Friends, I won't pretend that I'm a country music fan or that I knew diddly squat about Dolly Parton, but I saw 9 to 5 and quite enjoyed it, so allow me to join the chorus of voices wishing ole Dolly Godspeed!
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201204-how-dolly-parton-became-the-worlds-best-loved-celebrity
In other news, everyone's favorite trillionaire, Elon Musk, is about to build another sprawling "Starbase" -- this time in the great state of Louisiana. The sky is the limit when it comes to Musk and SpaceX, if you ask me. I would buy stock in SpaceX before I would buy it in Tesla, that's for sure.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5xel4v642o
Finally, you may have heard that we've unleashed economic armageddon on the Iranians. Well, why not? This does rather beg the question of why we didn't put maximum pressure on Iran at the beginning of the conflict, but hey -- better late than never. Iran really does seem to be struggling economically. Why the leadership there thinks all this is a good idea is beyond me... I know we're the "Great Satan" and all, but why poke Satan in the eye? Seems to me the mullahs have bitten off more than they can chew. They might end up defrocked, or even decapitated!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/08/25/scott-bessent-is-right-about-iran-attack-economy/
Dr. Waddy: I think Dolly Parton was a very nice person; I don't fault her in the least for appearing with those two low life's but they can't hold a candle to her for decency. Her and 'ol Porter; I liked their show. That was good old country music. That was the kind people sweltered in the old Ryman auditorium to see.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: Wow; maybe the new regime at WAPO is getting results in redeeming that far left organ; that would be a body blow to "American " radicals. In the past WAPO would have obsequiously defied all standards of journalistic integrity to help work American discreditation and defeat. A well conceived article like you posted would have been reflexive anathema to the traditional WAPO.
ReplyDeleteI think probably our strikes have done much to dismember Iran's economy and President Trump's present policy can build on that very effectively.
The Iranian regime's suicidal fanaticism is similar to that of Imperial Japan though it does not have a leader as sacrosanct as was the Emperor. Its general population has as much to fear from the IGRC as the Japanese people did from their proven savage Kempei Tai. I don't know if post war Japan would on its own have prosecuted the militarists but the IGRC may well fear for its own necks if a common sense regime ascends in Iran.That may well keep them intransigent . Our object in economic strangulation is in all probability an Iranian descent into national chaos and the eventual emergence of a government the long oppressed Iranian people and the Iranian scourged Middle East deserve. Military aid at key moments might hasten such a conclusion. The IGRC has to think we may use our influence to work their demise afterwards.
RAY TO DR. WADDY AND JACK
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember that in the closing days of WW 2, the more the U.S. and the allies pounded both Germany and Japan, the more resistant they became. But what do I know.
Ray: I think that most of the resistance directly to the Allies from both countries came from their military right up to their ends.
ReplyDeleteAny manifestation of perceived defeatism in areas still controlled by the Nazis was savagely suppressed by Nazi fanatics. Of course, motivated by fear of the Red Army , hundreds of thousands of Wehrmacht and even some Waffen SS made haste to surrender to the Allies.
In Japan, no allied troops entered until after the surrender. Much of Japanese loyalty to the Emperor was sincere but any dissent was summarily dealt with by the depraved Kempei Tai, the secret police. I think more Japanese soldiers surrendered at Okinawa than had in any previous battles. Maybe that was a hint of dissension growing in their army (?).The die hards in leadership insisted that the entire population prepare to forcefully resist the anticipated American ground invasion and the people did participate in large numbers in preparation , eg. fortifications , spear fighting, etc. Again though, the terribly fearful and still credible threat of Kamikaze was organized and would have been carried out by the military. But would the population have fought with suicidal determination especially when Americans proved not to be Japanese style conquerors ?
RAY TO JACK
DeleteYou make very good points, and they are well taken by me. I should have been much more specific. There was some sort of bombing survey taken after the war to measure how much German morale was affected by allied bombing. Apparently, the conclusion indicated that it had not affected morale as much as people thought it might be. Frankly, I think the Germans just endured it as best as they could, having no choice. The Dresden bombing will probably alway be open for debate. Anyway, the Germans came up with Ersatz (spelling?) coffee didn't they?
RAY TO JACK
DeleteFar more important than bombing surveys, was the absolute evil perpetrated by Nazi Germany on the countries it occupied during World War 2.
RAY TO JACK
ReplyDeletePardon my typos. Thanks.
Ray: Thanx, especially for noting that survey. I don't know if similar research was done in other heavily bombed countries and populations in other savage dictatorships like Japan and North Vietnam had no choice but to endure it. But the democratic Brits probably did not have similar fear of their government and they held up generally well. Maybe history now shows that conventional aerial assault was not the haymaker , though it had to have been productive of much exhaustion and despair. That was evident in London when the V-1s and V-2s renewed their agony. And our bombing starved the Germans of the fuel they needed to advance blitzkrieg once again.
