It General Smedley Butlers when it is General Smedley Butlering Time

[omorka]

The Spouse mentioned the Fortean adage "It steam-engines when it is steam-engine time" this weekend. The idea, of course, is that there are some inventions, ideas, thoughts, etc. that do not have single inventors because they simply appear in the stream of history when they become obvious. The steam engine was Fort's example, but the television and the computer are actually better examples.

I had never, to my recollection, heard of U.S. Marine Corps General Smedley Butler before watching The Corporation this weekend. Now, my U.S. History class in 11th grade kind of plowed through the Depression/New Deal era to get to WWII, so this might merely have been an artifact of not catching it then, but I'm pretty sure the name wasn't even mentioned in the textbook.

Then I check up on the Straight Dope website, just to see what's been posted recently, and I find Cecil's column of the 18th of this month.

Obviously it was time for me to hear about this, although I'll be damned if I can understand why (except as the obvious cautionary tale).

Comments

On the same note

[lord-of-entropy.livejournal.com]

I was telling my roommates about the US' fascist putsch attempt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) at the beginning of this month, which neither of them had heard of- it did led well into a general "the OSS & SS members- two great tastes that taste great together" convo, though

I for one...

[wyldraven.livejournal.com]

am firmly convinced that there are factions within this nation actively working to bring about a fascist state, but it's not a military one they seek. It is a religious one. The theocrats already dominate the Republican party, including the current president, They control a major part of the Congress, and will soon have a majority on SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US).

We are very close to losing the Bill of Rights (see any rational discussion of the "Patriot Act"). Women are intended to be slaves to their husbands. I refer you to Alito and this article (http://www.slate.com/id/2129321/).

Perhaps this is the reason Smedley is coming to our attention now. Cautionary tale indeed.

Re: I for one...

[wyldraven.livejournal.com]

BTW: If you are inclined, and I assume most reading this would be, to keep up to date on the theocrats, there are a number of places to so online.

dark_christian
http://www.theocracywatch.org/
http://www.talk2action.org/

Even Mother Jones has recognized the threat, and dedicated the current issue to the topic.

http://www.motherjones.com/toc/2005/12/index.html