History Maven

From the Observer, Fatigue Cripples US Army

The anecdotal evidence on the ground confirms what others - prominent among them General Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State - have been insisting for months now: that the US army is ‘about broken’. Only a third of the regular army’s brigades now qualify as combat-ready. Officers educated at the elite West Point academy are leaving at a rate not seen in 30 years, with the consequence that the US army has a shortfall of 3,000 commissioned officers - and the problem is expected to worsen.

The US continues to fight a war with unclear objectives, destroying not only our credibility, but debilitating the armed forces for years to come. And should we have some need of a defensive army, where would we find the resources?

And further on

War tsar’ calls for return of the draft to take the strain

America’s ‘war tsar’ has called for the nation’s political leaders to consider bringing back the draft to help a military exhausted by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a radio interview, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute said the option had always been open to boost America’s all-volunteer army by drafting in young men in the same way as happened in Vietnam. ‘I think it makes sense to consider it,’ he said. Lute was appointed ‘war tsar’ earlier this year after President Bush decided a single figure was needed to oversee the nation’s military efforts abroad.

I feel that it unfair that war sacrifice is so uneven, though I know I’ve done my part by shopping as need ;-(

If this were a war with clear and valid objectives, I would support a draft, at least intellectually. As the parent of a 17-year old, my opinions and my emotions do battle with one another.

BTW, why would a draft be male only? Aren’t women qualified?

Watched the movie The Prestige last night. It was a great film, with some stunning performances. Two magicians, once friends, now bitter rivals try to destroy each other. There is escalating anger, deceit and illusion, ending with some amazing plot twists. The ending worked for me, though it didn’t work for everyone watching with me.

The cast is very good - the two magicians, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, are very good, and Michael Caine gives a fine performance. I also very much liked Rebecca Hall as Sarah, the wife of one of the magicians. A very fine natural and nuanced performance.

Setting a final due date for the White House to answer the subpoenas they have been avoiding. From Leahy’s letter to the President’s Counsel (Alberto’s old job).

As you know, on June 27, 2007 the Senate Judiciary Committee served subpoenas on the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council, and the Department of Justice for documents related to legal justifications for and authorization of the National Security Agency’s warrantless electronic surveillance program. The return date for those subpoenas was set for July 18, 2007. …

Despite my patience and flexibility, you have rejected every proposal, produced none of the responsive documents, provided no basis for any claim of privilege and no accompanying log of withheld documents. I had been requesting this information for an extended time before issuing the subpoenas.

I am setting as the new return date for these four subpoenas August 20, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. …

Sincerely,

PATRICK LEAHY
Chairman

Full text

Let’s see, what did Nixon say?

“I don’t give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else, if it’ll save it—save this plan. That’s the whole point. We’re going to protect our people if we can.”

A bogus comparison…
Fred Thompson compares the lack of confirmation of Judge Southwick to the Circuit Court of Appeals to the hysterical judicial murder of the Judge’s ancestor, Rebecca Nurse, one of the people convicted and executed during the Salem Witch trials.

You’ve probably never heard of Rebecca Nurse, but bear with me for a moment. Nurse arrived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1640. There, despite being known as a woman of virtue and piety, she was accused of being a witch. On July 19, 1692, she was hanged.

Now almost 315 years to the day later, one of Nurse’s descendants is suffering through a witch hunt of a more modern variety. I’m talking about Judge Leslie Southwick, whose nomination to the long-standing vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is being thwarted by Senate Democrats.

And the conclusion….

Judge Southwick’s reward for being a qualified judge, and by all accounts a good citizen, is a Senatorial inquisition meant to besmirch his professional and personal reputation. No wonder it gets harder and harder to attract good people to serve in important public positions.

Besmirching reputations? Even if that’s true, (and I confess I don’t know the details of this nomination), that’s a long way from the judicial murder of twenty innocent people, including pressing one to death. Let’s not inflame debate with seemingly learned analogies.

Hey, not to worry …. not a “chick” article on relationships, but on the lack of commitment seen in service suppliers these days. How come all the obligations are on my side of the contract? Or to put it differently, don’t vendors have any obligation to deliver what they promise?

