New Jersey: The Hitler State

This is ridiculous:

U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. sided with the parents of students who want to wear Hitler Youth buttons to school to protest the school’s uniform policy.  They had been threatened with suspension by the Bayonne school district last fall for wearing the buttons. However, the judge added in his ruling that the boys will not be allowed to distribute the buttons at school.

“I’m very pleased,” said Laura DePinto, mother of one of the students. “I think it upholds the most basic of our American rights, which is to protest peacefully.”

Society of the Cincinnati Fellowship

Fellowship Announcement  The Society of the Cincinnati invites applications for the Tyree-Lamb Research Fellowship.  The fellowship is named in honor of two members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, Lewis Tyree, Jr., and John K. Lamont Lamb. It is intended to provide $1,000 to support the cost of travel, housing and per diem expenses for a scholar wishing to use the Society’s library for a period of at least one full week.  The fellowship is open to graduate level students and other scholars who are conducting research that may benefit from the library’s holdings. The Society of the Cincinnati library collections include contemporary books, manuscripts, maps, and works of art on paper which support the in-depth study of 18^th-century naval and military history and the art of war during that period.  The library also houses books and archives related to the formation and history of the Society of the Cincinnati, as well as materials related to the life of Larz and Isabel Anderson, whose Gilded Age home now serves as a museum, and the headquarters of the Society. The fellowship recipient will be required to complete his or her week of research within a period of one year from the date of the award.  Further, the recipient will be required to submit a three-to-five-page written report and summary of research findings, which may be published in the Society’s journal, Cincinnati Fourteen.  In addition, the library requests a single copy of any subsequent publication (article, thesis, dissertation, or book) that may result. Applicants should submit the following: ¨      A curriculum vitae, including educational background, publications and professional experience¨      A brief outline of the research proposed (not to exceed 2 pages)¨      (For current graduate students only)  Two confidential, sealed letters of recommendation from faculty or colleagues familiar with the applicant and his or her research project.  Note: If letters are to be mailed independently, please include the names of recommenders when submitting the application. Applications must be received by November 15th, 2007.  Applicants will be notified by January 15^th, 2008. Applications should be mailed to:Ellen McCallister Clark, Library DirectorThe Society of the Cincinnati2118 Massachusetts Ave, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20008 For further information about the collections, contact Rebecca Cooper, Manager of Reader Services, at (202) 785-2040, x411; or: rcooper@societyofthecincinnati.org 

WW3 Plans Just Uncovered

A fascinating story in The Telegraph, and shows what a good researcher can still uncover from the archives!

Chilling Soviet plans to launch massive nuclear strikes in Europe followed by a ground offensive in Germany and southern France have been unearthed by a Nato historian, Petr Lunak from NATO’s information office in Brussels.  According to scenarios drafted in 1964, Warsaw Pact forces planned to use 131 tactical nuclear missiles and bombs to sideline NATO armaments and destroy Western Europe’s political and communications centres, in the event of an “imperialist” strike.

According to Mr Lunak, the plan was still an option until 1986, three years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

No True Glory

 

I just finished reading No True Glory (2006), by Bing West.  It’s the story of the two attacks on Fallujah in 2004, the first by the Marines (which was unsuccessful) and the second one by Marines and Army units, which together crushed the resistance there in a week long attack.  The story is amazing, and West tells it very well, without glorifying the violence or the Marines.  He also does a wonderful job placing each attack in context, and pulls no punches in criticizing certain military and political leaders as he deems necessary.  (Paul Bremner does not come off too well here.)  West also brilliantly shows the reader what its like to be a young Marine, ordered to “clear out” a whole city, and go house to house and room by room, in violent, face to face combat.  I heartily recommend it.

 

$450,000,000,000 Price Tag and Counting

I came across this on the website of The Army Times, which puts the current war into perspective fiscally.

At $450 billion, the war in Iraq has already cost more than the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the Korean War. Within a year — and some $200 billion more in spending — Iraq will almost certainly exceed the cost of the Vietnam War, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).  And that’s just Iraq. The war in Afghanistan has cost $127 billion so far, according to CSBA budget studies chief Steven Kosiak.

The rest of the short, sobering story is here.  Now what if the money were used on prevention of terror attacks here at home, rather than invade Iraq, get lots of people killed, and have no end in sight?