This is unheard-of for me, that I actually finished last month’s Atlantic before this one showed up in the mail. But such did happen, so I got to settle in with this month’s cover story, and it’s a humdinger. I strongly suggest that you out there who fancy yourselves foreign policy / military wonks hasten out to pick one up at the bookstore, if you don’t already subscribe. The title is How We Would Fight China

The Middle East is just a blip. The American military contest with China in the Pacific will define the twenty-first century. And China will be a more formidable adversary than Russia ever was

There is a ton of information and material in there to chew on, and it’s worth every nickel. If I can ever find the time, I’d like to discuss some of the stuff in the article here. We’ll see.

It also pleases me that I beat Craig to the punch for once about an Atlantic article.

Good riddance to bad politicos. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

“This is a repudiation of Mayor Miller’s leadership,” said Michael A. Gonzales, deputy director for the Dallas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “Her ideas were archaic, and the city is looking for new leadership to guide us.”

Political analysts say the strong-mayor measure would have had better success if voters hadn’t associated it with Ms. Miller. She’s unpopular among the city’s black residents. And many of those interested in changing the city’s form of government felt uneasy having Ms. Miller – with her sharp tongue and polarizing nature – as the city’s first strong mayor.

Let me state unequivocally that the current form of government in the City of Dallas is a broken-down, smoking wreck. Dallas needs a strong mayor…but Dallas just needs a strong mayor that isn’t Mayor Mommy with her stupid Park Cities ideas about idiotic bridges, smoking bans, and dance halls.

I’m glad to see the southern part of the city pull together and vote with some self-interest, but I’m damn sorry it has to be under the filthy banner of racial politics. I was also heartened by this note:

“I think the business community played very little role, and that’s what doomed this,” Dr. Wilson said. “If this was going to pass, it needed some powerful political segment there. And there was nobody who stepped in on the pro side to counter this.”

What little business community there is in Dallas today, relative to the olden days of yore, just doesn’t like Laura Miller, I bet. She was a muck-raking rich-kid journo at the alterna-fishwrap, she swung to power by promising the moon to everybody in her wacky liberal constituency and mouthing platitudes about potholes to the generic proles, then jumped right into bed with the movers & shakers in this town — real estate dudes, mainly, these days. And if anybody knows anything about stabbing you in the back while licking your face, it’s real-estate dudes.

So, next up for this death-spiral city — maybe we can find someone born here, raised here, and interested in building something permanent here (hint: not stupid damn bridges but the damn river itself), to run on a strong-mayor platform. And I ain’t got a clue who that would be…maybe someone from the south side, an entrepreneurial type, who can afford to do the job that needs to be done, without visions of political grandeur and senatorships. I’d vote for that guy or gal.

NB: I love it when the Claremont Remedy agrees with me. heh heh