The FReeper Foxhole Studies Nathan Hale - June 20th, 2003

http://ursamajor.hartnet.org/als/nathanhale/ ^

[Darksheare]

Yeah.
Or they both deny having anything to do with you.
Or it's, "Talk to your mother/father." depending on who you're talking to.
It is a riot.

Aaaahhh.. Youth. I remember it well.
*Chuckle*

[SAMWolf]

I think the most used line by my mom was "Wait till your father gets home!" We knew we had had it then. My dad never accepted excuses and there was only one side of the story.. mom's.

[SAMWolf]

We all know that Nathan Hale slept in Connecticut Hall. And now, thanks to Richard Mooney '47, we know where he died -- more or less. When Mooney found that the spot where Hale was hanged by the British is somewhere near Third Avenue and 66th Street in Manhattan, he arranged for a plaque commemorating the spot to be placed on the facade of a new apartment building nearby

[Darksheare]

For me it was, "Wait till later. I'll get you."
I learned that sneakery and treachery are the weapons a woman has at her disposal.
Mom would wait a long time to get one back.
(Delayed punishment, it's own suspense horror story.)
I swear she studied that from Alfred Hitchcock.

[Darksheare]

That, and I always suspected that the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz was based off of a real live person.
My mom.

Mom should have been a Ninja, considering how patiently she'd make us wait for the hammer to fall.
But, on the other hand, we young'uns got away with murder.
My parents never batted an eye when I flattened the backyard in a small mealstrom of flame and explosion...

[SAMWolf]

Hale Receiving Instructions From Washington

Johnston, Henry P. "Captain Nathan Hale." Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Volume LXI. June To November, 1880. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880.

[SAMWolf]

My mom was pretty easy going and we knew pretty much how much we could get away with.

My dad only told us to "stop it" once, there wasn't a second time and we knew it.

[Darksheare]

Dad always sighed and said, "Kids." as if we were some sort of invasion or punishment from God.
I suppose we were, all three of us.

Mom usually did her best to not have an anyeurism pop.
She's the one who had to deal with us, often, all day.
And she got to see firsthand how much destruction could be wrought by two boys with shovels.
We remodeled the backyard the one day...
Ever wonder how long it takes two kids to dig a 10lx8wx5d foot hole?
One afternoon between the hours of one and four.
With time leftover to throw mudclods at the neighbors kids..

[SAMWolf]

Well it's nice to know that there were still some kids who were allowed to be kids recently.

[Darksheare]

Well, that was the early to mid-80's.
After that, kids weren't allowed out without state supervision and forced medication.

But, I will forever recall my 'growing up' years with fondness, and a keen eye towards the premise that it was almost inevitable that I joined artillery later on.
Any kid who blew up his backyard needs to join the military where such curiosty is useful.

*chuckle*
I wonder if the pit we dug is still there?
We never filled it in.

[snippy_about_it]

I learned that sneakery and treachery are the weapons a woman has at her disposal.

hehehe....

[Darksheare]

Yuppers.
Womyn can be sneaky.
And.. I learned to make use of the same tactics at times.

But women are the undisputed masters at it.
And it makes me shudder to think: What if women were the dominant sex and had developed military strategy and theory?
What would be different, and how would such a world look and act?
(I see a short fiction story coming from this line of thought somewhere.)

Egads.. That is a... uncomfortable thought somewhat.

[snippy_about_it]

What if women were the dominant sex...

I shudder to think also. I like just the way it is. :)

[snippy_about_it]

My, I'm late today...Break Time!

It's a wav file, give it time to load.

[snippy_about_it]

While I'm just sitting here I might as well post a thought. I was thinking about Johnny being on vacation and missing his Air Power posts...

We miss you Johnny Gage, hope you're having fun and getting rest!

[PhilDragoo]

So the CIA has Hale's statue; isn't that special.

What the CIA does not have is human intelligence, humint in trade jargon.

Pointed out by 24-year CIA case officer Robert Baer in his SEE NO EVIL: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism, Crown, 2002.

Baer describes his superior in Iraq busily shining his shoes and shipping Baer off to get him out of the action.

Today Bill Gertz of the Washington Times, the best-sourced writer on intel today, told Rush Limbaugh's audience that CIA is only now, 20 months after 911, graduating case officers.

It should be recalled that James Earl Carter's classmate Stansfield Turner upon taking the helm of CIA fired 800 case officers.

And that Clinton's replacement for James Woolsey, John Deutch, made it clear his intention was to "f--k them".

Even now--even now: per Gertz, CIA case officer in Baghdad is not permitted out of the compound without armed guard. So, after this fine and stirring account of the matchless Nathan Hale, be advised we are still led by worse than cattle, the pigs of bureaucracy.

Gertz' BREAKDOWN: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11, Regnery, 2002, is out in revised and updated paperback.

Who can doubt that the Clintons know where Saddam's WMDs are and that they'll be delivered as part of the Demunist See-We-Told-You-So before next year's election.

See also "Tree of Liberty, Blood of Tyrants".

~~~

"I regret that I have but one life to give for my country" are not the words of Nathan Hale, he was quoting a line from a contemporary play by John Addison. George Washington paid a traveling troop to perform the play throughout New England so that it would whip-up the fervor of the people. The play was "Cato the Censor," about a Roman official who was forced to kill himself. He was renowned among Washington's contemporaries because he was willing to resist the will of Caesar knowing full-well that it would cost him his life.

A tradition says that Hale spent the night confined in a greenhouse on the Beekman estate and that he was denied a minister or even a bible by the provost marshall, an unsavory character named William Cunningham. We know that the next morning, Sunday, September 22, 1776 at 11:00 AM, Nathan Hale was marched north, about a mile up the post road to the Park of Artillery. It was located next to a public house called the Dove Tavern, about 5 1/2 miles from the city limits. This mileage along the Post Road corresponds closely with the traditional site of the Dove Tavern at the present NW corner of 66th Street and 3rd Avenue.

Cornwallis: But you can't be serious.

Washington: I never jest. Give us the hat and we'll hang you without delay.

Cornwallis: B-but--

Washington: Have you then not a scintilla of the courage of young Hale? Very well--Guards, remove this garbage.

~~~

The British Parliament has just caused the loss of MI5's agent embedded in the IRA.

A dangerous and spectacularly successful mission of espionage torpedoed by the descendants of the execrable Cunningham.

Karma: Not just a curious notion: Newton's Fourth Law.

[snippy_about_it]

Very effectual post. Thank you Phil.

[snippy_about_it]

Good Night SAM.

[SAMWolf]

Good Blondie song!!

[SAMWolf]

Evening PhilDragoo.

The Democrats managed to gut our Intelligence Services and we've never recovered. 9/11 and other acts of terroism are results of stupid decisions made by politicians years ago.