| Tuesday, November
28, 2006
Almost caught up. The column is posted at
www.chaosmanorreviews.com . I
have written a "reader's report" for the University of Oklahoma Press on
Dwight V. Swain's
Creating Characters, which is still for sale at Amazon. This
is about the best book on the subject I know of. It belongs in print.
I had some thoughts reading the paper this morning but I didn't note them
down, and I have forgotten the subject, so it couldn't have been all that
important. What I did note on my Olympus WS-100 during our morning walk was
the rest of the plot of Mamelukes including what has moved Inspector Agzaral
to change policies. I don't know when I'll get to that because Inferno is
moving along nicely, but it won't be all that long.
I suppose
I should write a short "I told you so" for the Republicans who didn't listen
to me -- I recall years ago telling some Congressmen who still listened to
me that if they didn't stop spending like drunken sailors all the "social
conservatism" in the world wouldn't save them. The "Reagan Democrats" mostly
want to be left alone on social issues, but left the Democratic Party in
part because of the Cold War, and in part because of economic issues. They
wanted less government and less government spending except for defense.
Reagan spent on defense, but that was key to ending the Cold War. After
Reagan came Bush, who said "Read my lips, no new taxes," raised taxes and
laughed in the voters' faces with a "Read my hips" message and got voted out
of office. Then came the Contract with America, and the Republicans came in
-- and began spending money like water. Not just on defense,. Although we
certainly are not threatened now as we were when 26,000 Russian nuclear
weapons were targeted on us, you can make the case that we can't cut way
back on defense. We certainly need a larger navy, and better border control.
But that wasn't enough for the Republicans. They increased entitlements,
increased discretionary spending, and took earmarks to a whole new level.
They acted arrogantly toward their political troops. They threw sops to the
political footsoldiers, and they laughed in the faces of the "economic
conservatives" and Reagan Democrats. They sowed the wind and reaped the
whirlwind and it served them right. Alas it doesn't serve the nation right
to have Mr. Dingell and Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi in charge, or at least I
don't think it will. It would be a good thing if the Republicans could build
a Center-Right coalition again, but it doesn't look all that good.
It is interesting that a few are listening to me again.
Alas, I have books to write. ======= I am told
that more people are murdered in the US by illegal aliens than are killed US
soldiers in Iraq. I find that interesting even though there are obvious
comparison flaws. But none of that gets past the fact that war in Iraq has
changed, and local militias are involved. Switzerland had its
last religious wars in the last quarter of the 19th Century. They solved
them by ethnic cleansing: non-voluntary deportation of Protestants from one
section of Appenzall and Catholics from the other, then dividing the Canton
into two half-cantons. That worked so well that most have entirely forgotten
the incident.
Is Iraq headed that way? I ask seriously. Maybe it's
the best solution to the problem. Recall before we went in, I
pointed out that the first thing we should do is set up locally respected
courts to settle the question of who owns what. For instance: here is a
house and grounds that was historically owned by a Shiite family; that
family was ousted by the Baathists in favor of a secular Sunni; the Baathist
Sunni then sold the house to a religious Sunni; who then sold it to a
merchant of mild Shiite proclivities of no relation to the historic owners.
The family of the historic owners claims it now. The present occupant
insists he paid good money for it. Who owns it? If we had
protected the oil wells, there would be money in the occupation treasury to
compensate the loser of the case; and local courts whose opinions are
locally respected could decide the matter. We didn't do that.
It's a bit late now. But the original owners of the house still want it
back. =========== I seem to be unable to find
Parker Gel roller ball pen refills in GREEN. I
have one, but it's the last, it's wearing out, and no one seems to sell the
green ones any longer. I did find a source of Red,
and I use those. Blue and Black are
common. It's probably silly, but I did like having a
Green ink rollerball pen, and any pointers to a place where I can get
more will be appreciated. THANKS! I have been directed to a
place that says they have these in stock and I have ordered several. Thanks
to all. ===
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