(Reason's Hit & Run)

Kind of related: Cheerios Reign of Terror Must Be Stopped! Seriously, wtf is wrong with these people?
(Instapundit)

Oh sure, he had some help from Venice, the Papal States, his father Charles V (King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor) and a bunch of English Catholics who risked the wrath of Queen Elizabeth to fight the Turks. There was also, as Victor Davis Hanson says, a scientific and cultural advantage working in favor of the numerically inferior Papal League. Michael Novak has a good article here at NRO with appropriate props to the Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Victory.

I still think the best description of the battle came from G.K. Chesteron, though, who wrote this epic poem about the battle.
( Cut to spare my f-list )
To quote Baron Bodissey, "We are in a new phase of a very old war."

Up way too late and had way too many Diet Cokes last night at the pre-reunion get-together in Greenbelt, but it was good times. Lots of folks I hadn't seen in 30+ years, lots of people from the class of '79 who remembered me for one reason or another, lots of good conversation and some interesting pix which will probably be posted o FB since LJ's picture galleries blow chunks.

All that Diet Coke made for painful burning leg wounds and not nearly enough sleep. I figure I got a little less than four hours before getting up, throwing on random clothes & damp socks, and rolling out to score a McBreakfast before doing the Foreign Service Officer Test, formerly known as the Foreign Service Exam. I signed an NDA so i can't really talk about it, but I'm fairly confident that I whipped that sucker and whipped it good. Here's hoping the folks in Foggy Bottom agree and hire my unemployed (but very very learned & experienced) ass for satisfying amounts of good old $$$,

Anyway, the test having been polished off in 90 minutes and a celebratory munch at Shilla consumed, I'm going back to bed and get a nap in before I do the laundry thing, after which I will do the picnic thing, and then I'll probably come home and collapse.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Related:
The Americans who risked everything.
"En la OEA ya no existe espacio para los estados que aman su libertad."
("There is no room in the OAS for freedom-loving countries.") (Fausta)
Viva Honduras! Arriba Honduras!

Amy Chua got a lot of attention for her controversial World on Fire, which posited that the push to impose liberal democracy on other nations (a favorite project of the Democrats until W got hold of it) would inevitably prove counterproductive, doubles down with Day of Empire, whose thesis is that historically, hyperpowers thrive and grow when they practice tolerance, only to wither when they don't.
( Cut for possible spoilers )

Shit is getting real in Iran, as goons would say. People are clearly tired of the regime's bullshit, are demanding an explanation, and apparently things have gotten to the point where even the Revolutionary Guards can't be relied on. Which is why Khamenei and company are using street thugs and Palestinian rentboys.

I have the gut feeling that this isn't going to end well for a lot of people, because it's already gotten a lot of people killed who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Mob is standing up and getting ready to shake their chains off, and when they do a lot of people are going to get their asses whipped.

Megan McArdle agrees: lack of sleep makes you stupid.
This is in the context of an argument over whether it's smarter to let interns get more sleep, as opposed to the current training regimen which has them getting screwed out of sleep as badly as MASH surgeons during a big push. It's times like this that I wish I knew when Sue Page-Phillips disappeared to; as the only doctor I knew personally, she'd have some insights on this that nobody in my current tribe of friends has. Oh well.

Hermes is breeding its own crocodiles, because the natural supply can't keep up with demand. I wonder whether there is now a subsidiary market in Aussie croc meat. (Marginal Revolution)

Jules Crittenden reminds us that today is the Army's 234th birthday; also, a link roundup on the mess in Iran.

...The shit seems to be hitting the fan really hard. People are drawing comparisons to Tienanmen; personally, I'm hoping the Iranians find their Ataturk and chuck Ahmedinijad and his mullahs in the atomic dustbin of history instead.

Got laundry done, filed some applications and sent off some resumes, and ~1900 stirred forth to do some shopping. Hit the Walmart for razors and Oxiclean (that stuff is the bomb for getting white things like underwear & Ace bandages clean) then did Five Guys for dinner and hit the library on the way home.
( library gets )

Mark Hemingway describes the weird reality underlying Frederick Forsyth's awesome novel The Dogs of War. RTWT; can't decide whether to tag this WTF, laffo, history, or what. It does remind me of the notion of sending Blackwater or some other "military contractor" to Darfur to sort things out there.

Closer to home, I failed miserably at leaving le demesne Edminster* at anything like a reasonable hour, which meant I got home around 0100 and didn't actually get to sleep until 0200. The delay was mainly due to tossing and turning until I gave up and double-shotted my leg pain into submission with Tylenol and ibuprofen. Surprisingly, I didn't make too many dumb mistakes due to sleep deprivation today.

Looks like I'll pick up the CircAids in Annapolis on Wednesday, if the vendor calls back tomorrow, or Friday, if they don't. Thursday is right out since that's payday and there's no way I can take half a day off.

*Oddly enough, edminster himself was nowhere around, although his sister and older brother were both on hand. Everyone was pretty vague about what was going on with him, but nobody seemed happy about it. Hope he straightens out soon.

Isaac Hayes, Bernie Mac and peace in the Caucasus all bit it over the weekend. What little I saw of Bernie Mac I liked, and I kinda wish Isaac had stuck to the music he did so well and not wandered into some Co$ joint to try for clearness. People have to live their own lives and make their own mistakes, though, and at least we'll always have "Shaft". Oh yeah - he was in Escape from New York, too, wasn't he? Yup.

I don't have much useful to say about the second go-round between Russia and Georgia, except to observe that Georgia's in a lot better position to bring the pain to Russia than the Chechens were. If things don't continue to go well for the Red Army of Workers and PeasantsRussian Army. Vladimir Putin may have to move fast and do some crafty dealing to keep the knives out of his back and/or the spetsnaz off his ass. I suspect the Turks will take advantage of the opportunity to stick it to the Russians if they see even a slight chance of having plausible deniability, and so much the better for Georgia.

Keep jiggling the beads, brothers and sisters. We may yet get Russia back on track after all these centuries of backwardness, schism, and misery. I mean, if even the former General Secretary of the CPSU is making pilgrimages to the tomb of St. Francis, who's to say there's no hope for the likes of Vlad Putin and his gang of not-so-merry thugs?

(Instapundit)

In the wake of Benazir Bhutto's death, NRO's Andrew McCarthy reminds us about some facts regarding our erstwhile ally. (In From The Cold)

Not much happened today. Mostly I sat around fiddling with Civicrack until P and I went out to WalMart in Shakopee to return the Philips webcam I'd bought earlier in the week and get some cleaning equipment and some groceries.

Finished Forstchen & Gingrich's Never Call Retreat last night, and it was damn good. I'm going to go back and snag Gettysburg (though I already know how it comes out *snerk*) so that I have the complete set to reread at my leisure.

Tomorrow jamestrainor is coming over for swimming; the evening will be taken up with laundry and some schoolwork.

No music on at the moment; listening to the Glenn & Helen Show with Jim Dunnigan and Austin Bay discussing data mining as a counterterrorism weapon and the political consequences. Jim hasn't changed much since the days when he was the big macher at SPI - he sounds pretty much the same on the podcast as he did back in the day.

Used to be said that "In 'Izvestia' there isn't any truth, and in 'Pravda' there isn't any news." Obviously not true now...

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/11873_UFO.html

No wonder they never took on NATO - they had to watch the Chinese and the aliens.