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Very interesting, Doctor.  Thanks.

Fran, I have enjoyed the show tremendously, but I don’t read as much into it as you.  On the other hand, I saw the second season, too.

I think of it more as a train wreck, featuring people you don’t really like.

About a year ago, I got to the point where I couldn’t watch the Sunday morning progressive channels, NBC, CBS and ABC, anymore without getting physically ill, too. They’re revolting.

For more in this same vein, see
http://vdare.com/gabb/100314_british.htm

Thanks.

The Great Orator!

He went through some kind of a speechifying course under the tutelage of “Rev.” Wright. I only saw one reference to it before the election and nothing since.  The man’s long on technique and short on substance.  The prepared text (reported by some of the sources I googled) had the grammar right.  Hence, he even read it wrong and didn’t catch his simple error.

Anyone can goof.  I just don’t know how such a supposedly smart and educated man wouldn’t immediately catch it. An editor of the Harv. Law Review makes this kind of gaffe?  Amazing.

Not for no

Mr. Dunbar, I stand corrected on the man being an add-on linguist.  That said, I consider it implausible that a linguist would have been assigned to a front line unit like that, one more interested in killing Germans than talking to them.  I think such a troop would be more likely assigned to S2 or MP units immediately to the rear where primary exploitation of POWs would take place. Doctrine is to silence, segregate, and move POWs quickly away from the front line.
Typo on my part:  Rangers were NOT dropped in.

It’s possible for a man to be assigned out of his MOS but not to have avoided basic training.  No man in the Army then or now could be in the Army longer than 8 weeks and not have qualified with the basic infantry weapon and received basic tactical training.

I don’t know if WWII training involved the Advanced Individual Training of the Vietnam ear Army (surely it must have) but I have no doubt that every medical orderly, cook, telegrapher, typist, linguist, or file clerk went thru basic.  The clueless, cowardly linguist theory doesn’t hold up.  It was a gratuitous insult inserted by Spielberg to sully the tens of thousands of men who did their job without abandoning their comrades.

I think you’re right about the paratroops.  I actually didn’t remember the Rangers being part of the action.

BisW, I could not have said that better.  All I could add, would be that in hindsight, a greater understanding of “why” we were “forced to endure something (or someone), was almost always to benefit us in dealing with some future situation.  Help comes in many forms.

You’ll get it, though its form might not be what you specifically request.

And it might take some time to learn that the help was right, even though it wasn’t what you expected.

Brian,

You supplied great insights. Thanks. Rach

I thought the coward was a part of the unit.

With respect, no.  There is a scene where Miller is assembling his squad and requisitions the soldier for his linguistic skills - he’s clearly from another unit, and the hapless guy expected to be assigned to the rear due to his linguistic skills.  My memory is backed in this respect by the wiki entry for the movie.

I didn’t get the impression that the movie’s events took place in an area where airborne troops had been used.

The climactic scene takes place after the Rangers have met with the group of paratroopers that Ryan is with.

Anyway, the Rangers were dropped in.

If by ‘dropped’ you mean parachuted, negative.  Rangers at this phase of their history were not airborne.  At any rate this bunch of Rangers got to Normandy in landing boats.

I thought any of the GIs I ever trained with would have had no problem getting the job done.  The idea that an infantryman could still be a delicate little flower after basic training and needed further toughening in his unit of assignment doesn’t fit reality as I saw it.

I don’t know when you were enlisted.  There are lots of anecdotal stories of troopers in World War II who were assigned out of their MOS to the infantry, who plausibly claimed they had never handled an M1 and knew two things about life as a grunt: jack and shit.  What can I say: times were different back then.

Plus, unless the man landed in England and was hustled straight to the embarkation point to the assault boats, he would have received intensive extra training in England with his unit, whether Ranger or no, prior to deployment.

I think it is possible that you’re seeing the movie through modern eyes.  The Army of ‘back then’ seemed to waste little time on teaching a guy anything but his actual MOS.  If you’re a linguist in the division rear, well that’s what you spend time on.  Teaching a linguist how to be a grunt would be (from their POV) a complete waste of scarce training time.

