Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Is that a Watchmen reference?
Sorry, not that culturally astute.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists journal has had a clock in its upper corner since i947. In 1953 the hands were moved to two minutes before midnight (midnight being armageddon or other world-wide catastrophe) when the USA and the USSR both tested nuclear devices within the same year. Presently the clock is at 5 minutes to midnight.
The chief result of this doomsday clock has been a song by the British rock band Iron Maiden.
– Max
Max/
According to Wiki, the clock has been reset 18 times since ’47. I love the way they brought it down to 3 during the earl Reagan years just on general PC principles alone despite the lack of a single incident to hang the movement on, then moved it back to 6 when the treaty that the actions of their despised Ronnie Ray-gun inspired was enacted and hence to 10 at the fall of the Wall and to 17 due to the START treaty–none of which would have happened without the very actions their despised Reagan took
which caused them so much despair in the first place.
That stupid clock has been around for 50 years and it ALWAYS seems to be 5 til midnight or some such. Total bullshit. Only time it was probably right was during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Very interesting article. Thanks for the link. Downloaded and saved.
That reads like a Clancy novel, but is recent history. I read about each of those events as they were reported, but never tied then all together as well as this article does.
Thanks, Captain!
Cheers!
ChrisP
The Israelis are up to the challenge when it comes to nuclear weapons. Raid on the Sun is about the air strike that leveled the Iraqi Osirik reactors in 1981. Recommended.
Now, getting Bashar to turn away from Iran, stop meddling in Lebanon and cease support to Hamas/Hezbolla would be most certainly deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize. Is it possible? Stranger things have happened. All depends on what he would get in return for giving up so much.
Do not agree with statement in article that it would take “weeks” of strikes by US or IS to set back the Iranian nuclear effort more than a few weeks. Were we to do “weeks” of strikes on Iran, nuclear program would be the least of their worries. Main one would be to reinvent bronze age type tools.
Claudio, that reminds me of a mission statement I saw on a t-shirt once:
The mission of the field artillery is to kill as many godless communist bastards and their subhuman immoral cohorts as possible with the least expenditure of munitions, and to coordinate all supporting fires so as to restore cave-dwelling as the default form of habitation in the former-communist region.
So, you know, half-way there…
Note to self: I need to find more of those t-shirts. I used to have one, a Buff heading towards ya with a mushroom cloud in the background. Two word bubbles from the cockpit: “You never bombed like that before!” “I never bombed for a Michelobe Light before.” Or the one with the Trident sailing into port, missile hatches open, “Twelve tubes empty, it’s Miller time!” Those were always good for some fun at the social gatherings My Good Wife the artist had to attend.
– Max
So, have you quit abusing your wife in social contexts?
Nope. I dress for the formal occasions and keep my mouth shut, but for the informal gatherings there’s four other husbands in the same boat as I, and we band together. Well, isolate ourselves to a corner of the room is probably a more accurate term. We just don’t get art, don’t care about it, and this serves to mark us as unsophisticated degenerates not worth saving.
Oddly enough, politics aren’t generally discussed at these things.
– Max
Speaking of abuse, My Good Wife and I were amongst friends just today and she referred to me as her agro-barbarian. Is it considered mental abuse if you really want to be proud of a moniker but are pretty certain it wasn’t a compliment?
Where, oh where, is Jeff Foxworthy when I need him?
– Max
I had the sub with Miller Time Tshirt. Forget what overseas port I bought it in. I especially like “cave dwelling as the default form of habitation”.
Max,
And damned if we didn’t retire the Battleships, ideals implements with which to restore cave dwelling as the default…
Bad choices are all we have been left with, thanks to the UN, and now Barry O. Indeed, we could certainly completely stop the Iranian nuclear initiative, and provide a wonderful glass blowing demonstration factory (since everything will have been turned into glass anyway). But we will be left with a remnant of new Iranians who, as we speak, are appealing to Barry O to man up and delegitimize the Iranian gov’t.
Instead he, through his actions, has elevated the regime there by his willingness to give them his “open hand.” This just makes life even more difficult for the next C-in-C, come 01/20/2013, as well as the Israelis and the dissident Iranians.
And even if Israel’s interests aren’t sufficient to address the Iranian nuc. question, stability of the whole Middle East is (or ought to be). But apparently, voting “present” is the better part of valor for this president. Meanwhile, this administration ignores the anniversary of the fall of the Wall, the anniversary of the fall of our embassy, and throws all our allies under the bus, including the Iranians who now want to move into some century other than the Eighth–preferably the 21st.
Obama is leaving the next president with a series of even worse choices than he himself currently has, poor as they may be. Deferring and handing off will yield even worse consequences, both internally and externally in the international community. More blood, both our own military’s and innocent Iranians’, will be shed.
“Present.”
Sigh.
In viewing previous histories of “we won’t let ___ become a nuclear power”, how many times have we succeeded? Maybe Libya. Anyone see any connection between the Norks and Iran? With NORK now re-processing for plutonium, the Iranians may be content to send them cold hard cash and wait for the delivery like an expectant father. Why get the UN all involved? Open the doors, let the inspectors in, take some samples, and show the world “praise to allah, we are soooooo peaceful”. Meanwhile, check clears, and FedEx drives up with a big package.
If the israelis were smart they’d give a couple openly to the saudis, who hate the iranians more than they hate the israelis. Then let Iran sit and stew about a nuclear neighbor.
One must admire the Israelis for their decisiveness, their strategic vision, and willingness to put national security ahead of the mythical benefits of “approval by the community of nations.”
Their military prowess, ingenuity, bravery, and willing to take big risks for big gains is most impressive. Unconventional thinking abounds.
Operation Orchard, the Osirik operation, and the rescue at Entebbe are all proof that they can, and WILL act when necessary. With U.S. approval or without.
Not sure how they are doing on that diversity stuff that we seem to think is the key to military success. Maybe we can learn something from that too.