tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post3004536610353751921..comments2023-11-05T06:59:04.593-05:00Comments on Pen and Sword: Holiday Haitus Humbuggery and Book LeaveJeff Huberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-59562141115564966472011-11-27T20:20:20.327-05:002011-11-27T20:20:20.327-05:00Good luck with the forthcoming book. To help fill ...Good luck with the forthcoming book. To help fill the void here while you labor on your project, I'll just chip in with a few somewhat-related observations, in both poetry and prose. For example:<br /><br />I once had the good fortune to take some graduate courses in Buddhism and Sanskrit from a former Sri Lankan ambassador to both the United States and France. During one lunch-time discussion with him about the Tamil insurgency in his country, I inquired why his government had refused America's offer of military assistance. His terse reply:<br /><br />"If the Americans come, they will just draw an arbitrary line through a temporary problem and make it permanent."<br /><br />What elegance and economy of expression!<br /><br />I meditated upon that pithy, concise wisdom in the context of my own desultory deployment to Southeast Asia as a counter-insurgent nobody in the Nixon-Kissinger Fig-Leaf Contingent (Vietnam 1970-72). After awhile, the Professor's words began to re-arrange themselves in verse form. Soon, I had a stanza to start with:<br /><br />"If offered help, you'd best refuse<br />For if you should relent<br />They'll draw an arbitrary line<br />Through problems transient<br />And complicate them all so as<br />To make them permanent"<br /><br />Then things spontaneously took off and eventually became: "Boobie Counter Insurgency," another episode in the unending verse chronicle of "Fernando Po, U.S.A., America's post-linguistic retreat to Plato's Cave."<br /><br />http://themisfortuneteller.blogspot.com/2011/11/boobie-counter-insurgency.html<br /><br />Somewhat along the same lines, I've reworked an essay I started some six years ago when exasperated (yet again) at the American military's fondness for embracing absurd metaphors -- a.k.a., thought-terminating cliches -- in lieu of actual, comprehensible strategy. Hence: "George Armstrong Custer Bush"<br /><br />http://themisfortuneteller.blogspot.com/2011/11/george-armstrong-custer-bush.html<br /><br />and "Custer's Next Stand."<br /><br />http://themisfortuneteller.blogspot.com/2007/05/custers-next-stand.html<br /><br />We all have to pass the time somehow ...Michael Murryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10631997490217088301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-54576164860803940832011-11-27T10:50:44.989-05:002011-11-27T10:50:44.989-05:00Way too good not to share. Thanks, EL.
JWay too good not to share. Thanks, EL. <br /><br />JJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-74365858938709832162011-11-27T08:58:03.998-05:002011-11-27T08:58:03.998-05:00Too good not to share.
http://www.dailykos.com/st...Too good not to share.<br /><br />http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/27/1037802/-And-around-and-around-we-go?via=blog_1Elderladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02268520056042293783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-7041028859352454132011-11-24T12:07:33.008-05:002011-11-24T12:07:33.008-05:00Thanks all for the nice words.
EL,
I think th...Thanks all for the nice words. <br /><br />EL, <br /><br />I think the web and virtual books have taken on the role of the secret literary society in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. <br /><br />JJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-12780069151379749262011-11-24T08:05:34.470-05:002011-11-24T08:05:34.470-05:00Haven't heard, or read of this kind of "d...Haven't heard, or read of this kind of "destruction" since the 1940's. And, it wasn't done by Americans. <br /><br />http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/11/23/131224/nypd-raid-on-occupys-zuccotti.html<br /><br />The destruction of books, is the destruction of ideas......<br /><br />Keep writing Commander. My feeling is that books will survive Bloomberg.<br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving.Elderladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02268520056042293783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-19352626321966255912011-11-24T00:39:58.757-05:002011-11-24T00:39:58.757-05:00I don't think libertarians actually believe th...I don't think libertarians actually believe that we don't need roads, they just think that there should be a toll booth every 500 yards. After all, if somebody isn't making a quick buck, then the "free market" isn't working.<br /><br />Sorry to see you cutting back on the incisive commentary, but glad to know that the book sequel is on the way. It will make a fine present for the Baby Jeebus. He's been getting really tired of myrrh every year, or so I hear.<br /><br />And if <i>Pen and Sword</i> goes down for good, well, I guess we'll just have to start reading WInstonSmith.com, eh? ;-)<br /><br />The book excerpt is magnifico, btw. All I can say is, I hope it doesn't get, um, <i>overtaken</i> by events. You know, this crazy modern world we live in. That looks like it's about to explode.jpwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975430453557627368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-50753763833648234652011-11-23T20:08:03.353-05:002011-11-23T20:08:03.353-05:00Hurry back.Hurry back.PLoveringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04027992777731735792noreply@blogger.com