Just scatter shot of things mentioned in meeting
- how do we define good
- why do 1/3 of americans think america is a fundamentally evil nation
- the american revolution is the only revolution to not end in a tyranny
- culture is everything
- cultural changes, not chronology, is an alternative way to study history
- france's proximity to england and germany forced the top-down leadership to industrialize.
- france: catholic, etc. Top Down culture. Betrayal in verdun and the 1917 mutinies (walked to nomans land and shelled by their own artillery). french battalions at verdune were cycled to the front line, the germans funneled their troops in. so the germans who fought died, the french who fought and survived got out and told everyone else how fucked they were. 1930s france - communists versus facists. french saying "better the germans than the communists". 1940s - because their government had betrayed them the last time, they walked away when the germans attacked. 1950s - algeria and Battle of Dien Bien Phu. total loss of convidence in dien bien, and in algeria, they were successful in their fight against the algerian nationalists because of their torture their way up the command chain technique, but the French saw this in the newspapers etc. and did not want to see themselves as murderers, so they left. 1960s france gets liberal student-run entitlement gov. which brings us to present day bankruptcy.
- israel - army takes 48-72 hours to mobilize. some enemy officer realized they could use hoses to wash away their slowing dunes, so israel almost got owned. but the usa FLEW in hundreds of tanks through portugal and saved the day. israel is unsure whether the usa will provide utter support if anything happens again.
- Bush White House checked with rapture Christians before Israel move
- House of Medici, Lorenzo de' Medici
- There are no shovel-ready gov. projects, but we are throwing money at "fixing the economy" as if there were.
That's all i can remember for now, if anyone else has interesting stuff add it in the comments
also, for those who have not yet seen it, The Onion Money Pit
1. "Amerika" the Evil referenced Shelby Steele in the WSJ; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304173704575578363243019000.html?KEYWORDS=steele
ReplyDelete2. The Yom Kippur war of 1973 is well covered in Wikipedia. Be sure to read the very end with its discussion of winners and losers. Note also that the Oil Embargo of the 70's was triggered by America's support of Israel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War
3. the Money Pit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnX-D4kkPOQ
4. From English history: the Glorious Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Watt's steam engine, from WWI the Somme, Pashendale, end of English rule in India, Thatcher
5. French history; effects of the Edict of Nantes revocation (compare this to Queen Mary of England having an heir compared to getting Elizabeth I)
6. French army mutinies of 1917: Wikipedia states that the stories of mutineers being killed by artillary are not documented;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Army_Mutinies_(1917)