing the property owner while rewarding the thief would so violate their common sense, their keenly developed sense of responsibility, that they simply could not believe what they were hearing, and that is because for those people, cold, hard reality stalked them right outside their front door, and moronic inversions of cause and effect would quite simply get you killed. ThatÂ’s why it was called common senseÂ…it was the Minimum Daily Requirement of intelligence and logic that one needed to survive on a daily basis. Those who didnÂ’t have it were too stupid to live, and had been eaten by wolves or prairie dogs, depending on just how stupid they were.
Reality has receded far from the front porch in modern America, and in those isolated towers of law offices, bureaucracies and faculty lounges, all manners of thought inversions can grow and prosper. I recently heard of a woman who sued a car dealership. It seems her son had stolen a car from said dealership, gone on a joy ride -– drunk, of course -– and gotten himself killed. The woman claimed that if the dealership had maintained adequate security, her son would not have been able to steal the car and he’d be alive today.
This is madness.
What has happened in the last 100 years that has made us, as Whittle puts it, lose sight of "the difference between perpetrator and victim"? How did we get from Jack McCall to OJ Simpson?
We watch these vigilantes on TV and we cheer them on for doing the job that our police and courts cannot do. But isn't there something inherently awful about that? Why do criminals slip so easily through the cracks?
I think the best part of The Boondock Saints was the very end where they interview folks on the street for a documentary about the making of the movie (here on YouTube, at 2:30). The opinions were split on whether the brothers' vigilantism was moral or immoral. That end segment made the movie.
Prairie justice was harsh, but I'm not sure we're always better off these days. Sometimes I just want Dexter to go chop up some bad guys.
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I don't think we're better of nowadays in regards to this AT ALL.
I don't find Ellie Nesler an ideal mother in most respects, but I sure did feel like cheering for her when she killed her son's molester.
Perhaps if we were allowed to really defend ourselves nowadays, I would feel fine letting my kids go to the park without me watching over their shoulder. As it is, I feel like I have to hover. Because God forbid anything happen to them, it will be about the "poor" perpetrator who was driven to what s/he did by a horrible childhood.
Posted by: airforcewife at February 13, 2008 09:12 AM (mIbWn)
2"But, I mean, why are there so many wrongs to right? ... We watch these vigilantes on TV and we cheer them on for doing the job that our police and courts cannot do. But isn't there something inherently awful about that?"
Two great questions. They made me think of a third:
If Gotham City needs Batman, what does that say about Commissioner Gordon's police force?
A fourth: Is there a correlation between vigilante fantasy entertainment and an increasingly criminal-coddling society? (The rise of the Death Wish movies after the 60s might indicate that the answer is yes.) I don't think there was anything 'cool' about frontier justice 'back in the day'; it was a harsh fact of life. But nowadays such justice has turned into escapism and the reality is that people want to deny responsibility. People have always wanted to deny responsibility, but it's never been easier.
Posted by: Amritas at February 13, 2008 08:44 PM (uJSNW)
Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness. That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.
--Bradford Wiles, quoted by Glenn Reynolds
The other night when we were out walking Charlie, the neighborhood watch guy was out. He warned us that they were looking for two stray dogs, a pit bull and a rottweiler, who had been roaming the neighborhood. These dogs had already mauled and killed another dog, right in front of his owner on her front lawn. Animal control had been out and set a trap, but they weren't having any luck luring the dogs. He told us to be careful.
We just got back from a walk again today, and as we rounded a corner in the neighborhood, I spotted the rottweiler coming slowly from between two houses. We immediately turned, and I don't think the dog ever saw us. But it certainly was unnerving to walk the rest ofthe way home with our backs to where we'd last seen a dangerous dog. I couldn't help but wish we had some way to defend ourselves. I remembered reading Glenn Reynolds' article again the other day, and I felt Bradford Wiles' sense of helplessness.
And my husband is now uneasy that we're safe in our home while danger lurks outside. He's a sheepdog, and he feels awful about letting the wolf roam free. But we don't know anything about the legal ramifications of the situation; can one just go outside with a pistol and Atticus Finch a dangerous dog? Animal control has tried and failed to catch this dog, so the whole neighborhood is at his mercy.
I also worry about the many dogs in the neighborhood who are tied up outside. A vicious dog could come attack them in their own yards, and they'd be at a serious disadvantage if they're on a ten-foot leash.
And I worry about taking Charlie on another walk tomorrow.
