Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog

Proud Papa you must be. I didn't do any prep for the PSAT, and in fact only signed up because I heard they were giving out free donuts.

OK, there was the scholarship thing too...

But I'm glad your 14-year-old is so studious. Of course being a regular reader I deduce your kids are all pretty bright.

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. :-D

My favorite analogy these days is this one:

Colin Powell:Iraq War::Bethmann-Hollweg:World War I.

You can go quite far with this one---

Wolfowitz = Schlieffen
Patriot Act = response to Zabern
Bush Sr, Jr = Wilhelm I, II
Conservatives = Agrarians
Missile defense = naval arms race
Mohammed Atta = Gavrilo Princip
"appeal" to UN = ultimatum to Serbia
population kept in dark about cost of war = ditto

Proud Papa you must be. I didn't do any prep for the PSAT, and in fact only signed up because I heard they were giving out free donuts.

OK, there was the scholarship thing too...

But I'm glad your 14-year-old is so studious. Of course being a regular reader I deduce your kids are all pretty bright.

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. :-D

No, not a very good analogy. I haven't read those books, but I did just do a quick Google-based background check on Reynaud de Chatillon and have already found three things wrong with your analogy:
1. Reynaud is described as "bloodthirsty". If Sharon were as bloodthirsty as he's made out to be (and certainly if he were as bloodthirsty as, say, Yasser Arafat), given Israel's overwhelming military superiority, there would be many, many, many more Palestinian civilian casualties than there are now. While there have been Palestinian civilian casualties, it's clear that most of them result from a deliberate Palestinian strategy of siting military operations in heavily populated civilian areas. In any case, events where there have been heavy Palestinian civilian casualties are typically followed by investigations and, when called for, apologies. I don't think there were any official crusader investigations or apologies.
2. Reynaud broke several truces. Most of the "cease-fires" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (and most notably the Abu Mazen "hudna" of summer 2003) were broken by Palestinian suicide bombings.
3. and most importantly, Reynaud was a rogue knight who rode around the Middle East attacking whomever he felt like, whenever he felt like it. Sharon is the elected Prime Minister of a democratic state. He can be (and in the next few months almost certainly will be) kicked out of power whenever the Israeli populace wants him out. Whoever replaces him will almost certainly follow a similar set of policies, which reflect the imperatives of self-defense and the absence of a Palestinian partner who's willing to talk seriously about peace.

No, not a very good analogy. I haven't read those books, but I did just do a quick Google-based background check on Reynaud de Chatillon and have already found three things wrong with your analogy:
1. Reynaud is described as "bloodthirsty". If Sharon were as bloodthirsty as he's made out to be (and certainly if he were as bloodthirsty as, say, Yasser Arafat), given Israel's overwhelming military superiority, there would be many, many, many more Palestinian civilian casualties than there are now. While there have been Palestinian civilian casualties, it's clear that most of them result from a deliberate Palestinian strategy of siting military operations in heavily populated civilian areas. In any case, events where there have been heavy Palestinian civilian casualties are typically followed by investigations and, when called for, apologies. I don't think there were any official crusader investigations or apologies.
2. Reynaud broke several truces. Most of the "cease-fires" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (and most notably the Abu Mazen "hudna" of summer 2003) were broken by Palestinian suicide bombings.
3. and most importantly, Reynaud was a rogue knight who rode around the Middle East attacking whomever he felt like, whenever he felt like it. Sharon is the elected Prime Minister of a democratic state. He can be (and in the next few months almost certainly will be) kicked out of power whenever the Israeli populace wants him out. Whoever replaces him will almost certainly follow a similar set of policies, which reflect the imperatives of self-defense and the absence of a Palestinian partner who's willing to talk seriously about peace.

Which is it, True of False?

Are you saying that question is on the practice test? I have 11- and 13-year-olds, getting good grades at a quality public school, and I have serious doubts that either of them could find Jerusalem on the map or tell me when the Middle Ages were. And as a pretty well educated adult, I wouldn't know Reynaud de Chatillon if I tripped over him -- nor would I have way back in the day when I got 99+ percentiles on my own college boards.

I hope this question is your own intellectual exercise and not on the practice test. I have 11- and 13-year-olds, getting very good grades at a quality public school, and I have my doubts that either of them could find Jerusalem on the map or tell me when the Middle Ages were. And as a pretty well educated adult, I wouldn't know Reynaud de Chatillon if I tripped over him -- nor would I have way back in the day when I got 99+ percentiles on my own college boards.

Geez, the double posting problem on this site is a bear. Having, like everybody else, been burned previously, I waited, checked, waited, checked, killed the posting window, waited, checked, finally concluded the posting had failed, and posted a slightly edited version. You get both. Please enjoy whichever you prefer.

Geez, the double posting problem on this site is a bear. Having, like everybody else, been burned previously, I waited, checked, waited, checked, killed the posting window, waited, checked, finally concluded the posting had failed, and posted a slightly edited version. You get both. Please enjoy whichever you prefer.

Geez, the double posting problem on this site is a bear. Having, like everybody else, been burned previously, I waited, checked, waited, checked, killed the posting window, waited, checked, finally concluded the posting had failed, and posted a slightly edited version. You get both. Please enjoy whichever you prefer.

NOW CUT THAT OUT! The last time I only hit "post" once.

Goodness Ben, you don't have that mind open so much as a crack, do you? Most reasonable people see both Sharon and Arafat as major obstacles to peace. Simply because the analogy doesn't address both at the same time doesn't mean it isn't true.

Time to get away from fundamentalism on both sides in that conflict, before everybody ends up righteously dead.

Goodness Ben, you don't have that mind open so much as a crack, do you? Most reasonable people see both Sharon and Arafat as major obstacles to peace. Simply because the analogy doesn't address both at the same time doesn't mean it isn't true.

Time to get away from fundamentalism on both sides in that conflict, before everybody ends up righteously dead.

Watch Terry Jones' "Crusades," then Runciman will be a must read.

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"It was quite a feat to accomplish this," said one of the geeks. "I mean,
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captured by inside investors. Unfortunately, a random universe full of
relative variables does not insure such a "safe line of investigations."

-- Assessment of Ix, Bene Gesserit Archives

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