There’s something dignified — maybe even, chivalrous — about thoroughly understanding something before you deliberately ruin it.Congress.
— Merlin Mann (@hotdogsladies) December 17, 2011
Tag Archive for 'Politics'
In Kabul in 2001 I was sent with a unit to meet with an Afghan government minister. We had to explain that we weren’t Russian, we were British. As soon as we did he rounded on us and shouted: British? You burned down the covered market! My first thought was s***, what have the Paras done now? I apologised and we got on with the meeting. Back at base I asked who had burned down the market. Blank faces all round, until someone at the back said he thought we had burned down the covered market. In 1842. #
I have quite a few British friends and readers, and I thought this might be of particular interest to you. A good friend of mine, Bjørn, an ex-pat Dane who is married to a Brit, and living and working in England, raised the alarm flag on a subject which should be very close to the heart of anyone living in Britain, whether they know it or not.
You won’t read the following block of text; it is too dense, too long and too serious. Nonetheless, I bring this excerpt from Martin van Creveld’s The Blemish of Conquest, because the entire thing is a great read, and I in particularly thought the the summary worth reprinting.
The third of Dayan’s observations, and the most relevant to a comparison with the current war in Iraq, is that the Americans found themselves in the unfortunate position of beating down the weak. As Dayan wrote, “Any comparison between the two armies was astonishing. On the one hand there was the American army, complete with helicopters, an air force, armor, electronic communications, artillery, and mind-boggling riches; to say nothing of ammunition, fuel, spare parts, and equipment of all kinds. On the other there were the [North Vietnamese troops], who had been walking on foot for four months, carrying some artillery rounds on their backs and using a tin spoon to eat a little ground rice from a tin plate.“Continue reading ‘Martin van Creveld’s The Blemish of Conquest’
But Christiania sits on prime real estate in Copenhagen’s upmarket Christenhaven neighbourhood, and Denmark’s conservative government wants to reclaim the territory for an ambitious housing project. #
Yep, and while I certainly don’t concur with the methods taken into use by the anti-authoritarian youths as of late, our government definitely needs to ease up its normalization plan and lay off Christiania. Ungdomshuset was one thing; a big stupid mistake, but this is just petty, and is probably mainly fueled by their desire to be reelected by the — paradoxically — conservative part of the population.
It’s good to see that these things make waves out in the world; I just hope they don’t attract more ‘violence is the solution to eeeeverythiiiing’-kind of people.
But the clashes with the authorities changes in the attitudes of a traditionally tolerant Danish society. The current conservative government, for example, rules in coalition with the openly anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party.
Yes; I am sorry. No, I didn’t vote for them. Either of them.
The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. This suggests that when three Republican presidential candidates at a May debate stated they did not believe in evolution, they were generally in sync with the bulk of the rank-and-file Republicans whose nomination they are seeking to obtain. #
On the upside, science fiction and fantasy authors must be doing very well in the US.
Bush signs the partial ban on abortion. Notice anything strange on that photo?
What about the total and utter lack of Women?