Rodin's nose, as sculpted by Émile-Antoine Bourdelle.
13 November 2009
12 November 2009
Your Daily Photo (What's With All the Shame, Eve? Edition)
Rodin's interpretation of Eve, after succumbing to temptation, obviously.
A Modest Proposal For Solving Two Intractable Problems of the Day, Afghanistan and Our Debt to China
Two of the myriad intractable problems facing our current government are what to do with Afghanistan, and how to manage our relationship with China as they own more and more of our debt. These problems on their surface would seem to be entirely unrelated, and the one (Afghanistan) is causing a huge strain with regards to how we can act on the other (as we spend on the war, we increase our debt).
Well, what if I had a modest proposal that would go a long way towards solving both of these problems? Luckily for Pres. Obama and his team of advisers, I have such a plan, and like most modest proposals, and like most workable solutions to complex problems, it is a solution that is both simple and elegant.
I'm sure my smarter readers have already guessed at the nature of this particular proposal, they are probably way ahead of me, and are at this very moment slapping their forehead and thinking to themselves, 'why didn't I think of that and create a blogpost delineating the details of such a simple, yet brilliant plan before that immodest proposer beat me to it'. I can't take too much credit for this plan, it comes from combining a variety of streams of thought and keeping a firm eye on both the past with a knowledge of history, and an eye to the problems of the future.
Having read Churchill's collection of his war correspondences from the region, and having known veterans from the previous Soviet conflict in the region, as well as the current conflict, I have trouble believing that there is much hope in developing stability amongst a collection of peoples and factions that have enjoyed nearly an uninterrupted supply of feuds, rivalries, and bloodshed for more than two millennia (don't think there's been a quiet period in the region of more than a decade or two since Alexander's time).
With that knowledge, seems there are three paths open to us if we wish to get out with honor, and leave some semblance of stability, or if not stability, at least leave an environment where terror can no longer be exported from the region. Those three paths are, one pick a tribe and a warlord, and arm him to the teeth and let him subjugate the other tribes. In some ways, we are doing that now with Karzai, though we are trying to be subtle about it, and we are preventing him from being overly bloody in reprisal. Seems a really half assed way to do it, but that's our current path. The second path is to do what the Soviets attempted to do, shell, bomb, and shoot them back to the stone age, but given that the region as a whole is barely beyond the stone age, that strategy imposes a cost on the foreign aggressor disproportionate to its effect on the locals. There is a third way, a modest way, and one that ties in with our debt to China (bet you thought I forgot about that part, didn't you?)
That third path, is get some other sucker on the hook. Our trade partners (and political rival) China, is looking to expand their influence on the global scene, and they have no compunction about brutality or using forced migration to subjugate a land (see both Xinjiang and Tibet). China borders Afghanistan (barely), and they have an excellent track record (depending on your point of view, again see both Xinjiang and Tibet) of sending in vast hordes of Han peoples into areas to remake the social, political, and ethnic make up of huge regions. For a modest forgiving of our current debt to China (say on the order of $2,000,000,000,000.00, I know the current value of Chinese owned debt sits at a mere $800,000,000,000.00 or so, but if we give them something in return, I'm sure they'll let us run up a nice little tab, and that extra $1.2T could go a long way in funding all sorts of wonderful projects our current administration would love to get to if they only had the means), we'll hand over rule of Afghanistan to China, no question asked, no other strings attached, and we'll take a 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' stance at the United Nations with regards to any and all measures the Chinese may have to engage to quell the locals.
It's the perfect, two birds, one stone, solution, one that will ensure decades of prosperity at home while tying up Chinese expansionist fervor in a region where even the Chinese may have trouble being brutal enough to manage properly. In one fell swoop, we extract ourselves out of a tough mess, and enmesh our likely main rival over the next few decades in that same mess. I know you may think China won't be big enough suckers to take this mess off our hands, but the Chinese are hungry to prove themselves as a major world power, a worthy rival to United States global hegemony, and they would have a hard time passing up such a wonderful opportunity to give the United States a bit of a black eye in the global community, and make us look like the fading hegemon in much the same way we began taking over the global role Britain enjoyed a century ago.
This move will set China back, and shoot us forward, any cries about illegality, and colonialism, and betrayal to the people of Afghanistan will be drowned out by the cheers at the homecoming of so many of our troops, and the jeers at China as they crack down on the various peoples of Afghanistan. We will turn China's ambition against themselves, and we will appear humbled, even humiliated, yet through that humility we will emerge far stronger than if we pursue either of the other paths open to us (paths fraught with their own perils).
Well, what if I had a modest proposal that would go a long way towards solving both of these problems? Luckily for Pres. Obama and his team of advisers, I have such a plan, and like most modest proposals, and like most workable solutions to complex problems, it is a solution that is both simple and elegant.
I'm sure my smarter readers have already guessed at the nature of this particular proposal, they are probably way ahead of me, and are at this very moment slapping their forehead and thinking to themselves, 'why didn't I think of that and create a blogpost delineating the details of such a simple, yet brilliant plan before that immodest proposer beat me to it'. I can't take too much credit for this plan, it comes from combining a variety of streams of thought and keeping a firm eye on both the past with a knowledge of history, and an eye to the problems of the future.
Having read Churchill's collection of his war correspondences from the region, and having known veterans from the previous Soviet conflict in the region, as well as the current conflict, I have trouble believing that there is much hope in developing stability amongst a collection of peoples and factions that have enjoyed nearly an uninterrupted supply of feuds, rivalries, and bloodshed for more than two millennia (don't think there's been a quiet period in the region of more than a decade or two since Alexander's time).
