| Congressman Paul's Texas Straight Talk | | |
Amid much fanfare last week, the last supposed “combat” troops left Iraq as the administration touted the beginning of the end of the Iraq War and a change in the role of the United States in that country. Considering the continued public frustration with the war effort, and with the growing laundry list of broken promises, this was merely another one of the administration’s operations in political maneuvering and semantics in order to convince an increasingly war-weary public that the Iraq War is at last ending. However, military officials confirm that we are committed to intervention in that country for years to come, and our operations have in fact, changed minimally, if really at all. After eight long draining years, I have to wonder if our government even understands what it is to end a war anymore. The end of a war, to most people, means all the troops come home, out of harm’s way. It means we stop killing people and getting killed. It means we stop sending troops and armed personnel over and draining our treasury for military operations in that foreign land. But much like the infamous “mission accomplished” moment of the last administration, this “end” of the war also means none of those things. 50,000 US troops remain in Iraq, and they are still receiving combat pay. One soldier was killed in Basra just last Sunday, after the supposed end of combat operations, and the same day 5,000 men and women of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood were deployed to Iraq. Their mission will be anything but desk duty. Among other things they will accompany the Iraqi military on dangerous patrols, continue to be involved in the hunt for terrorists, and provide air support for the Iraqi military. They should be receiving combat pay, because they will be serving a combat role! Of course the number of private contractors - who perform many of the same roles as troops, but for a lot more money - is expected to double. So this is a funny way of ending combat operations in Iraq. We are still meddling in their affairs and we are still putting our men and women in danger, and we are still spending money we don’t have. This looks more like an escalation than a draw-down to me! The ongoing war in Iraq takes place against a backdrop of economic crisis at home, as fresh numbers indicate that our economic situation is as bad as ever, and getting worse! Our foreign policy is based on an illusion: that we are actually paying for it. What we are doing is borrowing and printing the money to maintain our presence overseas. Americans are seeing the cost of this irresponsible approach as our economic decline continues. Unemployed Americans have been questioning a policy that ships hundreds of billions of dollars overseas while their own communities crumble and their frustration is growing. An end to this type of foreign policy is way overdue. A return to the traditional American foreign policy of active private engagement and non-interventionism is the only alternative that can restore our moral and fiscal health.
 
From time to time we receive donations of material of use to our collection from other librarians around Sydney, and just received from a colleague at Waverley is this souvenir programme of the inaugural Australian National Games, held in 1928. The programme is of double interest to us because, firstly, it was printed by the local printer, the Manly Daily, and secondly, because the opening ceremony and the bulk of the events were held at Manly. The athletic programme was held at Manly Oval on 7th January 1928, and the swimming and diving at Manly Baths on January 11th and 14th. The cycling component of the Games was held at Sydney Sports Ground, and the Boxing and Wrestling were held at Sydney Stadium. The programme lists all the competing athletes.
The Australian National Games were intended to be held every four years, preceding the Olympiad later that year, acting as an Olympic selection event, and the Honorary Directors were James Taylor, Chairman of the Australian Olympic Federation, James Eve, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Australian Olympic Federation, and Les Duff, the Secretary of the NSW Olympic Council. Manly was a natural choice for the swimming events, and argued a strong case for the athletic events, based on the gold medal-winning performance of Nick Winter in 1924 in the triple jump. A photo in the programme shows Manly’s trio of Olympic champions, Boy Charlton, Dick Eve and Nick Winter, posing together.
 This view of Little Manly and the Eastern Hill dates from, we think, circa 1920. It was taken from no 63 Stuart Street. Little Manly boatshed, built in 1916, is still in new-looking condition. Bruce Avenue has not yet been formed on the Eastern Hill, following the subdivision of the Manly Point Estate in 1928. It's easy to picture Manly's little penguins finding burrows along the rocky foreshore at this date. The Little Manly Wharf was controlled by the Port Jackson Steam Ship Company, but was only intermittently used, eventually being demolished and the land subdivided. Not many of the grand houses on the Eastern Hill survive, but one which is still in situ is Elim, at 44 Addison Road, with its distinctive central chimney. Thanks to Mrs Ingram for the donation of this fascinating photo.
President Teddy Roosevelt said, "The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing as a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."
We must renew America by restoring the racial dominance of people of white color as our former immigration policy insured (that the treacherous drunk and murderer Senator Ted Kennedy perverted in 1965).
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