Sunday, April 17, 2011

Educated White Women REALLY Hate Sarah Palin, Part 5,231

The LAT has a column by Meghan Daum entitled "Why Sarah Palin Doesn't Get What She Deserves." Basically asking "Who Will Rid Me of this Meddlesome Priest?" Women really hate, hate, HATE, HATE Sarah Palin. Daum even tells us why. It's all about class and a certain kind of White person.


Daum is typical of her class. An NPR Commentator. Writer for the New Yorker, Harpers, and so on. As well as being a regular contributor the LAT. Daum tells us why she hates Palin:

She forces her critics to choose between the roles of merciless oppressor and guilt-ridden enabler.


But what it really is the hatred of a "lower class woman who does not know her place." This is what drives the hatred of Palin into overdrive. Donald Trump can say what he thinks, most of it far more radical (and therefore common-sense laden) than anything Palin says. Mike Huckabee is an unctuous former TV preacher who you would expect would drive the NYC literati up the wall. Complete with Southern Accent, and overt expressions of Christianity. Alan West all but calls Obama a traitor, and Herman Cain (both Black men, thus "traitors") actually does so. Meg Whitman ran against Jerry Brown, and Carly Fiorina against St. Barbara Boxer of the Botox, aka "Senator Ma'am." Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Walker have cut and slashed Public Employee Union dues, and political organizing. Arizona Govenor Jan Brewer supports SB 1070, the anti-illegal immigration statute, so you'd think she'd be "Women's Enemy #1."

Nope. The enemy, the one that drives them insane with rage (and they're pretty much insane anyway) is Sarah Palin. A TV personality and minor GOP figure. Here's some of the flavor of it:

Even Palin's longtime champion, William Kristol, has said she's "unlikely to be" and "probably shouldn't be" the GOP nominee.

In other words, Palin-a-phobes, the danger is receding. The apocalypse may be averted. You might not need to move to Canada after all.

But even as she edges off the political stage, Palin still has the power not just to fascinate but to obsess us. The woman could probably disappear from public life, retreating to a yurt somewhere off the grid for a second career as a taxidermist, and still get tapped constantly as a cultural and political touchstone.

Palin lacks the intellectual, analytical and rhetorical skills to have a competent discussion about policy or much else. She is handicapped not only by a lack of education, experience and curiosity about the world (wearing a Star of David in Israel doesn't count), but by a speaking style that often collapses under the weight of disjointed, undiagrammable sentences. She is, in terms of the political arena, easily outclassed.

Joe Biden had to go easy on her during the vice presidential debates so as not to look like the big bad wolf. Among professional journalists (as opposed to foaming-at-the-mouth partisans), there was a clear attempt not to come across like a browbeater. [Ed -- This would be the same Joe Biden who thought FDR went on Television for his fireside chats. Or many other idiocies no doubt issuing from his aneurism that has left him with the mind of a retarded child.]

Traister offers a rigorous dissection of the hypocrisy and incoherence of Palin's platform and persona, but nowhere in the book does she swat Palin with the grizzly bear-like strength she could have summoned. She doesn't come close to doing what my friends and readers (and no doubt her friends and readers) want her to do, which is to rip the lady to shreds and move on.

Alas, we cannot. Not only because it would be cheap and lazy and unbecoming, but also because Palin is too well-shielded by her own incompetence. By casting herself as the less privileged, less polished outsider in the fancy school, she fashions the rest of us into playground bullies (ironic, given her predilection for bullying language) who taunt her with big vocabularies and book learning and obsession with nuance. By playing the victim (ironic, given how closely she associates victimhood with liberal whining), Palin forces her critics to choose between the roles of merciless oppressor and guilt-ridden enabler.


One thing I observed quite clearly was the class obsession of my female classmates at MBA school. To a woman, they were all obsessed with class, and social standing, and being the "correct" way to advance in both. I've since seen this in the workplace, and in the writings of pretty much every professional class (or those with that pretension) White woman in America.

