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Arizona
The thing that amazes me about Arizona is that there are people there who aren't even embarrassed by their short-lived new "law".
They don't see the moral contradictions, the problems with it, or the sentiments that are, (to use a phrase I'm embarrassed to use) anti-American.
"A few of us went down to Gettysburg. Some of us didn't come back.
If you weren't there, you'll never understand."-- Unknown Infantryman
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Would you prefer "we" adopt (post #151326, reply #1 of 45)
Would you prefer "we" adopt the laws of Mexico, China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia. Sneek into any one of those Countries and you may never be seen again. They just won't put up with being Illeagal.
Sneek into the USA, You get all kind of benefits. Free medical, free child day care(my daughter taught illeagal mexicans english to children of day workers with NO GREEN CARDS and was forbidden to report anything, no taxes.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Bruce, As you will know, I (post #151326, reply #2 of 45)
Bruce,
As you will know, I have zero qualification for commenting on this matter of Arizona law, which I don't even understand. Still, why allow complete ignorance to stop one offering up an opinion? This is a democracy, after all (ha ha) where every eejit may have an opinion on any and everything! (Just opinion, mind - those in power draw the line at actions).
I just thought I might mention that many hold the view that Iran, Saudi and possibly Mexico host "governments" that were installed by, and/or are puppets of, the West. What happens there is at least with "our" blessing and often with "our" collusion. In fact, these places are awash with Western businessmen of the most orcish variety. Or so we read (not in Fox News though).
Not that what happnes in other countries, whoever wreaks the bad acts, justifies bad law in ours. Your comparisons concerning the laws of these Bad Places is a red herring in the matter of domestic policy and law-making. Surely you cannot be suggesting copycatting the laws and policing of these Bad Places and simply moving the domestic penalties a couple of notches to the left!?
As to immigrants - well, the vast majority of you folks in the US of A are of that status if we regard you as the genetic projections of your forebears. And a good thing too, in many ways, as immigrants are often most keen to make something of themselves (they come for the opportunities you see) which usually benefits the national economy, one way and another.
Soon they will be tax-paying citizens just like you (I hope). Meanwhile I am relieved to hear that they are being helped with a bit of State-aid to survive their total exploitation by the indigenous middle classes in the form of cheap labour of every kind . :-)
Soon they will find their feet and may even revive your moribund economy, which is presently devoted to concentrating all wealth in the pockets of half a dozen derivative dealers, a few bond-salesmen and a tiny number of other ghastly parasites on the body of the nation.
Meanwhile, the ghastly parasites who own our media are busy churning out their Daily Frighteners to keep us all anxious and compliant with their ever-increasing Draconians. But it is never pleasant to have one's mind puppeted, so personally I avoid imibing their Awful Tales. I am looking about me with eyes uncluttered by fear, just now, and it does appear still to be paradise, despite the presence of many folk Not From Here.
Lataxe, who (like you) might have been on the wrong side of the border but for the grace of happenstance.
PS For an excellent novella-borne projection of these "immigration" matters into the otherwise neutral situation of a fictitious planet, read Jack Vance's "The Grey Prince".
Go, Sir Lataxe! (post #151326, reply #3 of 45)
You got it, Lataxe!
Every time an immigrant crosses into the U.S., we get stronger. The rest is arm-waving.
We are a nation made of the average, though, and many average Americans believe they are entitled to our human rights and the protection of our laws merely because they had the foresight to be born here.
They also believe that if you were born ten feet too far to the south, you aren't entitled to anything.
Most of the whack-jobs will tell you, in the same breath, that THEIR rights come straight from their god, and are, therefore, literally god-given, and all our constitution and bill of rights does is recognize that fact. However, if you come from any other country, then god apparently failed to grant you any of those rights, and our constitution, for some reason, doesn't recognize your rights.
(This is one of the best reasons to hold their god suspect, as apparently, as gods go, he's barely a half wit. But I digress.)
It's that last jump of amazing moral "logic" that amuses me the most.
One of the first lawsuits has been filed by one of their cops. :)
"A few of us went down to Gettysburg. Some of us didn't come back.
