Israel and Iran; Dorothy Sayers; Diversity

View 800 Monday, November 25, 2013

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”

President Barack Obama, January 31, 2009

 

If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. Period.

Barrack Obama, famously.

 

Cogito ergo sum.

Descartes

 

Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum. Cogito,

Ambrose Bierce

Another day devoured by locusts, but I did clear up a number of obligations and get a few steps closer to back on track. I see the dentist tomorrow, but my jaw hurt enough that I called him this morning. As I suspected there’s nothing unusual going on and nothing to be concerned about. People who take aspirin routinely do have some clotting difficulties and that prolongs the kinds of wounds you get when wisdom teeth are removed. I am not likely to get much done this week anyway.

The news continues to be gloomy. The US has just made about the same deal with Iran that we once made with North Korea, relieving the economic war just as it was really beginning to hurt, and thus buying the regime some more time. In North Korea’s case they used the hard currency to complete their missile program and some new nuclear production stuff. One supposes Iran will do the same.

Of course we have no idea what Israel will do. The Prime Minister has taken pains to make it clear that Israel does not consider herself bound by the Kerry proposition. A very long time ago (1956) Israel, France, and Britain decided that the United States under President Eisenhower were insufficiently militant against Arab aggression against European interests, and a joint Israeli-French-British military operation to recover the Suez Canal from Nasser was begun. Eisenhower put enough pressure on our allies to get them to withdraw; President Eisenhower later said that it was his greatest foreign policy mistake. (My father did not live to see the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he thought the 1956 Suez War was the turning point, and would lead eventually to a Soviet victory, not in his lifetime, and possibly not in mine. He would be pleased to know that he was wrong, but I believe the Seventy Years War was a closer thing that many imagine.)

We cannot predict what the Israelis will do. We can imagine the future of US policy.

And this disturbing development:

Re-organization

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htarm/articles/20131122.aspx#startofcomments

This is pretty significant. The loss of the direct support light infantry, replaced by the mortar and recon/scout units, probably means a more coordinated supporting arms (artillery & air [drone?]) doctrine. This will result in significant manpower savings but surely outstripped by technological costs for missile/aircraft/drone/communication costs.

David Couvillon

Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Retired.; Former Governor of Wasit Province, Iraq; Righter of Wrongs; Wrong most of the time; Distinguished Expert, TV remote control; Chef de Hot Dog Excellance; Avoider of Yard Work

It does appear to be a significant development. Israel, of course, measures exactly that threat it must respond to, having a shortage of both troops and funds; Israel can never maintain all the military forces she needs, nor standing armies as large as those of her enemies.

Polls show that for the first time a majority of the American people no longer believe that President Obama is competent to manage government. This is a startling fall from his original status in the days of “Yes we can!” and “Hope and Change!” Details do tend to get in the way when you have great plans. On the other hand without a great plan the details might not be important.

And we have a great deal of mail on many subjects. This one is a bit different:

Dorothy Sayers on despair/tolerance/sloth

Jerry:

You often remind us that despair is a sin, which I now say frequently to others.

In 1941, Dorothy Sayers spoke about despair/tolerance/sloth as one of the Other Six Deadly Sins.

–begin Sayers quote

The sixth Deadly Sin is named by the Church Acedia or Sloth. In the world it calls itself Tolerance; but in hell it is called Despair. It is the accomplice of the other sins and their worst punishment. It is the sin which believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing.[sic] lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for. We have known it far too well for many years. The only thing perhaps that we have not known about it is that it is mortal sin.

http://www.lectionarycentral.com/trinity07/Sayers.html

–end Sayers quote

She said this long before Tolerance was enshrined as the cardinal virtue by our inept masters in Washington and academe.

I found only a few references to Sayers in your View and Mail, so if this is useful then you might also want to look at her other remarks on the Other Deadlies.

Search Google using the following argument Sayers six sins site:http://www.lectionarycentral.com/

You should get 8 results, the first 6 of which are about the other deadly sins.

I’ve read that the speech is the final entry in a book of her works titled "Creed or Chaos? Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster (Or, Why It Really Does Matter What You Believe)". It appears to be out of print as I can’t find it on my usual book sites.

Amazon has a lot of used copies through its marketplace. At least there are a few academic libraries within a few miles of you that have copies according to WorldCat.Org.

I also found what claims to be the article "Creed or Chaos? at http://douglassocialcredit.com/Sayers%20Dorothy%20L%20Creed%20or%20Chaos.pdf

and

http://www.generalfiles.biz/download/gse6a36efh32i0/Sayers%20Dorothy%20L%20Creed%20or%20Chaos.pdf.html

Best regards,

–Harry M.

I used to write a lot about Dorothy Sayers. I regret that I never met her, although I do know people who were her friends. I much regret that for some reason I overlooked her poetic translation of Dante when Niven and I did our first Inferno, which relied on the Ciardi translation, with occasional excursions into Longfellow.

By the time we did Escape from Hell I had become familiar with Dorothy Sayers’ translation of the Inferno, which I think comes closer to producing the effect Dante was after. On the other hand we understand that the success of our original Inferno – it sold very well in the years after it was published, and still sells to this day – was responsible for the reissue of the Ciardi translation, and that’s not a bad thing.

She also has a famous essay on education, The Lost Tools of Learning, that is well worth the attention of anyone interested in the goals of education. And of course those not familiar with her detective series and Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey are in for a treat.

The President is in town, raising money and support for his immigration reforms.

 

“Congressional leaders must forcefully reject the notion, evidently accepted by the President, that a small cadre of CEOs can tailor the nation’s entire immigration policy to suit their narrow interests.”

<http://dailycaller.com/2013/11/25/sen-sessions-slams-obama-ceos-on-immigration/>

–

Roland Dobbins

Immigration is a complex subject, but a nation that does not control its borders is not sovereign. The United States as we know it – or as some of us knew it – was built on assimilation. E Pluribus Unum. We did not seek “diversity” as such, we sought a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to  — well you get the idea.  We built a melting pot, and it worked splendidly. But a melting pot can be overloaded; and a cultural diversity that accepts too much diversity explodes. We will not be the first nation to learn that.  And see Spain under the Visigoths for an interesting lesson in diversity.

 

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.