Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 07, 2011

Oh oh. Who knows what evil lies at the hearts of man?

Duke has a one-of-a-kind business!

^ History shows that is probably a forlorn hope.

On the other hand, I would have bet everything I owned that the Berlin Wall would not come down in my lifetime. So maybe the Arabs can fast-forward a few centuries and surprise us all.

sandfan: and the persians, also.

@ Chikuku

I too thought Iran might act, but only indirectly by supporting the Shiite majority working in Bahrain. After its war with Iraq in the 1980s, Iran doesn’t want another war with an Arab country. On the other hand, if the Arab country is Syria and if Turkey intervenes in its neighbor’s breakup, Iran would surely flex its muscles through Hezbollah and help bring Syria’s Alawite (Baathist) tyrants to their knees. And that move, in turn, might lead us to cooperate with Iran, as we should be doing, to preserve stability in the Near East.

Except for Jordan’s Hussein, Arab leaders are our common enemy, and Iran, along with Turkey, is our natural ally against the lot of them. I’d much rather buy oil from Iran than from those despicable Saudis who sponsored 9/11.

So much for “easing” back in, Duke - good luck with that Syria desk.

I heard yesterday on NPR that the lobbying firm who lobbies for the Pakistani government on Capitol Hill is paid $1 million a year to make sure that the Pakis get their foreign aid.

Apparently, you can sell your soul …

It’s not their soul they sold, it was their integrity, and you can do that multiple times.

Let’s face it: honor is the most expensive attribute a person can possess – that’s why so many willingly dispose of it.

sandfan,

Considering that the only way to win that bet was by dying, you must have felt pretty sure if you were willing to bet everything you owned.

Laughing…

Seriously, I was also amazed beyond measure by the fall of the Berlin wall.

I think Duke and Earl should go into the sports agent business. Plenty of money there.

With all the talk this week about the dirtbags of history, I’ve got one for the Ages. If the Final Jeopardy answer is: “Hans-Ulrich Rudel”, then the winning question is: “Who was the most fanatical, tenacious, and indestructible dirtbag Stuka pilot of WWII?” This is an individual, who with an obsolete single engine aircraft caused more destruction than any single person in WWII over a six year period and survived. He destroyed the equivalent to a Soviet armored division, one T-34 at a time, the better part of a Soviet fleet, prevailed in about a dozen dogfights with his dive bomber, and landed behind enemy lines to rescue various comrades, including the time he was captured and then escaped after a 30 mile sprint fest with a bullet in his shoulder. He was awarded so many Knights Crosses of the Iron Cross with oak leaves clusters and swords and diamonds blah, blah, blah, that it was equivalent to 4 or 5 Medals of Honor. He made such an impact on the Soviets that Stalin offered a 100,000 ruble reward for the killing of Rudel. Think about it. If you flew one dive bombing mission every day, how many years would it take to fly the 3500 missions he flew?

After fighting WWII in the most ferocious way possible, Rudel had all sorts of serious medical issues. After surrendering to the Americans, he was put back together and eventually made his way to Argentina, where he was a confidant of Agusto Pinochet, admired by Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, and buddies with Dr. Joseph Mengele. He also wrote a book that loosely translated said: “No regrets, given a chance I would do it all over again.” In his spare time he climbed the highest mountain in the hemisphere, and the highest volcano in South America three times all 22,000+ ft high, with a prosthedic leg. He eventually returned to Germany and became a successful biz man. After he died his grave site became a virtual Neo-Nazi shrine. To avoid that spectacle it’s best that Bin Laden was “eased” away the way he was.

Sunday is the 66th anniversary of the end of hostilities in Europe, and the surrender of Rudel. Even then he was defiant. I wonder if he was smirking about Stuka Girl.

Good to see Duke find his groove again.

And if Rudel had been fighting on our side, FriscoLou, you’d be cheering his heroic memory every veterans’ day! One man’s terrorist…

How many of those college kids are from Walden? This might be another job opportunity for Jeff and Zipper.