Soccer Dad: If ... you must 02/23/2007

February 23, 2007

If ... you must 02/23/2007

If you haven't read Another Spacecraft Explodes at Maryland Weather Blog; you must.
The NY Times reports on a concern about the increasing volume of space junk.

If you haven't read A great Briton at Don Surber ; you must.
This is how the Prince put it:

"If they said no, you can't go in the front line, then I wouldn't drag my sorry arse to Sandhurst and I wouldn't be where I am now, because the last thing I want to do is to have [my unit] sent away to Iraq or anywhere like that, and for me to be held back home twiddling my thumbs," Harry said on his 21st birthday in 2005.

In other words if he's going to do the training, he's going to serve like anyone else.

If you haven't read Power Line's The indispensible founder; you must.
Great article about George Washington's career as a distiller with this great tidbit:

But for all of Washington's commendable belief in moderate alcohol use, he very much appreciated its utility. Esther White, a Mount Vernon archaeologist, told me Washington once lost a 1755 campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates because he didn't treat prospective supporters to a drink. Two years later, he rolled out 144 gallons of refreshment. He won with 307 votes, a return on his investment of better than two votes per gallon. He never lost another campaign.

And don't forget to read the American Cincinnattus.

If you haven't read Secular Blasphemy's The Mythology of International Law; you must.
It's not just a problem if the framework makes war criminals out of Churchill or Roosevelt as Secular Blasphemy writes; it's also a problem when it makes Arafat legitimate as the late Jeane Kirkpatrick wrote.

If you haven't read Crablaw's Baltimore Examiner: Anne Arundel County Renovates "Snoezelen" Room for Autistic Students ; you must.
It includes his loving and poignant observations of his own autistic child.

If you haven't read Jules Crittenden's Quote of the Year; you must.
Somehow that last sentence about Vietnam reminded me of the Mouse that Roared.

If you haven't read Jules Crittenden's FDR ... Hitler Natural Allies; you must.
There's a certain arrogance possessed by by Thomas Friedman whose column is quoted here. In the aftermath of the 9/11, he was trying to whitewash Saudi Arabia giving over his column to promote Prince Abdullah's "peace plan" (rather it was series of specific demands on Israel and with vague promises in return.) To appreciate the degree to which Friedman's push for Abdullah's plan served Saudi propaganda needs, consider that the Saudi government for a while had it up on its website! So now Friedman wants the U.S. to engage Iran. But wait a second just a few months ago Friedman was arguing that the U.S. should engage Syria to break it out of the Iranian sphere of influence. The only consistency to Friedman's views is his opposition to the Bush administration. Again he misuses his expertise to take cheap shots at the administration instead of offering serious analyses. Unfortunatly there are plenty of people who uncritically accept everything he writes.

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Prince Harry, Space Junk, Quote of the Day, Iraq, Thomas Friedman, George Washington.