Bill Whittle

18 Responses to Bill Whittle

1. KG says:

   September 13, 2013 at 09:49

   The first time in ten years I’ve seen Bill Whittle show real anger.
2. The Gantt Guy says:

   September 13, 2013 at 10:21

   Where are our Churchills and our Reagans? I believe one of them made that video, if only he would make a run for office.
   • Darin says:

     September 13, 2013 at 10:53

     The boss and I were talking about this Obama telepromter diplomacy today and we came to the subject of Reagan.I refered to Reagan’s method as “Tuco diplomacy”
     “When you have to shoot,shoot,don’t talk.”

     http://youtu.be/sTcBgs2huRo?t=40s

     Reagan would have considered the problem and if he decided an attack was warranted he would have just done it and explained it the following day.None of this parsing of words and twisting of phrases and talking points followed by more dithering.
     • The Gantt Guy says:

       September 13, 2013 at 11:04

       I think Iran’s response to Reagan’s swearing-in speaks so very loudly of the impact Reagan had on the world. The act of him putting his hand on the Bible and swearing to uphold the Constitution was enough for the mad mullahs to shit in their turbans. He didn’t have to fire a single missile/rocket/bullet. Just knowing what he would do to them was enough.

       Compare that with the jug-eared Kenyan goat-raper squatting illegally in the White House today, turning the US into an international laughing stock of a kind of which Carter could only dream.
       • Darin says:

         September 13, 2013 at 11:12

         Dead right,Carter is probably jumping with joy that somebody more incompetent and stupid has come along.
         • The Gantt Guy says:

           September 13, 2013 at 11:16

           Sorry darin, I disagree. Ogabe wants you to think he’s incompetent and stupid.

           Don’t confuse evil with incompetence. He is doing exactly what he promised; fundamentally transforming your once-great nation.
3. KG says:

   September 13, 2013 at 10:31

   Looking at buying The Last Lion in paperback from Amazon. It’s going to cost a bit for shipping all three volumes, though.
   • john says:

     September 13, 2013 at 15:15

     KG, have you tried Book Depository?
     I have found their pricing competitive and it includes freight.
     Delivery time is excellent too.
     • KG says:

       September 13, 2013 at 15:21

       Thanks John, I’ll go take a look. So far, the price I have for the three volumes (in hardcover) is $140+postage. Hopefully I can get all three in paperback for a lot less.
   • Dallas says:

     September 13, 2013 at 16:17

     I cheat lots these days and listen to books on my ipod to Audible.com recordings. The Last Lion is in the repertoire and was very enjoyable to listen to.

     Also very good is the slow motion train wreck of Munich 1938: Appeasement and World War II by David Faber.

     Both books are excellent chronicles of the human factors by which the world fell into that catastrophe. I would recommend both to anyone seriously interested in learning from history – how it all went down – and to recognize the parallels today.
     • KG says:

       September 13, 2013 at 16:25

       I could get it on Kindle, Dallas, but that means I can’t loan them or pass the books on after reading them.
4. Darin says:

   September 13, 2013 at 10:41

   The striking difference between realists and dreamers?Both Hitler and Churchill were realists.Chamberlain was a dreamer,so was Roosevelt for that matter,but at least Roosevelt was woke up early on and was smart enough to leave the fighting up to two realists in Eisenhower and MacArthur.

   In our current time with have Obama playing the role of the dreamer and Putin living the role of a Realist.Obama is ignorant of the fact or simply doesn’t care that Putin has some skin in the game.He knows exactly who he is fighting and he is risking attacks against the Russian homeland by Al Queda and they’re offshoots (Beslan).

   Granted Putin knows how to deal with terrorist(Chechnya),but if attacks occur in Russia and Putin retaliates who’s side will Obama take?Given the mindset of a dreamer and his current track record of siding with terrorists it’s safe to assume he will back the wrong side just as Carter did in Iran and just as Clinton did In Bosnia and Chechnya.
5. Flashman says:

   September 14, 2013 at 05:08

   The one positive to come out of Munich was that it bought time for Britain to kickstart a massive rearmament programme which included the accelerated construction of its radar system, naval builds and fighter aircraft shadow factories.

   One could say that Chamberlain signed at Munich to win a time window to make up for the terrible locust years which preceded 1938.
   • KG says:

     September 14, 2013 at 07:07

     One could, but that wasn’t his intention, was it?
     • john says:

       September 14, 2013 at 07:28

       Exactly, KG.
     • Flashman says:

       September 14, 2013 at 07:44

       Chamberlain is a very interesting political figure. As PM he was gifted the head-shot hospital pass of the financial and human horror of The Great War (pacifism, never-again, not-my-sons, and grinding unemployment worries were running hot and strong among the electorate) all compounded by the economic catastrophe that was the 1930’s.

       Short of declaring war in 1938, he went to Munich, bought time and drew a line in the sand. It was under Chamberlain’s direction that Britain prepared for war. And when the nazi’s invaded Poland he didn’t hesitate. But one can hear the pain in his voice in his radio broadcast.

       I’m also conscious of the fact that Chamberlain died before being able to tell his side of the story.

       And as Churchill lived to write to craft his version of the history…well, history teaches us what victors do.

       Personally I don’t believe Chamberlain was as weak and stupid as Churchillian revisionists would have us believe. If he dragged his feet over confronting Hitler it was probably out of a mistaken belief that the nazi was a pragmatist (like all mainstream pollies ought to be) and a dread fear of mis-stepping and leading an unprepared country into another four years of mass-slaughter in Flanders.
6. Flashman says:

   September 14, 2013 at 07:49

   PS:
   And let’s not forget that Churchill is quoted as once saying, “Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.”
7. Flashman says:

   September 14, 2013 at 08:33

   Another thought….France.

   In 1938 there was no possibility of Britain going to war with Germany without a bonded alliance with France. Yet that country was wholly unprepared for such a conflict. More than America today, it was polarized between the Left and Right. Marxist-communists were demanding a bolshevik-style revolution. And the Right was quite seriously infatuated by nazi doctrines and practices. Collation governments were formed and dissolved almost by the week.

   France had paid a terrible price in The Great War and, not surprisingly, had diverted the lion’s share of its military estimates into projects like the Maginot Line. Defensive mindedness dominated French thinking: it suited their vast legions of reservists and conscripts.

   Taken together, I believe a case can be made for showing that – emphasis: in 1938 – Chamberlain did the best he could with the cards he was dealt. And I suppose there are few would could have done better – and most a lot worse. But that is perhaps straying too far into the murky foothills of alt.history.alternative.

   Suggestion: pop on over to Youtube and listen to Chamberlain’s 3 Sept 1939 broadcast, it’s just over three minutes long but in the final half he lays it out with clear exactitude…Hitler is unmasked as no statesman and no trust can be placed in him. Civilized values, workable compromises and pragmatic diplomacy are thus meaningless to the nazi’s except insofar as they display one’s weakness.

   To end… Courtesy of Sting’s “Englishman in New York”….

   “Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety
   You could end up as the only one
   Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society
   At night a candle’s brighter than the sun

   Takes more than combat gear to make a man
   Takes more than a license for a gun
   Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can
   A gentleman will walk but never run.”