From SunRocket, my VOIP provider:

As previously reported, SunRocket is in the process of closing its operations and therefore will no longer be able to provide you with phone service. However, this email provides you with an opportunity to sign up with select service providers who we believe will offer outstanding replacement service.

While services to customers may be discontinued at anytime, all services will be discontinued no later than August 5, 2007.

Found out just before I went on vacation that SunRocket was shutting down. Mad scramble to get a service in place. No requirements on them to continue to provide service, just so long, and thanks for all the fish. For more, see the Washington Post and the NY Times. SunRocket was the #2 VOIP provider, with great reviews. I signed up with Vonage as a replacement, only to discover Voange is in patent lawsuit that could take them under.

Speaking of vacation, I made the mistake of reserving with Northwest Airlines. The day before my trip, I got a phone call canceling my flight, and rebooking me on United. Instead of a relatively straight forward trip to Seattle, I went Boston to LA, and LA to Seattle, doubling the travel time. Turns out I was lucky: many people were not contacted, and only found out when checking in. Others’ flights were scheduled for more than 24 hours after the original time. I got back last night, and reading the news today, I feel lucky that I made it at all - Northwest canceled 514 flights over the weekend. The underlying issue is not enough pilots available. When I talked with the flight attendants, it doesn’t sound like this is going to get better any time soon. Sounds like the pilots warned NW that there wasn’t enough staff, but NW pooh-poohed it. Warning: scuttlebutt from the flight attendants is to not book on the last week of the month or any holidays, especially Christmas. Northwest’s quarterly earning statement today claims they are taking steps to rehire pilots and increase the reserve pilot pool.

And then there’s Amp’d. I work for a company that provides billing services for Amp’d, a mobile phone company with a cutting edge attitude that just declare bankruptcy because, they claim, 80,000 of their 200,000 subscribers didn’t pay their bills. So, question: Who established the policies to allow those subscribers to get phone service with potentially bad or no credit history? Who did (or didn’t) chase those subscribers to pay the bills? The Amp’d download model encouraged impulse buying of music, video, and ringtones, and their ad campaigns were targeted at “bad boys”. The company I work for is one of the many creditors - Verizon was owed $34 million. Amp’d is leaving both its subscribers and its vendors holding the bag.

So what about commitment? How do companies get away with leaving the consumer in the lurch? In the case of the two phone vendors, part of the problem is the changing nature of communications, and how consumer protection (in the form of legislation) hasn’t kept pace with technology. But that’s not the case with airlines.

Capitalism is suppose to work because folks vote with their money. But that only applies if you can anticipate all the potential benefits and risks, and have choices. The real problem for the consumer is the lack of recourse.

I’m one of those folks who does a lot of research before purchasing, and SunRocket was getting good reviews on their customer support and features. Because it wasn’t a publicly traded company, I didn’t have insight into the financial problems. And other than getting in line with all the other creditors, I have no recourse. And absolutely no recourse for the time it took me to get a new phone setup, or any personal or business disruption that it caused.

NW was coming out of bankruptcy, so I knew there were potential issues there. But why should that allow them to run their business so badly that they refuse to fly thousands of people? Isn’t this a violation of the basic rules of business: I pay you for a service, you provide the service? But to fly, you agree to not hold airlines liable for almost anything. What’s my recourse? Of course the Air Plane Passenger Bill of Rights might help.

The bankruptcy of Amp’d impacts both its subscribers, and its suppliers. The bad business practices may help to drown some of its already struggling vendors. What recourse do they have?

While many argue there’s too much regulation, it seems like there are many cases where there’s not enough protection (the goal of much regulation).

In his “Political Observations,” written years before he served as fourth president of the United States, Madison went on to underscore the dangers of an imperial presidency bloated by war fever. “In war,” Madison wrote in 1795, at a time when the young republic still faced its share of dangerous enemies, “the discretionary power of the Executive is extended … and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.”

Good essay by Robert Scheer.

We can’t allow fear to let parts of the government destroy the delicate balance of power that is the heart of our democracy.

I’ve been a big, no a huge John Varley fan, since I first discovered him in the early 80’s. I first read the short story collection Persistence of Vision, and fell in love with his beautiful writing, and his focus on how technology changes societies. But what always made the stories work was societal change was made clear by interesting, vivid and personal stories, that made you care.

