The American Revolution and France

“The powerful motives of France for the assistance which she gave us was obviously to enfeeble a hated and powerful rival by breaking in pieces the British Empire. He must be a fool who can be credulous enough to believe that a despotic court aided a popular revolution from regard to liberty or friendship to the principles of such a revolution.”

-- Alexander Hamilton

(Source: Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”)

strep-like scratch

It's Pop's radio that gets me out of bed at 7:15. It was a good night's sleep, though. I am surprised that the cats were so completely quiet.

When I got up at 2:30 for a bathroom run, I saw that the rain had started. I was glad that I kept the cats inside, though I do wonder if it was too selfish not to let them have that few hours of the night.

At one point in the night, my throat had the worst strep-like scratch, and I had a bad coughing fit. I was thinking that I was going to need some over-the-counter throat medicine, but I feel okay this morning with only the slightest hint of a tickle. I may ask Pop to get something to play it safe.

Pro-Gun

"The megabanks that control the planet are conspiring to take guns away from regular citizens. They've taken everybody's guns, but the Swiss and the American people.[...] I'm here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms! Doesn't matter how many lemmings you get out there on the street, begging for 'em to have their guns taken. We will not relinquish them. Do you understand?! That's why you're going to fail, and the establishment knows, no matter how much propaganda, the republic will rise again!"

-- Alex Jones

The Beginning of America's Military Decline?

Chuck Hagel has been nominated [to be Secretary of Defense] to supervise the beginning of this generation-long process of defense cutbacks. If a Democratic president is going to slash defense, he probably wants a Republican at the Pentagon to give him political cover, and he probably wants a decorated war hero to boot.

All the charges about Hagel’s views on Israel or Iran are secondary. The real question is, how will he begin this long cutting process? How will he balance modernizing the military and paying current personnel? How will he recalibrate American defense strategy with, say, 455,000 fewer service members?

How, in short, will Hagel supervise the beginning of America’s military decline? If members of Congress don’t want America to decline militarily, well, they have no one to blame but the voters and themselves.

-- David Brooks at The New York Times

The word 'decline' is very strong-handed. One could speak of normalizing America's military projection, and argue that it has been late in coming, that America cannot play the sort of hegemonic role it played in the first decades following World War Two. Having said that, though, considering how unstable and threatening the Middle East remains today, we could find ourselves winding back up for the biggest military engagement yet since that great war.

Jimmy Kimmel and the Talk Show Wars

The late-night talk show wars are taking another turn apparently. I pretty much stopped watching those shows soon after Leno took over Johnny Carson's old seat. This is not personal anent Leno. I always liked Leno. I just did not care for the limits of network television, kiddy TV. But I still find the politics interesting.

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

those Christmas books

While Pop was getting something in the big room, he asked if I got those Christmas books. I said I did and I showed them to him. He only looks at the cover and says, "I think they're beyond my skills." That was quite disarming. It does suggest a respect of a kind. I am not always sure that I get even that.

Pessoa

In this passage, I think we can get a clearer idea of Mr. Pessoa’s perspective and philosophy. I particularly take note of how he distinguishes his outlook from being a pessimistic one. After all, the voice of “The Book of Disquiet” is of one who seems to have severely isolated himself from the main currents of life and whose only real enterprise is to record his perceptions and sensations in his journal. It would be easy to think he must have a negative outlook with a good dose of bitterness in his soul. Indeed, I cannot help thinking that he works hard to present a positive ‘Wow, what a wondrous world’ position, that this is more philosophy than nature. But maybe I project too much unto the work.

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a blast from the past

Talk about a blast from the past! Remember Luke and laura? From the soap opera "General Hospital"? The rape that turned to love and marriage? Thirty years ago? The soap we were actually hooked on because Yokota had only one TV station? Yeah, that one.

I see on ONTD that Genie Francis is reprising her role as Laura. I'm not going to watch it. My interest in soap operas really did not last beyond those Yokota days. But I remember well being on the bandwagon when that big Luke and Laura storyline was rolling in the early 1980s, and I just a wee teenager, not even old enough for a learner's permit to drive.

God, time... it really is the fire in which we burn. But it is so sadly funny: I am still almost exactly the same as I was then, just a lot older and with no friends. I have made nothing of my life. I don't know how I did it, but I sure did it.


(ONTD)

Daily Fun

Miguel Cabezas

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