Miscellany
The facility of borrowing delivers them from the embarrassment which this fear and inability would otherwise occasion. By means of borrowing they are enabled, with a very moderate increase of taxes, to raise, from year to year, money sufficient for carrying on the war, and by the practice of perpetually funding they are enabled, with the smallest possible increase of taxes, to raise annually the largest possible sum of money.
In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement, and to a thousand visionary hopes of conquest and national glory from a longer continuance of the war. - Adam Smith, 1776.
~~~
I got a spam email from a household store today that was announcing a sale on
Villeroy & Boch china. It made me smile, as I thought back to my first
trip to France 25
years ago. My sister had V&B dishes in that pattern
where the plant is on the dish and the Latin name under it. They were very
upscale for the time and lovely and exotic. I promised to
pick up something nice on my trip for her in the pattern and took off for Paris.
When I landed in Charles de Gaulle, I was fascinated by how different
everything seemed – the restaurants, the
bookstores, the water fountains, the people's clothes. I entered the men's
room and was struck again by how different the sinks and faucets and toilets
looked. I ambled over to the urinal to do my business and stared down to
find the famous Villeroy & Boch logo staring back at me.
~~~
Erik Prince is the CEO of the now infamous Blackwater USA mercenary outfit.
Prince went to a Christian high school and briefly attended the Naval Academy.
He was an intern to George Bush, Sr. Blackwater's counsel of record is
none other than Kenneth Starr. After OCS, he joined the Navy SEALs
as an officer. His father was a noted conservative mover and shaker, and
founded the Family Research Council with Gary Bauer. When his father died,
Prince inherited a part of the $1.3 billion Prince family fortune and quit the
service. He has given millions of dollars to far right and conservative
Christian organizations, including over $500,000 to both Focus on the Family and
the Family Research Council. Blackwater has a revolving door policy that
has resulted in the hiring of many Bush Administration staff and former managers
in the CIA. First called into Iraq by Paul Bremer, Blackwater has now
landed contracts with the government totaling more than a billion dollars,
including a $30 million gig to provide "security" in New Orleans after Katrina.
Your tax dollars at work.
~~~
I got this strange phone call from The Journal asking if my poems from last
March were still available. Apparently, I had typed 2005 instead of 2007
and they were wondering if mine was a submission that had fallen into the crack
of the editor's sofa. I'm looking at a Notre Dame Review and
Poetry that I wanted to tell you about, too. Also GC's Disclamor
came in today. Nice work.
~~~
Rebecca has two poems coming out in LUNGFULL!.
Joseph is looking for somebody
with quick wit and randy pants.
Gabe gets a nice note on his windshield.
Tony's moving
and the beer's on him if you show up to help.
Jonathan is in a panel discussion with Ashbery.
Robert unearths an ancient text.