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I think in NC you can shoot it if it's on your property, but I wouldn't suggest any firearms if you're in a subdivision. If there's a natural area around, they might be hiding out back there, and it might be pretty easy to cap 'em if your hubby could hang out in the woods for a little while. We had to do that a few times, but we lived on 100's of acres of undeveloped land. Subdivisions are going to be a bit harder.
I also have a friend whose dog was killed by another while it was on a walk on a leash. I'd keep Charlie leashed until the aggressors are taken care of.
Posted by: Sis B at February 10, 2008 09:18 AM (qPf1j)
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Take Charlie walking in another neighborhood until these dogs are caught, k? We had an experience in our family where a known aggressive German Shepherd was allowed in the retirement community where ex-dh's grandma lived. That dog ripped her tiny Maltese from the arms of her nurse and shook her dog to death. His grandma (and the nurse) were never the same after that and my first mil, who is not a sheepdog in the least, would have shot that dog on sight, I'm sure.
I hope enough of your neighbors get on the horn to the authorities until they either a) get out there until the job is done or b) give some professionals an opportunity to take care of it.
Posted by: Guard Wife at February 10, 2008 12:33 PM (BslEQ)
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That is really scary. My childhood cat was an indoor/outdoor cat, and he was mauled by a neighbor's loose, vicious dog. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to have to walk home knowing that the dog was somewhere behind you.
Maybe you can call either animal control or the local authorities and ask what you can do if the animals are on your property or if you see them? Maybe you're allowed to shoot them where you live, or they'll give you some other options that might make you feel safer?
Posted by: Ann M. at February 12, 2008 04:13 PM (HFUBt)
Solar panels look bold on a rooftop, and a Toyota Prius looks hip in the driveway. Geothermal heating and cooling has none of that sex appeal, yet perhaps unlike the others, it can clearly save you money -- and a lot of it.
"The problem is that we don't have some big, fancy piece of equipment outside," says John Kelly, head of a Washington trade group for geothermal companies.
This is just too rich. You know there are people out there who are dying to go green, but only if it's ostentatious. You mean geothermal is the way to go, but my friends and neighbors won't be able to tell I'm doing anything? Nevermind. What a riot -- it's good for the environment, but they're having a hard time marketing to ecotards who only want solutions that shout "Look at me, I'm saving the planet!"
The secondary title on this one was "First case of secondhand smoke causing an immediate death, study says." You know they couldn't wait to print this one. A girl goes to work in a bar and dies from an asthma attack. Smokers killed someone! Smokers killed someone!
But she wasn't exactly winning any Healthy Teen awards:
Rosenman said the woman had asthma since age 2. Her asthma was poorly controlled. She had made four visits to her doctor in the year before her death for flare-ups, and had been treated in a hospital emergency department two to three times that year.
Although she had prescriptions for an assortment of drugs to prevent and treat asthma attacks, she was reported to only use them when she was having breathing difficulty.
On the evening of her death, she had no inhaler with her.
Maybe the headline should instead read that secondhand smoke triggered a totally unnecessary death. It's a shame that she didn't take her life-long asthma seriously enough to be properly prepared for an attack. That's not smoke's fault; she could've walked by a lady with massive perfume overload and had the same result. And don't work in a smoky bar if you have asthma, for heaven's sake. Smoking is gross, but this hysterical secondhand smoke nonsense is too much for me. And now we have some study that says that a teen with asthma just walked into a bar and straight-up died because of the smoke in the air. What a boon that will be for the End Smoking Everywhere types.
WHO PICKS THESE MOVIES?
I felt an a-ha moment when I saw today that Crash made the list of Worst Oscars Ever. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought it was an overrated piece of garbage. And I disliked it for the same reasons that I disliked Brokeback Mountain: it was all agony and no hope. It was depressing for the sake of being depressing. I couldn't stomach a straight love story with that message.
And now I just spent twenty minutes looking for an old quote I read about Transformers so I could tie this blog post up with a pretty bow, but I can't find it so I am giving up. No poignant ending.
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Sarah, this is off topic, but a while ago someone linked to a very good post about PTSD. I thought I'd gotten there through you, but cannot find it again. I need to send that link to some good friends, and was hoping that maybe you remember where that might have been.
Thanks,
Ted
Posted by: Ted at February 09, 2008 10:46 AM (yRolC)
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I hated CRASH myself. I found it to be a little to unrealistic.
Note to Sarah, critics thought it was so good that it will be coming to prime time television as a series. I can't remember the channel, but watch out world.
Posted by: Vonn at February 09, 2008 07:45 PM (8ocu7)
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Uh, oh, Ronin loves the Transformers. I'm dying to know what you were thinking about here...the old movie or the new one from this past summer?
