_Imperial Hubris_ Review

Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror by Michael Scheuer aka Anonymous

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm pretty disappointed. It's not terribly well written (typos galore), and it's long on criticism (some of it bitter) but short on suggestions. Some of the suggestions are pretty fucked up, too (build more minefields in Afghanistan?).



Most troubling is that it seems to dodge the biggest picture. Granted, members of the last 2 administrations have failed to look beyond "they hate us because we're different" and into the bigger picture of "they hate us because our foreign policy sucks." But Scheuer never really talks about the negative aspects of bin Laden's ideology.



Seriously, I'm OK with "US get out of the Arabian Peninsula." You can throw "out of Afghanistan" in there too...but bin Laden's goal is the return of the Caliphate, and the establishment of sharia in all lands that were a part of the Caliphate. Not only does this mean the destruction of Israel (be aware that I'm not particularly happy with Israel, either), it means some pretty big cultural changes in an area that hasn't been predominantly Muslim in a long damn time (part of SPAIN was a part of the Caliphate, no?).



What may be worse is Scheuer's tiptoeing around one of my big problems with the Taliban and Salafist Islam in general: the awful restrictions on women. He mentions, once (I believe), that the Taliban does not approve of "western feminism." Which is kind of like saying the Japanese behaved badly in Nanking. How are we going to reconcile human rights with a repressive brand of Islam? I've no clue. And neither, apparently, does the author.






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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

Shower is tiled and grouted, although this picture was taken before we cleaned the grout off the tiles (if you take anything away from this blog, Reader, it's that you always clean off the grout when it's wet).

Obligatory "Little Shop of Horrors" Quote Here

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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

That's the zucchini plant. One single plant. I think it eats squirrels.

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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

Stage one of the bathroom is mostly complete, here. We still need trim paint and some chair rail, as well as new knobs and towel racks (towel bars are EXPENSIVE), but that's about it.

Phase 2: tile floor and toilet backsplash, probably next weekend. Since K will be gone, I can play with her tile saw!

Hardibacker Nightmare.

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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

Man, I HATE this stuff. It's like drywall, except it's WAY heavier. And moisture resistant, so it's kind of what you have to use in shower/tub situations.

They tell you that you cut it by scoring and breaking, like glass. This is true, just like it's true that you could crawl to Las Fucking Vegas on your hands and knees.

And speaking of Nevada, after about 15 minutes of cutting the stuff, I felt like I was back on the playa. Except that on the playa I'd have a bandana, but I wasn't smart enough to make that connection until about 30 seconds ago.

I'm here to tell you: you can cut hardibacker with a skil saw, if you're not too worried about your blade. And since the blade on my saw came with the saw, back in 1984, I think it's already had a good long life.

Today, there's one more wall to install (hardiback?), new tub and shower hardware, and maybe the beginning of tile. I also need to get some new siding for the front of the house, and tack that up. I feel undressed.

Hi Neighbors!

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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

This is the bathroom at its worst (hopefully).

Inside After Day 1

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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

There's something satisfying about knocking down walls. Flying shards of porcelain add just enough danger to keep things interesting, and hearing things fall and break in the tub (protected by painter's plastic, which kept giving me Prog flashbacks) was satisfying.

You can see the window, since this is an earlier picture, but you can't really see how rotten the wood is. The house had termites years ago, and that combined with water seepage means I have to replace pretty much everything you see in this picture.

I think I can do it. Once you get over the weird mental hurdle of Taking Out The Entire Wall (the neighbors can see me brushing my teeth!), it's just a collection of lumber and building material. Smart guy like me can see why the lumber is arranged in such a way, so as long as I put it back pretty much the way it was, hell, why WOULDN'T I do it?

The only thing I'm concerned about is doing something to my back that incapacitates me during the week I've taken off work, probably with a giant hole in the side of the house. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

The Outside, After Day 1

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Originally uploaded by houdinisblind

This really doesn't do justice to the time and energyI spent just getting a window out. I will say that the window is really only about 2/3 the size of the hole you see. And a lot of the time was spent trying to be subtle and avoid destruction of the siding, which in retrospect was kind of silly.

