Why I love National Review

The Toga Makes a Comeback!

What other major news outlet today includes someone referring to Cato the Younger as a pretentious git?

Thanks for the Warning

Statue of Liberty flyby startles New Yorkers

Do you think it would be asking too much for a bit more warning to the public if you're going to send jetliners low over the sky in lower Manhattan? It's not like we're paranoid or anything, but there's some history here.

And why, pray tell, does the White House need a photo op of ostensibly Air Force One (though it doesn't get the call sign without the President on board) flying over the Statue of Liberty? Is it that necessary to spend hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of taxpayer dollars to send an empty 747 flying over a landmark while scaring the crap out of ordinary citizens? I can suggest some damn fine graphic designers who could give you the same result for a lot less time, money & effort.

I won't blame the President, but somebody down there is not just a damned fool, but a profligate fool to boot. With someone else's money, naturally. Schmucks.

BWAHAHHAHHA

Check out what's new in History on my gadget-thingy below. Today's significant event is Bill Clinton's manly military strike in response to the African Embassy bombings. Full details on Operation Infinite Stretch are here.



Frankly, I'd rather have seen something on the Battle of Yarmuk or most of the other events listed for August 20 than revisit the Clinton administration's lame response to an attack on US property and lives. Still, it was a decent laugh to start the morning.

An American Hero

Pilot of plane that dropped A-bomb dies



Oh, I know all the AP wants to talk about is the suffering the bomb did, and I see an implication of callousness in Tibbets from the author. But anybody who knows a damn thing about war in general, WWII, and the Japanese behavior prior to and during the war understands that the bomb was frankly the lesser of two evils.



There's no minimizing of the suffering here, but let's get real - how would the Japanese civilians have fared during a genuine invasion of the Home Islands? How many Allied troops would have been killed? How long would it have dragged on? Add to that Japanese behavior towards civilians in Manchuria, Korea, Burma, etc., and it's a little hard for me to to see moral injustice on the part of the US.



Rest in Peace, General.

Interesting bit of History

up for grabs:



Rare Magna Carta to be sold at Sotheby's in NYC



I've never liked the popular impression that this was a constitution in the sense to which we understand it today. A la the reporter's comment "The Magna Carta established rights of the English people and curbed the power of the king."



What it established (and no, I haven't read it in ages) was the rights and privileges of a select class of people vis-a-vis their feudal obligations to their lord, and the limits of his authority. As a foundation document laying the groundwork for basic rights of man, perhaps, but hardly a declaration of freedom for all citizens. I'd personally consider it akin to limiting the power of central government, and providing more autonomy to the other rich, violent jerks keeping the average citizen impoverished and beholden. And yes, I oversimplify, but it's a blog folks, not a dissertation.



In any event, it's yours for a piddling $30 mil.

And to prove

that I'm not going to disappear completely, here's a link of interest to the historically, architecturally, or technology minded folks:



Experience ancient Rome, virtually



What I love about such an effort is the sheer cleverness of it, and the ability to put technology to use to understand history. It's so much more useful for people to have a physical representation, even virtual, of a space at a point in time. It's all very well to show people a ruin of a column, but it's so much more meaningful to show that column in it's proper setting - part of a building, or the base of a monument, whatever.



No, the electronic version of the forum or the Coliseum is not as powerful as seeing the actual space; but it's much easier for most people to see it in it's proper context when you can see all the surrounding buildings and spaces as well.

Thanks to IMAO

via Terry:

You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed. Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

I'm a medievalist, folks, and I knew all of these.

Thanks to Blogger's

messages on the dashboard I bumped into Boston 1775, which looks like an entertaining place if you're interested in the Revolution.

Want something fun?

New York City Subway Maps from the 1880s to the present. I looked back at some from the 70s, and I had forgotten how much the routes have changed - some of the trains I used to take now follow completely different paths.

Desperately Bored?

Desperately need to recreate a PT Boat for light anti-ship warfare?

Then the Higgins Industries Collection is just the place for you!

It came across an email list I'm on, and I thought some of you might care.

Good Book, Bad Movie

They are, however, unrelated to each other. The good book (not The Good Book) is Stephen Hunter's American Gunfight: The Plot to Kill Harry Truman. I agree with many of the commenters that the style Hunter takes to write the book is a bit distracting, but on the whole it's a good tale of a story I'd never even heard of before. Hunter was a regular on the temporarily hiatused Tony Kornheiser show on WTEM radio in DC, and one of the most eloquent people I've ever heard. His description of the events of 9/11 remain the best overview of the attacks I think I've ever heard.

The book, which I haven't finished, certainly highlights Hunter's knowledge and appreciation of guns, the culture of shooters & law enforcement in the '50s, and the hazyness of a gunfight. Again, the jumping back & forth between parts of the story is a little hard to live with, but on the whole it's a good book.

The movie, on the other hand, didn't do it for me. I got 7 Days in May from Netflix a few weeks back, on the assumption that Burt Lancaster + Kirk Douglas=good movie. I was pretty disappointed, on the whole. The acting was fine, and I think the story had the germ of a good movie in it, but the various subtexts of the movie are so typically liberal as to be caricature. The overly aggressive, treasonous military, the bucking that stereotype marine colonel, the Soviets who can be our friends if we just try peace, the decent, honorable president, etc.

I found myself agreeing heartily with some of Lancaster's lines as the general planning a coup. He suggests repeatedly that the Soviets can't be trusted, and they're simply playing games by signing treaties. And I think the character was correct. The President argues that we have to try, and peace is the only answer, and kumbaya, and all that nonsense. I imagine the director Frakenheimer was a typical Hollywood leftist, and another apologist for the Soviet Union. The problem is the movie has no subtlety - there's no depth to the military men, only secret plots and barely hidden fascism.

So if it was on your rental list, I'd skip it.