Bookworm Room

A friend sent me a link to an editorial bemoaning the fact that, by abruptly pulling out from Iraq and, soon, Afghanistan, the Obama administration is ensuring that we’re leaving a job undone — something that invariably means one has to do it again.  If history is going to keep repeating itself, why can’t we [...]

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One of the many blessings of our American military is that it’s a Constitutional military that has as its Commander in Chief a civilian elected by the American public.  (Although history has shown, fairly recently in fact, that the American public sometimes elects bad CinCs.)  Because the elected CinC is frequently someone without military experience, [...]

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Astute readers have probably figured out over the years that I’m a huge fan of our American military.  I think it’s the last institution in America that trains young people to be competent adults; that gives people, young and old, meaning and purpose in a world that’s often defined by mindless materialism; that truly serves [...]

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I have been brooding about an article I read the other day, one that describes the brave new world of job interviews.  According to the Wall Street Journal, many companies, having recognized that traditional interview techniques aren’t necessarily a good way to determine whether someone is right for the job, have moved on to brain [...]

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I’m still feeling bad about the fact that my knowledge of things military is so pathetic that I managed to call America’s First Sergeant by a rank he hasn’t seen since 1999. It was nice, therefore, to hear Louis Jordan’s G.I. Jive today (about the Army admittedly), and to get reminded that these nuances have [...]

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I came of age in the post-Vietnam era.  Let me amend that:  I came of age in San Francisco in the post-Vietnam era.  Although Fleet Week, which started in the City about 20+ years ago has done a lot to turn things around, San Francisco has not been a military friendly city, and most definitely [...]

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“Facts are stubborn things.”  — John Adams. “Ideologues are even more stubborn than facts.”  — Bookworm A few nights ago, Mr. Bookworm watched the movie Shattered Glass with the children.  It’s a fairly good retelling of the way in which Stephen Glass, a young feature writer at The New Republic, wrote a series of fraudulent [...]

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Was the chasm between the people in the field and the people in the Pentagon always so great?  Or has the air in Foggy Bottom become even more toxic? It’s hard to imagine the military 40 or more years ago making such a concerted effort to cover-up an investigation and promote a dubious person, just [...]

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I’ve got an old joke for you, one that my Dad heard during WWII in North Africa: A soldier has been serving in the desert for a long time, and has become increasingly antsy as his body craves sexual release.  He notices that his fellow soldiers seem much more relaxed than he is.  Finally, he [...]

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With the holidays nearing, this is a lovely charity to make sure that our troops far from home (and that’s true whether they’re stationed half a world away from home or on the other side of our own country), can talk to their family and friends. (Thank you, MNK, for the link.)

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Thoughts during a busy day: Idle thought 1:  I want to have Mewt Gingney for my candidate.  Newt Gingrich is a completely principled conservative with, in his past at least, an unprincipled private life.  Mitt Romney is an unprincipled conservative with, from the past to the present, what appears to be a completely principled private [...]

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Do you remember Johnny Carson’s droll “I did not know that”?  I do.  And that’s precisely what popped into my head when JKB sent me a link to a post discussing the fact that 161 years ago, the U.S. Navy outlawed flogging.  It’s a wonderful little story, especially because it combines three things I find [...]

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Years ago, in another life, I dated a man who had worked for Rolling Stone and personally knew Jann Wenner.  (My ex-boyfriend claimed that a well-known Rolling Stone photographer was the one who introduced him to and got him hooked on cocaine.  I have no idea if he was telling the truth or not, but [...]

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Because I was away, I missed the whole first impact of the Owen Honors thing, but for glimpsing a horrified PC headline on CNN while waiting for a flight.  That millisecond of MSM-manufactured finger-pointing was enough to clue me in to the fact that, if CNN disapproved, I probably wouldn’t be that shocked. Having watched [...]

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1.  Bruce Kesler looks at the ramifications of the repeal of DADT. 2.  The Ivy Leagues say they’ll allow military recruiters back on campus (which at least ends their hypocrisy of taking federal feds but denying the feds access).  See here and here.  I wonder if that will have a measurable effect on future recruitment.

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Since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed a very specific type of book or movie, of the kind that I call the “Getting it Right” genre.  Getting it Right entertainment involves a protagonist who is making big mistakes, and who figures out how to — yes — get it right.  The moral trajectory of failure [...]

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If you haven’t already, please read Steve Schippert’s guest post on this blog about the animating anti-American forces driving WikiLeaks.  If you don’t have time to click on over, here’s the money quote: Wikileaks is a small cabal of people who, in their own site description, “Publishes and comments on leaked documents alleging government and [...]

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“Begin at the beginning,” the King said gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” — Lewis Carroll I was struggling to figure out how to write my annual post about the Admiral’s Reception that closes out Fleet Week festivities, until it occurred to me that the answer, as is often [...]

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(Welcome, Best of the Web readers!  James Taranto is correct that nobody’s asking this question, and my readers are correct that Specter’s doing this “because he can,” but it still drives me nuts that, as a taxpayer, I’m funding this old duck’s last political hurrah.) We all know who Arlen Specter is.  He’s a career [...]

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There are two storm warnings I want to give you, one of which requires action on your part, the other of which, depending on where you live, falls into the “sit, watch, and thank God you’re far away” category. First warning:  Drastic cuts to the military, courtesy of Bawney Fwank, that noted military expert.  (And [...]

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I feel I should say something, so I will.  Being me, of course, what I say will be discursive. Re McChrystal:  An excellent general who didn’t hit it off with Obama from the git-go (blame lies, I believe, with Obama), and who failed utterly in the diplomatic discretion category — something that’s true whether you [...]

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Is this really the Gene Simmons of KISS fame?  Having read his bio, I think it is.  (By the way, it’s a surprisingly interesting and impressive bio.  Who knew?)

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[I'll keep this at the top through Memorial Day.  Scroll down for lots of new posts.] Several years ago, as part of a 9/11 commemoration, I wrote the following words as part of a post I did about Lt. Brian Ahearn, one of the New York fire fighters who perished on that day: My son, [...]

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As I’ve mentioned just a few times, I just read, and was very moved by, Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.  A liberal I know flipped through the book’s first few pages and had a very different reaction.  The following passages bugged the [...]

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