With that knowledge, seems there are three paths open to us if we wish to get out with honor, and leave some semblance of stability, or if not stability, at least leave an environment where terror can no longer be exported from the region. Those three paths are, one pick a tribe and a warlord, and arm him to the teeth and let him subjugate the other tribes. In some ways, we are doing that now with Karzai, though we are trying to be subtle about it, and we are preventing him from being overly bloody in reprisal. Seems a really half assed way to do it, but that's our current path. The second path is to do what the Soviets attempted to do, shell, bomb, and shoot them back to the stone age, but given that the region as a whole is barely beyond the stone age, that strategy imposes a cost on the foreign aggressor disproportionate to its effect on the locals. There is a third way, a modest way, and one that ties in with our debt to China (bet you thought I forgot about that part, didn't you?)
That third path, is get some other sucker on the hook. Our trade partners (and political rival) China, is looking to expand their influence on the global scene, and they have no compunction about brutality or using forced migration to subjugate a land (see both Xinjiang and Tibet). China borders Afghanistan (barely), and they have an excellent track record (depending on your point of view, again see both Xinjiang and Tibet) of sending in vast hordes of Han peoples into areas to remake the social, political, and ethnic make up of huge regions. For a modest forgiving of our current debt to China (say on the order of $2,000,000,000,000.00, I know the current value of Chinese owned debt sits at a mere $800,000,000,000.00 or so, but if we give them something in return, I'm sure they'll let us run up a nice little tab, and that extra $1.2T could go a long way in funding all sorts of wonderful projects our current administration would love to get to if they only had the means), we'll hand over rule of Afghanistan to China, no question asked, no other strings attached, and we'll take a 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' stance at the United Nations with regards to any and all measures the Chinese may have to engage to quell the locals.
It's the perfect, two birds, one stone, solution, one that will ensure decades of prosperity at home while tying up Chinese expansionist fervor in a region where even the Chinese may have trouble being brutal enough to manage properly. In one fell swoop, we extract ourselves out of a tough mess, and enmesh our likely main rival over the next few decades in that same mess. I know you may think China won't be big enough suckers to take this mess off our hands, but the Chinese are hungry to prove themselves as a major world power, a worthy rival to United States global hegemony, and they would have a hard time passing up such a wonderful opportunity to give the United States a bit of a black eye in the global community, and make us look like the fading hegemon in much the same way we began taking over the global role Britain enjoyed a century ago.
This move will set China back, and shoot us forward, any cries about illegality, and colonialism, and betrayal to the people of Afghanistan will be drowned out by the cheers at the homecoming of so many of our troops, and the jeers at China as they crack down on the various peoples of Afghanistan. We will turn China's ambition against themselves, and we will appear humbled, even humiliated, yet through that humility we will emerge far stronger than if we pursue either of the other paths open to us (paths fraught with their own perils).
11 November 2009
Your Daily Photo (Veteran's Day REPOST Edition)
[from 2006]
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You All
(photos taken as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean at the Palisades in Santa Monica)
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You
Thank You All
(and thanks, too, to those that have sacrificed, served, and continue to serve under other flags allied against tyranny)
(photos taken as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean at the Palisades in Santa Monica)
10 November 2009
09 November 2009
From an Alternate Universe Where Amazon Thought Brutal Honesty Was an Excellent Sales Technique...
Amazon's making a push to sell denim with a new improved return policy (via Instapundit)
Above, if they chose the brutally honest method of advertising copy.
Above, if they chose the brutally honest method of advertising copy.
08 November 2009
Your Daily Photo (Would You Be Surprised to Learn That When Not Racing, This Driver Shoots Porn Edition)
I don't know for a fact that the person behind the wheel of #69/DP works in porn, but it would make so much sense if that were the case.
Either way, kudos for the highly efficient innuendo to symbol ratio exhibited by that little silver car.
(if only it were painted in a more fleshtoned hue)
07 November 2009
Weekly NFL Related Humiliation: Week 9, The Picks
BS Picks (along with words about his experiences on his current book tour)
My picks:
CHICAGO BEARS (-3) over Arizona Cardinals (BS: ARI)
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-10) over Miami Dolphins (BS: MIA)
San Diego (+4.5) over NEW YORK GIANTS (BS: SD)
Dallas Cowboys (+3.0) over PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (BS: PHI)
Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.0) over DENVER BRONCOS (BS: DEN)
All the games have potential to be interesting, should be some entertaining viewing.
My picks:
CHICAGO BEARS (-3) over Arizona Cardinals (BS: ARI)
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-10) over Miami Dolphins (BS: MIA)
San Diego (+4.5) over NEW YORK GIANTS (BS: SD)
Dallas Cowboys (+3.0) over PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (BS: PHI)
Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.0) over DENVER BRONCOS (BS: DEN)
All the games have potential to be interesting, should be some entertaining viewing.
06 November 2009
Your Daily Photo (It's Tough to Remember to Post These on Fridays Edition)
Oops, two Fridays in a row I have to pretend Saturday is still Friday.
05 November 2009
04 November 2009
03 November 2009
Your Daily Photo (Seriously, Stop With the Christmas Before Thanksgiving, Already Edition)
Abandoned used auto lot at Santa Monica Blvd and 14th St, soon to be Christmas tree lot (can't imagine will be too soon, hopefully it's just the signage they're unfurling, cause if you picked up your tree the first week of November, it'd be a serious fire hazard by the first week in January).
02 November 2009
Your Daily Photo (Fall, Southern California Style Edition)
We don't have wimpy little leaves falling for fall, we get big ass palm fronds slamming into the ground. That's how you do fall!
(big winds blew through Tuesday, leaving a mess, but no damage)
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