Poli sci catch-up: media reading

I need to catch up on daily mainstream media as well blogs. Let's start a list.

The Economist
The New Republic
New York Times
US News & World Report
Wall Street Journal (and OpinionJournal, too)
Washington Post

Eric

4 years

4 years, that's how much time is unaccounted for in my life. 4 years of my youth and the prime of my life wasted on nothing. I'm not talking about the details of living, experiencing, learning, and growing as a person, which would make for a far more discouraging assessment of my life. I'm talking about main stages, like elementary school, junior high school, high school, college, Army. On that level, I have 4 empty years. Can I make up for the lost time with increased, accelerated productivity?

On a related note, check out the Peace Operations Policy Program at George Mason University. Interested much? You bet.

Eric

Yes, Leonidas deserves the credit, but I'm a fan of Demophilus.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae#Final_stand_of_the_Spartans_and_Thespians:

"When Leonidas learned that the Phocians had not held, he called a council at dawn. During the council some Greeks argued for withdrawal in the face of the overwhelming Persian advance, while others pledged to stay. After the council, many of the Greek forces did choose to withdraw. Herodotus believed that Leonidas blessed their departure with an order, but he also offered the alternate point of view: that those retreating forces departed without orders. The Spartans had pledged themselves to fight to the death, while the Thebans were held as hostage against their will. However, a contingent of about 700 Thespians, led by general Demophilus, the son of Diadromes, refused to leave with the other Greeks, but cast their lot with the Spartans."

In the history and the legend of Thermopylae, nothing can be taken away from the Spartans. By custom, by training, by law, by loyalty and a great leader, the royal guard of King Leonidas fulfilled their heroic destiny at the Battle of Thermopylae. But Demophilus was no Spartan, no warrior born and bred from the womb. He was a Thespian general and he led 700 volunteers of his countrymen alongside his fellow Greeks against the overwhelming army of Xerxes I. He easily could have retired from the field of battle with the other Greeks when the Spartans made their last stand, in what was possibly a designed rear-guard action. He didn't. The Thespians stayed, shoulder to shoulder with the Spartans, as equals, as brothers, as Men. Demophilus understood this act was necessary for the greater good, and it would mean the sacrifice of his soldiers and himself. He died in battle, and in so doing, he and his Thespians have shared for all time, with the great Spartan warriors, the honor of the Battle of Thermopylae.

We all die - there's no choice about that. Normally, I would wish for a long, happy, and fruitful life ending, if it must end, in a painless death. However, I can't help but believe some deaths are more worthy than others, that there is such a thing as a good death. At the end, Demophilus earned a heroic death, a Spartan's death, that wasn't his by birthright. I'm no warrior and I can't identify with the Spartans. But I can hope that when the moment of clarity arrives, I'll acquit myself as honorably as Demophilus the Thespian at Thermopylae.

** Post was inspired by reading Frank Miller's graphic novel, 300.

Eric

GEN Petraeus: Learning Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Soldiering in Iraq

Read GEN Petraeus' article in the Jan-Feb 2006 Military Review, Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Soldiering in Iraq, posted in the Armed Services Committee website. Update: working link.



How can I read this and not want to go back to the military? What GEN Petraeus describes is the kind of work that excites me. It's what I want to do, and I believe I'd have an intuitive feel for it. Counterinsurgency is mostly based in Civil Affairs and not major combat operations.

* Thoughtful criticisms of GEN Petraeus' strategy here (intel-dump.com) and here (captainsjournal.com).

Eric

Observation of the day: in-person beauty not always photogenic

There are girls who are drop-dead gorgeous in person who don't photograph well.

In Spring 2006, I took European History with Professor Lisa Tiersten. She had an A/V tech assistant named Katie (yes, I know her last name, but I learned my lesson with Traci) who was beautiful. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her, just one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in person. Breath-taking. I'd situate my seat in class just so I could look at her. I looked up her facebook profile where she keeps photos of herself. She doesn't look nearly as good in her photos as she did in person. Just one of those things, I guess. Makes me wonder about the whole commercial beauty industry, and manufactured image-beauty versus real-life beauty.

Eric

Babe of the day: Isla Fisher

To quote Jimmy Mortimer (Jordan Allen-Dutton) from Scratch & Burn's "The Adventures of Wassup Holmes" sketch, "Mmm, delicious!"

Actress Isla Fisher is a cute package and exudes sizzling sexuality in a Lolita kind of way. Don't worry - she's not real jail-bait. She's older than I am, actually. Sasha Baron Cohen, AKA Borat, AKA Ali G, AKA Isla Fisher's boyfriend, is a lucky man. Very photogenic woman. Google her and enjoy.