Posted by: Kate at February 15, 2008 06:39 AM (JIGe1)
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It strikes me that choosing a mate based on a long checklist of requirements is similar to some unfortunate practices in the hiring of employees: Hunting The Five-Pound Butterfly.
Posted by: david foster at February 09, 2008 03:09 PM (ke+yX)
AMERICA: HATING US IS SO NORMAL
I missed a day of Lileks, and it was a good one. Recommended reading: Thursday's Bleat, in which Lileks channels Hate America Firsters.
Nations are bad enough, but weÂ’re something else: the only nation that has ever fought a war, acted in self-interest, had a good opinion of itself, permitted slavery, elected leaders who lacked a certain Olympian quality, had a popular culture that included simple catchy melodies and bright pictures, harbored racist attitudes, had a strong religious element, and contained a sizable amount of stupid people.
And scroll through the slogans. And be sad.
But enjoy #218. And laugh at #486.
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James is the husband of an attorney that I worked with... we met at a wedding, he's a blast. from the complete other end of the political scale, but a nice guy. he's funny!
BUT, he and I agreed, Molly Ivins was funnier! It may have been the accent...
LAW
REASON 8 MILLION WHY LIVING IN GERMANY WAS A PAIN IN THE NECK
Yes, we're still feeling the effects of our lovely OCONUS move.
We paid off our first car while my husband was in Iraq. The lienholder mailed us a letter saying to complete the title, we needed to go to our local DMV. Um, our local DMV was a bunch of Germans working on post in the pseudo-licensing office. The German lady looked at my documents and shrugged. I think I remember her saying at the time that we might run into problems later down the road.
We sure did. But that was nearly four years ago, and I didn't think much of it.
We moved back to the US and reregistered our cars in our state of record. By mail. That car has not been back in Missouri since we bought it back in 2002. Which meant the problem was never noticed...until today. We went to register our cars in our new state, and our lien was never shown as lifted.
So now what? How do I undo a problem that was created four years ago, and 1000 miles away? And through the fricking DMV, of all headaches.
What an unnecessary pain in the neck it was to live in Germany.
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Is it possible to contact the lienholder, and get another copy of the release?
Posted by: Toni at February 08, 2008 04:07 PM (OoGre)
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My best guesstimate would be two-pronged. 1) pull a free copy of your credit report and see how it shows that debt. If it still shows as open, you will 2) need to dispute that item on your credit report. At that point, I think the lienholder will have to prove you do still owe as the burden is on the one trying to enforce the debt to prove it exists. My next best guess would be to contact your JAG office b/c I'm sure you aren't the first couple to experience this. Also, for consumer problems and fixes, check out www.clarkhoward.com
Good luck!
Posted by: Guard Wife at February 08, 2008 05:17 PM (BslEQ)
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Oh, and P.S. If no one has come to try and repo your car, my guess is the lienholder doesn't even realize this snafu is occurring...
Posted by: Guard Wife at February 08, 2008 05:18 PM (BslEQ)
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Sarah
I have never really understood your anti-German thing, but different strokes I suppose.
I can tell you though, from my experience with the state of Missouri this likely has more to do with them than being in Germany.
Posted by: Badger 6 at February 09, 2008 05:51 AM (Ei/ef)
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Badger -- No, I know for sure it is Missouri's job to handle it. But I wasn't IN Missouri, because I was forced to live in Germany. That's why there was a problem.
And I've lived in three different foreign countries. I hate living anywhere but the US. I don't understand why anyone would request to live anywhere else...different strokes, indeed.
Posted by: Sarah at February 09, 2008 07:03 AM (TWet1)
RACHEL LUCAS IS RIGHT
I want to go on the record as agreeing with Rachel Lucas. She has apparently been taking a ton of heat for saying that conservatives ought to vote for McCain in November if they don't want someone worse. I said it in a short version recently, but she lays it out in far more detail than I did. If you want to follow her argument, which I think is completely sound, here are the relevant posts:
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I will vote for McC in preference to either of the dems, but I won't be happy about it. He seems to have little understanding of our economy, and to be hostile on a personal level toward businesspeople..I can easily imagine him pushing policies that will devastate whole industries. There are serious questions about his support of free speech. He has no experience in the executive management of large organizations. He seems very arrogant, and it's difficult to imagine him listening to subordinates who present unwelcome facts or views.
How did we get in this mess?
Posted by: david foster at February 07, 2008 05:45 PM (ke+yX)
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I hate McCain, but Rachel has a good point. I will sadly vote for him if it comes down to it.