If you weren't there, you'll never understand."-- Unknown Infantryman
I am and American mutt, (post #151326, reply #6 of 45)
I am and American mutt, Irish,English,Dutch,Welch,Scottish,German,French & Native American. Ancestry in the US goes back to the Mayflower and the latest entry was about 1870. The eary settlers were definately Illeagal in the eyes of my other relatives(Native Americans) But the latest immigrants were definately leagal and had to go through all the red tape to enter this Nation. I just feel that "modern" Immigrants should follow the same rules
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
See my post below in response (post #151326, reply #8 of 45)
See my post below in response to Lataxe. I'm with you.
Frosty
Economics 101 (post #151326, reply #18 of 45)
. >I am looking about me with eyes uncluttered by fear<
Do you really think that is true? If it were, you wouldn't continually rail against the evils of capitalism and against the legal entities of corporations.
With due respect, you are regurgitating some vision of the American economy that your getting from some leftist rag or combination of leftist rags in blighty and you are basically full of crap, if you don't mind me saying so. You have no idea what is the true engine of the American economy - Small businesses. Entrepreneurial opportunity.
There are hundreds of thousands of small to medium businesses in America. THAT is where the true strength of our economy is.
You should try driving round trip from Montana to Mississippi and back like I have three times in the last year. You pass through dozens of towns and cities with literally thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. Corporate Wall Street is not the true picture of our economy. Nor is Simon Legree prowling the aisles of the sweatshop factory, whip in hand, at the behest of evil greedy corporate land barons, as much as you would like to imagine that. Nor is a vision of a bunch of people buying cheap plastic junk from China's retail outlet, Wal-Mart, the true picture of our economy.
But Mom and Pop operating a dry-cleaning business on the Main Street of Topeka, Kansas, employing 4 college students, 3 single moms, 2 legal immmigrants with green cards, 1 recovering 12-stepper and a partridge in a pear tree, IS the true picture of our economy. AND it is repeated hundreds of thousands times all over the face of this country, covering every sector of goods and services that you could possibly imagine. People having the gumption, opportunity, get-up-and-go, and courage to be able to DO that, to make that small business happen.....THAT is what makes us strong. THAT is what makes us have more first-generation, self-made millionaires per capita in this country (Stanley and Danko, "The Millionaire Next Door") than any other place on planet earth. And what makes us control more than a quarter of the entire world's GDP. Small business. Opportunity.
All of the mistakes of the financial services industry - as breathlessly exciting as it all is - are just high-stakes window dressing. Not the true engine. Deregulation mistakes? Fix 'em. Move on. Mistakes that a venerable old character brimming with self-worth such as Alan Greenspan made? Fix 'em. Move on. Cut off the flow of Drama Queen material. Slide out of the recession back into growth. Move on. Find something else for "The Guardian" or "The Times," or whatever it is that you're reading, to use to wax poetic about the decline and fall of western civilization. One gets the feeling that their editorializing is like an old filmstrip with the artifact of previous material still legible in palimpsest. They're talking about how screwed up America is, but what is really on there between the lines is mourning over the decline and fall of the British (Imperialist) Empire. Yeah, do things like section off a huge chunk of Africa and name it after some British white guy and rip 90 percent of the world's diamonds outta there - stuff like that will catch up with you after a while,....
Guess what? None of those Mom and Pops operating those small businesses really want to be socialists. As good as you think you have it there with your little garden, your derivative furniture, and your little civil service pension, those people really don't want to be like you. They want opportunity.
Matter of fact, if I remember reading Issue 100 of FWW correctly, Taunton itself was started by someone who saw something out there in the publishing world and wanted an opportunity to act on it.
You characterized our economy as 'moribund.' Well gee, Lataxe, I don't know if you noticed or not but the entire world economy has been in a recession for about two years. We're just now starting to come out of it and opportunity abounds, particularly in the USA.
Somewhere else in knots you mentioned high unemployment. I can't remember if it was the marxist professor or the Keynesian professor that taught my Economics 101 class in college (I eventually took classes from both of them and several others of varying political stripe). Whichever it was, they taught in that Economics 101 that the unemployment figures lag inflation and recession events by 6 to 12 months or more. Matter of fact, if you were cribbing for the exam, you could just write "Unemployment lags Everything!" on the back of your hand and you'd probably get the answer right! Why did they teach that? Because they were required to. And Whyyyyyy.... were they required to? Because it's fricken' true!
