Preparation Debate

Stanley Kurtz has this piece posted in NRO's The Corner, with this follow up at the same place.

Frankly, I'm not convinced that a replication of the cold war infrastructure is our best national option. Certainly, some degree of preparedness for the immediate, short term period following a nuclear or similarly destructive attack is needed. I am unconvinced that some elephantine, government-run national system is the best option though.

I believe that a greater emphasis on individual capability ought to be encouraged through the tax code and other government mechanisms. Shelters don't maintain themselves, nor do the stochpiled supplies self-rotate to maintain freshness. Individual ownership of the shelter is more likely, if not guaranteed I'm afraid, to encourage maintenance of the total shelter at lesser public expense.

I grew up in the high desert region of Southern California. Earthquake was (and remains) an ever-present possibility and it was a desert; you kept a certain amount of food and water stored as a matter of routine. Perhaps, that youthful experience has colored my expectations, but I think that more of my fellow citizens will survive an attack if they have become conditioned to fend for themselves then if they remain reliant upon government or anyone else for their welfare. Has the lesson of FEMA in the immediate post-Katrina period faded from memory already?

Via Rand Simberg

They did what?

Why do I feel certain Mr. Wilner isn't a fellow Texican?

What's wrong with people today?

Local news.

I'd seriously consider moving, but I'm fairly certain this sort of weirdness goes on pretty much everywhere. At least here it's easy keep an eye out for the loonies, they're so eager to self-identify.

Here's a tip, dude; get a pair of scissors and use 'em. Then you can submit your name for inclusion in the "self respect" and "dignity" categories instead.

The Afghanistan Campaign

From the fairly-new-to-me blog abu muqawama, comes this link to an editorial by David Rohde in the Oct. 5th edition of the New York Times. In which, Mr. Rohde examines the US Army's inclusion of academic anthropologists into the 82 Airborne's operations in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

Initial reports are that this embedding of academics with warriors has produced several early success's that would have eluded the traditional responses military doctrine prescribes. Which in turn allows the soldiers to concentrate their efforts more accurately, while their involvement in the process encourages further cooperation from local Afghan citizens.

Hearts and minds operations aren't new to the Army by any means; what is new is the acceptance of such operations by senior command staff and the melding of such non-traditional military responses into official combat doctrine. In the past, such "experiments" have ultimately fallen to the wayside in post-combat draw downs of forces during that semi-mythical period known as "peacetime".

Mr. Rohde notes the presence of academic resistance to their professional inclusion into military operations without delving into the underlying motivations driving this resistance. I confess that I am not hopeful that that argument will receive as evenhanded an airing as Mr. Rohde has begun, but am willing to leave that battle for another time. I am eager to watch how the US military further incorporates these non-traditional opportunities into their arsenal.

Now, if Abu Muqawama would just lighten up on the RA knee jerk response to intellectual stimulation, his own work would be improved, I think. Nonetheless, his is a page to check regularly.

I Know The Answer

In his contribution to the forthcoming November edition of Vanity Fair magazine, Christopher Hitchens writes on the brief life and exemplary death of a young man. As part of Hitchens' examination of the surviving family's response, and his own reaction to his ephemeral contribution to Mark Daily's act of ordinary valor, he poses a philosophical question:

"He could have had any career path he liked ... Why are we robbed of his contribution?"

Here is your answer, Mr. Hitchens.

He did; and we aren't.

Lieutenant Daily's considered decision to lead troops into combat against our country's self-declared enemies must be regarded as the path he most desired to follow. Mark Daily did not lack for options, as Mr. Hitchens delicately observes, and chose the robust, direct action that still seems somehow unnatural to our Christopher, even now. The fact that Lt. Daily's decisions lead to his dying in the act of defeating that enemy is not unusual, for all it's abruptness. Living and ultimately dying to preserve our civilisation - our friends and family writ large, if you will - is simply the ordinary course of events, and the ultimate contribution, any of us can contrive. Mark Daily can't be said to have gotten off easily, for all that he got there early. Of a certainty though, his contribution is all around us, as hopefully will be our own after we are gone.

It is by their deeds that we know them;
will they know us, come the day?

Sorry, Mind The Snark

This editorial in USA Today should make fine fodder for liberal/progressive self-flagellation and excoriation. In the competition between integrity and funding, which do you think has a better chance among politicians?

More (sorta) Electric Cars

Continuing the vein of Tuesday's post, there is this article in Wired magazine about GM's new SUV hybrids. If that's the difference between the possible and the available then my old Dodge stays. It at least has one compelling feature, it's paid for.

To the Bridges of Isfahan

Well under them anyway, which is where these guys will likely still find a discrete welcome.

Such at least was the conventional wisdom on the topic back in the day. All those guys kissing and holding hands outside the Iranian's men only clubs weren't gay ... and truth be told they likely weren't, as the term is understood in the US today. In my own judgement (from personal exposure to the Iranian social environment) is that it is a distinction without a practical difference on the individual level and a profound difference on the societal level of consideration.

In Iran, if you want to experience gay love, you can find it almost anywhere men congregate; if you want gay sex, look under the bridges.

I'm Not Certain It's News ...

I have no idea how well, or even if, this might work and haven't time to google around to find out what's the what on it right now. Duty squalls and all that. I do wonder if a unit big enough to run my truck is being contemplated though. Thirty years between fill-ups is just crazy, right?

Via James Hudnall

Speaking Of Iran

It's not just me talking here.