Right Wing Ramblings

"no one in his right mind would look to France for anything more weighty than a good soufflé recipe." Max Boot

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” Benjamin Franklin

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." 10th ammendment

“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” The Gipper

“If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will Lose its freedom.” William Somerset

MaughamSit Vis Vobiscum

"The researches of so many eminent scientific men have thrown so much darkness upon the subject that if they continue their researches we shall soon know nothing." Artemus Ward

the "amount of oil available to the market over the next 25 to 50 years is for all intents and purposes infinite." Morris Adelman, Professor Emeritus in Economics, Harvard

"the United States today is so far removed from laissez-faire capitalism that it is closer to the system of a police state than to laissez-faire capitalism." George Reisman, Pepperdine University Professor Emeritus of Economics

“For if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.” J. B. S. Haldane

"I think that we here in the US, probably to our detriment, live in the least truly violent society of any in history." Michael Gira

“a man would be thought a coward if he had no more courage than a courageous woman.” Aristotle

"Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent." Judge Holden

"They'd rather be alive than free, I guess. Poor dumb bastards." Eightball

"Mr. Lindemann gave off an air of such brute masculinity and barely contained violence that it seemed that he could have reached into the crowd, snatched up a fan, and bitten off his head."

"Yeah, I went hunting once. Shot a deer in the leg. Had to kill it with a shovel. Took about an hour. Why do you ask?" Michael Scott

Capt. Thomas Fuller: Sometimes doing the right thing isn't doing the right thing. Sgt. Howard: What the hell is that supposed to mean? "

I REGRET NOTHING." The Dude

“A man 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

"an habitual disuse of physical force totally destroys the moral; and men lose at once the power of protecting themselves, and of discerning the cause of their oppresion." J. Barlow

"to be disarmed is to be contemptible." Machiavelli

Victory in Iraq

It has become obligatory for both pro- and antiwar commentators to never mention the possibility of victory in Iraq. The most that antiwar people will admit is that the surge has gained a temporary military advantage in a war that cannot be won militarily. The most pro-war commentators will claim is that they see the possibility of "success" perhaps, maybe, someday, somehow.

But as of Veterans Day 2007, I think one can claim a very real expectation that next year the world may see a genuine, old-fashioned victory in the Iraq War. In five years we will have overturned Saddam's government, killed, captured or driven out of country almost all al Qaeda terrorists, suppressed the violent Shi'ite militias and induced the Sunni tribal leaders and their people to shun resistance and send their sons into the army and police and seek peaceful resolution of disputes. And we will have stood up a multisectarian, tribally inclusive army capable of maintaining the peace that our troops established.

MORE

This is most definitely a good thing:

Patraeus Helping Pick New Generals

The Army has summoned the top U.S. commander in Iraq back to Washington to preside over a board that will pick some of the next generation of Army leaders, an unusual decision that officials say represents a vote of confidence in Gen. David H. Petraeus’s conduct of the war, as well as the Army counterinsurgency doctrine he helped rewrite.

The Army has long been criticized for rewarding conventional military thinking and experience in traditional combat operations, and current and former defense officials have pointed to Petraeus’s involvement in the promotion board process this month as a sign of the Army’s commitment to encouraging innovation and rewarding skills beyond the battlefield.

Some junior and midlevel officers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have been particularly outspoken in their criticisms, saying the Army’s current leadership lacks a hands-on understanding of today’s conflicts and has not listened to feedback from younger personnel.

“It’s unprecedented for the commander of an active theater to be brought back to head something like a brigadier generals board,” said retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, former head of the Army War College. A senior defense official said Petraeus is “far too high-profile for this to be a subtle thing.”

The board, composed of 15 Army generals, will examine a pool of more than 1,000 colonels to select about 40 brigadier generals, expected to lead the service over the next decade or longer. Although each board member has an equal vote on the candidates, Petraeus will be able to guide the discussion.

Petraeus, a four-star general with a doctorate in political science, has spent three of the past four years in Iraq and has observed firsthand many of the colonels under consideration for promotion. He is well-regarded by military officials for his political skills in Iraq and at home, including winning support from a skeptical Congress for a U.S. troop increase in Iraq.

“Dave Petraeus in many ways is viewed as the archetype of what this new generation of senior leader is all about,” Scales said, “a guy . . . who understands information operations, who can be effective on Capitol Hill, who can communicate with Iraqis, who understands the value of original thought, who has the ability through the power of his intellect to lead people to change.”

Right Wing Ramblings

Thursday, February 28, 2013

New Links!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Global Warming, Environment, related

Quotes

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Old and New Links

Friday, February 08, 2008

McCain's True Colors Come Through?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Links II

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Links

Saturday, November 17, 2007

A Military Genius of Our Time