Here is another argument that you make that is ridiculous. > As to immigrants - well, the vast majority of you folks in the US of A are of that status if we regard you as the genetic projections of your forebears<
Taken to its logical conclusion, the vast majority of 'you folks' in blighty should be classified as murderers for the way that your "forebears" treated the Irish for about 300 years.
No, I'm not interested in a 'sins of the fathers' argument. I supported and defended our Constitution for 20 years. I did it honorably and I am proud of my service. And it all happened in MY lifetime, not somebody else's. I do not agree with some of the foreign policy adventurism that I observed as policy, but I do believe that our Constitution is the best and noblest experiment on the face of the earth.
Last time I checked, it gave the majority of the people of Arizona the right to make some of their own laws.
Have a good day in Gallows Gate.
Ed, an economics educator
PS: Now, I guess in reply you'll go to that place where you start speaking in dialect or something,...
Location: Western Montana
Ed, Heh, you are a bitter (post #151326, reply #19 of 45)
Ed,
Heh, you are a bitter bloke!
Now, where have you seen me diss small businesses of the kind you describe? Nowwhere; in fact I praises them and (more importantly) spend my pounds here in Blighty on the British equivalent. Such folk are, as I mentioned elsewhere, still holding the original American "dream" (strange word to use) of freedom and independence through economic self governance.
But are you going to tell me that Big Capitalism is not ruining your nation? Take off your blinkeys my boy, perhaps in Detroit or another major area they have blighted, to stimulate your question-organ.
Perhaps your problem is that you equate patriotism with an uncritical belief in every aspect of all the doings in your country, especially in the face of criticism by dang furners. Have you not heard of politics? It is the processes whereby many differences within a country are reconciled and bad practices discouraged. Note the important word "differences".
As to my alleged lefy opinions from some Daily Frightener or other - ah ha! I never reads a newspaper of any hue. Somehow they take over your mind and before you know it you have a simple theory of economics based on some Party klaptrap. Moreover, I suspect I yam much more conservative (note the small c) than you. And more republican (note the small r).
****
Well, I knows you to have a "self-admitted" prejudice agin we Blighters. This is alright with me as it naturally makes me feel superior, with my lefty tolerance and all. Also, I enjoy a ranting loon. I even tolerates them planet-raping business orcs. Well, I have no choice, eh? Still, I do hope they wither away naturally one day. :-)
Lataxe, a slimey limey (I eat weird food too).
PS Are we to assume you have a Hard&Fast attitood to immigrants and other bogeymen haunting your own "dream"? It is hard to grasp your points (perhaps there aren't any).
>Are we to assume you have a (post #151326, reply #20 of 45)
>Are we to assume you have a Hard&Fast attitood to immigrants and other bogeymen haunting your own "dream"?<
No. I like immigrants. There are success stories after success stories after success stories in this country about immigrants. I can even be compassionate toward illegal immigrants and accept terming them "undocumented" rather than "illegal." And I recognize that the hard core right wing political spin machine in this country demonizes these people. You completely missed my point if you think that I am prejudiced toward immigrants to this country. I remember a naval aviator I knew who immigrated here from Vietnam. He was one of the "boat" people. At the low point of his life, he told me that he and his mother and three sisters were on the dock at Hong Kong, living in a cardboard box, along with hundreds of others, waiting to see what country was going to take them. His father had been recently executed in a "reeducation" camp and the rest of his family had nearly died at sea. When I knew him in 1998, he was a Naval Aviator and two of his sisters were medical doctors. I love people like that. There is absolutely nothing that they cannot accomplish. I think the USA is the right place for people like that.
My point was that the Constitution of this country and its amendments are there for a reason. It works better than anything else. If it doesn't, there is a procedure to create a new amendment and fix it.
You've got this personal animus toward corporations, capitalism and big business. I do not. Are there problems? Sure. Do you get all overly dramatic and throw the baby out with the bath water? Of course not. There have been problems with big business since the days of the Roman Empire. There is really nothing new under the sun.
