zenpundit.com

ANTI-AMERICANISM IS GERMANY’S NEW ANTI-SEMITISM

The German Left at any rate. It is a useful contrast to note the response of the American public and the Bush administration to the Tsunami disaster and the gloating combined with irrational malice in Germany’s papers over hurricane Katarina. Can you imagine the U.S. doing anything but rushing aid to Germany in the advent of a natural disaster ? No wonder that sixty years later Germany’s neighbors still do not trust her – with a mindset like this the old British adage that the Germans are either at your throat or on their knees makes a lot of sense. Let’s all be glad of the wisdom that NATO showed in never allowing these people to have their own nuclear weapons.

Of these malevolent jackasses writing these editorials in Germany I wonder how many are alive only because we – we meaning the United States – kept their parent’s generation from starving and freezing to death in the years following WWII when the Russians and the French would have been gleeful to see them go under ?

MUSINGS

I have several meaty posts in the works that should be finished soon as well as a short piece for another website that I will link to when it is up.

Moreover, I need to answer the last comment ( and subsequent posting) from Curtis of Phatic Communion who is now taunting me as a closet neo-Platonist and the one from Dan of tdaxp ( whom I’d thought we’d lost to strong drink and the subtle pleasures of graduate school).

More later…..

A SALUTE TO THE NAVY

I was proud to see Zenpundit on the blogroll of Live from the FDNF , a blog written by a member of The Forward Deployed Naval Forces. Anytime I can entertain, inform and support the men and women serving the United States overseas by scribbling on my blog is time well spent !

RECOMMENDED READING

Perhaps there will be time for commentary later tonight in an update….but not right now

“The Physics of Societal and Cultural Change” by Dr. Von

“Necessary War” by Callimachus of Done With Mirrors

More later…..

NOT JUST LION AROUND ( WARNING ! NON-SERIOUS TOPIC! )

A bit of personal trivia.

Blogging was light today due to a special family outing to take The Firstborn of Zenpundit to see ” The Lion King “ – which was absolutely amazing. The costumes and set design in particula exhibited aesthetic brilliance. The Firstborn, like the rest of the children in the theater sat entranced at the performance.

Well, almost. Naturally, seated directly behind us was what I can only describe as a multigenerational, matriarchy in motion of Suburban hillbillies who seemed unaware that the performance was not taking place in their living room. Either that or being unfamiliar with the theater they just went went with the standard etiquette of the Friday Night Open-League Bowling tournament.

I could take the non-stop,whiny, running commentary of the anemic five year old, her mother’s automatic and duly ignored attempts at idle-threat ” discipline”, the occasional ” I’m bored” announcement from the petulant 14 year old boy and the miscellaneous antics of the rest of the brood showing evidence of being sired by more than one father. That’s nothing you can’t see at any given mall. Or at least at a convenient passing carnival.

No, what grated on my nerves was the behavior of the grandmother. For a woman of some advanced years, she could give out the most violent guffaw – and did so regularly with each and every punchline. And then she repeated the punchline out loud to the brood and surrounding audience who had just heard it 3.5 seconds earlier- just in case the joke had escaped anyone – and guffawed again. Louder. She was like Max Cady in a fanny pack.

We shhhed. We asked for quiet. We glared. I finally made a rude remark of my own( it began with ” Ignorant” and was well-seconded) but the only sustained peace we received was after the intermission when continued talking would have interfered with their rapidly consuming a hay bailer of popcorn and several pounds of candy apiece . I was kind of amazed at how a group so socially inept could have had the economic means to purchase about $600-700 of tickets and probably close to that much in junk food. Oh, the topper was the five year old reaching into Mrs. Zenpundit’s hair – which Mrs. Z. wisely did not tell me about until we were in the car and on the expressway.

The Firstborn however saw none of this nonsense. She was in the world of The Lion King and was completely oblivious and raved afterward about how wonderful everything was.

That made the day :o)