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Sainthood is just around the corner


High on Martin Luther's 1517 list of grievances was the concept that intermediaries between God and Man were necessary; that certain select individuals (a.k.a. "priests") relayed Divine will to the rest of us who were too stupid, spiritually inept or otherwise religiously-challenged. Conversely, the Great Unwashed could pray to saints to relay requests to The Big Guy.

After reading this I wonder if we should be building little shrines on our front lawns to Donald Rumsfeld.


Doug Richardson October 20, 2006 - 7:58am
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Yoo hoo, Escher

Impatiently awaiting your recommendation for a Rummy shrine, as per DR's most excellent suggestion. I had an idea but discarded it, concerned that anything involving a rocket shooting phallus might be outside the rules of propriety for intellectually-well-dressed agonistas.

Chickadee October 20, 2006 - 12:45pm
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Oh the pressure. And on a busy day too.

- EOM

Escher Sketch October 20, 2006 - 3:04pm
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patiently waiting

Tina October 20, 2006 - 3:25pm
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With a little bit of Photoshop...

(1) a picture of Rummy's puss posted over (2) a shot from "Passion of the Christ," pasted into (3) a photo of a inverted claw-foot bathtub, superimposed (4) on the white house lawn would give you the neo-neocon-icon:

"Rummy on the Half-Shell."

"Lord! What fools these Mortals be!"

Doug Richardson October 20, 2006 - 4:19pm
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Bit of a preoccupied day here, unfortunately.

The only thing that occurs to me is if Rumsfeld does ever come up for canonization, there will be no shortage of volunteers to pull the lanyard of the cannon.

Escher Sketch October 21, 2006 - 1:30am
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Dog whistle

I suspect Pace's comment may be a dog whistle remark to colleagues that Rummy is a whack job ('cause from the professionals' POV, Rummy is a whack job), framed so that Rummy hears it as compliment. Neat!

kimalanus October 20, 2006 - 1:15pm
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Pace likes him because he works so hard.

Well, isn't that just terrific.

There are four kinds of officers, first idle and intelligent officers, these make excellent generals; second, industrious and clever officers, these make excellent staff officers; third idle and stupid officers, these make excellent regimental officers; finally, industrious and stupid officers, these are not to be employed in any capacity whatever."

...and I don't think that Rummy's an intellectual giant, casually tossed around buzzwords like "transformation" to the contrary.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

JustPlainDave October 20, 2006 - 1:32pm
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The worst mistakes of the 20th century

were made by smart guys who worked hard.

Find anything truly awful in human history; you'll won't have to look hard at all to find the really smart guys behind it who worked really hard to make it a reality.

Smart by itself is nothing; it's all about character. Smart is just the vehicle through which character - or its lack - manifests.

Escher Sketch October 20, 2006 - 3:03pm
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Sorry, don't buy it.

Most of the guys that come to immediately to my mind in the "worst mistakes of the 20th century" category - Stalin and the boys, Hitler and the gang - frankly those guys weren't very smart. There certainly seems to be a widespread belief that they were, but I don't see it - I've read enough secondary stuff on their attempts at tactical and strategic "insight" that I'm pretty damned skeptical. Far as I see it, the whole issue of intelligence ain't an issue of raw brainpower in the first place - hell, Rummy's got the raw mechanics covered - what's needed to be a whole intelligence, rather than just a high-functioning idiot savant, is wisdom.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that these pricks don't have character - they think they've got character in abundance and view themselves as a group who are acting according to the highest ideals of the republic. Frankly I wish that everyone involved had a damned sight less "character". Wise men know when it is that the ideals demanded by an excess of character need compromise in the face of reality, they don't.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

JustPlainDave October 20, 2006 - 3:38pm
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Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God

Yahoo

The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.

"He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Chickadee October 20, 2006 - 7:10pm
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Oops

Sheesh. Moral. Don't accidentally pop up 2 agonist windows and "Post comment" in the wrong one.

Duh.

Chickadee October 20, 2006 - 7:16pm
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