My life is filled with creature comforts that are provided by Large Corporations on just about an hourly basis. There are creature comforts on a level that was just about unimaginable in C19th, as you would say. Everything from the (Knopf, eg) books that I read to the (Fender) electric guitar that I play to the amazing plethora of readily available home improvement products (Lowes, eg) that I recently remodeled my MS house with, to the (USAA) financial services products (not involved in any part of the gov't bailout) that I use, to the (Toyota) car that I drive, to the (Nike) jogging shoes that I wear, to the (Southern Company) electricity that I use, to the (Apple) computer that I'm writing this on - all provided by large corporations with a (gasp) profit motive. No, I don't think they're "ruining" this country. I think that there have been some problems with the deregulation of the financial services industry that can be fixed. I think that President Obama's administration has already made some strides toward fixing them. I don't think that because there have been some big problems in the auto industry and there are some blighted urban areas in Detroit that that means we're going to hell in a handbasket. I have friends that lived in a nicer part of the Detroit suburbs for quite a number of years. They were Detroiters, and proud of it. They both worked for the newspaper that was the, the Detroit Free Press.
Matter of fact, I think that that (Detroit, Michigan) particular part of the country will eventually regenerate and reinvent itself. I would point to an area like Missoula, Montana as an example. In the late seventies it was dominated by the timber and manufactured wood industries. There was a perpetual layer of smoke and haze over the area due to these "teepee burners" that were part of that industry. There was a lot of urban blight in the town. Today, that's all gone - that particular area of Western Montana is truly beautiful and has some of the most expensive real estate in the Western USA outside of California and Seattle.
So no, I don't think you can point to urban blight in Detroit and make sweeping generalizations about the whole country or economy. I think that would be an intellectually infantile exercise.
Ed, babysitter.
Location: Western Montana
Edward, You have calmed (post #151326, reply #21 of 45)
Edward,
You have calmed down a bit I see and are actually constructing an argument.. I am relieved that you have got this months spleen-rant over and done with. :-)
You will insist in putting words into my mouth. I hardly condemn all business, even the big ones. Many do manage to retain some sense of purpose and responsibility. However, if you think a bit of tinkering with the law and an extra inspector or two for Wall Street is going to prevent "the revolt of the elites" I'm afraid I must classify you as naive.
I will recommend an American author to you, assuming you have not already read him. (Also assuming you will not take agin him or the recommendation because of its source, namely this sly ole limey).
The author is Christopher Lasch and the books I recommend are entiled:
"The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations"
"The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics"
"The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy".
Now, you will bridle that a limey recommends an improvement to your education. Also, you will assume Christopher is a pinko-lefty. In fact he is far from any classification you may come up with. He is an extremely astute historian of American ideas and does not fall into the handy catagories of left/right, badguy/goodguy, believer/non-believer or any of the other black & white differentiations you may harbour.
However, should you be able to bring yourself to read something other than cowboy novels and hero-detective pulp, I believe you may be pleased by Christopher's many revelations, categorisations and proposals. Also by his illumination of the ideas that inform much of the doings in your nation.
I only wish he had a Brisish equivalent writing about Blighty and its informing ideas.
Lataxe, always amazed what folk will become apologists for just because it is not hemselves who have been exploited and degraded..
Well I'll take a look at it - (post #151326, reply #22 of 45)
Well I'll take a look at it - I try to read at least two books a week, but I will warn you I do not have a lot of time for a bunch of class warfare/ class envy stuff.
Since you have attempted to characterize my reading, I will say that I do have a passing interest in the best fiction written in the English language. You can pass on to all of your fellow citizens of blighty that the two best writers in the English language right now are Americans - Annie Proulx and Cormac McCarthy. Both at the absolute top of their game right now, seemingly able to win Pulitzer Prizes and write works that get developed into cinema at will. Their writing is brought to me by some evil, greedy, bloodsucking, money-grubbing Capitalist publishing corporations based in New York - Scribners and Knopf, I think - its hard to tell those evil money-grubbers apart - they all look alike...
