Here’s the review for that book that I was talking about a few days ago (The Limits of Power by Andrew Bacevich:

American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States is unique and different from other countries and should be an example for other places in the world. This idea has become something of legends through global politics. Andrew Bacevich points out that this idea of exceptionalism along with our expansionist history and the idea of wanting instant gratification have hurt our country (full disclosure: I tend to agree with him).

Bacevich runs through some American history (focusing mostly on the latter part of the century). He also focuses a lot on the differences between the Carter and Reagan presidency. Carter spoke of self-restraint, using less resources (remember he would have been speaking about the energy crisis) and being more responsible. He was seen as talking down to a lot of Americans. Reagan, on the other hand, was essentially Mr. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright saying that everyone should be able to get what they want and setting the stage for some of the things that the country faced in the 90s and even 2000s.

Bacevich also discusses a lot about the implication of the military on foreign policy, something that I’m particularly interested in. He offers up the idea that some believe that military power counters uncertainty and how this unchecked military growth can potentially harm what goals we are trying to reach with our foreign policy. I think particularly in the past decade, this has most definitely been seen. Bacevich includes this quote (which really gets at the point) by Winston Churchill:
“A statesman who yields to war fever is no longer the master of policy, but the slave of unforseeable and uncontrollable events.”

I definitely do not agree with everything that Bacevich had to say but I do believe that he had a lot of good points. It was especially interesting to read the book knowing that Bacevich is former military and I almost feel that coming from that background made what he had to say even more interesting. I’d recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in politics, military strategy and foreign policy.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

(Posted originally at Goodreads)

Also, I’m strongly considering starting a book review only blog (probably through Blogspot or WordPress).  I’ve been talking to a few people about doing something like that. I think it would be a lot of fun. And not to worry, I’m not leaving Xanga (how could I ever???). The book blogging would be in addition to Xanga blogging.

Do any of you read book blogs? What do you like about them? What makes a good book blog?

The weather has been messing with me today. It’s been off and on rainy and sunny with a crazy amount of wind that comes up every now and again. I’m off today so I went up to the other Borders in the city that’s closing. When I left the house, I would have been fine in a short sleeved shirt. I was probably only in Borders for 20-30 minutes. By the time I left, the wind had picked up and it was raining. I took the Metro back home (about 10-15 minutes away) and when I got off at my stop, it was sunny again. As soon as a walked home, the skies opened again. Sigh…

I did get a few more things that had been on my wish list though:
1. A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
2. Great Expectations by Dickens
3. Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Hardy
4. Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy
5. Mistress of Rome by Quinn
6. The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Furnivall.

Other than that, it’s been a relaxing day of reading, drinking tea and doing a little bit of cleaning.

One of my sisters, B, is coming to hang out with me tomorrow. The Architect is going camping (yeah, in February) with my dad and a bunch of other guys for annual trip that some of the guys have been doing for close to 20 years now. B’s boyfriend is in the throws of thesis land.

I’m still not sure what we’re going to do. Maybe a museum? Maybe shopping? Whatever it is it’ll probably include lunch and a lot of catching up.

Last night I was reading a great book called The Limits of Power: An End to American Exceptionalism by Andrew Bacevich. Basically it talks about how sort of dangerous the idea of exceptionalism (the idea that we as a country are unique and one of a kind and meant for some great destiny) is for foreign policy. It’s a very interesting supposition. The author focuses mostly on the time period between the Carter administration and the Bush II administration. It’s only about 180 pages but it covers so much ground. The author ties together the ideas of the “empire of expansion” as it bleeds into the “empire of consumption” and the affect on topics such as oil, the end of the Cold War, the various doctrines that came out during the 1970s through the 2000s, as well as all of the “small wars” (rather irregular warfare) that we’ve fought mostly since the 1990s.

It may not sound fascinating to everyone but in my case, once a political science nerd, always a political science nerd. I couldn’t put the book down. It had so many huge ideas in it that I wanted to ruminate on as well as several topics that I want to research that I had to grab my notebook, which is usually used to write insightful things about book club books so I have something to talk about. I wrote down a whole bunch of notes about some of the main ideas of the book.