To observe the dog that didn't bark, watch the reaction of Black women to Sarah Palin. They don't even know anything about her, and could care less. As much as Palin creates rage among College Educated White women, she creates mostly indifference among Black women of all stripes, College or not. Black women (and men) just don't obsess and foam at the mouth over Sarah Palin.

Really, the whole thing boils down to the class rage of College Educated White women who are livid that White women without their social standing "don't know their place" and bow to themselves. Nothing infuriates this class of woman more than those of their White peers who have perceived inferior status and don't bow and scrape. Being a College Educated White woman is why they put in all that effort at social climbing and at work, in the first place. So they could have social standing over their lesser (White) female peers.

Note the advice to "disappear" out into the boonies (because life is centered around LA and NYC). The taxidermy dig. And the repeated assertion that Palin is an uneducated dolt. After all, she said that America has 57 states. And called corpsman "corpse-man" twice. And noted that dead veterans were with us today, on Memorial Day. Oh wait. That was Obama!

What Daum is really saying, is that a woman who did not go to an Ivy, or at least Stanford or Northwestern (home of the Live Sex Show called the "F-Saw" [link NSFW, language]) is nothing but an uneducated moron. That University of Idaho, or University of Arizona, or University of Illinois, are all so inferior to the top universities in America (the Ivies, near Ivies like Stanford or Northwestern) that non-elite White women should not even bother. They're just dolts, not going to an Ivy like say, Vassar or Columbia (Daum's undergrad and graduate universities, respectively). Daum grew up in Ridgewood, NJ, so Wikipedia says. Median family income? A cool $147K, and almost 87% White, 1.64% Black, 3.8% Latino. We can assume Daum comes from a well-off to fairly rich (by most people's standards) family, with enough money to send her to both Vassar and Columbia.

What enrages Daum the most about Palin is really lack of deference. This class of women, larger than you might think, is angered by a lack of interest in say, the New Yorker, or the minutiae of the Upper East Side. For most of America, putting groceries on the table beats worrying about what movie Woody Allen will make next about screwing his step-daughter, or which gay designer is "in" this year. Much less maundering on about "authentic" Bolivian cuisine (fried grasshoppers! Yum!) and the tragedy of McDonalds available on the Champs Elysee. Few Americans can afford to go to France in the first place.

Meanwhile, most Americans have a hunger for knowledge outside the confines of political correctness. The Teaching Company, advertises quite often in the Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard. Not so much in the New Yorker or Atlantic. What would Daum know about Ike's views on coalition warfare, and its implications for Libyan policy? Did she even read his "Crusade in Europe" or Grant's Memoirs, or Churchill's "the River War" (about the Sudan)?

Of course not. No one is more ignorant and deluded than a College Educated White woman when it comes to military history. Particularly the books written by direct eyewitnesses to it. Not only the great commanders, but Daum (and women like her) haven't read anything along the lines of "With The Old Breed" by EB Sledge, or Pappy Boyington's autobiography, or Robert Leckie's "Helmet for My Pillow." Anything military is "icky" and gives these women the cooties, so they run away from it. I'm sure that Daum, however, would know exactly what fabulous gay designer is not shouting anti-semitic slurs this season.

Palin is what she is. A relentlessly lower middle class woman with a midwestern accent, who refuses to eradicate it or her own background. It is a sign of the elites degeneracy and semi-hereditary aristocracy that being lower middle class and refusing to bow, even symbolically, provokes rage. Like that of an aristocratic lady who whips an insolent servant.

An overlooked part of the conflict within White people is the battle of highly educated White women to beat down those of "lesser degrees" into the aspect of a cowed domestic servant. This is not going to end well.

34 comments:

K Eggers said...

All true, but ... what really drives SWPL women insane about Palin is her fertility. She's practically a walking fertility goddess, representing all the children "successful" white women in America never have. It drives them crazy that a lower middle class "bimbo" like Palin can have a real career and make tons of cash while popping out a raft of kids. Not "supposed" to happen. You have no idea how crazy this drives SWPL women, who are filled with unspoken self-hatred for their bad (ie infertile) life choices which will leave them old, alone, and speaking cat.

