2009
I wanted to point people to my new editorial piece on CenterLeft.info: Re-Inaugurating the Enlightenment. It’s brief, but it’s how I feel.
I haven’t finished my next post on this blog, which has to do with places of Heathen sacrifice. These pieces are more than simple opinion but require a deal of research. I hope to have it up in the next day or so.
I escaped yesterday to see a movie, Gran Torino. I highly recommend it. I’ll give it 5 out of 5. It is definitely one of the better films I’ve seen this year, and that was despite the theater turning on the A/C partway through (though it was about 10 degrees outside at the time).
I watched the inauguration today. I hope you all had a chance to see a bit of it as well. Inspired, I decided to start a new blog, called Restitutor Orbis, which means “Restorer of the World.” I think Obama already deserved this as he has restored the most precious commodity of all: Hope.
My purpose in starting this new blog is mostly personal, to journal the events of the Obama presidency for my 4-year-old son, so that someday he can look back and read about the years that will so strongly impact the rest of his life.
My goal is to simply make a daily post, reflecting on the news of the day, much as I would in a diary or journal. But this way I can include maps, photographs, etc, which will highlight the events of the next four (hopefully eight) years.
Here is a toast to Hope!
Hrafnkell,
I’m just back from reading your article on CentreLeft which is about the declaring of war on Iraq by ex (‘ex’ has never sounded so sweet to the ears!) President Bush.
In it you’ve said in one place that there are many Vietnam war veterans who live on the streets of America, begging. I am shocked to read this.
Doesn’t the state take care of war veterans through adequate pensions and welfare schemes?
…and ‘Restitutor Orbis’ is a lovely, resonant name! Great choice!
It’s got a sense of poignancy and urgency and also of grief; something I can’t fully describe. It must be felt.
Can you speak Latin? You seem to have a good knowledge of the language judging from all the past Latin terms you’ve used and this one.
Indrani, it’s true. We take awful care of our veterans. Contrary to McCain’s claims during the campaign, veterans didn’t like him much. I think Obama will do much better. Bush didn’t mind using them for cannon fodder but he didn’t care what happened to them when they were no longer of us.
Glad you like the name. Most of my Latin comes from reading Roman military history. Roman history was my first love as a child learning to read. I did study Latin briefly, and New Testament Greek, but I’ve forgotten the vast majority of both.
RE: “Doesn’t the state take care of war veterans through adequate pensions and welfare schemes?”
BWAAAAAhahahahahahahaha!!!!!!
When you go down to the Mall in DC, you see plenty of homeless vets begging in the streets. Sometimes they meet you right at the top of the escalator at the Smithsonian Metro station, as you come up from underground. Or they are right outside the museums.
I used to live very close to Walter Reed and believe me, we were all quite shocked when it was revealted how terrible the conditions had come to be there.
The only reason my grandfather, himself a US Navy captain in WWII (serving under Admiral McCain, btw) had a good retirement was because:
1: he was an officer and had a better retirement plan
2: after he retired from the military he went to work for Edison Lab in West Orange, NJ and eventually retired from there as well. So he collected two pensions.
Other people don’t always fare so well.
Silver Heron, thanks for commenting. I am hoping things will improve. My father was a vet, retired after 24 years as a Warrant Officer (forget which class) and then he went on to work first for the NSA (no pension there!) and then with Control Data, which unfortunately went belly up. So he had some pension problems to be sure.
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