I’ve recommend Varley to many people, but his latest book, Red Lightning continues what I see as a unfortunate trend in his writing. It’s a simple coming of age story, with a scifi setting, but neither the plot nor the characters are very interesting. The press releases on it are touting a connection to Heinlen, and the strongest connection I can see is that like Heinlen, it’s a bit boring. (Apologies to Heinlen fans, but I never found him all that interesting.)

Varley’s had a few misses now.Mammoth was a simple, and not very convincing time travel book. Red Thunder was a good yarn, but it had little of the interesting complexity that struck me as the essence of Varley.

Can’t say that I recommend the new book Red Lighting. The story picks up 20 years after Red Thunder, and the central characters from that are still around. The book presumes you know them, because it doesn’t waste a lot of time describing them, or setting up their motives. The new characters are the next generation, and they are just simple outlines, with no real complexity. They are Ray,a 17 year old boy with attitude who likes airboarding, his older, more thoughtful sister, and her fantastically pretty friend, who, (surprise!), eventually ends up being Ray’s love interst. World-altering, cataclysmic things happen all around them, but it doesn’t feel real, and the plot lurches about.

Sad. If you want to read some great Varley, pick up the Varley Reader or Wizard. The Varley Reader has the short story Picnic on Nearside, which is Varley’s first published work. It’s a coming of age story, too, but unlike Red Thunder, it is poignant and filled with insight into the human condition. A real contrast to Varley’s latest work.

My day job is as a technical writer. When the madness of detailed description, liability lawyers, and a friendly humorous tone go too far!

Ian Frazier in The New Yorker

The top hem, closest to the ceiling, contains a series of regularly spaced holes designed for the insertion of shower-curtain rings. As this part receives much of the everyday strain of usage, it must be handled correctly. Grasp the shower curtain by its leading edge and gently pull until it is flush with the wall. Step into the tub, if you have not already done so. Then take the other edge of shower curtain… more

I like to think I know European history pretty well, but I’ve had some humbling experiences lately. My teen daughter is studying for her AP European History test, and has been using us to help her fill in blank areas, or verify her understanding. Makes you realize the sheer volume of possible knowledge.

Let’s try it. Partition of Poland?
Me: Sure, three of them. First was in 1768 (wrong, 1772), when Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia each took a bit of Poland, and appeased Maria Theresa of Austria with her own little slice. King Stanislaus of Poland, Catherine’s former lover, who she installed on the throne, protested, but received no help.
Second (um…. long pause)was later, maybe around 1782 (actually, 1793) and the third was definitely after Maria Theresa was dead, because I know her son Joseph was involved. (Awkward silence as I realized I don’t know all that much).

Ok, next question: What happend in the French Revolution of 1968?
Me: Uhm… There were student riots - I didn’t think of it as a revolution (Side note: who’s in charge of promoting things to a full revolution?), and I think the government fell? (helpless look at spouse) Did the government fall? Was is still DeGaulle then? details here

Back in the day I aced this test, but as I look at the breadth of knowledge required, it’s really quite amazing.

When you read a lot of biographies for a single time period, you often find yourself search for a nugget of new information or insight in a sea of familiar stories.
A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings by Stella Tillyard supplies many new and interesting stories. While George III was famously stodgy and staid, his brothers and sisters lived more vibrant lives. The most interesting is the story of Caroline Mathilda, married at 15 to the King of Denmark, a young man in the grips of some deep psychological problems. A doctor is found in whom the King put his absolute trust, and Caroline fell in love with the doctor. Together, they take over ruling Denmark, with the King as a figurehead, trying to introduce reforms based on Enlightenment principles. Their reign was short-lived, a palace coup occured, Caroline is imprisoned, and eventually exiled from Denmark. Her lover is beheaded. She died in exile at the age of 23.

The book also discusses George III’s relationships with his siblings. At the time that Caroline was arrested, he mobilized the Navy, prepared to invade Denmark, if necessary, to rescue his sister. Overall, he plays the stern father to his sibs, frustrated and angered by his less diligent and less moral family.

Interesting read for those interested in the period. Well written, and makes me realize I don’t know my Danish history. Goody! New topic!