Posted by: Erin at February 07, 2008 07:22 PM (y67l2)
CASABLANCA THROUGH ADULT EYES
The husband and I watched Casablanca tonight. He had never seen it and I hadn't seen it since high school. And the movie meant a whole lot more to me now than it did back then.
My husband remarked how absurd it would seem to modern viewers to have a woman leave the man she loves to stand for a cause. Nowadays, you'd never break up true love at the end of a movie, especially not for war aims. Rick makes Ilsa go because "the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." Few people talk like that these days. Fewer still think like that.
But Casablanca came out in 1942, long before the outcome of the war was certain. It was a beautiful story of sacrifice in difficult times. Rick and Ilsa gave up love for the greater good.
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I have never seen this movie before and my brother keeps getting on me about it. It is next on my Netflix right now.
Posted by: Kasey at February 07, 2008 05:36 PM (tttDj)
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I bought that movie a while back, but I haven't seen it yet. Now I gotta dig it out and give it a try.
Posted by: Erin at February 07, 2008 07:15 PM (y67l2)
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My wife and I also watched it this weekend. She had never seen the whole thing, just bits and pieces. I could not find it at the rental store or the library so I bought it. I love the Inspector Reynaud character.
It remains an excellent movie, 65 years later. I think it was a total surprise to those involved that it 'worked' as well as it did - it was not significantly different than dozens of standard studio productions of the time, and in addition it was affected by war effort comings and goings of writers and other personnel during production. The script evolved through several writer changes and writing barely kept up with filming. I think it was just one of those 'magic' accidental combinations of story, cast, direction, script and historical timing.
Many would hold me blasphemous, but to me the most analagous 'modern' movie is the original Star Wars - science fiction instead of historical fiction, but romance, heroism, an array of interesting characters, and some memorable lines, which all really 'worked'.
Posted by: Glenmore at February 07, 2008 07:22 PM (RnFyI)
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One of my alltime favorite movies. Inspector Reynaud was also my favorite character. When I worked at the jail, everyone became quite familiar with the phrase, "Round up the usual suspects!"
Posted by: R1 at February 08, 2008 06:04 AM (y1Xat)
I went to set the ringtones, and absolutely none of them are appropriate for my age group. This one's techno. This one's gangsta. Eww, this one sounds like s-e-x. The "oriental" one, that's just racist. I have it set on just plain ringing like a phone because I cannot imagine using any of the provided files.
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Fear not, fair lass....there is more truth than you know in the phrase "Life Begins at 40"
Yes - you are out of the focus demographic...which actually means you get a bit more peace than you might imagine.
And there is a bit of satisfaction in knowing that the people for whom the cell phones are preloaded with tunes are in all probability using cinder blocks and/or milk crates to some utility in their apartments - and you, in your house, are not.
Spend a dollar...download Diana Krall. It's an amazing thing when it shows in the young'uns faces that a bucketful of expletives can't hold a candle to slow jazz sung, not spoken, by someone with real talent.
Witness, Tony Bennett.
Posted by: Tim Fitzgerald at February 07, 2008 04:18 PM (Nki/C)
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I feel your pain. I use a certain free website for ring tones. I upload my favorite songs and sounds to them and they send it to my cell phone as a message file. I then download it and save it.
I even loaded the "red alert" alarm from Star Trek just to use as the ring tone for my boss. She was always a crisis in motion on any given day.
If you're interested, let me know and I'll pass the site on to you. Seems to have worked well so far and it's free.
Posted by: R1 at February 07, 2008 04:46 PM (y1Xat)
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I currently have the Austin Powers theme as my ringtone. And before that I had one that said, "Patriot! This is Captain America! Your country needs you!"
then I lost the phone with the Captain America tone and by the time I got my new one I could not find it online again.
I nearly cried. It may sound silly, but I loved hearing my phone ring.
Posted by: airforcewife at February 07, 2008 05:17 PM (mIbWn)
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There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living. --The Count of Monte Cristo--
While our troops go out to defend our country, it is incumbent upon us to make the country worth defending. --Deskmerc--
Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, WWII, and the Star Wars Trilogy. --Bart Simpson--
If you want to be a peacemaker, you've gotta learn to kick ass. --Sheriff of East Houston, Superman II--
Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind. --Jed Babbin--
Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. --President John F. Kennedy--
War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. --General Patton--
We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over. --Full Metal Jacket--
Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed. --Dick Cheney--
The Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. --Col Steven Arrington--
The purpose of diplomacy isn't to make us feel good about Eurocentric diplomatic skills, and having countries from the axis of chocolate tie our shoelaces together does nothing to advance our infantry. --Sir George--
I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right. --Oriol--
It's days like this when we're reminded that freedom isn't free. --Chaplain Jacob--
Bumper stickers aren't going to accomplish some of the missions this country is going to face. --David Smith--
The success of multilateralism is measured not merely by following a process, but by achieving results. --President Bush--
Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life.
