Disqus - Friends of Chuckumentary

Re: Melissa Harris-Perry Pronounces Marine Corps Motto Semper 'Fee'

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 13:35:37 -0000

As a former Marine and a Professor of Ancient History with Latin as one of my required languages, Semper Fi is... well, Latin so the "peculiarities of English" are irrelevant and so is MSNBC. As far as "corps" is concerned, that is French as in esprit de corps, or in English, "spirit of the group." Oh, and one more thing, MSNBC is still irrelevant.

Re: Dem Circus Was a Ratings Hit

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 02:16:05 -0000

Hello Tracy—haven’t seen a post from you in a while. I don’t post much myself, but when I do, I try to make it count. Although I can’t remember what my last post was specifically related to, I do remember what I made reference to…C.S. Lewis’ “That Hideous Strength.” My recollection is that you clearly understood the connection as you were familiar with his trilogy as a whole. I’m always a bit disappointed that so many are quick to recognize Orwell. Lewis’ dystopian subtle depiction of NICE’s sinister nature is not unlike the way Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter operate.

Re: Dem Circus Was a Ratings Hit

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 02:23:35 -0000

Oh, I didn’t really offer anything related to the topic at hand. Leftists are quick to be NICE to folks on our behalf and equally NICE to us at our expense and peril.

Re: Dem Circus Was a Ratings Hit

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 02:27:49 -0000

That is NICE

Re: Dem Circus Was a Ratings Hit

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 15:15:59 -0000

It’s been along time since I read it. I was struck by his ability to craft character dispositions, dialogues, interactions that are closer to everyday experiences I’ve had in life. 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron—they are fantastic. But they are all pretty stylized in that their dystopias have already arrived. Lewis, he’s different. There isn’t any question that he’s writing of a dystopia, but it’s more like what it would be like as a society is edging towards one. Well, I don’t know…it’s like Lewis had a grasp of the Overton Window before Overton, but applied it as a literary device. This is why I don’t post much. It’s all too much. Too much.

Re: Dem Circus Was a Ratings Hit

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 15:36:10 -0000

No doubt. Moreover, they like to make us pay for problems they either aggravate further, or invent them to offer pricey policy solutions and an expanded bureaucracy to manage implementation.

Re: Found: The Stupidest Political Science Study Ever

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 06:13:21 -0000

Lewis just got it so clearly. N.I.C.E.
p.s.-what part of NH? Spent most of my life there

Re: Found: The Stupidest Political Science Study Ever

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 16:20:06 -0000

Know it well. Teen years inLondonderry. Up and down 89 during grad school at Dartmouth (I was definitely a voice in a wilderness). Lots of skiing at Sunapee and elsewhere. Days gone by.

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 23:15:09 -0000

Jane…there’s much I could say. I decided to be nearly silent. No general is privileged to serve. Command and flag officers are just as political…forget it. You are a waste of time.

Lowly Corporal
USMC 1986-1992

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 00:06:18 -0000

He’s making the 4th of July Great Again.

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 00:18:46 -0000

I encourage everyone to take some time and listen to Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” followed by his discussion of how he came to compose it and why. Both can be found on YouTube. It may seem odd to suggest this on the Fourth of July. However, if one reflects on how Francis Scott Key came to compose the Star Spangled Banner and the antinomy of the conditions in which he found himself, then it’ll make sense. This is a self-selecting exercise.

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 00:38:54 -0000

But Mr. Graham, I must protest. While a grad student, an older scholar of a different era remarked that “if you scratch a Roman, you’re bound to find a Greek.” Later, as a professor myself, I used to suggest to my Western Civilization students that if you “scratched an American you’d be bound to find the history of the West.” As I pointed out in a post above, I’m just a former lowly USMC Corporal. Never shared a dais with anyone of renown.

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 01:30:38 -0000

Yes, Mr. Graham! Yes…alas, I did. Once upon a time. Though I gave some, but not all, to our great country, I’m a casualty of the war in academia. For that, there is no glory, no honor, no final place to rest. Dante comically warned that we should “abandon all hope, ye who should enter here.” The hatch transitioning from the civilian world to Marine Corps Recruit Depot was demarcated by similar meter, “Through these portals pass the world’s finest fighting men.” Well, when men were men, I guess. In any event, a crucible. Now, “in mid life, I wander through a dark wood.” Dante, again, for those who wonder. It’s okay, “Not all who wander are lost.” 🤦‍♂️

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 01:42:17 -0000

As a rejoinder, those who faced tanks in Tiananmen Square were said to have shouted from Second Treatise, not Das Kapital. Perhaps sometime after those in Hong Kong protest the mainland, it will spread…further East to, dare I say California! Here’s the rub…either way, the opposing views are from the West. Wouldn’t it be something to see the worst of the West rejected by those who wish to breath free in the East?