Grim said...

Libs like Mike Huckabee for a couple or reasons: He's a hard core progressive with a family values veneer. He's a great flim flam man but someone who will always let the killers loose to kill again because he cares about 3 time fellons.

That and they want him to be the republican candidate. His chances of winning are pretty much zero after his complete record is exposed by the media (won't happen until after the primaries). On top of that it will suppress republican turnout and give the dems a much bigger share of the legislators.

They fear people like Romney and Palin. Palin for what you describe and Romney because he's a Mormon and they are trying like hell to bring the Mormon's into their big tent and keep them out of the GOP one.

Anonymous said...

I can guarantee you that they puffed up stinking self-important women with their empty souls, they do not hate S.P. one fiftieth as much as I hate what the left is doing to this country. God Rot Them All.

And BTW, the only debate I watched during the entire 2008 campaign season was Biden vs Palin. Palin won at all levels, her facts were correct, she had a better delivery, she projected charisma, and she was energetic and alert, while Biden seriously seemly slow and semi-retarded. I wondered if he had been drinking.

Jules said...

Off topic, I just read a book called the dumbest generation, about how kids of the facebook generation will be stupid-er than my AOL generation because they have no incentive to step outside of their age-group social network, they're 24/7 connected. I went to alexa and looked up some of my favorite websites and most of them are visited by high income, 45+ middle class whites, while I'm 25 and non-white.
Then I wasted 12 minutes watching a trailer for Battlefield 3, that sounds and looks about as good as any Hollywood movie and doesn't have politically correct extra-terrestrials. Don't know whether to be excited or depressed that most guys my age will be spending their money on that rather than reading national review or reason mag. Or buying TTC or TMS audiobooks.
Good book recommendations Whiskey btw.

Anonymous said...

To add to your reading list Whiskey, here are some terrific ones: "Shiloh: In Hell Before Night" by James Lee McDonough, "Das Boot" by Lothar- Gunther Buchheim, "Hitler's Panzers East" by RHS Stolfi, "Scorched Earth" by Paul Carell, "The Civil War: A Narrative" by Shelby Foote, and "Campaign in Russia: The Waffen SS on the Eastern Front" by Leon Degrelle, and "Storm of Steel" by Ernst Junger.

Keep up the good work!

RWM
www.quarterdeckent.com

Anonymous said...

Jules,

Your thoughtful post shows that there will always be a small elite of smart young people like yourself who, through an abiding interest in Western culture, will have a much broader perspective than most young people.

Unfortunately, as Whiskey relentlessly reminds us, we appear to be on the cusp of a new Dark Age during which the number of truly cultured people may dwindle to a very small number indeed.

As you say, most people in our 20-35 age group are stuck in a media-driven bubble of contemporaneity; they don't even know much about music or movies from before about 1990. For what it's worth, here are a few film and music recommendations I would make for intelligent young men like yourself:

http://www.amazon.com/Citizen-Two-Disc-Special-Orson-Welles/dp/B00003CX9E/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1303067949&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Waterfront-Special-Marlon-Brando/dp/B00003CXBU/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1303068011&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Pavarotti-Studio-Albums-Box-Set/dp/B000V7B916

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009KU7E/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music

Anonymous said...

What's the difference between Sarah Palin's mouth and her vagina?



Not EVERYTHING that comes out of her vagina is retarded.

little dynamo said...

