AMERICAN DIGEST: Patriot Gains Archives

Patriot Gains

70 Years Ago: Both Sides Now

Posted by gerardvanderleun at Jun 6, 2014 11:09 PM | Comments (1) | QuickLink:

Pat Tillman, Champion

I'm not a fan of online polls and am even less sanguine about "stuffing the ballot box," but Matt at BLACKFIVE makes a strong case for:

SI Sportsman of the Year - Vote For Ranger Pat Tillman

Patrick M. sends the link to Sports Illustrated's fan poll for Sportsman of the Year.

Background: Sports Illustrated is conducting it's annual fan poll for Sportsman of the Year. This year there is one athlete who stands out. Tim Layden of CNN/Sports Illustrated lays it out for you.

I'd appreciate it if you took some time to go there, select Pat Tillman on the sliding window on the left of the site (he's second from the bottom and wearing a red football jersey), click on his picture, then hit the vote button. Just in case you have trouble finding his picture, here is a screenshot of what Pat Tillman's ballot looks like.

Currently, he is in third place behind Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps.

I admire Lance Armstrong and am agnostic on Phelps, but it seems to me that this should be the year of Pat Tillman above all others. If you don't know why, click on the link above and find out.

Then do the right thing for this brave and nobel man.

Posted by Vanderleun at Nov 26, 2004 8:47 AM | QuickLink:

Draft Lileks Campaign: Day 2

Yes, it is time to ruin the life of another great American.

Details here.

We're all agreed he gets to work from home, right? Right.

Posted by Vanderleun at Oct 7, 2004 5:48 PM | Comments (2) | QuickLink:

Senator Lileks?! Hey, You Laughed at "Governor" Ventura.

Who says there are no good candidates?This stunningly obvious but still brilliant idea just in from Flatlander: "I think we start a movement to draft the Dean of MN bloggers, James Lileks. I know he'll say he doesn't want the job, family, work, blah, blah. But, he's the guy I think is right for the job of representing Minnesota right now." -- FLATLANDER

Now before you laugh and before you scoff and before you run out of the room with your teeth on fire screaming, "I GOT THE FEAR!," just sit back and reflect on the dead-center obvious nature of this very smart idea.

And the timing is right. Plus we've already got the bumper sticker and the lawn sign. Now all we need is to get cracking and whip up some tee shirts.

He'll scream, he'll squirm, he'll twist slowly in the wind, but if there's going to be a draft in the country, I'll take a "Draft Lileks" draft over the other kind.

Lileks will, sadly, have to divest himself of his Tiki-Torches and it could be that his positions on many issues are a bit too explicit for the tastes of many... but, but.... well, it is just too juicy a shot to pass up. Electing a Senator out of the blogsphere would be the ultimate announcement that this medium has arrived, wouldn't it.

And if, perchance, Lileks bleats, "It is to dream the impossible dream," we'll just sit him down in front of Lawrence of Arabia for the line: "We are here. Akaba is there. It is only a matter of going."

Posted by Vanderleun at Oct 6, 2004 7:04 PM | Comments (20) | QuickLink:

Demosthenes, On Disagreeable Patriots

The explanation is the same as at Athens, that the patriots, however much they desire it, cannot sometimes say anything agreeable, for they are obliged to consider the safety of the state; but the others by their very efforts to be agreeable are playing into Philip's hands.
The patriots demanded a war-subsidy, the others denied its necessity; the patriots bade them fight on and mistrust Philip, the others bade them keep the peace, until they fell into the snare. [64]�

Not to go into particulars, it is the same tale everywhere, one party speaking to please their audience, the other giving advice that would have ensured their safety. But at the last there were many things that the people were induced to concede, not as before for their own gratification nor through ignorance, but gradually yielding because they thought that their discomfiture was inevitable and complete.

A fine return the democrats of Eretria have gained for spurning your embassy and capitulating to Clitarchus! They are slaves, doomed to the whipping-post and the scaffold. A fine clemency he showed to the Olynthians, who voted Lasthenes their master of the horse and banished Apollonides! [67]�It is folly and cowardice to cherish such hopes, to follow ill counsel and refuse to perform any fraction of your duties, to lend an ear to the advocates of your enemies and imagine that your city is so great that no conceivable danger can befall it.

�Ay, and a disgrace too it is to have to say, when all is over, �Why! who would have thought it? For of course we ought to have done this or that, and not so and so.� Many things could be named by the Olynthians today, which would have saved them from destruction if only they had then foreseen them. Many could be named by the Orites, many by the Phocians, many by every ruined city.

-- Demosthenes, Third Philippic, 341 B.C.

Posted by Vanderleun at Jun 27, 2004 5:24 PM | Comments (2) | QuickLink: