Egoism
Individualism
Sovereignty
Splendor

(These ideas are explicated in this sloppy manifesto)

 
SwiftVets Ad #3

It's here. Going hard after Christmas in Cambodia, presumably since the mainstream media keeps trying to sweep it under the rug.
posted by Greg Swann at 12:53 PM

 
"How many people invent the turning point of their life and repeat it on the senate floor, in articles and more than 50 times in 35 years?"

John O'Neill in a web-based interview on washingtonpost.com.
posted by Greg Swann at 10:49 AM

 
Kerry's anti-war book available on-line

The New Soldier, the book John Kerry wrote to justify the philosophy of what ultimately became a lazy man's terrorist group, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, is now (for now?) available here for free.
posted by Greg Swann at 1:33 PM

 
Drive On

By Johnny Cash

Well I got a friend named Whiskey Sam
He was my boonierat buddy for a year in 'Nam
He said I think my country got a little off track
It took 'em twenty-five years to welcome me back
But, it's better than not coming back at all
Many a good man I saw fall
And even now, every time I dream
I hear the men and the monkeys in the jungle scream

Drive on, it don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin', drive on

Well I remember one night, Tex and me
Rappelled in on a hot L.Z.
We had our 16's on rock and roll
And with all that fire, I was scared and cold
I was crazy, and I was wild
And I have seen the tiger smile
I spit in a bamboo viper's face
And I'd be dead, but by God's grace

Drive on, it don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin', drive on

It was a slow walk in a sad rain
And nobody tried to be John Wayne
I came home, but Tex did not
And I can't talk about the hit he got
But I got a little limp now when I walk
And I got a little tremolo when I talk
But my letter read from Whiskey Sam
You're a walkin' talkin' miracle from Vietnam

Drive on, it don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin'
Drive on
posted by Greg Swann at 10:31 PM

 
BetterVegas: Destination Anywhere?

Richard Nikoley of Uncommon Sense writes to me with a contrary point of view about the Nowhere Train, the Las Vegas Monorail that I have ceaselessly abused and derided. Richard was in Sin City over the weekend and took great delight in riding the rail:

Gotta say that I was really, really impressed with the Monorail. Used it quite extensively over 2 1/2 days. Not one hitch, i.e., no line too long, no wait to long (6 minute intervals), no glitches at all (in the 8 rides I took). Here's what I liked as Joe Strip Crawler:

1. They keep them ice cold. They are a great refuge. I run really hot, so that's a big benefit to me.

2. Most of the stations are right down and into the casino or shopping mall area. I particularly like the Paris/Bally's station. You're right away into Bally's mall, and can just as soon cross over into the Paris, a property I particularly like (though I usually stay at the Venetian).

3. MGM is a great experience. I recall when I rode the Monorail from Bally's to MGM in the early '90s, and it was horrible. You had this forever walk through MGM in a very sparsely populated "mall." Now, they have the most awesome restaurant row that I've seen in Vegas, and believe me, I'm into nice restaurants. I'd say it tops the restaurant rows in Mandalay Bay and Venetian.

Well, anyway, I was staying at the Hilton--only because it was a trip to celebrate an anniversary and birthday on my wife's family's side and they arranged everything. Of course, staying at a property with a station right there is going to color your view. It was SO easy to get from Hilton to any of the properties on the east side of the strip and back. So easy, in fact, that I did a couple of round trips each day--something I've never done before. I usually go out and stay out until I'm ready to come back.

When I next stay at the Venetian, it won't be quite so convenient. I'll have to go next door to Harrah's in order to catch it. But, I just might do that.

So, OK, there you have one man's opinion...

As a matter of disclosure, I must reveal that I have never ridden the Monorail. I've been to Las Vegas several times since it was supposed to have begun operation, but not since its actual long-delayed grand opening. I have driven the route many times, monitoring construction progress. And I expect I will take the Monorail a good deal more often that the ordinary tourist, but this is because I am not an ordinary tourist. I've taken the Mandalay Tram many, many times, even though it is damned inconvenient to make a round trip on that goofy cable car--even though the Mandalay Tram is much better situated than the Nowhere Train.

And: I have no intention of quarrelling with Richard. I've known him forever, and I read him as being a uniquely well-grounded libertarian, actually capable of living his life to the fullest in less-than-ideal circumstances. Moreover, there is no disputing tastes, and I expect that my personal taste in this matter is very similar to his.

But: That doesn't matter. The issue is: Is the location of of the Nowhere Train optimal? Expressed another way: Would the train have been as enjoyable but more useful if it ran down the center of The Strip, rather than along Koval Lane and behind the Convention Center? Bally's sits very far back from the street, and the food court at MGM Grand, while excellent, is easily ten football fields from the Strip--and getting past the throngs requires a good deal of broken field running. If you were starting at New York-New York, destined for the Stardust, would you welcome the long walks to and from the Monorail at the start and end of your trip?

Possibly, casinos will develop high-dollar attractions on the Monorail sides of their properties. It seems very likely that high-density residential is going to develop along the Monorail route. The long-term plan is to build a parallel line along the I-15, at the back sides of the properties on the west side of the strip, so perhaps these same things could happen there. But I don't think it is an arguable point that the obvious best place for this train to have run, if it were to run at all, is down the center of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Better still would be the kinds of improvements discussed here. I run hot, too, and Richard and I shouldn't have to take the Monorail to get out of the heat.
posted by Greg Swann at 9:18 AM

 
Lying about the lies...

Drudge:

KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."

Crediting this claim, surely an error, would imply that Kerry's Senate testimony contradicted his first-hand experience and concerned only matters for which he had no evidence. He lied then and he's lying now.
posted by Greg Swann at 9:03 AM

 
Dissecting a deception

Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute in today's Washington Post:

If -- as seems almost surely the case -- Kerry himself has lied about what he did in Vietnam, and has done so not merely to spice his biography but to influence national policy, then he is surely not the kind of man we want as our president.

posted by Greg Swann at 6:50 AM

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