I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Nor that I disagree with them, of course.
Book Recommendation: Brute--the Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine by Robert Coram
This is a terrific biography of the man it calls, with justification, "the most important officer in the history of the United States Marine Corps." Brute Krulak was my commanding general when I was on Okinawa and in Vietnam, though, thankfully, Cpl. Hall never did anything brave or disastrous enough to come to his attention. We all knew he was a demanding perfectionist, a brilliant thinker and very short--God help the Marine who looked down at him during an inspection. Are you interested in WWII? It was Brute who pushed development of the Higgins boat, which Ike said won the war. Brute was the driving force behind the "Chowder Society" which saved not only the Marine Corps, but prevented the imposition of a military strongman who reported only to the president, a threat to American democracy. Korea? Brute told the Army that a Marine brigade could sail in five days, when the Army was being pushed back--and delivered, saving the Pusan Perimeter. He was high in the councils planning the Inchon landing for Macarthur, and pioneered helicopters and vertical envelopment, a revolutionary tactic the Army would adopt from him for Vietnam. He developed the strategy of protecting villagers with CAP units and was the only senior general to tell Lyndon Johnson his and Westmoreland's strategy was failing--which cost him a fourth star and the position of Commandant of the Corps--which his son would later hold. Nor does the book neglect Brute's hero-size flaws. The only glaring error I noted was the author saying the Marines lost more men on Iwo Jima than the Japanese. We took more casualties--30,000 to 22,000. But most of the 22,000 were dead, while the Marines and Navy personnel had about 6,800 killed. That's still a horrible butcher's bill, but not more than the enemy paid in "lost." Still, Coram is a fine writer--I finished the book in two days. And I highly recommend it.
The lunacy of the Eco-nuts: Oil? No. Natural gas? No. Nuclear? No. Coal? No. Clear-cutting pristine mountaintops for wind-farms: Hell, yes!
Excerpt: The pristine views from several New Hampshire peaks will be inaccessible to hikers and snowmobilers thanks to a delightful wind-farm project that will clear-cut a set of mountaintops. A couple of us rode over the peak yesterday and the very top was closed due to logging. We stopped to inquire and were told they were clearing the top, down to the 2700 ft elevation for the installation of Wind Towers. 2700 feet is roughly where the "T" intersection (134/110) is on the South side of the peak. They said they were clearing it all by April 1st, and that 30 Wind Towers were being installed in the area (maybe 30 including those at this location)..