The Architect came in last night and was confused as to why I was writing stuff down in my notebook while reading a book that was not book club book. I tried to explain about what I was doing and he thought I was a little odd for not just simply enjoying the book. It wasn’t like I was going to be made to repeat anything I learned. It was at that point that I realized two things. First, that I am an incorrigible policy wonk. Second, that I kind of miss college. I wish it were a little easier (and less expensive) to simply audit classes from one of our city’s many universities…

I_was_there_and_back_again asked me if I had posted our wedding pictures in her absence. I have not but it was a good reminder since we have been married for almost six months at this point. If we’re FB friends (if not, add me), you’ve probably already seen these pictures.

We had a harpist, who was absolutely amazing

The closest I came to crying was walking down the aisle and it was mostly from excitement. I was afraid I was going to be crying through the whole ceremony.

My favorite part of any wedding is looking at the groom when he first sees the bride. That look is pure love.

We were surrounded with good friends and family.

My other favorite part of a wedding. I love the kiss. Again, it’s all about the love.

One of my favorite pictures from the ceremony.

So happy to be married!!!

It’s hard to believe we’ve already been married for almost 6 months. Time has flown.

This morning I headed down to one of the two Borders that we have in our fair city. Borders, of course, has just filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and is going through reorganization. Both Borders here in DC are closing. While in general I buy more books from my lovely indie bookstores here (I love supporting local businesses) or Amazon (I love getting books delivered to my door), I can’t help but to feel a little bit nostalgic about losing Borders. Let’s face it, I love just about anywhere that sells books.

I was actually a little surprised that this particular Borders is closing. It’s about two blocks away from the White House, so the location is wonderful. According to all of the emails that I’ve seen, they’ve had a lot of author signings and such there recently. According to the guy at the checkout, they’re usually one of the top grossing stores in the region. I realize that rent has to be astronomical for that area but such is real estate in the Nation’s Capital.

I’ve always loved the lovely smell combo of coffee and books. There’s no other smell like it and it really smells like home to me. The cafe in the Borders that I went had already closed so that smell was already missing. It was a little sad.

The books were 20% off today so I did pick up a few books. I’m a sucker for a sale.

Here’s what I picked up:

1. Rebecca by Daphne DuMarnier
2. The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato
3. The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato
4. A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans
5. Roses by Leila Meacham

I’m hopeful that Borders is able to reorg and maybe come back to the District. Even though throughout this harsh economic climate, we’ve had a lot of places that have closed, we’ve been spared more than many other parts of the country.

(photo credit)

Are any Borders closing near you? Will you be hitting up any of the sales?

I’m a pretty savvy person when it comes to telling who is lying or not. I don’t care for liars but it doesn’t bother me when people lie, particular in places such as the internet. Face it, you essentially have a cloak of anonymity if you want it whenever you log on. And I understand that and it doesn’t bother me. I can usually tell who is lying, being truthful or just stretching the truth a bit. And I generally only associate with people that I feel are being real on Xanga.

If people do lie on the interwebz, I don’t let it bother me. Typically I find lying to be a major cry for help. Many times when there is a screen between us and we’re not really able to help those on the other side. I’m very much a live and let live type of person. Now, if I knew someone was actively hurting themselves or something along those lines, of course I would step in and do what I could to help (and I have before).  But if it’s harmless, why worry our pretty little heads about it?

In general, the stuff that’s going on right now in the Xanga-sphere is innocuous and therefore it really doesn’t bother me all that much. I just don’t understand why everyone is so up in arms about it…

I came across this article the other day. Basically, the mother of a 21 year old mentally challenged woman in the UK is currently asking for the court ordered sterilization of her daughter. The daughter currently has two children that the mother has to take care of because the daughter is incapable of doing it herself due to her mental handicap (the article does not say what the specific issue is).  The daughter has refused birth control such as Depo Provera in the past. The mother says that she does not have the income to support anymore of her daughter’s children.

To me, sterilization is kind of a sticky topic. Should anyone ever be able to make the decision to have another person sterilized? Where is that line? I can definitely see where the mother is coming from. According to the article, the daughter doesn’t seem to understand why having so many kids so quickly is such an issue.

This isn’t exactly related but sort of in the same vein. After the Arizona shootings last month, I got to thinking a lot about people with mental illnesses and mental challenges and how once those people reach adulthood how there is little to nothing that families can do if they don’t get treatment or they go off their medicine or something like that. The issue of mental challenges is even stickier. Where is that line between when you are able or unable to make decisions for yourself? Does anyone have the ability to make the decision of whether or not you should be making decisions? In a way, this situation is sort of like these ones.

