* There’s a new New York Post column by me. It’s about whether Americans are just too sissy for freedom anymore. Well, I know IMAO readers aren’t, but maybe others.
* So, things aren’t going so well for Herman Cain. More allegations are popping up, and while we still don’t know exactly who he did things to or what he supposedly did, it’s enough noise now that more and more people are assuming something is there. Could someone with allegations against him like these stand up to Obama? We know Obama doesn’t sexually harass us. He patronizes us, belittles us, and at times ignores us, but never sexually harasses us.
* So if Cain is imploding, which not-Romney do we go to next? Perry still just can’t gain traction, so SECOND LOOK AT NEWT! Sure his past is a bit shaky and there was that odd criticism of Paul Ryan’s plan, but he’s also so smart… most of the time. We’d love to see him slap around Obama in the debates. Come on, people; let’s keep believing. We can have a not-Romney future!
* A problem with Newt, though — he’s gotten into a spat with a powerful enemy: Meghan McCain. We know Newt has a powerful intellect, but can it stand up to that of Meghan McCain? I don’t know. Maybe we should move on.
* According to the White House, no one would be even talking about jobs if it weren’t for Obama’s jobs bill. Those guys really live in some alternate universe. And it’s not like they learn anything interesting from that universe that will help this one.
Then again, maybe people aren’t talking about jobs because there are none to talk about.
* Well, Occupy Oakland has basically turned into rioters, but it’s all for a good cause of DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THEY’RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
Well, OWS’s favorabilities are cratering, but it’s all to help them achieve… something.
* The Time Magazine bureau chief said that the French magazine that got firebombed by Muslims had it coming. Shouldn’t someone with such a cowardly and callous attitude towards the right to free speech be shunned by any respected publication?
Oh yeah; he’s writing at Time.
* Apparently people have been exploring the question of whether a single Marine unit could destroy the Roman empire at its height. It might even become a movie.
Something to consider: While the Marines’ modern weaponry would decimate the Romans, in this scenario they’re stuck back in time so they wouldn’t be able to resupply bullets or gas for tanks.
So, any Marines want to weigh in? Any Romans?
I’m really starting to despise political parties.
Before it was only a mild despising.
And also this morning, Veeshir’s “Funniest End To Civilization Ever” is starting to look not so funny.
The Marine thing reminded me of a joke from the Six Day War.
An Eqyptian division rolled upon an Israeli town. As they disembarked and readied to assault the tiny town, an elderly woman peeks her head out a door and sticks her tongue out at the Egyptian soldiers, then quickly closes the door. Enraged, the divison commander orders a squad to go into the house to “take care of the Joooooooo.”
The squad goes inside and the sounds of gunfire and horrific screams fill the air. Then silence.
The old lady peeks her head out the door and sticks her tongue out again, before quickly ducking back inside.
The division commander orders a two platoons to go inside and destroy the woman and her house.
The men barge in and more screams and gunshots fill the air. The door opens and an Egyptian crawls out hurriedly. “Run for your lives,” he calls out, “There’s two of em!”
“Could someone with allegations against him like these stand up to Obama?”
You mean like Vera Baker, the staffer Barry was having an affair with who remained on payroll even after they sent her out of the country during the presidential election? Well, Republicans only raise these kinds of issues against each other, not against their real enemies, so we’ll never know.
There *may* be an alternate universe in which Barrack Obama is a capable and skilled leader. There is *no* alternate universe in which a Marine battalion could fail to beat the living snot out of a Roman army.
More interesting — from a military history perspective — is the supposition that Lee might well have been victorious at Gettysburg if he had had a set of walkie-talkies.
Bos mauris!
Police know riot gear, but they generally don’t grasp military tactics. These are classic hammer and anvil situations. Pin a backend blocking force where the b*st*rds can’t see it, and then drive ’em into it with a fair amount of prejudice and confusion. Maintain a mobile reserve force in case the rioters start down an altenate route.
Call me, Oakland. I’m available.
Marines any day of the week.
Strangely enough, it’s not impossible to get in touch with people who have a very clear understanding of Roman style combat from a man-on-the-line perspective. The joys of the SCA… let me ask a few friends.
I predict 0 Marine casualties, 1.3 million Roman casualties, and Michael Jordan will be held to under 100 points.
Well, Occupy Oakland has basically turned into rioters, but it’s all for a good cause of DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THEY’RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
Don’t ignore the simple explanation: what they’re trying to achieve is breaking windows, spray-painting graffiti, and doing other obnoxious things. I lived within fifty miles of Oakland for thirty-five years or so, so I understand this very well.
A single Marine unit or the Palin family. Either one.
I’m going to keep pimping Perry as my personal favorite “not Romney” candidate.
I mean, Newt is obviously smart and sounds good in the debates, but does nobody remember how he got rolled by Clinton, and conservatives didn’t like him even back then? Or the whole dogging on Paul Ryan’s plan, endorsing Dede Scozzafava, pimping global warming fear mongering with Nancy Pelosi(!), or the multiple affairs with multiple women thing.
Newt may not have changed his positions as many times as Romney has, but he’s almost as much of an establishment type, “inside politics” guy as Romney is. He’s just less electable in the general election…
Which isn’t to say he wouldn’t be better than Obama, or even Romney for that matter. I just don’t understand why so many people abandoned Perry after poor debate performances when his record, positions, and experience stack up so well against all the other not-Romneys in the field.
Marines aren’t MARINES because of their weaponry. They’re Marines because of everything that goes into the title of UNITED STATES MARINE. I would elaborate, but I haven’t got an hour.