Location: Western Montana
Annie Proulx.... (post #151326, reply #23 of 45)
Ed,
Now I understand a bit more about your views of life. Annie or Edgar Allan Poe, I am not sure which is more twisted or cynical of life. I enjoy her work, but my O my, her twisted characters seem all too real.
Morgan
With all due respect, Morgan, (post #151326, reply #24 of 45)
With all due respect, Morgan, it's got nothing to do with my "views of life" - I just think that she writes some amazing prose. When she gets on a roll, there are surprising things in every sentence. It is very difficult to write like that and hold it all together. I thought "The Shipping News" and "Accordion Crimes" were just amazing books. Yeah, I guess her characters are pretty far "out there." So are Raymond Carver's and Anton Chekhov's - a couple other writers that I enjoy reading. Haven't read Poe since high school, I think.
Can you tell I'm bored from remodeling this house? If I have to glaze one more window,...arrrghhh,........ take care, EH
Location: Western Montana
Remodeling and Annie.... (post #151326, reply #25 of 45)
My that is a glutton for punishment, glazing windows, remodeling, and reading Annie. Next thing you know you will be draggin whossies around the country!
I happen to agree about Shipping News. I have met Annie at the Poison Pen, and have a signed copy. My other favorite of hers is a collection of short stories that I have on tape for the car. Twisted story of a man returning to Wyoming or Montana... grr hate that when don't remember the particulars. Gets stuck in a snow storm in his car, and does the frozen cow routine. Twisted.... indeed.
I have looked into Lataxe book recomendations, not in our library so I am doing an interlibrary loan. Published about 12 years ago and the author is deceased. So will have a " look see at the blighty recs".
Have you read any of Micheal Chabon books? The "Gentleman of the Road" and the "Yiddish Policemans Union" are quite entertaining. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yiddish_Policemen%27s_Union
Keep your top knot on... Every remodel should come with medication!
Morgan
Certain (post #151326, reply #26 of 45)
I'm pretty sure our local library doesn't have a "blighty" section.
"A few of us went down to Gettysburg. Some of us didn't come back.
If you weren't there, you'll never understand."-- Unknown Infantryman
Jammer, As I recal there is (post #151326, reply #28 of 45)
Jammer,
As I recal there is little "market" for non-American stuff in America, especially thoughts. You will therefore find little in the way of Blighty-writings at your library. Incidentally, I was surprised to hear that Mr Big Publisher still allows libraries over there, as shurely he wishes to sell everyone their own copy in order to maximise profits?
(Don't worry, it's just an Ed-goad and I know such generalisations are very false. But Ed likes B&W generalisations and a clear target to let loose a missile at, especially if the target is over the horizon). :-)
****
Now, it is hardly likely that there will be sweet agreements in a thread such as this but I have noticed one excellent side-effect (besides the opportunity to pick up or plant a new meme or two) and that is the opportunity to increase one's reading list. Already I have some new (to me) author-names from Ed and Morgan.
I've lost count of the many threads in which reading recommendations have lead to wunnerful new meme-pastures, containing all flavours of brain-food. Indeed, I discovered Christopher Lasch via a long-ago Knots thread albeit via another author of related topics. Nor does one get merely favourite flavours of text........
Following the strange fan-adoration posts of a number of fellows concerning Ayn Rand, of whom little is known in Blighty, I devoured her every word, including the ultra-turgid novels but also the numerous polemics concerning her very strange concept of capitalism. Although I found her completely shallow and apparently suffering from Asperger's syndrome (women aren't supposed to have it but she exhibits every classic symptom) this reading certainly gives great illumination of one corner of the American right-tish psyche and its effects today. Alan Greenspan, for example, was once a young adore-fan of hers.....
So, where is your list of recommended reading then, eh, eh? I enjoy your own postings here, especially the hot ones; but I need to know your informing memeplexes.
Cough up that list. In return, I offer you this (if you have not already discovered it):
http://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Prof-Richard-Sennett/dp/0300151195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273573250&sr=1-1
It may be worth getting a version other than this one as mine has none of the publishing errors and glitches mentioned by the various Amazon reviewers. Also, I found Sennett's prose style dense but very coherent - needs a longer-than-TV-programme attention span perhaps.
