So I went to a live interview with Leon Panetta last night discussing National Security.
It's described here: Leon Panetta at Compelling Perspectives
He discussed the national - and international - security issues associated with government by crisis rather than government by leadership.
It was an impressive conversation between him and Lehigh University's President, Joseph Helble.
It was, quite interesting, quite illuminating from a historical perspective by a player in an age when the Republican Party was not constituted by weakling cult worshipping reactionary revolutionaries devoid of any principles, even unfortunate principles.
Helble was trying to close of the event, pretty much held to a little over a single hour, when Panetta stopped him to tell a joke.
The joke was this:
A Catholic Priest and a Rabbi meet at an event and make friends with one another, and decide in order to learn more about each other's religion they would attend ordinary events with one another. They go to a boxing match, where before the first round, one of the boxers makes the sign of the cross over his chest. The Rabbi asks the Priest, "What does that mean?"
The Priest answers, "Not a damn thing unless he knows how to fight."
Panetta is of a time when the United States was interested in world leadership, which he argued was essential, although he more or less conceded in response to a student's question concerning US Imperialism, that, given the insularity of Washington, not always for good, but generally well intentioned.
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