Are you kidding me?

Oh, to be a brave little chickenhawk:

The Roman Legion was organized to fight in lines, averaging maybe 6 to 8 men deep. In battle the man at the front would fight for about 8 minutes, then move to the back of the line and the person behind him would take his place at the front. After another interval he too would then move to the back and the person behind him would take the front position. Organized in this way each man fought for about 8 minutes out of every 48 to 64. The enemies of the Romans often succomed to fatigue long before the Legionaires did.

It's ok to get fatigued, and it's ok to take a step back. There is a person behind you who will fill the gap. And when you are refreshed you can rejoin the battle.

Are they talking about infantry tactics? No, they're talking about blogging. Fucking tools. As if putting pixels to the screen was going to help win in Iraq or something.

And, to boot, the above description of Roman infantry tactics isn't even accurate. The Romans fought pretty much the same way the Greeks under Leonidas did, and before them the Sumerians: Ranks of men, armed with spears or swords, holding a line for as long as possible. If the front ranks broke, the entire army could be routed. Any army that tried to fight hoplite warfare in rotating shifts would disintegrate in battle.

This kind of warfare has been aptly described as "a rugby scrum with spears." Basically, the two armies collide with each other, stab, spear, and gouge until one side breaks, and the victory usually goes to whoever's side holds the longest.

This is why the Spartans won so many of their battles - Spartan training didn't make particularly fierce or able warriors (at least, no fiercer than other Greeks.) What it made was exceptionally well-disciplined soldiers, capable of enduring battle longer than their enemies.

None of this has anything to do with blogging about how much you heart Bush's flightsuit bulge. But if you read the comments in that thread, it's all about how they're trying to "save western civilization." And I think they really mean it - if it weren't for the 101st Fighting Keyboarders, they actually believe that the 450 million people of Europe would succumb to the temptations of an Islamic Theocracy, and after that, the US ITSELF WOULD BE CONQUERED. Fortunately for us all, the warbloggers are here to protect us!

Look, I write a lot about oil, politics, and climate change. Do I nurture a delusion that, in doing so, I'm lowering Canada's Kyoto emissions, or improving the fleet efficiency of the US? No. Because I'm not an idiotic rightwing nutcase.

(Via L,G, & M)