Lataxe, seeking pink settee fodder (its where me and the cat do our reading as it absorbs snorts of incredulity and gasps of revelation, so Colleen the ladywife is not distracted as she sews in the next room).
lataxe/ed, as one who (post #151326, reply #29 of 45)
lataxe/ed,
as one who re-reads cormac again and again and does the same with dear, sweet ms. proulx let me say you've much to look forward to, lataxe.
...but ya know ed, that book about the blood family and the one about the wandering accordion, not even to mention her hunting and fishing and cowboy, manly stuff tales...
eef
Colleens (post #151326, reply #32 of 45)
Amusing that your wife's name is Colleen and my significant other is also named Colleen. Mine's name was suggested to her parents by the Irish doctor that delivered her, or so the story goes.
This is not an olive branch - I still think you're wrong about nearly everything that has to do with US politics or the economy, for what its worth. EH
Location: Western Montana
Ed, I niffer knew we was at (post #151326, reply #35 of 45)
Ed,
I niffer knew we was at war so belay any olive branches in any case. I will only put them in the chiminea, to keep things warm. We are just having a wee talk.
Now, how would you know what I think about US politics and the economy? These are vast subjects so i) I have no opinion on 99% of them (too ignorant) and ii) I ain't said a great deal about the other bits. I have merely taken agin immigrant-bashing, very greedy folk and other bad fellows who are doing a Pravda with both our nation's news media.
As you may recall, I adhere to the odd conservative and republican principle; but we are talking very old school, not those modern political parties, who are dastardly revolutionaries of the worst ilk, with their wanton destruction of this, that, the other in the name of "progress". Gawd! Mrs Thatcher even had a 5-year plan in her iron handbag! They are all (lefties, righties, and every other ilk) still aping the ghastly kreecha with their constant fiddling-about concerning things they don't understand the value of. Nothing is safe from their withering strokes, especially when they let the accountants take over all policy.
I fear you would like me to be a particular kind of political coconut of the "-ist" variety, however, so you can put me in your shy to hoist a bollock at. I am in fact a banana - I have a point at both ends, am definitely bent and have a thick, slippery skin on which you may slide and fall should you stand on it too hard. I also have a soft centre, which many mistake for what you lads call socialism. Not me guv!!! Definitely as much for duty as rights; but both are useful modes, especially when one "right" is busy trying to obliterate the others.
Still, I don't begrudge your need for a target. Fire-orf your popguns and I will suffer the cork-stings!
***
Now, I will mention this: jingo was a silly fellow and failed to look about himself at the wider world, as he boasted of his nation's prowess and infallibility in every wheel and cog. The world disagreed and jingo suffered a disappointment. Jingo should've been shushed a bit more by the less pompous folk.
Lataxe, building a fine new reading list.
Gulf Oil... (post #151326, reply #37 of 45)
Lataxe and Ed,
So now that I have successfully moved the conversation from Arizona.... What are you views of the Gulf OIl situation.
My take. Big business has once again manipulated the politicos to get what they want. Cheny deregulated our oil exploration, and the latest types of fail safe devices were not used on this well. Try to do the same thing in the North Sea and you could not. Big Business, in fact the biggest of all, Oil business is in charge. Why does Haliburton always come up in these situations as well? Why do I hear discussions of BP filing bankruptcy to avoid all the payout for the damages done. How will they be held accountable and by whom? Will they skate out of the situation, slip a few bucks here and there and have things fixed?
No doubt in my mind Big Business is self serving. I do not trust em, or the bankers that truly rule the world. I keep both eyes open, not just one, and time and time again I am not surprised.
Morgan
Foreign Investors (post #151326, reply #33 of 45)
As I recal there is little "market" for non-American stuff in America, especially thoughts.
Actually, there's a large market here for foreign goods. It greatly annoys large numbers of locals; globalization is a word that triggers fear in most middle (and lower) class Americans.
I have a a varied reading list, but like most of my peers, it is limited by my attention span. I can rarely hold focus for more than a few minutes, in fact, sometimes I don't even finish
"A few of us went down to Gettysburg. Some of us didn't come back.
