Like sweepin’ dust bunnies out from under the bed:
Victor Davis Hanson. Like any great historian, particularly classical, Hanson helps make sense of the present. Some reflections on world events and politics, including this key passage:
We shall see what liberal therapeutics accomplishes in this war that started on September 11 when Hillary & Co. come to power—or rather relearn the lessons of everything from the Khobar Towers and East African embassy bombings to the USS Cole.
After all the lectures about not being safe after 9/11, and taking our eye off bin Laden, we await her revocation of the Patriot Act, wiretaps on terrorists, etc., and planned intrusions and hot pursuit into nuclear Pakistan—and, of course, calls for national unity during time of war, a renunciation of the politics of personal destruction, and a plea to tone down the strident rhetoric.
Imagine, if she were elected, that a Bush emeritus played Jimmy Carter to her presidency, or documentaries came out calling for scenarios about her demise, or Alfred Knopf published a book about shooting the president— or any of the other reprehensible things we have witnessed the past six years, all to the silence of the liberal opposition.
To get to the presidency, the Democrats must demonize the war effort and assume we will lose in Iraq; but to run the country, they would almost immediately have to reverse course, call for unity, and explain why we must continue anti-terrorism at home, and fighting al Qaeda abroad. And if they adopted a truly pacifist stature, a single 9/11 like attack would ruin their fides for a generation. Politics is to be accepted, but in wartime one expects a modicum of national interest first.
My only complaint: he doesn’t blog enough (look who’s talking - ed).
Guy Kawasaki Runs the Numbers. And the numbers are amusing. Interesting, even. But Guy should have taken the time to stress that what builds successful businesses (websites, products or services) is quality. And the quality that built this business is reputation, and meeting people’s need to participate, to join the conversation. Unfortunately, my $12,000 won’t do what his can do.
Time is the one truly limited resource (Signal vs. Noise). Yes, yes it is. Sadly, in my experience, the prescription discussed here is almost pathologically beyond the grasp of most managers and leaders I come in contact with.
Happiness is a moral obligation. “We should regard bad moods as we do offensive body odor. Just as we shower each day…
…so as not to inflict our body odors on others, so we should monitor our bad moods so as not to inflict them on others. We shower partly for ourselves and partly out of obligation to others. The same should hold true vis a vis moods; and just as we avoid those who do not do something about their body odor we should avoid whenever possible those who do nothing about their bad moods.”