"Being a College Educated White woman is why they put in all that effort at social climbing and at work, in the first place. So they could have social standing over their lesser (White) female peers."

can't understand the matriarchy unles one understands this -- this comprehensive envy manifests throughout the female population, tho esp prominent among the college-"educated"

females are creatures utterly obsessed with social standing; they constantly jockey for postioning with other nutcases like themselvses, and invest FAR more energy and money in jumping a place in social standing than in loving their husbands/families, actually doing their jobs, etc etc

i've seen u.s. women destroy entire extended families, undermine relationships, and bankrupt everybody, serving their infantile needs to climb above the shrew down the street in their social hierarchies, which they monitor constantly

our kulture, of course, rather than reining them in, only empowers and enriches them further, cheering them on to even more destruction

human females are distingushable from other animals only by their endless babbling of words -- otherwise, they behave like frantic birds, constantly trying to show the world how much fancier THEIR nest is than that of their birdheaded neighbors

these are our true bosses, these are our de facto lawmakers and rulers

our sons die in war, and live under fourth-class citizenship, to support and expand the unmerited empowerment, and the pathetic social-hierarchichal nonsense of females, and the emasculated "men" that enable them

ray

Scotsman said...

"Palin is what she is. A relentlessly lower middle class woman with a midwestern accent, who refuses to eradicate it or her own background"

Funny that she has the same genes, basically, as the old WASP elite. I believe she is descendant from Miles Standish and several other Mayflower passengers.

I think Palin is a good example of what 40-50 years of trash culture can do to the old working class - taking them to a lower class level of sophistication.

Anonymous said...

I'm a white woman, college educated but not Ivy League and I have a copy of Greg Boyington's autobiography. Didn't he say something like "Show me a hero and I'll show you a bum"?

This is Jen said...

I am a college educated white woman and I don't hate Sarah Palin at all. I admire all she has accomplished.

Whiskey said...

Anon yes that was the brilliant opening sentence of Boyington's autobiography. Ironic since his own words show just how heroic he and his men were (though they did not consider themselves as heroes).

Ray -- Anyone looking for virtue or villainy inherent in any sex, class, race, ethnicity or religion will be disappointed. Human beings are as noble and virtuous or as selfish and depraved as incentives make them. The same women, genetically, three generations ago were Rosie the Riveter (or England, basically everything not actually fighting on the front)

Whiskey said...

Robert -- thanks for the reading list. I look forward to checking them out!

djf -- Biden's seems to have seriously impacted his brain function. He was never brilliant, but he's not the man he was before. That he continues to function as did Robert Byrd who was nearly totally disabled in the last years of his life is a stunning indictment of Senatorial politics in America.

Jules yes the current generation under say 25 seems unable to function and most importantly devote sustained focus on any project. The 24/7 Online stuff has been crack for them.

Anonymous said...

You all just don't get it, do you. Women hate Palin because she is an embarassment. She contradicts every ground upon which women have argued for equality. She validates every argument for disenfranchising women and leaving them at home, bare foot and pregnant. We fear her because she is fertile? Oh my. I would laugh if I was not in tears.

Nine-of-Diamonds said...

"Women hate Palin because she is an embarassment [sic]."

Unlike Palin, Anon's spelling and reasoning abilities are a credit to the female gender. No doubt she voted for 0bama based on his intellect and not because he gave her a wide-on ("profit to earnings ratio", "fallen heroes", corpse-man, Eau Claire, WI is a "state", etc etc). Praise Allah for the Nineteenth Amendment.

Speaking of which, since it passed, the taller/handsomer presidential candidate has won the vast majority of elections. I wonder why.

And I reviewed the comments to the article - by my count fewer than ten of the Liberal responses concentrated on Palin's policy decisions; the rest called her and her supporters Klansmen/women, panty sniffers, etc etc.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to second RWM's recommendation of Storm of Steel.
Also you might like The First Jihad:Khartoum and the Dawn of Militant Islam by Butler, Grant and Lee by Fuller, The Last Man Out by Parker (the last American non-POW out of Viet Nam), In Deadly Combat by Bidermann (about the Eastern Front in WW2), Matterhorn by Marlantes (novel about Marines in VN), Fortunate Son by Puller,The Thin Red Line by James Jones (novel about Guadalcanal), The Gun by Chivers (about the AK-47), Witness by Whittaker Chambers, and just about anything by JF Poole (he needs a better editor, but he's worth reading for the substance.)