If you weren't there, you'll never understand."-- Unknown Infantryman
For Insomniacs Only (post #151326, reply #34 of 45)
In no particular order:
Hanson, Victor D. Ripples Of Battle. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
Adkin, Mark. The Charge. 1996th ed. London: Leo Cooper, 1996.
Hibbert, Christopher. The Destruction Of Lord Raglan. 1999th ed. Kent: Wordsworth Editions, Limited, 1999.
Chaat Smith, Paul, and Robert Allen Warrior. Like A Hurricane. New York: The New Press, 2006.
DeYoung, Karen. Soldier. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
Blair, Clay. The Fogotten War. New York: Anchor Books, 1987.
Halberstam,David. The Coldest Winter. 1 ed. New York: Hyperion, 2007.
"A few of us went down to Gettysburg. Some of us didn't come back.
If you weren't there, you'll never understand."-- Unknown Infantryman
Jammer, Thank you for that (post #151326, reply #36 of 45)
Jammer,
Thank you for that list; even now I yam rooting about in Amazon.
I confess to having two main reading modes. One is that you allude to - the bedtime snore-inducer. For this I use often outlandish science fiction tales as they also provide weird dreams, especially after a little cheese and wine supper. The other is the heavy-dooty stuff on the pink settee, often after breakfast. Most of it is non-fiction but you lads have indicated that I must return to the novel, which I will for a bit. The cat will probably show disdain as he prefers hard science and certain schools of philosophy.
Lataxe, RAMing his wetware.
You're Welcome (post #151326, reply #38 of 45)
You're welcome, old man.
Not much philosophy there, unless you count Ripples Of Battle as philosophy. A couple of them take serious interest to read, but are large enough that if a marauding arachnid should appear, they can be classed as the heaviest of artillery. Hit a spider with one of these, and it will die. If it doesn't, run.
My heroes are Jerfforsonians, a term coined by General Powell.
I've found errors in at least three of the books that I recommended, but with some research, I realized why the errors were made, and forgave the authors.
Jammer's Laws:
1. Never mess with an old man. He'll just kill you.
2. Never go to war with the neighbors.
3. No matter how hot she looks in a string bikini, somewhere, some poor fool is sick of her crap.
4. Nations never learn. What they do learn, they forget, and what they remember changes.
"A few of us went down to Gettysburg. Some of us didn't come back.
If you weren't there, you'll never understand."-- Unknown Infantryman
>Every remodel should come (post #151326, reply #27 of 45)
>Every remodel should come with medication!>
You're right about that!
"The Half-Skinned Steer" is the title of that story.
Location: Western Montana
Somehow I missed your post.. (post #151326, reply #43 of 45)
Somehow I missed your post.. Right ON!
Have a great day.. Life is wonderful even if you are having a bad day!
Sir Latake.. I wish you had (post #151326, reply #30 of 45)
Sir Latake..
I wish you had a bit of 'loving' for us USA folks. We are nothing more that a very large collection of many different races (I for one lovet it) Some get along really well... Some not for some reason that I do not understand... Geee, I even like you!
My mother was a USA Army nurse in the very first part of WWII. I was just a baby so not sure.. What I was told, as I remember... I was rasied by a Brit .. so called Nanny.. I do remember her.. Not so much about my mother.. War times and I have no fault with my real mother.. I only remember my Brit Nanny that fed me! I know her because she came to the USA with me and somewhere I have papers to prove it.. My grandfather invited her into his house.. MY GRANDPA, AS I was told, never liked anybody into his home..But we were invited..
Have a great day.. Life is wonderful even if you are having a bad day!
WIllG, You sigh, "I wish (post #151326, reply #31 of 45)
WIllG,
You sigh, "I wish you had a bit of 'loving' for us USA folks".
You mistake me if'n you think I don't! You musn't take my utterances too personally, especially when I yam baiting a particular correspondent. In fact I like so much about a lot of US attitudes and approaches to life - your often pragmatic way of dealing with problems large and small; a willingness to explore and to change; taking responsibility for yourselves; being moral.
But a good friend is not one who simply offers dog-like approval of all doings and no question. Such friends are worthless, coming in the form of yes-men, adoring fans and other sycophants with nothing to offer their chosen "friend" but a tedious fawning. I knows you will not want such a fren'.
