Posted on 05/11/2008 7:41:01 AM PDT by neverdem
While a lot of my friends at home are avid readers, the ratio of avid readers among Americans in Iraq (military and civilian alike) is much higher.
It's like a giant book club - books are consumed, recommended, enthusiastically discussed and passed around. When a box of new books arrives, it's like Christmas.
Stephen King is full of elitist, limousine-liberal BS.
They are mostly too arrogant to find it troubling. They think they are different than anyone else in the history of mankind.
Of course their philosophy always ends in blood, buckets and buckets of it. Often starting with those of the philosophers, or getting to them in short order.
He already did, many years ago in his poem, TOMMY ----
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/kipling_ind.html
“For many liberals, this is true. The idea of the necessity of violence is one that they are unwilling to admit to the masses.”
They admit to violence. They use policeman rather than soldiers to force others to act and think as they deem correct. You WILL comply.
A snippet of Kipling’s “Tommy”:
“..Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll.
We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind”,
But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind,
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind...”
“I support the troops but not the mission”
It’s Tommy this and Tommy that all over again for the fancy pants brigades...
http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Tommy.htm
I’ve got plenty of extra books. Any idea where I could send them to our guys and gals on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan?
The best way is to know somebody there and send it to them so that they can distribute, or find out who the MWR coordinator is on a particular base.
I won't be settled back over there until early July. If you think of it, send me a FReepmail then and I'll get you some contacts. And thanks - books are always apprecaited by our troops.
Bears repeating! Thanks for posting this...
And those “Ivory Towers” are usually defended by — ahh — MEN WITH GUNS.
How freaking hypocritical is THAT?
But then, hypocracy has always been the stock in trade of the looney left.
Once there was The People—Terror gave it birth;
Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth.
Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, O ye slain!
Once there was The People—it shall never be again!
In 1000 years when the dust has settled, when the first glimmers of a new Age of Gold appear, men like Leonidas will still be remembered. Men like Stephen King will be as forgotten as yesterday’s papers, remembered only by worms.
The best response I’ve seen written yet.
In fact, "civilization" is the is simply the organization and legalization of the ability to inflict violence on others.
Thank you for posting Kipling. For another illuminating and timely piece of work from R. Kipling, reference The Dutch In The Medway.
It deals with the "wisdom" shown by Engluish government (under Cromwell and the early years of Charles II) of cutting the naval budget and starving her sailors of rations, ammunition, and supplies.
The years 1664-1672 were arguably the only in modern history when Britain consistently got the living crap kicked out of her both on the high seas and even in the Thames (by the much more realistic and captitalistic Dutch.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x162619
I guess that must be the "bitter clingers" section.
Of course, leftists would say that it glorified the military and war, but when you think about it, what's really wrong with that? Only an idiot would say that all war is bad.
Mark
When my brother was in Saudi Arabia, he said that boxes of books and magazines were the most appreciated deliveries.
Go to www.anysoldier.com and pick a contact in one of those areas. Look for someone who’s in a chaplain’s office, an MWR rep, or the communications officer of a large unit. The details on a particular contact will tell you how many individuals he or she represents.
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