Also I'm new to the blog so forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know, but another one that's very much worth reading is The Manipulated Man by Esther Vilar.

Rollory said...

Regarding the 20-35 bubble: a relative of mine does tutoring for college students. Quite a few of them have no idea what the letters USSR might stand for.

Commander Shepard said...

"Jules yes the current generation under say 25 seems unable to function and most importantly devote sustained focus on any project. The 24/7 Online stuff has been crack for them. " -Whiskey

As someone under 25 I can personally attest to this. We're the first generation to grow up with digital crack like the internet/video games/cell phones/ etc. We don't know anything different. This has several implications, some good and some bad. I'm MUCH better informed than I would be otherwise but my work ethic and real life priorities have suffered immensely.




"Speaking of which, since it passed, the taller/handsomer presidential candidate has won the vast majority of elections. I wonder why." -Nine-of-Diamonds


As for the importance of appearance in the electoral process (or anything for that matter including job hiring, promotions, social life, romance, etc) the value of looks cannot be understated. We're programmed to like, trust, and befriend, better looking people over their less attractive peers. Check out this book. It's very revealing. They mention the presidential elections of 2004 and each candidate was super insecure especially about their height, and guess what? Kerry and Edwards won the Dem ticket cuz they were the tallest(Kerry)and best looking.(Edwards)

http://www.amazon.com/2007-Fall-list-Matter-Imagined/dp/0814480543


"And I reviewed the comments to the article - by my count fewer than ten of the Liberal responses concentrated on Palin's policy decisions; the rest called her and her supporters Klansmen/women, panty sniffers, etc etc." -Nine-of-Diamonds



I personally think there is substantial truth in those claims especially the panty sniffer part. I remember the media discussion about Palin's 2008 debate performances where she winked a lot to the camera and some right wing commentators went gaga. Who was that winking designed to appeal to? Why did these pundits talk like they were in love? (to much mockery I might add) Why are conservative women politicians much better looking than their liberal counterparts? It seems to me the right understands their panty sniffing/involuntarily celibate/omega base well. The left needs to get all their Hollywood starlets, fashion models, pop princesses, etc running for political offices to split the conservative vote.

Polichinello said...

Considering that Palin's father was a science teacher, I would not call her "lower middle class." Maybe middle middle class, and her lifestyle now is definitely upper middle class.

Daum's line Biden going easy on her is hilariously wrong and relies on her reading not having watched the debate. Palin's given to making her share of boners, but she gave a serviceable performance at the VP debate. Really, she did better than McCain did in his three outings.

josh said...

People hate Sarah for different reasons. I have to admit that I cant stand her. She talks in cliches("common-sense conservative";Bush used to say "compassionate conservative" an idiotic catch-phrase that shouldve been a warning about his dumb-ass),does not seem very bright at all(altho what woman in politics and high level media does NOT seem to be either stupid,bitter,nuts or all of the above.) and,most of all,as a crack-pot "Zionist Kristian" she is monumentally subservient to Jews and neo-cons. She wil put Israel---which we must recall is an FFC(Foreign Fuckin Country)--above our nation. I cant imagine her as a decent Prez. Its shameful how many women are at the top of politics now. Look at looney tunes Michelle Bachman. OY! Happy passover anyway...

Anonymous said...

In the old days, the survivor of an aristocratic duel would have been feted by much of his community, the survivor of a peasant duel would probably be hanged (as for a peasant that laid his hands on an aristocrat, well. . .) The difference in America use to be that a rich man who disrespected someone poorer than himself would likely have lost his teeth. These days we live in an over policed nanny-state where knocking the teeth out of a lout is considered to be a federal case (in theory at least - they don't have enough jail cells to actually enforce the law). It is into this vacuum of the lack of threat of social/political violence that the new feudalism is insinuating itself. It was necessary for the Left to destroy the white working/lower middle class because they understood that this class and its potential for political and perhaps physical revolt was the only real threat to their power. They were joined in this effort by upper class conservatives acting out of class bigotry and nagging doubts about their own self-perceived superiority. These upper middle class and above conservatives represent no threat to the establishment, a fact illustrated by the pass given to them over their quasi-segregated lifestyles.