Burma, Lee wouldn’t have won because the heroes of Gettysburg – John Reynolds! Joshua Chamblerlain! John Buford! George Greene! Winfield Scott Hancock! – simply wouldn’t have allowed the Union to lose that battle. Hancock especially was superb. Remember Chamberlain’s 100 point game? That was Hancock at Gettysburg.
Frank, please moderate my comment. I refuse to type Winfield Scott Hanco*k.
PALIN!
Frank, if you won’t moderate my comment because of the name I used, replace it with “Naughtius Maximus”
BTW, Frank. Five stars on your NY Post article.
Can we skip a step and send Chuck Norris against the entire Roman army?
I’d be willing to support a Rambo as well.
Meanwhile, MSNBC reports that the protests were mostly peaceful until after midnight.
Upon closer examination, it was discovered that MSNBC reporters had gone to the wrong Oakland. OWS protests at Oakland, Kentucky (pop. 260) were — as MSNBC reported — actually quite peaceful.
Frank, please moderate my comment, and I’ll buy both of your books.
This one’s a puzzler. Is two one more than the allowable number of links, or is the mere mention of M*NBC enough to warrant time in the box?
Hedley Lamarr: Wait a minute… there might be legal precedent. Of course! Land-snatching!
[grabs a law book]
Hedley Lamarr: Land, land… “Land: see Snatch.”
[flips back several pages]
Hedley Lamarr: Ah, Marines vs. Romans. Marines: 7, Romans: nothing. You see, it can be done!
M-1 abrams will run on olive oil if need be. gas isn’t a problem. shells? the chinese had gunpowder
@2 Peasant. I’d heard a few variations of that joke with different groups both inside and entering the house, but the punchline version I always liked was “It’s a trick! There are almost three of them in there!”
Not as funny though as the 2 variants of the one banner ad on IMAO’s front page wanting me to click to either “Stop Tom Corbett’s attempt to steal the Presidency from Obama” or the more general “Keep the Republicans from stealing the elections in Pennsylvania”.
Romans would probably win out eventually. Marines don’t quite have the gear to stop a scorpion bolt. They’d have to ambush the Romans in every engagement and somehow defeat them when they ran out of bullets.
I don’t know what a marine with a rifle bayonet is going to do when facing down 200 charging wedge formation cataphracts.
@Marko: You are correct, and you are correct.
I seek absolution for ever doubting the Grand Army of the Republic.
Eric Flint wrote an alternate history novel, “1632” in which a town in West Virginia gets transported to central Germany during the 30 Years War.
They kick ass, take names, and form the USE, United States of Europe in very short order.
The West Virginians major advantages were their superior technology and the fact that they had history books, and their opponents did not.
The Marines would win the war, and with no politicians around to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, would win the peace as well!
Yay! I got moderated!
Hedley Lamarr: Ah, Marines vs. Romans. Marines: 7, Romans: nothing. You see, it can be done!
Well, even if the Marines did decimate the Roman army, that would still leave 90% of them, so I would vote Romans.
Heh. Already seen similar.
In the last few years, the US military has been fielding stuff like rechargeable batteries and solar power systems. So, the Marines would have issues with ammo, but commo systems could stay in operation. Depending on how much of the motor pool made it, they could eventually develop ammo reloading. Biodiesel might also be a possibility. Develpment of locally available ranged weapons (archery? black powder artillery?) could also be key.
So, you have trained, disciplined Marines with commo vs. trained, disciplined Romans without commo. Could be interesting. Developing the industrial base would be the key.
So you’re worried about Cain getting blamed for nothing? At least to date that’s all I’ve seen, made up accusations made by imaginary people, repeated by lazy slackers with nothing better to do. It’s actually almost funny to watch them waste their time with this, but mostly too boring to care about.
How the hell does the Tea Party have higher negatives than the OWS crowd among the general public? What did we ever do other than stand on corners with signs and elect people to Congress? Apparently you have to destroy things and riot to get anyone to like you in this country?
I weep for the future. (And stockpile guns and ammunition).
Heresolong, it’s because they’re RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACIST!
Of course, there’s no problem with OWS looking at Jewish men and saying, “What? You speak Israeli? Go back to Israel!” It’s almost as good as the old Halloween episode of The Simpsons where Nelson looks at that German kid (Gunter?) and says, “Hey German boy, go bac, to Germania!”
Probably more applicable than the town of Grantville, WVa in the 1632 (Ring of Fire books) would be the John Ringo and David Weber books about the space marine bodyguards of a prince when they crash landed on a primitive, often hostile world and marched across it, adapted, persevered, and completed the mission. See http://www.baen.com/series_list.asp?letter=M#MU for the details.
I say more applicable because Grantville had much more resources–they had a working power plant and many more people and the bodyguards only had what they could fit into a couple of shuttles.
An interesting look at the reverse angle–Romans or Medievals brought forward (in effect)–was done by David Weber in The Excalibur Alternative (a good read), which expanded on a concept of David Drake.
What good this does in helping Herman Cain get elected next year, I couldn’t say. I will say that “sexual harrassment” is a very broad term which would encompass dumb stuff guys used to do like whistling at girls to (unwanted) neck rubs to stuff I wouldn’t write down here.
I think I’ll stick with freedom. I’m also 3-0 against bears, lifetime.
On the subject of Marines vs. Romans; I thought we already defeated the Roman Empire, or maybe it was the Japanese, I forget. I’ll take the Marines and give up the points.
We’ll be good until we run out of ammo. At that point, we’ll be at a severe disatvantage, since chariots, arrows, spears, and swords beat empty rifles.
If we have enough ammo, I’d guess minimal losses, if any.
Semper Fi, Carry On.