Links and Minifeatures 2008 02 12 Tuesday

Carnival of Personal Finance #139: Valentine Edition

The Smears against McCain are already starting

Jules Crittenden predicts we'll see accusations of PTSD from the left. I kind of doubt it. That will only prompt people to ask of either of their candidates, "So what life experiences do you have from that will enable you to lead our nation and make the big decisions correctly in highly stressful situations?" There just isn't a good answer to that.

My grandfathers fought in World War II. My father (born 1930) was out just before Korea, where my uncle served. The situation is remarkably similar in my wife's family - except that they had at least one combat death. Every one of the survivors came home and lived productive lives But one thing that people who know combat veterans know is that, contrary to Hollywood movies, it encourages fast, clear, levelheaded thinking - because that's the best way to live through it. It may be tense, it may be emphatic, and it may be frantic because the enemy was going through the same cycle. Sometimes it's just plain stupid luck who lives, one way or the other. But clear, fast thinking makes a real positive difference in life expectancy. And only people who don't know any combat veterans could think otherwise.

You know, I'm thinking that a guy this reviled on both the right and the left might have a little more going for him than I thought.

What is the school's The 'Multiculturalism-to-Math Ratio' ?

"Religion of Peace" my ***. Captain's Quarters reports on a plot to kill a danish cartoonist - more than two years after he drew an incredibly mild series of cartoons about Mohamed.

center>**********

Diary of an Insurgent In Retreat

Abu Tariq's diary ended with a list of people still working for him. There were 38, although he had written two weeks earlier that he had "20 or less" fighters left.

Some of those on the list had remarks next to their names, such as "We have not seen him for more than 20 days so far" or "Left three days ago."

"And that is the number of fighters left in my sector," Abu Tariq wrote.

HT: Captain's Quarters