I found out that it was you...

Great author, but he won't mind being criticized. I have a lot of Brin's work too.

I hadn't read that before.

lot of good and credible points in that essay and I agree with quite a few.  Especially concerning the Romantics.  In fact that is why I often argue against the possibility of Nazism happening here; it's simply not our romantic tradition and the aesthetics of nationalism that are used as propaganda to motivate and dupe the population.

However we DO have a different romantic tradition that entails more of Calvinism and the shining city on the hill of American myth.  I am remembering what that good senator wrote in the 40s about when fascism comes to the US, it will be carrying a cross.

But I do disagree with some of his points.  I believe he ignores Tolkiens root material, one of the major ones is the Siegfried myth.  Most academics nowadays concur that the myth was born out of the genocide of the Burgundians by the Huns in 468.  It was such a traumatic experience for the Germanic tribes that the myth was born.  This is also a case where the myth was not born or written by the victors.

I take the other side of the argument and defend Tolkien as that Tolkien was trying to write a form of Saga in prose.  The Huns were an asiatic nomadic people so they were an 'Other' of the time.  As I argue that Tolkien is writing from the Germanic point of view, of course his orcs and easterlings are going to have similarities with the historical as well as the mythological Huns.  Yes, Tolkien was a romantic of sorts, but I do not believe he was a romantic in context of his contemporary world but rather a romantic in the sense of trying to go back and write, in prose as well as some of his poetry, as if he was a story teller of those times.

I am sorry for contributing to the hijack, but I am myself working on my doctorate in Germanic Saga with a little comparative study into Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon.  So this question interests me greatly.

Nor think that I am discounting Brin; without opposing viewpoints, there would be no academic discourse.

well, do you agree with my thought that this is the Energy version of S-CHIP, if the Democratic Party / leadership / and us handle it well?  That the President will face either a choice to sign the bill or raise serious issue as to why he is vetoing something for the good of America.

from a local Chevy dealer, saying 'you may own one of the used cars we are looking for- ONE DAY ONLY! Well,this car happens to be a Neon,which is a POS car,but it runs and it is paid for long, long ago. Of course, this made me mad and I used their little prepaid envelope to inquire WHEN exactly, would they be coming up with a 50MPG vehicle, like the Honda Accord that one of my buddies owned circa 1977?
HMMPH.
Looking for used POS's because their lots are overflowing w/Stupid Ugly Vehicles? Cry me a river.
/rant

37 mpg. Every single fill up (well, if it drops, it's a reminder to CHECK THE TIRES!!).

I've been thinking of a really simple two-point vow for those environmentally-inclined in 2008:

1.  Unless you absolutely cannot for some reason, do not ever buy a car that gets less than 35 mpg NOW.

2.  Replace at least 85% of your household lighting with compact fluorescents.

Everything I've read indicates to me that just these two steps will have a significant impact on the national energy picture, and they're nothing complicated, just two easy actions.