Never Eat at Any Place Called “Mom's”

Petraeus has plenty of judgment. Shields and all of us owe a huge debt to him for not only his judgment, but for his dedication and willingness to live in a pressure cooker for so many years.

I get a little tired of the back seat self-righteousness we are seeing so much of right now. Mr. Shields must be having difficulty finding more significant stuff to write about, and frankly, this cheap, easy fling commentary seems hugely beneath him. I wonder how all these socially stellar and morally pure commentators who just can't hold themselves back from pouncing for the kill would look if the FBI were to shine a nice, tell-all bright light on THEIR personal matters.

Sir;...I have heard you defend Mr. Petraeus; and good for you...
As MacArthur was proud to note, Good Generals do not turn in High Casualty reports... Safe to say; He understood the Japanese better than the Chinese, and so did Slims for that matter...Ultimately you can only compare good generals against really terrible generals; but the remarks of Lee with his commanders at Mary's heights at Fredricksburg that it is good that war is so horrible lest we grow too fond of it should always be remembered...
No one should get good at war, because war is immoral... And it is easy to be fond of it when you are good at it; and Gen. Petraus was good and lucky in Iraq; and it led to his being unlucky and foolish in Afghanistan... He showed the same inability to adapt to changing circumstances that has always plagued the powerful... I don't know or care what his defense will be... War is not an honorable occupation especially in offense and in a bad cause...We have the worst of causes in Afghanistan... To go there was foolish, and to stay was suicidal, but the fact that those who ordered it were not the ones to suffer it made every bit of difference in the course continued...Having survived, Gen Petraeus will have to write his own history, as Caesar and Napoleon were allowed to do...
I cannot guess what Paula Broadwell's defense will be... Mabe she just likes old body nazis...She should try the Mae West defense: I could never resist a man in unifom... I even go for the good humor man...
Do they still have good humor men???
Today we have before us examples of the thought that nothing succeeds like failure, and nothing fails like success...People used to learning from failure never learn from success, but push success to the point of failure...People do not want to have to compete with others better than themselves so they promote people less able while trying to manage the energy of the able...Individually and institutionally even the smartest people are incapable of learning, mostly because the form teaches the form... Once you have managed the politics of the organization, more knowledge is pointless and discouraged...
I invented something once that saved a great deal of work, and I just gave it to the people I was working with... Later I heard one of the guys I gave the idea to lauded as super smart, because he gave my idea to another with the admonition not to tell a soul about it...I did not give it to people to keep it hidden... What does it matter if I give you something to bring you to my ability except that tomorrow I will have to increase my ability or work harder to keep up to your ability, either of which is desirable...The very stasis people crave in their lives is what they should reject for the skin of their teeth dynamism of a changing world that will beat them down no matter what they do...Go with it, embrace it, and accept it because that is the price you pay to be an Alpha...
You are going to stand guard, and not because anyone forces you to, but because that is your place, what you are; and when you are ready to relax your guard, on your life, and on your soul, on your morality, then dig a deep hole, and one fit to serve as your grave because you are all done, and should know it... Trying to carry on when you are all done is just looking for trouble...
One of my best friends told me long ago not to trust no one -least of all, myself...I know myself too well to trust... I don't need a gypsy to tell me what lies ahead because I'm walking the line...I don't have a future; But if I had a future, I would not trust it to anyone insane enough to go to bed with me who did not feel formally obligated to... There is a fine line between crazy and insane, and I want always to stay on the near side of the later...
It is easy for me... I don't have good looks or money or power... I don't have to wonder if she loves me for my looks or my money... I only wonder if she is plotting the perfect murder... I already told her it is fine if she can make it look like suicide... I know I will be dead, and it is kind of hard to imagine things after; but I don't want anyone thinking I just wandered into my end accidently... I want to be thought of as responsible... It's an Alpha thing... I don't care who does it... I only want the credit...
Thanks...Sweeney

Re: Masako;... It is a crappy example of a society we have where we give so much power to people in government with so little oversight, or control over them... All we have is their oaths, and if you look at the sorts of oaths the republicans are all required to give as the price of financial support; we should all ask if they are not foresworn...
Now; You have to know I think the bulk of the constitution is only so much garbage... Having the pretense of honor about me I would never swear to uphold what I have been trying most of my life to tear down... More than that, I would not pretend to honor the constitution because I find some things useful in it, but only selectively would enforce it...
All we have between us and our government is a thin veil of trust; as little defense against intent as a bride's lingerie... They make a great formal show of honor... All the black robes and Bibles in the world cannot cover their perfidity and partisanship... Still, when a wife cannot trust her husband in his oath when she may have given her body to him and children, and we have given him nothing but our tawdry and worthless votes which he thinks bought with promises no one should have believed, his dishonor should be anticipated, but never welcomed...
You see how fast these scandalized people go, and it is because they are Caesar's wife... The rest are so malignant they must all fear to be incised, and not one of them has honor to point to of their own, but need to be seen attacking dishonor even when the success of that dishonorable man was their success as well...They do not want to own his failures...
Who can blame them... But we must consider that we do not live in honor societies as some of the world still does...We live in a money economy were money is honor and poverty is dishonor...If you want to make those people act honorable, make them put of a bond of all they own against their good behavior and you will see them behave... What does Gen Patraeus lose??? His wife??? His Job??? His reputation??? People will know he can be had cheap, so he will be had...
In some places, no one would live with you or have you around if you had no honor... It is simply meaningless to us, not a fraction of what it once meant to humanity...Where money is dear, honor is cheap, and where honor is dear it is because money is all but unknown...Poor people live in an economy of honor or they do not live at all... Rich people live in a money economy thinking every priceless thing has no value...
If we are going to survive we simply have to get control of our own affairs, and not because we are more honorable, but because we are dishonorable enough to realize it does not get better with the addition of money and power...
To have control over our own affairs does not equate to control over the affairs of all others, nor does electing people equate to investing them with honor... They have moral authority to the extent they are moral which is, honorable... We do not give them power with our vote... We give them authority with the power of our vote... What if we realize it is possible to a great extent, to keep both??? What if we realize that their honor is slight protection from the corruption of money... We need a new form of relationship, just like the one Gen Patraeus has with his wife... Trust as far as you can see..
Thanks...Sweeney

I've heard social events can be treacherous, so 28 police officers sounds about right.

Re: Bruce Strickland;... Social/sexual events can be down right brutal... I wonder how many cops it would have taken to guard everybody's honor, if they had any...
Thanks... Sweeney