JV PhiloBlog

Link: http://lehrman.isi.org/blog/post/view/id/313

Lincoln's Birthday
By Dr. Michael Burlingame, February 12, 2010 in Uncategorized

Today is the 201st birthday of America's 16th president.

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln speaks to us not only as a champion of freedom, democracy, and national unity, but also a source of inspiration. Few will achieve his world historical importance, but many can profit from his personal example, encouraged by the knowledge that despite a childhood of emotional malnutrition and grinding poverty, despite a lack of formal education, despite a series of career failures, despite a miserable marriage, despite a tendency to depression, despite a painful midlife crisis, despite the early death of his mother and his siblings as well as of his sweetheart and two of his four children, he became a model of psychological maturity, moral clarity, and unimpeachable integrity. His presence and his leadership inspired his contemporaries; his life story can do the same for generations to come. -- from Abraham Lincoln: A Life

Link: http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2010/02/07/regrets-ive-had-a-few/#more-7948

The Phillippines is a dangerous place (see Comment 5 of the linked essay). Even singing a song can get you killed. Now that is taking art and poetry seriously.

Link: http://www.understandingwar.org/press-media/webcast/centcom-2010-views-general-david-h-petraeus-video

CENTCOM in 2010: Views from General David H. Petraeus
Friday, January 22, 2010

Stretching from Egypt to Yemen, Iran and Pakistan, General David H. Petraeus commands the most challenging area of responsibility in the war against terrorism. In addition to deterring non-state aggressors, he also oversees the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Friday morning, January 22nd, the Institute for the Study of War held an on-the-record conversation with General Petraeus hosted by ISW President, Dr. Kimberly Kagan. General Petraeus discussed his competing regional priorities at U.S. Central Command and offered a strategic overview of his AOR, explaining the dynamic effect it has on American national security.

Click the link and learn something.

They call the election of Scott Brown, a Republican, to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate a miracle, which it is only in the sense that Massachusetts is a generally liberal, even left liberal, state. But of course it was no miracle. It was the result of natural causes.

The economy is perhaps recovering, but in that "perhaps" is no joy for the Democratic party, which holds the reigns of power and is therefore held accountable for the performance of the economy.

Say nothing of the popularity of treating jihadi warriors as civilians or the reaction to the Christmas disaster in the air.

On health care, no one, but no one, was happy with the horse trading and bribing for votes for the Health Care bill, nor do we know what the bill contains.

Bismarck said that making sausages and making laws are two processes you don't want to watch. Doing it Chicago style is another level. Chigago ain't known for pretty. Chicago, town of the cattle stockyards. End of the line, little dogies.

The U.S., it is often claimed, is a center-right nation. We were founded on Equality, Independence and Property Rights. The Health Plan did not seem to compute for many. As Mikey Kaus pointed out, Obama failed to make not passing health care have a cost for the majority. They saw little to gain in the bill and little to worry about if the bill failed. And he bet the barn on THAT!

Coakely was associated with all that.

No. It was no miracle. Just nature taking her course...

Ken Burns makes excellent documentaries with pictures and music. He tells a story well. He aims to shape the consciousness of his audience. His latest work is on the National Parks. He sees their creation in epochal terms. He says:

The sanctification of the parks marked ... the first time in human history that a government set aside its treasures for the mutual ownership of its people and not for the hoarding of its aristocracy.

But is that so? I seem to recall that in Rome, emperors and tyrants at least claimed to have created parks and such for the people.

I haven't watched the Burns series, yet. But a question it raises is: how do the people who make up "the government" or "the aristocracy" acquire what they offer to the people in the first place?

I suppose what Burns means is that the United States is exceptional in having a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."