Silflay Hraka

David Brooks on the new Ross Perot.

There’s going to be another Ross Perot, and this time he’s going to be younger. There’s going to be a millionaire rising out of the country somewhere and he (or she) is going to lead a movement of people who are worried about federal deficits, who are offended by the horrendous burden seniors are placing on the young and who are disgusted by a legislative process that sometimes suggests that the government has lost all capacity for self-control.
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He’s going to rail against a country that cannot control its appetites. He’s going to rail against Republicans who promise to be virtuous - but not just yet. He’s going to slam Democrats who loudly jeer at Republican deficits but whose own entitlement proposals would make the situation twice as bad. He’s going to crusade against the interest groups who are so ferocious on behalf of their members that they sacrifice the future.

It’s probably just me, but the tone of Brooks’ editorial isn’t so much prediction as it is forewarning, as if Brooks already knows who is coming, is on his his side, and is preparing the ground in advance.

So, who is it?

My guess, based on the thinnest of suppositions, is that it’s Jim Clark.

Anyone else like to take a stab at it?

One for the military history rabbits of The Warren.

The battle for Iwo Jima began 60 years ago today.

The lesson of Iwo Jima is in fact an ancient one, going back to Machiavelli: that sometimes free societies must be as tough and unrelenting as their enemies. Totalitarians test their opponents by generating extreme conditions of brutality and violence; in those conditions–in the streets and beheadings of Fallujah or on the beach and in the bunkers of Iwo Jima–they believe weak democratic nerves will crack. This in turn demonstrates their moral superiority: that by giving up their own decency and humanity they have become stronger than those who have not.

Free societies can afford only one response. There were no complicated legal issues or questions of “moral equivalence” on Iwo Jima: It was kill or be killed. That remains the nature of war even for democratic societies. The real question is, who outlasts whom. In 1945 on Iwo Jima, it was the Americans, as the monument at Arlington Cemetery, based on Rosenthal’s photograph, proudly attests. In the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1970s, it was the totalitarians–with terrible consequences.

(lvtc)

Except when it’s not.

Obviously it was not worth the price paid, but not all of the December tsunami’s effects were bad ones.

The tsunami that devastated the shores of the Indian Ocean also uncovered what appears to be part of an ancient city off the coast of what is already a United Nations world heritage site.
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When the giant waves receded, they washed away sand that had covered three rocky structures near the town, whose ancient, intricately carved temples are visited each year by thousands of pilgrims and tourists

Judging from the pictures, it appears as if the shoreline lost at least 8 vertical feet of sand cover.

WB to update characters for ‘Loonatics’

Bugs Bunny and his pals are being updated for the future - way in the future. The WB network will take the famed Looney Tunes characters as models for a new children’s series, “Loonatics,” that will air on Saturday mornings starting this fall. The characters’ descendants - Buzz Bunny and the like - will be superhero action figures for the cartoon set in the year 2772.

Update: Cartoon Brew has perhaps the best reaction. (lvtc)

Another shining example of the corruption engendered by an official state religion.

Greece’s embattled Orthodox Church leader begged the nation for forgiveness Friday after a blitz of allegations ranging from trial-fixing to purported sex escapades battered the church’s reputation as guardian of Greek culture and honor.

The apology by Archbishop Christodoulos made as senior clerics opened an emergency conclave to impose reforms showed the depth of the crisis for the church and its attempts to regain its footing even as the embarrassing scandals continue to unfold.

Were I an athiest of a tactical bent, I’d be doing all I could to promote ties between government and religion. The tighter the ties now, the more athiests later on.

USS Jimmy Carter ‘uniquely capable’ against terror

Finally, something named “Jimmy Carter” that’s useful in the War on Terror.

I’ve got five bucks riding on Anal Fissure.

After five hours of switching computers, updating video drivers and one instance of “Damn the CPU, full speed ahead!” I finally got World of Warcraft installed on the laptop Friday night.

And it’s been worth every second, though attempting to play it over a wireless connection was probably not my finest decision. Buying it at all might not have been the finest decision when it comes to keeping the website updated. When it comes to blogging, WoW is the One Ring, and I rather suspect I’m Boromir.

Extremely Geeky Aside: If you’re playing, I’m the Dark Elf “Silflay”–Original, I know–in the Llane realm. After I finish this, I have to go collect cave spider eggs. Feel free to join me.

But, so far at least, I’ve been able to put off the temptation. No choice, really. Aside from tomorrow night, various males are taking advantage of the wife and kid’s absence to come over, drink alcohol and scratch themselves in manners not normally seen as conducive to public discourse. SW is accepting but wary of this somewhat inevitable result of her departure, pleased that she isn’t being subjected to the loud shouts and general clangor associated with elevated levels of testosterone in the living room, but suspicious of the activities that might occur now that she’s unable to chaperone the activities.

And she’s right to be. Why, just last night I marginally adjusted the positions of both living room chairs so that they had a better view of the television, so that we could watch Brotherhood of the Wolf and drink Jolly Rogers in complete ease. Tonight I’m moving the couch.

It feels like Mardi Gras.

Meta-Carnival #1

Carnival of Cordite