Rachel,

They’ve tried every other bribe, payoff, kickback, threat, cajoling, and special deal in the books.  Why not try stimulus dollars too?  I don’t think you’re way off base, although simply handing out stimulus dollars to losing congressmen would be a little brazen.  More likely it would come in the form of cushy political appointments or lobbying jobs, which of course are paid for by stimulus appropriations!

I actually don’t blame the Republicans too much.  They are in such a minority that their only true recourse is to unite in opposition to minimize the number of defections Pelosi can suffer.  Even if they had chosen to boycott the health care “summit” or had played their cards differently, the Democrats would still be pushing the Slaughter rule and whatever else they could to get this through.

Aaron, thank you for putting on the table in such a smart way so much of what we need to be aware of. You wrote an excellent piece. At the same time, I’d like to let you know why I’m so convinced that StealthCare is going to pass and soon, regardless of the machinations used to rube goldberg the process. I lay fault for this upcoming devastating defeat; the passage of ObamaCare. It lies with the Republicans, to a large extent, the ones that attended the meeting with Obama a few weeks ago. They remind me of the Bears game plans, being unable year in and year out to figure out what’s going to be run against them. Here’s my view. The Republicans, because they’re not the smartest, neglected to advise Obama during the big HealthCare meeting that, if he proceeds to hammer out a revised bill with their ideas added, the Republicans would want to be present to help with the changes. However, the meeting ended. Obama and his staff worked on the the changes, and the Republicans and the American people were left high and dry. What’s more, this slow witted Republican team is missing a key Democratic Obama battle tactic that has every chance of sinking us. People like Hannity say they can’t understand why Democrats would walk the plank for Obama and vote for ObamaCare in direct opposition to the wishes of the American people. There’s an answer. Just follow the money. Here’s the deal. Any vote that Obama really wants he’ll probably get simply by using unused Stimulus money as a kind of campaign gift for some future run, should the “yes” vote on ObamaCare cause some Democrat to lose their job. Last night, I ran this tactic by a political think tank guy who said doing that would probably be illegal. Hello, why does this guy think Eric Holder was made Attorney general? Holder is the thickest thief in this den of them. Holder will be getting his share, too. I estimate the payoff to be ten million for each badly needed vote.
Does anybody, by the way, know how much of the Stimulus money has been spent so far? How any of the mainstream media so much has asked why such a small percentage has been spent?
It’s really a poltical slush fund.

Aaron, if I’m way off base, (I’m just a girl) tell me.

If not, might it not be a good idea for Hannity and the rest to expose this nefarious plan to the American people?

One more thing, the Republicans can offer stuff to get Democratic votes, too. But will they do it is another question.

This thing is like the monster movie blob.  Every time you think it’s dead, it jumps out at an unsuspecting character 2 scenes later.  If it doesn’t pass, Obama will just issue an executive order.

A cri de coeur, Scott.  Very good.

There are 84000 paths to enlightenment - ethics, philosophy, economics, politics, religion, ..., rude experience! - you never know what is going to set the keystone in place for yourself, or for another.

But when the scales fall from your eyes you can’t see the world the same.

Another element you may work in is coercion:  the State is ultimately jails and jackboots, nothing more.

Finally, I find the image of government as an inept criminal gang illuminating.

Thanks for the review, Francis!  I’m glad you found it mildly entertaining.

To comment on the similiarity between Heretic and Constantine - Heretic was originally published by Pocket Books back in 2005, but was written in 2003 (which was when it actually sold - Pocket took 18 months to release it.) So it actually predates the film version of Constantine. This version is simply a re-release of the original mass market paperback. 

I wasn’t aware that the Spear had been used in Witchblade - will have to check that out.

Best,
Joe

It’s definitely in the “only if you like that sort of thing” category, GM. I don’t think I’ve done it any injustice here, but perhaps a more avid horror fan would disagree.

I guess he wasn’t really one of the “kids” that were learning yet. 

Good catch!

I picked it up recently, read the first few pages, put it down and haven’t picked it up since.  Generally speaking, a book needs to grab me in the first 10-20 pages or…

From your description, maybe I ought to try again, if for no other reason than I don’t want to be less well read than my favorite Curmudgeon Emeritus.