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 01:59:50 -0000

Don’t get me started on the greatness of the Presbyters…Wannamaker’s in Philadelphia!

Re: The Genius of Trump, the Madness of the Libs

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 02:35:22 -0000

That’s it! I need to quote from my own commentary regarding the PL post concerning American Pride:

“As a rejoinder, those who faced tanks in Tiananmen Square were said to have shouted from Second Treatise, not Das Kapital. Perhaps sometime after those in Hong Kong protest the mainland, it will spread…further East to, dare I say California! Here’s the rub…either way, the opposing views are from the West. Wouldn’t it be something to see the worst of the West rejected by those who wish to breath free in the East?”

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 03:34:00 -0000

Well, I think that for leftist Christians the leap from being an American Jeremiad to Stockholm Syndrome was just like jumping to false conclusions: quick and short.

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 16:08:44 -0000

Thank you for the correction. Typed in haste and a bit of frustration. I’ve fixed it.

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 21:53:00 -0000

I’ve been a follower of PowerLine since the Dan Rather scandal during the Presidential election season of 2004. I rarely comment as I’m often too overwhelmed by what I do and don’t know. That you view my commentary as eloquent…well, golly, I don’t know what to say. So far as my beloved Corps? I’ve never done anything greater. I’d do it again, but would wish to do so with perspective. We’ll all have 2020 in six months. How we never see it when in our youth. Always misspent. When I pass, as we all do, I hope that our flag will still be here. I hope that we are allowed to have a Cross as a headstone in a National Cemetery. I hope no one begrudges me for saying that. To all my fellow Marines and other service members, thank you for your sacrifices big and small. Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Re: Pride? That Depends | Power Line

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 22:22:28 -0000

Yes, Mr. Elmquist…yes it is. Read Jefferson’s Letters. Particularly his Virginia letters. They are unquestionably ambivalent about slavery and quite enlightening. Suffice to say that I’ll suffer heaps of malevolence from certain quarters. Indeed, on my maternal grandfather’s side I have an ancestor who owned a slave. That slave read my great-great-great grandfather’s eulogy. On my maternal grandmother ‘s side I am Seminole. Do I pay reparations or do I get a casino? Well, I am a Marine. I love my native ground. All I ask is a bit of hallowed ground to rest in some day.

Re: Trump’s Independence Day Speech

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:32:55 -0000

Mr. Fulkerson, humbly I must submit, the x=Chi and lower case p=Rho. The letters are seen overlapping in the Western Church. I like to tell folks that if they think they can offer some secular pablum like merry x-mass which removes Christ from Christmas. Along the lines of your retort, I chuckle and council them that they should take up a little Greek. Then I wait for them to tell me that December 25th is the birthday of Mithras. My great aunt died on December 25th, 1999. What’s the connection? Little to nothing. My birthday frequently falls on Labor Day. So many people take the day off and celebrate my epiphany…not. Ironically, I was born a year to the day later on my parents first anniversary. Likewise, mothers youngest sister’s birthday shares the date. The stars are countless, so are the years. Something is bound to line up here and there every now and again.

Re: Trump’s Independence Day Speech

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:42:11 -0000

Yes, Supervixen, it does. I love telling secular observers just that; You can’t take Christ out of Christmas by saying Merry X-mass, because, well, as I explained above. They can stick that candy cane in their stocking…or shepherds staff in Birkenstock’s…and vape some frankincense.

Re: Trump’s Independence Day Speech

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:43:49 -0000

What does 4th of July have to do with Christmas? Ask Hallmark. They are running the movies all this month between the two channels.

Re: Trump’s Independence Day Speech

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 02:13:59 -0000

Oh come on…I meant no harm. Nonetheless, we are indebted to a blend of the best that Greco-Roman, Judaeo-Christian and Anglo-Saxon created. We’d be so much better off if young people had a rudimentary understanding of Greek and Latin. To defend the West requires that we nourish the roots of the Tree of Liberty. Jefferson remarked that it may be necessary to do just that with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike. I’d like to take up Shakespeare’s pen before the sword. For now my USMC NCO sword hangs with scabbard on the wall. If it becomes necessary, I’ll bring that and more to join you against the attacks. In the meantime, I choose words. Take care, Supervixen.

Re: Trump’s Independence Day Speech

Mark, shall the Twain meet? — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 02:33:21 -0000

Esoteric…that’s a great word: from Greek esoterikos. Education, from Latin, educare meaning to bring out. I made no case whatsoever for public education. Indeed, many young people have a limited vocabulary for English. So, I guess we should just stop using the more “esoteric” words of English.