Monday, February 23, 2009

Exit, Stage-Left

I sincerely hope that the Obama surge strategy for Afghanistan works. He better, too. Because, if it doesn't, the country will turn on him, and it will do so rapidly. Just ask Harry Truman. Just ask LBJ and Nixon. Just ask George W. Bush. This country has no patience for long drawn-out conflicts (not in this day and age), especially not those without an end in sight. And, no, we don't like incrementalism, either. Win, win quickly, and win decidedly. If Mr. Obama can't in good faith deliver on that, he just might want to take a look at containment instead. This, I'm saying, in that his Presidency might in fact hinge on it.

26 comments:

clif said...
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Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I stand corrected, Clif. It was E. Roland Harriman who owned all those shares. But Averill Harriman was part and parcel to the controversy, too. He in fact was the senior partner at Brown Brothers and Harriman (Union Banking being a subsidiary), the main Wall St. connection to German companies, and, yes, was in that role when the U.S. government seized their assets on 10/20/42. Another partner was Robert A. Lovett, who later went on to be Truman's Defense secretary. Face it, Clif, this is a bipartisan controversy, if ever there was one..

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And I wasn't trying to slime ANYBODY, Clif. I was just trying to show you how this whole guilt by association thing that you and Sean Hannity both seem to have a liking for (from opposite directions, of course) can sometimes be a double-edged sword. That's all, bro.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And I don't believe in sins of the father, either, Clif. Joe Kennedy Sr. was a dirt-bag, Nazi-sympathizing anti-Semite. But his sons (yes, even Teddy) have turned out to be great Americans. In Geoge W. Bush's case, it was his father who was the better man.

clif said...
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Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

1) Union Banking Corps was a subsidiary of Brown Brothers and Harriman. 2) Averell Harriman was the senior partner of Brown Brothers and Harriman. 3) Brown Brothers and Harriman was the main Wall St. connection for German companies. 4) On 10/20/42, the assets were seized by the federal government. Which of these is a lie, Clif. I can read Wikipedia, too.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

You have the absolute unmitigated audacity to call ME a partisan. Clif, you're the textbook definition of that word and everybody knows it.

clif said...
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clif said...
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Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

No, Clif, I didn't "lie" about Averell Harriman. I made a mistake and I correctd it. Do you not know the difference between a lie and a mistake? That's number one.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

"I stand corrected, Clif. It was E. Roland Harriman who owned all those shares." These are words you can't comprehend, Clif. And, really, how many "reich-wingers" do you know who, in the last 5 presidential elections, have voted for Ross Perot twice, Ralph Nader (CT born and raised), John Kerry, and Barack Obama? I did vote for Jodi Rell for governor in '06. You got me there, buddy (though, yes, I voted for the very liberal Ned Lamont for Senate). Clif, face it, anybody to the right of Fredrich Engels is a right-winger to you.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Clif, you can't say anything you want, anywhere you want. Just ask Michael Richards.

clif said...
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IrOnY RaGeD said...

"Oh and if you delete the post above;

because of the last statemenr which is MY personal opinion,

your deleting a opinion,

an opposing view,

which is censorship in the most basic form for all fascists."



Oh Clif, cry me a freakin river.
You hang out at place that does that very thing quite often.

Very funny though, a left wing authoritarian screaming about "fascism"...

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I'll go back and make a retraction, Clif. And like I said, ass-hole, it wasn't a lie. It was a mistake and, YES, I just admitted here that it WAS a mistake. What is your frigging problem, a-hole?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Excellent point, Volt.

IrOnY RaGeD said...

I wouldn't worry about it too much Will, If Cliffy had to post a retraction for every lie he's told, Cisco doesn't make a server big enough to hold it.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Voltron, Clif, look up W. Averell Harriman at Wikipedia and scroll down to war seizures controversy. Unless I'm totally drunk here (unlikely on 2 only vodka-tonics), it sure doesn't sound all that pure for Mr. Harriman. What do you guys think?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And, Clif, I think that FDR was totally justified in firing Joe Kennedy's ass back then. You agree, right?

clif said...
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IrOnY RaGeD said...

"War seizures controversy

While Averell Harriman served as Senior Partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Harriman Bank was the main Wall Street connection for German companies and the varied U.S. financial interests of Fritz Thyssen, who had been an early financial backer of the Nazi party until 1938, but who by 1939 had fled Germany and was bitterly denouncing Adolf Hitler. Business transactions for profit with Nazi Germany were not illegal when Hitler declared war on the US, but, six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Trading With the Enemy Act after it had been made public that U.S. companies were doing business with the declared enemy of the United States. On October 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City.

The Harriman business interests seized under the act in October and November 1942 included:

* Union Banking Corporation (UBC) (for Thyssen and Brown Brothers Harriman).
* Holland-American Trading Corporation (with Harriman)
* the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation (with Harriman)
* Silesian-American Corporation (this company was partially owned by a German entity; during the war the Germans tried to take the full control of Silesian-American. In response to that, American government seized German owned minority shares in the company, leaving the U.S. partners to carry on the business.)

The assets were held by the government for the duration of the war, then returned afterward. UBC was dissolved in 1951."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Averell_Harriman#War_seizures_controversy

IrOnY RaGeD said...

You seem to be in full Projection mode tonight Clif.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Voltron, are you running "interference" for me tonight? LOL Hey, when are you going to post again on your blog? I went back to Lydia's tonight and made a comment. Bartlebee said that he was willing to extend an olive branch so I took it. Of course, what I forgot to consider is that Clif and Jolly Roger haven't extended anything, and it was them who "answered" me. LOL

clif said...
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Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And this whole Harriman thing, seriously, I could give a rat's ass. I was just trying to display to Clif the precarious nature of guilt by association. Apparently, though, his partisan buffoonery precluded any understanding here.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Didn't like Voltron's citing of the Wikipedia post? I understand, Clif, good-bye.