--John Galt--
First, go buy a six pack and swig it all down. Then, watch Ace Ventura. And after that, buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt and come talk to me. You really need to lighten up, man.
--Sminklemeyer--
You've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting --General Curtis Lemay--
If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained -- we must fight! --Patrick Henry--
America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American. --President George W. Bush--
are usually just cheerleading sessions, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing but a soothing reduction in blood pressure brought about by the narcotic high of being agreed with. --Bill Whittle
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill--
We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other. --General George Marshall--
We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.
--Buzz Aldrin--
America is the greatest, freest and most decent society in existence. It is an oasis of goodness in a desert of cynicism and barbarism. This country, once an experiment unique in the world, is now the last best hope for the world.
--Dinesh D'Souza--
Recent anti-Israel protests remind us again of our era's peculiar alliance: the most violent, intolerant, militantly religious movement in modern times has the peace movement on its side. --James Lileks--
As a wise man once said: we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Unless the price is too high, the burden too great, the hardship too hard, the friend acts disproportionately, and the foe fights back. In which case, we need a timetable.
--James Lileks--
I am not willing to kill a man so that he will agree with my faith, but I am prepared to kill a man so that he cannot force my compatriots to submit to his.
--Froggy--
You can say what you want about President Bush; but the truth is that he can take a punch. The man has taken a swift kick in the crotch for breakfast every day for 6 years and he keeps getting up with a smile in his heart and a sense of swift determination to see the job through to the best of his abilties.
--Varifrank--
In a perfect world, We'd live in peace and love and harmony with each oither and the world, but then, in a perfect world, Yoko would have taken the bullet.
--SarahBellum--
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. --Ronald Reagan--
America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large. --E.M. Forster--
Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. --Mark Twain--
The Enlightenment was followed by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, which touched every European state, sparked vicious guerrilla conflicts across the Continent and killed millions. Then, things really turned ugly after the invention of soccer. --Iowahawk--
Every time I meet an Iraqi Army Soldier or Policeman that I haven't met before, I shake his hand and thank him for his service. Many times I am thanked for being here and helping his country. I always tell them that free people help each other and that those that truly value freedom help those seeking it no matter the cost. --Jack Army--
Right, left - the terms are useless nowadays anyway. There are statists, and there are individualists. There are pessimists, and optimists. There are people who look backwards and trust in the West, and those who look forward and trust in The World. Those are the continuums that seem to matter the most right now. --Lileks--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
--Winston Churchill--
A man or a nation is not placed upon this earth to do merely what is pleasant and what is profitable. It is often called upon to carry out what is both unpleasant and unprofitable, but if it is obviously right it is mere shirking not to undertake it. --Arthur Conan Doyle--
A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself. --John Stuart Mill--
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." --Dave Grossman--
At heart I’m a cowboy; my attitude is if they’re not going to stand up and fight for what they believe in then they can go pound sand. --Bill Whittle--
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. --Alexander Tyler--
By that time a village half-wit could see what generations of professors had pretended not to notice. --Atlas Shrugged--
I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and everything seemed so shitty. And he'd say, "That's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too." --Alabama Worley--
So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists don’t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we haven’t yet held talks without preconditions with.
--Mark Steyn--
"I had started alone in this journey called life, people started
gathering up on the way, and the caravan got bigger everyday." --Urdu couplet
The book and the sword are the two things that control the world. We either gonna control them through knowledge and influence their minds, or we gonna bring the sword and take their heads off. --RZA--
It's a daily game of public Frogger, hopping frantically to avoid being crushed under the weight of your own narcissism, banality, and plain old stupidity. --Mary Katharine Ham--
There are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms
of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. --James Madison--
It is in the heat of emotion that good people must remember to stand on principle. --Larry Elder--
Please show this to the president and ask him to remember the wishes of the forgotten man, that is, the one who dared to vote against him. We expect to be tramped on but we do wish the stepping would be a little less hard. --from a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt--
The world economy depends every day on some engineer, farmer, architect, radiator shop owner, truck driver or plumber getting up at 5AM, going to work, toiling hard, and producing real wealth so that an array of bureaucrats, regulators, and redistributors can manage the proper allotment of much of the natural largess produced. --VDH--
Parents are often so busy with the physical rearing of children that they miss the glory of parenthood, just as the grandeur of the trees is lost when raking leaves. --Marcelene Cox--
