Kitty Says Moo

Apparently a number of terrorist attacks and attempted terrorist attacks have struck Great Britain in the last 24 hours, and more are “imminent”, according to a government spokesman. These all seem to be related to what some call the “situation” in the Mideast, yet the BBC seems remarkably reticent to discuss the ethnicity of the terrorists in question.

Now far be it from me to prejudge, or to engage in ethnic profiling, but when a caller to the media claims the attack in the name of Allah, I don’t think we’re dealing with a band of bloodthirsty Episcopalians from Connecticut. Still, perhaps the Beeb is correct in being cautious, which makes me wonder what it would have been like had US leaders been similarly cautious fifty years ago…

“Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of another power, possibly in Asia, but we’re not ruling out others.

The United States was at peace and, at the solicitation of- well, one of many Asian nations- was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after these air squadrons- some have suggested they came from Japan, or perhaps Ohio- had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, we don’t want to suggest that this in any way measn we’re saying that Japan attacked us- but we’re trying to cover all bases here.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, someone- again, possibly Japan, possibly someone else wearing Japanese uniforms- also launched an attack against Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam- well, a lot of places, and we understand this, and while we’re not saying it’s a good thing- what we’re saying is we understand that there are some issues- and , well, the people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

Hostilities exist. That’s a fact. We’re not going to play the blame game here- that would be counterproductive- but you know, we have to deal with things as they’re presented to us.

I ask that the Congress declare that we’re generally displeased with this state of affairs, and further, I promise that we will take all necessary means- well, all reasonable means- to find out who did this, even if it means questioning every citizen of this and every other country, regardless of ethnicity, race, or creed.

Thank you.

According to an article in the latest Economist, when Hillary Clinton was in college she gave a speech endorsing “freedom from the burden of an inauthentic reality” and “more immediate, ecstatic and penetrating modes of living.”

I don’t know about Biill, but it’s pretty clear that someone inhaled back then.

Pass the pork rinds.

I was discussing an interesting new book on Nazi Germany this morning with some friends over coffee- it was published in Germany in 2005, and caused a rather big stir. The book is “Hitler’s Beneficiaries”, by Gotz Aly, and it presents a very different view from that currently in vogue.

The original explanation for the Nazi state, found in books like A. J. Ayer’s “The Course of German History”, was that it was a natural outgrowth of German militarism and obedience to authority. The modern interpretation , much preferred as it absolves the Germans of moral responsibility, is that the Germans were victims, too, of a fascistic elite; this can be found in the writings of Gunter Grass (who only recently discovered that he was a Nazi).

Aly’s book presents a very different view: That the Germans were very willing participants, because they profited financially from the Nazi war machine. Hitler set up what many today would consider an idea welfare state- free education through university, free medical care, child care, guaranteed jobs, and so forth. In fact, the average German saw little of the sacrifice and privation that most Brits and Americans suffered through WWII.

The problem was that the state couldn’t afford this without plundering and enslaving as many non-Aryans as possible to pay for their largess. The average German was more than happy to see Jewish owned businesses liquidated (along with their owners) and Poles and Russians put in slave labor camps if it meant a subsidized vacation.

After this discussion, a young guy who works at the coffeehouse said to me, “You seem to know a lot of stuff. How can I educate myself about politics and current events?”

That struck me as a very good question, and I thought about it a while before answering. I think my answer could be distilled down to the following:

1. Read history, and lots of it. There really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to politics. The same battles being fought today in Congress were being argued by the ancient Greeks.
2. Read arguments for positions you disagree with. Don’t just listen to people who reinforce your own beliefs.
3. Constantly challenge your own opinions, and ask yourself if they really reflect your core beliefs. Ask yourself if you can apply the underlying principles implied by your belief in another context, and still agree with the outcome.
4. Don’t adopt a set of beliefs just because your social group holds them. I think that’s probably the most common justification for most peoples’ political opinions.
5. Don’t view the world in simple terms, where everything and everyone is either all good or all evil. Realize that your opponent may have values you agree with. And accept that someone who holds views diametrically opposed to yours may be just as moral as you- or more so- and simply has a different opinion of the best solution to a problem. And even someone you believe has reprehensible ideas in one area may say something worthwhile in another.
6. Live long enough to see real change in the world, and to see whether your expectations were actually born out by history.

Just seen on Craigslist under the heading “Essay Writers Wanted”:

Need talented essay writers. Looking for persons who would be interested in helping a child with scholarship essays. Please contact at [deleted]@yahoo.com

Maybe they could use someone to do the kid’s homework too. And hold down a job for him later.

I was named, somewhat obliquely, after my grandfather and a great uncle. My sister was named after our maternal grandmother. My friend Jeff was so called because his mother loved Jeffrey Hunter. Most of us have some sort of story like that. Our parents picked named that were meaningful to them for one reason or another- they carried the memory of a loved one, or a particular image, or just a sound they liked. But that’s not good enough for today’s insecure, ambitous Yuppies. They need professional assistance. They’re outsourcing baby naming.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a feature article on parents who hire consultants to name their babies. Some are the expected space cadets, like the mother who paid $475 to a numerologist to evaluate a prospective name. (Heck, you can buy a book on how to do that for $10.) And there are web sites that will sugest named for $25 or $40. But some people are paying $350 and more for personalized baby naming services, which makes me wonder-if the parents don’t know enough to pick a baby name, a stranger will?

It’s news items like this that comfort me in the knowledge that it’s the ambitious people with the most money who are still the easiest to scam.

..and if I was, I suppose I’d be guilty of ethnic profiling or something:

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s 1,200 troops assigned to NATO forces in Afghanistan will not achieve full combat readiness for up to several weeks due to stolen vehicle keys, the defense ministry said Thursday.

There’s a lot of buzz at web sites like http://www.vermontrepublic.org/ that are pushing for Vermont to secede from the Union. The general idea is that the organizers don’t like the current administration, and so the entire state should secede. That may seem short sighted, but I’m strongly encouraging them. (I’ve signed two petitions.)

First off, the rest of us would immediately save by writing off the future social security and Medicaid payments for 623,908 Vermont residents. The immediate savings would be $95,000,000 per month- I’m sure we could put that to good use. Then the Vermonters could all apply for Canadian citizenship, and see how much Maple Syrup they can sell up North.