I had no idea there was such a thing as “Horror Writers of America” outside Congress

Unk was wounded in WWII and will be buried at Arlington in May with full honors.  He once told us kids they took no prisoners.  And neither did the enemy.  War is hell...or something like that.

Is there anything better than a shared improv moment with someone who immediately goes there with you? I don’t think so.

Oy, such a smile this gave me!

Col. B. Bunny.

Amen.

If you are willing to buy real estate, you will have to receive the mortgage loans. Furthermore, my father always uses a secured loan, which occurs to be the most reliable.

Grandpa BiW fought in the Pacific, and he had freinds at Bataan.  He knew full well what the Japanese were capable of, and he never forgave them for their atrocities.

Mr. Hanks has the luxury of growing up in a world where he can question the actions of the men Grandpa fought with, and paint that foe with every hue of honor and nobility without regard to the blood dripping from their hands as they marched across the Pacific.  While he may be so deluded in his “enlightenment” that he will not recognize it, the appropriate appellation is “ingrate”.

I’m so glad that Grandpa didn’t live to suffer this insult.

Mr. Dunbar, I thought that the German prisoner taken by the captain’s fire team and who was the man released by him was the man who shot the captain at the bridge.  I thought the point of this was the horrible irony of being killed by the man whose life you’d spared.  If those were different Germans I certainly got all that wrong.

I think you make some erroneous assumptions.  I thought the coward was a part of the unit.  A lot of the airborne troops got separated from each other but even if they attached themselves temporarily to other units, they would have been airborne troops who got attached.  I didn’t get the impression that the movie’s events took place in an area where airborne troops had been used. Anyway, the Rangers were dropped in.

Notwithstanding that, he wasn’t a temporary attachment, if I recall correctly. Basic infantry training doesn’t always work a transformation of a recruit into a hardened infantryman but I thought any of the GIs I ever trained with would have had no problem getting the job done.  The idea that an infantryman could still be a delicate little flower after basic training and needed further toughening in his unit of assignment doesn’t fit reality as I saw it.  If someone was that much of a wuss I think he’d have been weeded out during training.  Always exceptions, of course, especially when the name of the game is to train huge quantities of men.

Plus, unless the man landed in England and was hustled straight to the embarkation point to the assault boats, he would have received intensive extra training in England with his unit, whether Ranger or no, prior to deployment.

No, the man was deliberately and implausibly cast out of the mold. If one wants to get an idea of what men looked like when they came out of the mold of basic and unit training, he should look at any other of the American troops ANYWHERE in that movie.  Heck,, just look at Pvt. Ryan himself.  American GIs are pugnacious and well trained.  Green they can be but that doesn’t last forever. Inserting this coward character was a cheap Spielberg trick.  We’re lucky some other modern, uh, themes weren’t lovingly treated in the movie as well. To achieve complete realism, of course.

Guy S. —Absolutely correct.  Accounts by some Marines of their time on some of those islands show that they descended, out of necessity, to the most elemental, primitive state to kill just about anything that moved.  All in the context of by-the-rules combat, which is to say, What rules?  War crimes only have application to commanders and troops who engage in prolonged atrocities against prisoners and non-combatants.  For example, no tactical objective was served by disemboweling Chinese women in Nanjing or practicing cannibalism on allied POWs. Or experimenting on them medically.

We fought them because they were different?  WTH?! We fought them because they attacked us, fought viciously, and killed wantonly. That was the long and the short of it, as Ms. Peepers does a darn good job of making clear. 

On all sides there are quality men who are caught up in the unimaginable slaughter and their stories are for the ages.  Paul Fussell comes to mind along with the familiar names of the British poets in the trenches in France. And George McDonald Fraser.  His “Quartered Safe Out Here” is a classic. “Bugles and a Tiger” by John Masters another.

Hanks is a disgrace for attempting to apply his cheap, fatuous, modern delusions to the men who knew what they had to do and why they had to do it—fight a people who had made it their business to kill Americans and degrade and torture them if they captured them.

Only a Hollywood star could believe or utter Hanks’s drivel.