Still, I'm looking forward to today's work, which entails completely ripping out the wall you see in that picture, and replacing it by the end of the day. If I'm REALLY good, there will be glass bricks where the window was...

The Destruction of The Bathroom

Since I moved in with Kimmie, I've been planning an attack on the bathroom. There's a hole in the shower wall already, through which you can see the inside of the exterior wall. The bathroom sink's starting to rust out. There are mysterious holes, drilled in the 1980's white glitzy formica, from which issue impressive streams of little black ants, some of which end up on my toothbrush every night.

This assault begins tomorrow. I'll post pictures.

Planting

Man, I'm old. By the time I got home with the supplies this morning, I was hurting. Now? I'm scaling back dinner plans because I'm just too tired to whip up the garlic confit I was gonna use to stuff the (half thawed) pork loin.

But things got accomplished. Sort of. Projects were moved further along, at least.

Take the ongoing redesign of the compost bin. I managed to build it out of landscape timbers K had lying around the place, and fenced it off from the coons and possums and occasional stray dog with chicken wire and aluminum tubing (yes, it was ghetto, but it was FREE).

But the coons have developed quite a vertical leap, and have mashed down the wire in a couple of places to make their escape. Twas more of a mess than when I started...til today.

Today, off to the Big Box Store for tposts and more wire. And to my surprise: PLASTIC "poultry netting." In essence, smaller "gauge" construction fence, much easier to work with. PURCHASE!

Get home, tear down and roll up the existing fence...drive my posts (with the new post driver, thank you very much)...stretch the fence nice and straight...oh god, so good...so professional...

Four feet short. I have an open side, so now my arrow-straight and Berlin Wall-high compost fence is even less effective than the mashed down, floppy and pokey chicken wire and aluminum stick contraption I had this morning. About the only critter this fence is going to fool is Spot the Cat, who sometimes gives the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Tra'al a run for its money.

So, mostly done.

OTOH, all the plants I own are in the ground, finally. I've decided that vegetables and fruit plants will grow in the ground, and herbs will grow in pots. I've had pretty good success overwintering my oregano and thyme, not to mention the three year old bird pepper plant...but that's mostly due to judicious pullings-into-garages during the cold snaps that pass for winter down here.

And there are purple petunias in the window box. THAT project's done, finally.

Mixed Spring Greens

Man, what a night. How many different threads do I have that are worth talking about, to me? Four? Five?

First, and most important, it's spring. I know, you northerners (which is damn near everyone but Houston fokes, it's true) can kvetch, but it's been in the 80's here for a couple days, and tonight I intend to leave the windows open. It's spring. Primafuckingvera. The end of cabsavs and goulash and the merciless flogging of the Gourd. We're in the between period, a thing I've always loved...because of the smells.

Smells are constant. For me, tonight...it's the smell of Grandma's house and a gravel driveway under a full moon, ramshackle chicken houses, bluestem waking up. Freshness, wetness. Aliveness. Trees throwing their woody cares to the wind and getting on with the business of photosynthesis and pollen.

And here in Austin, there's an even bigger, wilder sense of waking up. Shit, Home Depot still has foxtail palms from LAST YEAR, and weird-ass citrus crosses like the Lemon Drop, a cannily named (considering) cross between the lemon and the kumquat.

I looked up at the sky tonight, as I was dragging the tubs of trash out to the curb...looking for the moon, and the comet I hear might be visible behind the Cubano's casa down the street. But even as I was sucking up the NOW (because, with kids, you'd better suck up the fucking NOW, because otherwise you'll be brainless PTA fodder by the time the little bastards get to second grade)....even as I was sucking up the NOW I was going back through my meticulously organized aisles of memories, on my belly snatching things off the lowest shelves, like you do...

The silver cattle guard at my grandmother's house, first afeard of alligators, then leaping it in the mad dash for the bus, then bemused by the drift of gravel that made it ineffective, about the time my grandmother wasted away.

Driving home from Parker and Ed/Hippie Dave/Osborn/Ryan S parties, at midnight or at 6am, past a magnolia tree. That tree only bloomed half a dozen times...

Ah, crap. Must go. The evening winds to a close. It's a good life.