Palin is just another Republican confidence swindler whose job in the system is to lead whites to the gas chamber in exchange for wealth and fame. They'll wave the flag and support useless wars overseas and talk about socialism and this and that without ever, EVER mentioning the 20-ton (decidedly NON-Republican) elephant in the parlor of turning the nation into a third world dump and the people who make up the vast majority of their supporters into a hated minority in their own country. I like to think of them as the orchestra on the train platform. Their essential collaborationist whoredom is highlighted by the fact that they must know that open borders will destroy every political tenet they allegedly hold sacred, that all those "sacred principles" they screech about will go down the drain. But hey, you can't eat principles, eh?

Freedonian said...

This all ignores the reality. None of this is of any consequence. Republicrat or Demopublican, it does not matter. Like puppets on the stage they strut, fuss and argue while the real issues are ignored. Future events will wash all of this away. Freedom, real freedom, is as rare as wisdom. Do not expect to find either in any camp.

Nine-of-Diamonds said...

" Why are conservative women politicians much better looking than their liberal counterparts?"

I disagree about looks being vitally important for Conservative females in particular. Of course there are a few men who will vote for her "because she's hot". Nevertheless, before Palin, many Republican and/or Conservative females did well enough despite not being very good looking (Ayn Rand, J. Kirkpatrick, Olympia Snowe, Sandra Day O'Connor, Condoleeza Rice, Katherine Harris, and several others). Also consider Thatcher in the UK, who was extremely beautiful in her youth and didn't hit the big-time until she had a more "matronly" appearance.

In fact, I would agree with those who think her looks have harmed her prospects. Over all, the number of Conservative men who would vote for Palin based on looks is probably dwarfed by the number of "Conservative" women who dislike her for the same reason. Not to mention male conservative omegas & MRA's who see her as a fraud, or see in her the women who rejected them, & so on.

Anonymous said...

Regarding those persons educated at so-called elite universities, I got a good laugh out of an NPR interview awhile back with a Ms. Biddle, who was shocked to learn, in her 30's, that her New England family's fortune had been based on importing slaves in to the U.S. Despite her "elite" education, she had been unaware of the triangular trade (rum, slaves, molasses) of the 18th and early 19th century New England ship owners. My 1959 high school textbook treated that important historical fact.

I once listened to a lecture by E. O. Wilson at Harvard for an introductory biology course. The lecture's density of fact and concept was about half of what I presented successfully to my classes in a Southern university. Elite my ass.

Anonymous said...

Nine of Diamonds.

It is sad when small minds try to think beyond their capacity.

No, I did not vote for Obama. Never voted for a Democrat in my enitre life. Riddle me that.

Nine-of-Diamonds said...

"It is sad when small minds try to think beyond their capacity."

Not just sad, it's downright "embarasing - er - embarussin" - er - whatever. Dang, that Palin chick is stoopid. Her and her "enitre" family.

"No, I did not vote for Obama. Never voted for a Democrat in my enitre life. Riddle me that."

Yep, a great big wide-on, as I suspected.

Hey, I'd be imbarrused to admit I voted for him, so I understand. Talk about a poster child for the repeal of the "enitre" Nineteenth A. - and a few others while we're at it.

Nine-of-Diamonds said...

"Libs like Mike Huckabee for a couple or reasons: He's a hard core progressive with a family values veneer. He's a great flim flam man but someone who will always let the killers loose to kill again because he cares about 3 time fellons [sic]."

