Thursday, September 08, 2011

Quick Takes

James Hoffa's fighting words -- David Frum looked into what a Teamster's "take out" comprises.


Irony. I Haz It -- having bemoaned the media/political obsession with picking at the scab of 9/11, I learned yesterday that part of my work assignment Friday -- me and everybody else at work, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e -- will be to stand at the curb and collect donations for Indianapolis's very own islamic victory monument Ground Zero Memorial: two rusty I-beams, from which I hope they've scraped all the asbestos. I find this politically objectionable -- unlike many people, I remember who picnics at Little Big Horn at the anniversary of the battle -- but you know what? It pays exactly the same as doing my real job and gets me out in the healthy fresh air. And it's not as if we were stopping cars and demanding tribute, either.


December 7, 1951 -- Undoubtedly there was a somber ceremony at Pearl Harbor, but I wonder, was there a week-long national dirge leading up to the day? We got Tojo; we got OBL. Yeah, there's still a bunch of wretched weasels out there who hate the West, the U.S. especially, and work to do harm to persons and property; but Americans are not incompetent, and we're no longer unaware. It might be time to take off the sackcloth and ashes.
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9 comments:

  1. Tango JulietSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    The call for a "New Era of Civility" again only applies to the Tea Party.

    But what else can ya expect from a President who sat in Rev Wright's church for 20 years?

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    In "Submarine!", Capt. Ned Beach recounts how his boat, USS Tirante (LTCDR George L. Street III, USN), picked up an unusual piece of ordnance before going on patrol: a torpedo specially "donated" by the workers who built it. It was signed by all of them and given to the Navy with a request that it be put where it would do the most good... like the side of a Japanese ship.

    Tirante was happy to oblige.

    Seems to me a more fitting way to "remember" 9-11. How about collecting money to buy a Predator drone? A Mk-82 bomb? An M-40 rifle?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fuzzy CurmudgeonSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    Ah...you got caught by that "other duties as assigned" clause, didn't you... :)

    And I'm thinking a nice 10th anniversary 9/11 present would be nukes-a-poppin' over Tehran, Damascus, and Riyadh, but then I've been saying that for years.

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  4. NorthSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    Like bad fruit the biggest threat to our nation comes from internal rot, driven not by the single bacterium elected, but by the accelerated stinking growth that elected him.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bubblehead Les.September 8, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    I can tell you EXACTLY what was happening in Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1951. It was a normal work day for the U.S. Military stationed there in support of the Troops fighting the Korean War. Oh, there was probably a small ceremony, but, hey, some jobs are more important than this crap that the Anointed One is pulling off, implying that it was somehow "Our Fault" that the Scumbags ambushed the U.S.

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  6. EarlSeptember 8, 2011 at 12:12 PM

    Ask Tam how many ten year anniversaries the Roman Empire had before no one showed up to remember. If your life is short enough there are only so many terrible things you couldn't do anything about. If you have lived very long - you realize you have fewer anniversaries left of anything and living is a movement exercise - not a memory one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 6:50 PM

    "Yeah, there's still a bunch of wretched weasels out there who hate the West, the U.S. especially..."

    And way too many of them are Americans - in Washington, DC

    Q

    ReplyDelete
  8. DrangSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:26 PM

    Speaking of "Union Take-downs": New Tone Of Civility, in action

    ReplyDelete
  9. Roberta XSeptember 9, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    Nathan, IMO, as long as they pay me and don't require me to endanger myself (or others) or break the law, I'll do what wants doing. Specialization is for insects! :)

    ReplyDelete

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