You mention Nanny. I often feel that a good friend is a combination of parent, brother/sister, teacher, nanny and combatant. A ggod friend tests and helps model our character as well as offering protection, sympathy, advice or help. And we need to reciprocate as its a two-way bargain.
***
So don't think the odd dig from your Limey pal is meant as any kind of hate for y'all. On the contrary.... he is merely a bit worried that some Very Bad Boys are busy taking all your sweets and using their gang to do a lot of Bad Things, such as stealing your pocket money and burning down your treehouse. Some see such bullies as heroes because they are strong. I propose another perspective for your consideration, pointing to the wasteland in their wake and your shrinking amount of pocket money.
****
And natchly, I expect to get a sore rib and a bluddy nose meself, from time to time, from the odd exasperated friend in the US. It's how we learn, via adversaries. No one learns much who sits with his nanny forever and never plays out with the rough lads or considers giving up the dummy and the fairy stories.
Lataxe, of the 51st State.
Sir Latake... Your (post #151326, reply #42 of 45)
Sir Latake...
Your statement was impressive.. However.. 'and/or are puppets of, the West' could also be applied to my friends.. The Brits!
'and/or are puppets of, the British.. Is that East?'
The Brits rulled the world after many invasions by others and then they made big ships and rulled the world!.
And then I recall the British Invasion: 1963-1967 by the Beatles here in the USA!
Just funnin' you.. I would not be here except for a Brit Nanny. My mother was Nurse at the time. She came from the USA to England to be a nurse in 1940.. She was looking for her husband.. My father.. She never found him.. She ran into a young girl about the same age as my mother was on what we call Bus here in the USA. My mother and her became best friends forever... Mom tells me they were both about 16/17 years of age and lied about how old they were...
I'd bet my Mom was one of them 'immigrants'. But she was Irish/German born and I would thing at the time, not that welcome.. But they needed Nurses at the time so she was allowed to stay untill after the war.... I have swome conflict here.. She told me I was born in a army jeep.. My father (I never knew) was in the Army Airforce and we do not know where he was lost in 1941... No records we can find.
My moms Brit friend came to the USA to live with us after the War.. I'm sure she was also one of those 'immigrants'. She died a few years ago and we still cry for her to this day... She was very special....
Have a great day.. Life is wonderful even if you are having a bad day!
jammersix, Your Profile (post #151326, reply #4 of 45)
jammersix,
Your Profile does not say where you live (I live in Michigan, which has a minimal immigrant population) so I don't know if you can empathize with those who live in Arizona.
I think I can understand the feelings of Arizona's citizens, even though though their response is harsh:
jammed hospitals, financially strapped hospitals and schools, increased crime and trampled property. All the result of a flood of persons who pay nothing into the tax base.
I support immigration! Legal immigration. In fact we are ALL immigrants or off-spring of immigrants (native Americans excepted.) and each new wave of immigrants over the centuries has made significant contributions to the wellbeing and comfort of our citizens. But I deplore the fact that those who enter illegally sap our resources and "step ahead of" those who follow the rules.
Frosty
Frosty, Your reply and (post #151326, reply #5 of 45)
Frosty,
Your reply and argument would valid if you had not admitted that you have no personal experience of living in Arizona. You have therefore assumed that the fear-mongering and scapegoating (the usual stuff when a vested interest needs to divert attention from its own dark doings) concerning immigrants is all true. Those people are powerless to defend their reputation against those persecuting hate-mongers that infest the modern news media.
Strange how it is always the least powerful people in a society who are labelled the evil-doers en-masse; and generally by those busy doing all sorts of evil themselves with their excessive power. Personally I think it more likely that the criminals own the news media.
But then I don't live in Arizona either. One would prefer the opinion of some residents, whilst hoping they will report their own real experiences rather than the hate-tales purveyed by those scapegoating liars laughingly known as journalists. Can an Arizona resident report how his own life has been blighted by these Terrible Folk? Also, is there a resident who can report a tale of personal advantage gained via this immigration?
Lataxe, never convinced that a whole ethnic group are all the same bad-hats. Unless they are from Michigan of course (kidding).