Bryan Strawser

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Revisiting Vietnam in 2004

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Once again, James Lileks brings us back to ground truth:

Revisiting Vietnam in 2004 seems about as useful as debating the Phillippines war while the troop ships are sending Doughboys to the trenches in France. We have more pressing issues, I think. The news today noted that the men arrested at the Albany mosque were fingered by some documents found at Al-Ansar sites in Iraq, of all places. Iraq! Imagine that. I would sleep better if I could snort sure, it’s a plant and tell myself that it’s all made up, it’s all a joke, a phony show designed to make us look the other way while a cackling cabal of Masons and Zionists figure out how much arsenic they can put in the water next year. (Arsenic: the fluoride of the left.) But no. I am one of those sad little pinheads who think it’s really one war, one foe, with a thousand fronts. And I want us to win.

If you bridle at the terms “us” and “win” you really are reading the wrong website.

And I get to visit his fair city here shortly for a brief stint. Brit’s pub, here I come!

Speed Reading

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Kerri is pointing to a speed reading test. So I took it:

You read between 850 – 900 words per minute. Virtual Speed Reader. (The average rate is between 200 – 250 words per minute.) It is assumed that you did not skim the words nor fail to understand the meaning of what was read.

Not bad….

The Politics of Racial Destruction

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Boston is a city with a troubled past when it comes to race relations. But during my time here, I’ve seen nothing other than growth, opportunity, and community involvement from government, civic leaders, and community leaders to continue to improve race relations, crime, and other key issues in Boston.

But since Jesse was in town this week for the convention, he has to strut about, as the Boston Herald reports today:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the city’s black leaders are spitting mad over racial potshots the Rev. Jesse Jackson took at the city of Boston yesterday.

“Jesse’s talking trash and blowing smoke. This is Jesse’s showboat,” said the Rev. Eugene Rivers, chair of the National Ten Point Coalition and one of the city’s most respected leaders on racial issues.

Jackson stoked the Hub’s racial fires yesterday as he headed into the FleetCenter on the second day of the Democratic National Convention, saying Boston has yet to live up to its promise as a center of racial justice and equal opportunity for minorities.

“There is such a class gap between the haves and the have-nots,” Jackson said. “If you look at inner-city Boston and the suburbs, it’s like there is a doughnut and then there’s the doughnut hole.”

Jackson added that Boston falls short of being a model for urban democracy around the country.

“Boston must work even more diligently at being the academic center it is, at being the shining light on the hill,” Jackson said. “This can be the city with an urban agenda that becomes the ideal for all of America.Boston ought to aspire to no less.”

But there’s more to this story, you see. Jackson has apparently never once challenged, reached out, or consulted with Mayor Menino on any racial issues – or any other topic for that matter.

But Menino immediately fired back at Jackson, calling his statements not only “unfounded” but “unfair.”

Menino added that in the more than 11 years he has been mayor, Jackson has never called or reached out to him in any way on racial issues or any other topic.

“It’s nice he comes into our city and makes a statement like that,” Menino said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

I’ve met Menino. He’s not one to stand by idly and let Jackson get away with something like this. Nor should be.

It’s the politics of racial destruction all over again. I’m glad to see Menino and Reverend Rivers standing up to his smoke.

A Letter from Michael Moore?

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Last week, I wrote a posting about Michael Moore. Not long afterwards, I received the following comment via the website:

IP Address: 24.177.171.21
Name: Michael Moore
Email Address: mmoore@michaelmoore.com
URL: http://www.michaelmoore.com

Comments:

Bryan,

You like to report negative information about me. Why don’t you see my documentary first before you criticize my film. People like you live off of other people’s review. Why don’t you take a stance and be a true american. For once in your life, make up your own mind after you have the facts!

Mr. Moore

Now, I’m a skeptical guy. I checked the IP Address – which returns to Michigan.

So Mr. Moore lives in Michigan, the e-mail address appears to be his. And the posting sounds like something he would write.

So, what do you think, is it really him? I sent him a reply e-mail to see.

Anonymous on the Global War on Terror

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Former Air Force Officer (and pilot) John Robb writes today about CIA Officer who recently wrote a book Imperial Hubris about the Global War on Terror. Some interesting points:

# Al Qaeda and its ilk represent a national security threat to the US. This is war and it is going to last a long time.
# The tempo of attacks and activity within al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organizations is increasing.
# Polls in the Islamic world indicate that our policies are opposed by 80-90% of the people (not our way of life). This is the basis of al Qaeda’s support.
# The policies opposed: Our military presence in Saudi Arabia. Our support for appostate regimes in the Islamic world (Egypt and Saudi Arabia). Our unqualified support for Israel. Pressure to maintain low oil prices. Support for regimes that surppress muslims (India and China).
# These policies cannot be debated within the US political system.
# Democracy can’t be exported.
# The solution is to revise our policies to meet the needs of the Islamic world because it is in our interest — or — if we can’t do that, we should be ruthless in our use of military power.
# Our military posture is defensive. It should be aggressive. Our generals have become bureaucrats. To win this militarily, it is going to require a high body count.
# No single official will be faulted in the 9/11 report (and therefore nobody will be fired), despite substantial failures.

There are many good points here. Some of which I agree with – others that I do not necessarily agree with – but eyeopening nonetheless.

I’ve been telling people over the last few weeks two revelations that I’ve had in recent weeks.

The first is that I will likely see suicide bombings here in the United States within my lifetime.

The other, from a speech by Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker a month or so ago, is that we will likely be at war with Islamic fundamentalists for the rest of our lives.

The world changed on September 11th – and there are some in this country that still doesn’t recognize that…

An Open Letter from Michael Moore

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More blather from Michael Moore in this open letter to Bill Timmins, the President of Alladin Casino.

I understand from the news reports I’ve read that, after Linda Ronstadt, one of America’s greatest singers, dedicated a song to me from your stage on Saturday night, you instructed your security guards to remove her from the Aladdin, which they did.

What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called “The First Amendment.” This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way.

Apparantly Mr. Moore has a warped view of the First Amendment – as it exists to protect citizens from restrictions on free speech on the part of the government – thus the reason that the amendment starts off with the phrase “Congress shall make no law…”.

See, it’s pretty simple. It’s Mr. Timmin’s stage. If he doesn’t like what he hears on that stage – and it’s clear that many of his guests didn’t like what they heard – he has every right in the world to toss her off of that stage. And that’s exactly what he did.

And that’s freedom.

Apparently Mr. Moore wants something else…