Eric

Cool website of the day: metacafe

Metacafe.com hosts whacky, eccentric, entertaining videoclips. It probably serves the same function as youtube.com, which is also a cool videoclip website. It's fun stuff.

Eric

These are a few of my favorite things

Favorite radio station: WFAN
Favorite radio talk show host: Steve Somers
Favorite sports play-by-play (current): Gary Cohen
Favorite sports play-by-play (all-time): Bob Murphy
Favorite sports color commentator: Walt "Clyde" Frazier
Favorite sports team: NY Mets
My best (to date): Feb 99 to Aug 99 - USMAPS and Beast Barracks
Favorite actor: Denzel Washington
Favorite sausages: sweet and hot sausages from Esposito's butcher shop on 38th and 9th
Favorite ribs: Peking BBQ in Woodside
Favorite bagels: Ruthie's half-price bagels (after 5 pm) in Chelsea Market
Favorite placed served: AIT at Fort Huachuca, AZ
Favorite Simpsons episode: Last Exit to Springfield
Favorite all-time professional athlete: Ty Cobb
Favorite Army weapon: M249 SAW
Favorite Batman the Animated Series episode: Mad as a Hatter

I'll add to this list as it comes to me.

Scratch & Burn

Scratch & Burn was a sketch comedy show that was briefly on MTV in 2002. They showed 4 episodes, something like that. Think a 2000s suburban hip-hop American version of Kids in the Hall. Not as good as Kids in the Hall, but on the right track, and I think with more time, they could have reached those heights. Two of their members, Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, have a website, famouslastnerds.com. The other two members, brothers GQ and J.A.Q., also have their own websites. Very talented and creative, and a shame we got to see so little of the show. Here's my favorite sketch - When Geeks Will Rule the World - from Scratch & Burn:



BONUS sketch - The Adventures of Wassup Holmes:



Good stuff.

Eric

Babe of the day: Lynn Chen

I just watched Saving Face, a 2004 movie by Alice Wu. One of the stars of the movie is Lynn Chen, who plays Vivian Shing. I am a sucker for striking, expressive eyes and Lynn has them, in addition to being attractive in every other feature. Check her out:



Now that is a good-lucking woman. The character she plays, Vivian Shing (below), is an uber-babe, too. A lesbian uber-babe, but still an uber-babe.



Eric

Channeling Thomas Paine

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

- Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Eric

Darfur - A Civil Affairs mission

I've been saying that for anyone to reasonably support an intervention in Darfur, they should be rooting for the US mission in Iraq to succeed, because the force and TTPs (tasks, tactics and procedures) we would have to develop in order to succeed in Iraq would be necessary to succeed in Darfur as well. In other words, Western humanitarians have to become far more capable of using soft and hard power together when it comes to addressing the violent, disconnected regions of the world. Read this Reuters story about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and ask yourself what current mission it reminds you of (d'uh - Iraq), and then wonder about the idiocy of people who call for intervention in Darfur in one breath, protest the mission in Iraq in the next breath, and for an especially deranged few, actually come to the conclusion that the military should be removed as an option for intervention in Darfur in a third breath. On that point, I would agree that we shouldn't use the military to intervene . . . until we build a force and a system capable of forceful intervention that provides security, stability and domination of a region, and then smoothly transitions to nation-building. Darfur is crying out for a military Civil Affairs mission. At the same time, we need to radically upgrade our Civil Affairs capabilities and connect the dots on one force that can carry out the A-to-Z of a successful intervention in the most extreme circumstances.

In a Reuters report, Darfur conflict threatens aid operation, filed on Dec 31, 2006, Opheera McDoom writes . . .

"Many war victims fled to the relative safety of the three Darfur state
capitals during the conflict and formed mass makeshift camps surrounding the
towns."

"But that feeling of safety was shattered when militia ran riot
several times in recent months or clashed with former rebel forces inside
Darfur's main towns. In December U.N. and aid agencies evacuated hundreds of
staff from Darfur cities, paralysing some humanitarian operations.
"The situation here remains like a tinderbox," said one aid worker who witnessed
clashes in December in el-Fasher town before evacuated."

"With a May peace deal signed by only one rebel faction, violence has
escalated as many other rebel commanders formed a new military alliance and
renewed hostilities with the government. U.N. officials say Khartoum remobilised
proxy militia, known locally as Janjaweed, to combat the rebellion."

Iraq . . . Darfur . . . strip away the superficial differences and get down to the boots on the ground level, and it's the same damn mission.

Eric

December 31, 2006 - a good day

Happy New Years.

December 31, 2006 - a good day. Only 12 years after graduating from Stuy, I'm finally (unofficially yet) a college graduate today. Columbia University. Not a good GPA, and it should have been a lot better, but it also could have been a lot worse. Lucky, under the circumstances.

There's so much to do.

Eric