ReplyDeleteBut I failed to follow up on my analogy to Iran. That their population is violently repressed is certain but would they rise out of desperation? It may well be that they do not share the fanaticism of the theocracy and the probable self and privilege defense determination of the IGRC to stay in power. Too, they probably do not have an engrained cultural attachment to their 47 year old religion based regime, at least not one comparable to Japan's traditional regard for the Emperor or his Shogun "servants". But maybe they stand hard against infidelity to their Shiite faith which they may, for the sake of their souls , fear consequent to any submission to America , Israel or Sunni nations ?
No problem on typos; how about my premature repitition of adjectives?
RAY TO JACK
DeleteYou pose the question of how devoted Iranians are to their Shiite Faith. Take a look at Mashhad, Iran, which millions were visiting every year, and long before 1979. Draw your own conclusions.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteWith regard to Iran, I can't help think about the Iran-Contra affair, and supporting Iraq during their war with Iran during the 1980s. I'm not sure if either of those two events speak very well of us. Both bare looking into, but then I'm sure there is more than one book on both subjects. Ha!
Ray: I fully agree with you on the absolute evil demonstrated by the Nazis. It was "justified" by them with a horrid presumptuousness equalled in history only by the limitless malevolence carried out in a manner statistically worse even than that of the hellish Hitlerians, by the Marxist Leninist Stalinist and Maoist far left in power. Unlike the Nazis, whose thoroughly defeated doctrine is embraced now only by a powerless and pitiful coven , Marxism and its heartless sprigs still lives. . This, despite the fact that it was dealt a staggering blow by the free world's resolve and its rejection by enormous Russia and China but also by most of the lesser nations oppressed by its murderous tenure.
ReplyDeleteNow, in one of history's most counterintuitive and fantastic developments, Nazism's demonic Marxist bedfellow actually strives, with some measure of credible threat , to "fundamentally transform" its heretofore most effective foe, America, into its ideal . It must be assumed capable therein of enacting the full measure of incalculable evil exemplified by the Nazis and first wave of Marxism should it achieve the coercive power .
American Marxists casually accuse an America which insolently resists their purposed totalitarian subjugation of being Nazis. They refuse to acknowledge their kinship with the Nazis even though history confirms it with a vengeance . Differences in their doctrines do not render either screed excusable of the full measure of the EVIL they stand for. They deserve to be unrelentingly publicly tasked with having to defend the undefendable .Let their demonic historical actions be regarded as bold and bald expressions of intent to impose Marxism in America . Let them be our guide to discerning the existential threat that their proven Marxist inhumanity poses us now. Anyone defending Marxism after its past record of unendurable tyrannical oppression ought to be regarded with the condemnation due also to any who defend the Nazis now. Some of the tragically mistaken Marxist mien could be relatively good willed people who might well benefit from such criticism and repair to the side of common sense.
Dr. Waddy : Elon Musk: I know I've blatted about it before but for me the continuing WONDER of space exploration is never ending. Having followed it from about 1957, when Sputnik went up, I saw the first satellite and the first man in space , theretofore unimaginable developments. Before that , space travel, manned or unmanned was almost all science fiction Oh, thanx to Disney we thought they would arrive sometime but not as suddenly as it seemed . Then almost every year until Christmas 1968 there were new breakthroughs: two and three man crafts, clear pictures of the surface of Mars; it looked like the moon. Man made machines were gearing up to go to magnificent Jupiter. The biggest astronomical telescope, the 200 incher on Mt. Palomar. was enmired in our atmosphere. It all
ReplyDeletewas getting almost routine. But Apollo 8, when they orbited the moon for the first time, reprised the almost incredible fascination.
From then on the thrills continued apace. Man made objects exited the Solar System and took group pictures of it.We found rings around all the gas giant planets. We discovered exoplanets; we identified objects from interstellar space entering the Solar System. We put a large telescope in space and are soon to put one thousand times more perceptive one million miles from Earth' presumptuous interference. We learned we may be able to change the route of an asteroid. All this would have flabbergasted us had it been predicted.
Now perhaps the leading edge of our space exploration effort is in the hands of perhaps the most abundant technological mind since Edison or Ford.Who knows what he may accomplish.
My boomer generation has included a rapt audience to all of this. It was once all just speculation and we can remember that , all us junior scientists from the '50s. I think that along with the fall of Soviet communism its the most astonishing developments of our lives. And considering communism's possible rebirth in our very country, it holds the most promise. The science of physics , vital to our understanding of the universe, approaches the heretofore unimaginable frontiers of metaphysics with objectively credible empirical advances.
Imaginative Carl Sagan once mulled on the possibility that the Greeks, unhampered by historical reverses ,might have gotten into space by 1000 AD. Maybe we live in a time which realizes such almost fantastic promise!
Dr. Waddy: I think we should have strong reservations about a national effort to go to Mars. Why do we want to go there?
ReplyDeleteDo we think it a potential base for much deeper travel?What, many millions of miles away? Our accessible moon ought to serve that purpose handsomely.
