Say Anything Blog

"Pinch” Sulzberger has a few more pressing, and less global issues for which he should apologize than the state of the world, which he clearly does not understand anyway.

For instance, he could address himself to the stockholders and start with the circulation, revenue, profitability, and stock price of the New York Times Company, each of which, under his inherited management, looks very much like the now-infamous Arnold’s Run, where the Governator broke his leg earlier this month.  The longtime flagship New York Times and its reporters, editors and publisher are now the suject of three separate Justice Department investigations, any one of which could bring criminal charges ranging up to espionage.  And this after a series of professional scandals including a star reporter who made it all up, and a managing editor who knew but was more interested in the fact that the kid was Black.

Sulzberger’s faux apology is a page straight out of the Bill Clinton playbook.  Unfortunately for “Pinch,” he simply doesn’t have the gravitas to pull it off.  As a publisher, he’d make one helluva meter maid.  “Putz” is way too kinda a description.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

I agree, that guy is a ‘tard. War is what America does. Well, most are anti-war these days, but too many are still blood-thirsty and gullible.

I think it is pretty safe to say that no other country has been involved in as many wars, coups, aerial bombardments, and assassinations in the last 100 years. (But the borders have been threatened how many times?) But lives lost, and money spent, in exchange for the gains made is the key (for the planners, not me. I lean `slightly’ in the anti-war direction). It costs allot to train and equip even a single grunt (and the pain of each and every death is felt deeply by the president of course).

In a single war, the USSR lost 25 millionish lives in the fight against Nazi Germany. Bad move. In just over one-hundred years, well under one million Americans have died due to war (in over 100 confilcts?), a far better ratio.

The trick is to fight small and/or backward countries, or pummel them from the air, or just sell weapons to the preferred side and commit the army once the conclusion is known (like the European war in WWII), or use proxies, or military `aid’. (Just don’t mention the bloodbath known as Vietnam, or the ridiculously expensive, and already lost, war in Iraq. The only fighting now is who will get the oil when the `coalition’ does it’s cut-and-run thing.)

Joel Stein’s quote was better, except that Vietnam veterans weren’t actually spat on as they arrived home though (how does the public get on military airbases?), that’s a stereotype. The anti-war movement generally didn’t target the soldiers themselves, and plenty of returning veterans joined the anti-war movement. Tidbit: Jane Fonda performed for over 60,000 soldiers in and around Vietnam despite being a (famously) vocal activist campaigning against the war.

I wasn’t all that old during the Vietnam war, but I have talked to people that were in uniform then.

According to them you’re lying.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

The contents of Sulzberger’s address to SUNY New Paltz contains the very essence of the socialist agenda--that is to bring heaven onto earth.  Every wrong will be righted, every hardship will be removed--you get the picture.  In the end the question will be asked, “What does religion have to offer?” Nothing!  My every need is cared for, I am ecstatically happy!  I’m as happy as a Belgian in the European Union.

...except that Vietnam veterans weren’t actually spat on as they arrived home though (how does the public get on military airbases?), that’s a stereotype.

AV,

Really???  And you would know this how?  Because John Kerry said so?  Nuts!

I am a Vietnam vet and I was spat at and insulted.  The confrontations did not take place on a military installation, such as Travis AFB outside San Fransisco, where most returning American troops arrived, but off base instead.  Military personnel are often allowed out among the “great unwashed” where their demeanor and their haircuts make them readily identifiable.  Also, though you obviously wouldn’t know this, most military personnel were required to be in uniform when traveling unless they were on leave, making them easy targets for the disturbed children of the Left.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Anarchist Vegetarian: Back on the Cheese - World War 2 called. They want their uninformed and defeatist rhetoric back.

Pull your head out of your ass.

Bat One-- I will remember and respect your quote:  “Disturbed Children of the Left.” I saw it coming from another angle, on the college campuses.  The paid communists on drugs, stirring up those gullible students.  I have talked with many GIs and have heard stories of yes, actual spitting in places like Iowa and Michigan.  AV.  If you would like a face to face with some surviving Vietnam Veterans, let me know.

Communism is evil

Chief,

I appreciate the compliment.  Please feel free to use the phrase as you see fit.

One of the great untold secrets about going off to war is the distinct difference in the maturation and socialization processes that normally takes place between the ages of 18 and 25.  When I came home on leave between tours in Vietnam, I noticed right away how little I had in common anymore with those with whom I had grown up and gone to high school.  When I finally got out and went back to school, the difference in maturity and outlook was even more dramatic.

However there was a stark difference in the level of socialization as well.  And that one was clearly not in my favor.

I have long believed that the alienation felt by so many returning Vietnam vets was, if unintentionally, a two-way street.  We were far more mature and wise for our years than our non-combatant contemporaries.  But we were woefully behind in the area of social development and adaptation as well.

The confrontations were almost exclusively initiated by those “disturbed children of the left.” But few of us really fit in very well anyway, and few of us went very far out of our way to avoid those confrontations.  The insults were childish, and stupid, but they were personal nonetheless.

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”