Archive for the 'History' Category

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Reclassified

Does reclassifying documents make any sense at all? Ignoring the fact that it is silly to suggest that the number of missiles the US had in the 60s is a state secret, these documents are already out in the public. Are they planning on tracking down every mention of these things and erasing [...]

By the way

As of August 15, the US has been involved in the War in Iraq longer than we were in WWII. I don’t think it really means anything, but I think it is interesting.

Memorial Service

Yeah, I know. Plenty of H.L. Mencken yesterday, but the guy just made too much sense and we never here about him these days.

Memorial Service

H. L. Mencken, 1922

Where is the grave-yard of dead gods? What lingering mourner waters their mounds? There was a day when Jupiter was the king of the gods, and any [...]

H.L. Mencken quotes

I’ve been reading a lot of stuff on H.L. Menken today (inspiration for the title of the blog Mallard Fillmore’s Bathtub among many other things) and I thought I’d just post a few of my favorite quotations of his.

A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.
A politician [...]

2 out of 5 Americans believe Muslims should carry special I.D.

According to a new Gallup poll, 39% of Americans believe that the government should force Muslims to carry a special form of I.D.
Almost four in ten, 39%, advocate that Muslims here should carry special I.D. That same number admit that they do hold some “prejudice” against Muslims. Forty-four percent say their religious views are too [...]

Bush unaware of 2 sects of Islam?

The fmr. Ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, is claiming in his new book, The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created A War Without End, that President Bush was unaware that there were 2 major sects of Islam as recently as 2 months before the Iraq war. As seen on The Raw Story:
A year [...]

J. William Fulbright - The Arrogance of Power

In 1966 William Fulbright published The Arrogance of Power. I haven’t read it but a couple of quotes from it I saw on Wikipedia still ring very true today. And seem as if they were written about the Iraq War instead of the Vietnam War. The following is direct from the Wikipedia entry [...]

Is America committed to Democracy?

I think it is a question that needs to be asked. I think there are a number of signs that we may not. Domestically and abroad we seem to have forgotten exactly what it means to be a democracy. Democracies are not secretive or imperialistic. They are open and, well, nonimperialistic(?).

3 branches of government is 2 too many

The Executive Branch executes, the Legislative Branch legislates, and the Judicial Branch judges, right? Sounds like a lot of trouble. Wouldn’t it be easier if just one branch could do all the work? The Bush Administration seems to think so. There have been over 130 signing statements under the Bush Administration [...]

Freedom of Speech? Not in Modern America

Via Yahoo News
“In the months before the 2004 election, dozens of people across the nation were banished from or arrested at Bush political rallies, some for heckling the president, others simply for holding signs or wearing clothing that expressed opposition to the war and administration policies.

Similar things have happened at official, taxpayer-funded, presidential visits, before [...]