Do we think it a potential second home for humanity after being "terra formed"? Why not first make Antarctica habitable or learn to live on or in our oceans before considering such a no doubt unimaginably difficult task.
Do we think traveling there would give us otherwise unattainable experience in very long space sojourning? Why not continue to use earth orbit for such experimentation? I know, over 50 years of that lacked drama after a while but we sure did learn a lot. And our unmanned probes and space telescopes are constantly improving in providing us stunning accomplishments in space exploration.
Too, advances in the already astonishing progress of the science of physics in the last hundred years suggests that we may discover shortcuts to cut the intimidating time barriers we face even in travel to the nearest star.
Thats why I'm glad that the risk of sending humans to Mars is being conceived , developed and managed by private enterprise led by a genius like Musk. NASA has been a highly effective government agency but free enterprise may best it in this . Too, our magnificent WWII industrial and technological achievement , yes, motivated by dire necessity, nonetheless exemplified what a good working relationship between private industry and government can yield.
Sensible development of the moon and continued exploration of deep space and our oceans with spectacularly improving unmanned space technology can keep us busy for a long, very productive time. Meanwhile , good luck to Musk and his Mars commitment . His demonstrated brilliance nonetheless commends the effort in the plausible prospect of it yet returning many perhaps incalculable rewards.
Does that make it a good financial investment for individuals? The willingness to do that has been an essential in the prosperity and material well being we enjoy in this dynamic country.
Ray: I read about the holy city of Mashhad , the funeral of Ali Khameini and of US strikes interrupting railway travel to Mashhad from Tehran before the massively attended funeral. Khameini was interred close to the tomb of the Imam Reza , of supreme centuries old Shiite reverence.
ReplyDeleteAlso read an Al Jazeera article maintaining that the regime is trying to emphasize religion in keeping hatred of America at an intense level. It makes sense that fanning outrage over this strike might serve that use. I do not doubt that the regime wants the populace to believe that if it falls , infidels will control Iran and defile their , yes, long and sincerely held faith. If Iranians think even their souls at risk due to this perceived possibility it could explain an animus against aiding us. When they took to the streets before the war it may not have had that aspect.
Ray: I think Iran-Contra was a bizarre , maybe poorly conceived operation. But the far left gleefully saw in it yet another Watergate windfall this time raising the possibility of ruining an at this time very popular President who dared to undermine a Marxist justified regime. They figured if they succeeded it would thoroughly intimidate any future President from interfering with communism's advance.But along with the rest of us they did not realize that President Reagan was on the cusp of world historical greatness , that they were insects compared to him and that their doctrine was about to fail beyond any reckoning.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO DR. WADDY AND JACK
ReplyDeleteYou might also enjoy another movie Dolly Parton was in, titled "The Best Little Whore House in Texas" (1982) where she played Miss Mona. Not a bad comedy, in my opinion, and especially the dance/song the guy who plays the governor does.
Jack, I'm sure you're right that the Iranian radicals know that, if the regime goes, it'll be off with THEIR heads too. The top leadership, however, no doubt has stashed plenty of money overseas and has some hopes of a golden parachute. We would be wise to encourage those hopes!
ReplyDeleteRay, you are right that, for a while, Germany and Japan increased their exertions despite (or in reaction to) American and British bombing, BUT at a certain point the will to resist certainly did collapse. You are suggesting that bombing wasn't the real reason for that, and I tend to agree. It was an accumulation of setbacks. Bombing, in itself, could not have won the war. Of course, 1945 was a long time ago, and besides every society is different. Economic sanctions and a blockade, in themselves, might be enough to cause regime change in Iran. BTW, it's instructive to compare how easily Italian morale was quashed in WWII, to how stalwart German morale was, don't you think? The Italians, apparently, don't even mind if you attack their homeland. "Help yourself!" is the Italian Army's motto.
Ray, I'm sure most Iranians are very sincere in their Shiite convictions, but that doesn't mean that they must follow their current masters over a cliff, surely!
Jack, I agree with you that we needn't fetishize the colonization of Mars. Sure, it would be nice to be a multiplanetary species, but there is a good argument for preferring the Moon or various asteroids over Mars. I favor an "all of the above" strategy myself!
Thanks for the movie recommendation, Ray! Dolly certainly was in her prime in the early 80s, and I bet she made a very convincing madam.
Dr. Waddy and Ray: I think Dolly Parton set a good example of how one could be a stand up woman without being treasonous or a man hater like her 9 - 5 fellows were in their public convictions.
ReplyDeleteThe Italians fought well against the Austrians in WWI but their heart was never in it in WWII. Maybe they simply got tired of going all out for their pompous ass of a dictator.
Jack, I can understand why the Italians wouldn't want to play second fiddle to Hitler, but when the enemy starts bombing and directly threatening one's homeland, I'd expect a more rousing response than what the Italians produced... Of course, their equanimity turned out to be very prudent.
ReplyDelete