To me, this situation is one where there isn’t really a precedent as to what should happen to the daughter. I would hope that the mother would be able to eventually convince her daughter to get Depo Provera or something like that. Sterilization just seems so final and not like a decision that someone should be making for someone else.

What are your thoughts?

The Architect and I had a wonderfully simple Valentine’s Day. We both had to work yesterday but once we got home, we exchanged gifts. He gave me a spa gift certificate to a wonderfully rated spa here in DC-land and a gorgeous turquoise scarf that I had been lusting after. After the cruise we took a few years ago where I won a free facial, I decided that I could easily get addicted to going to get facials. I feel so lovely afterwards! I gave him a Pioneer Woman cookbook, a game for our Wii (Call of Duty Black Ops), and a controller that looks like an automatic rifle (nothing says love like fake firearms, you know). 

The Architect also cooked a wonderful dinner. He made grilled balsamic chicken and lemon goat cheese pasta. The pasta was fantastic. You had the citrusy sourness of the lemons mixed with the earthy softness of the goat cheese. It doesn’t hurt that I would probably eat a rock if it was covered in goat cheese!!! For dessert, we had key lime pie. We opened a bottle of wonderful Spanish wine that we had gotten from our ridiculously awesome landlords. We ate by candlelight with Frank Sinatra serenading us.

Eating that way was a nice change. We have a horrible habit of eating dinner in front of the tv as it seems to be a quick way to unwind. We determined that having a quiet dinner by candlelight wasn’t such a bad way to unwind either. We definitely need to do more of that in the future.

Single or taken, I hope you all had a good day yesterday. Valentine’s Day shouldn’t just be for couples, it should be about celebrating your love for everyone that you love!

As you may have heard, yesterday Congressman Christopher Lee (R-NY) resigned after getting into some trouble for soliciting women on Craigslist. He began corresponding with a woman and even sent her a picture. Sigh, more politicians behaving badly; what’s new?

Probably the most hilarious part about this whole situation (to me at least) is that the picture, if you have seen it, is the typical MySpace in the bathroom mirror picture. Hey Congressman, 2005 called; it wants its dumb pose back. Hrm… it could have been better if he made the duck face.

Oh you classy, classy man! That particular pose is not cute on anyone let alone an unclad middle aged gentleman. Do not want.

Are you ever surprised anymore about these politicians’ scandals?

One of my friends posted this article on Facebook about my home county. Basically, the county commissioners voted to take away 2.3 mil in funding for Head Start, an education program for 3-5 year olds from families below the poverty line. The money will be used towards an almost 12 mil budget shortfall for the fiscal year. The commissioners stated in their decision and advised that ”Head Start mothers to stay home with their children, and not hold jobs outside the home.” Oh, and they all suggested that marriage is best for these families because certainly that’s the government’s place to say that

O rly?

I think it’s great when a family has the ability to have one parent (mom or dad, thank you very much county commissioners) stay home with the children. But to tell a family that is already struggling financially (remember Head Start is for kids at or below poverty level) that everything would just be peachy keen if the mother could stay home and it’s just not cool.

More and more, it’s becoming a luxury for families to have one stay at home parent. I know a lot of middle class families that aren’t able to make that arrangement work. It’s just not a reality for a lot of people. Raising a family is ridiculously expensive even if you don’t live extravagantly. And for someone to make that kind of statement just shows how out of touch they are with the reality.

I understand that state, local, and the Federal government are currently struggling with trying to come up with enough money to come close to balancing their budgets but there is absolutely no need to cut down the people who are already struggling AND taking away beneficial programs from them. All the commissioners would have had to say is that the county funding for the program is being cut in order to make up for some of the budget shortfall.

As some of you probably know, I’m pretty fiscally conservative and while it sucks that the county won’t fund something like Head Start (the county will still receive Federal funding for the program), budget cuts need to happen… we just don’t need to be nasty about it. Nor do I think it’s the government’s place to even suggest how a family should be set up and who should be the working parent. Don’t even get me started on the misogyny in the article… grr.

So my question to you is should governments be allowed to suggest what is best for a family?