This bears repeating. A couple weeks ago it came out that a large number of records from his time as governor are "missing" and may have been destroyed. The media at large has failed to cover this scandal (for now). They also have rarely mentioned his personal scandals - for example, his son torturing a dog to death, or the tactless comment he made ~ two years ago about 0bama being shot. The mass media's discipline re: waiting for the most advantageous time to spring embarussing information about Republicans is extraordinary.

It's not that Palin is an excellent candidate (she is inexperienced, has a tendency to speak in cliches, like 0bama, and supports a far-too-liberal immigration policy). What IS distressing is that the GOP establishment dutifully trashes the candidates the media wants them to trash, while putting their faith in mediocrities whose faults have been downplayed as the MSM "keeps its powder dry".

Anonymous said...

I think it is easier for women without a husband or children to openly hate men; alpha, beta, and otherwise.

By definition, educated white women are highly infertile. Furthermore, if they only have one child there is a 50% chance it won't be a boy. Now consider how many women either don't establish a successful partnership with a male that lasts much beyond the first few years in the child's life. What this means is that there is a high probablility that many of these women will spend a huge portion of their lives without the presence of a male figure in their world.

Palin, in spite of anything else we might think of her, has a succesful family and succesful relationship with the men in her life. Not only did she marry a good husband but she has decent functioning sons who have grown up to be men. It is very hard for a woman in Palin's position to be openly at war with men when she has to rub elbows with them everyday.

Contrast this with feminists who's only contact with the human race is in women only circles where the men have either never been invited in or have been pushed out.

So much of what feminism advocates for is zero sum. It is much harder to advocate for progressive income tax when your husband's income gets creamed and your's gets taxed at a higher marginal rate. It is much harder to not care about workplace injuries (Todd is a fisherman), male suicide rates, fales rape and dv charges, and the like when your direct family members are the ones who are effected. Furthermore, it is hard to not notice the injustive of the family court system when you cannot see your grandchildren because your daughter in law won't let you.

Rusti said...

Whiskey,

You have mentioned Albion's Seed and let me add as a recommendation the stunning Liberty and Freedom also by David Hackett Fischer. The two can be thought of as a pair because L&F develops many themes discussed in Albion's Seed such as our notions of those two important concepts in our nation's evolution.

Albion's Seed is an important work but I think L&F his best book of many.

While on DHF, his Paul Revere's Ride is an extraordinary book about the events leading up to April 19, 1775 where a bunch of farmers fired a shot heard round the world. DHF's Washington's Crossing is extraordinary and substantially better than the derivative 1776 of David McCullough. It is a major study and gives insights into George Washington and his character and how he held the army together through the trials of 1776 to inflict major defeats on Lord Cornwallis in New Jersey. What a great man.

A writer I haven't seen you cite is Samuel P. Huntington. His Clash of Civilizations is the book everyone denied thrice on 9/12—this is not a clash of civilizations we were assured. Huntington observed there that: "Islam has bloody borders." Can't have that!


And finally, in Huntington's Who are we? he asks: who are we as Americans? It is a thoughtful and important book that addresses questions many of us are wrestling with these days. Two things from many in that book relevant to recent posts here: he says we are not a nation of immigrants but a nation of settlers. Also, about the Spanish-speaking immigrants and their ability to assimilate: they have proved "indigestible."

Rusti

Anonymous said...

MLB takes over Dodgers.

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6397488

rickl said...

Whiskey:

What do you think about Palin/West 2012?

I think that's about the best we'll get.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Palin,now Wonkette is targeting Trig. That's too much for even some liberals
http://www.mediaite.com/online/wonkette-editor-comments-on-reprehensible-birthday-greeting-to-trig-palin/

El Jefe Maximo said...

To Whiskey's military history book list, and the contributions of others, I'd add Col. Albert Seaton's The Russo-German War; Norman Stone's The Eastern Front: 1914-1917; Richard B. Frank's Guadalcanal; John Prados's Combined Fleet Decoded; H.P. Willmot's Empires in the Balance as well as his Barrier and the Javelin.

Jules said...

Whiskey man you gotta come back. Vancouver pretty much validates your theories and predictions.