So Cheney, Wolfowitz Etc. Like To Call Themselves "Vulcans"

[KittyWampus]

on Hardball, Chris Matthews just let it be known that's what these reptiles like to call themselves- Vulcans.

Sacriledge!

Maybe this is in line with their fetish for the Star Wars Missile nonsense.

[htuttle]

1. Really? I would have guessed...

Ferengi.

[madmax]

2. I saw a book in Borders

"The Rise of the Vulcans" the jacket had caricatures of Wolfowitz, Condi and a few others. Didn't check it out and don't know the author's name. I was in a rush to get 'Against All Enimies' :evilgrin:

[SiobhanClancy]

6. I just got that from the library today...

author is James Mann.

[dogman]

3. Alabama

There was a man that has written a book about B$$$co on NPR last week. He said there is a monument in Birmingham and believes that is where they adopted this name.

[KittyWampus]

5. Huh! Who Knew It Was That Esoteric...

I thought maybe there might be some allusion to the mythological figure.

[dogman]

9. I think that's the purpose of the monument

for the local steel industry. I believe they held meetings there while waiting to come back into power. Maybe they were also looking for a link to aWol's ANG service so they could collect the reward.

[KittyWampus]

11. Found Info On The Sculpture In Alabama

The world's largest cast iron statue, this depiction of
Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge, was commissioned by
businessmen of Birmingham's Commercial Club to promote
the area's mining resources and to symbolize Alabama's
supremacy in the production of iron.
snip
The sculptor, Italian-born Giuseppe Moretti, with his
workmen created a statue of colossal size -- 56 feet from
sandals to the outstretched hand. It now stands on a
123-foot column. Vulcan is the largest U.S. statue after
the Statue of Liberty. But in 1904 it originally took its place
in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy at the World's Fair in
St. Louis. At Vulcan's feet were exhibits of Alabama's raw
materials and the products made from them. He held, in his
extended right hand, a spear point, while his left hand gripped a hammer resting on an anvil.

After seven months at the fair, Vulcan was disassembled by a St. Louis storage company, and, in
February 1905, transported back to Birmingham free of charge by the L & N Railroad. As a
"temporary" measure, Vulcan was re-erected -- with both arms installed incorrectly -- at the
Alabama State Fair Grounds in Birmingham's West End. Vulcan was there put to use hawking
products, such as Weldon Ice Cream Company cones and Heinz pickles. This "temporary"
placement lasted over 30 years.

Not until the summer of 1935 did the Birmingham Kiwanis Club meet and go public with a plan to
move Vulcan to Red Mountain, overlooking the city -- the original site designated for the statue
after the Fair. Finding acceptance, the plan was carried out employing Italian stonemasons
working for the WPA to build a slender pink sandstone column as the pedestal for Vulcan. Vulcan
was finally installed in 1939 -- this time, correctly -- on Red Mountain visible to all Birmingham.

As the years went by, Vulcan began to suffer from water damage and graffiti. The concrete
poured into Vulcan up to his shoulders to help anchor him to his new perch in the late 1930s is
trapping moisture and causing long-term deleterious effects on the iron plates and their
connections. Vulcan is slowly cracking up.

But perhaps the greatest damage was done by a 1969 modernization effort which thickened the
tower on which Vulcan stands and sheathed it in white polished marble, and at the base of the
tower a flared anodized aluminum roof covered a large structure -- creating a massive form that
visually overwhelms the statue. The finely tuned relationship which existed in 1939 between the
original slim stone tower and the walks and fountains of rugged natural character has been lost.

In 1993, a Vulcan Task Force appointed by Mayor Richard Arrington recommended the full
restoration of the statue and its surrounding park. In 1904 a symbol of the progressive movement
toward industrialization in the South, the sculpture now stands as an embodiment of the values of
vision and hard work of the citizens of Birmingham. The current challenge for Birmingham remains
preserving this National Register landmark and restoring Vulcan to his original heroic and noble
form. A pedestal restoration project led by the Birmingham Historical Society is now underway.

http://www.loc.gov/bicentennial/propage/AL/al_s_sessions2.html

[bobthedrummer]

4. Strange, I call them traitors.

:hi:

[LoZoccolo]

7. There is a secret society at the University of Michigan...

...for engineering students named the Vulcans, and it predates /Star Trek/ by a long time.

:tinfoilhat:

[0007]

8. Nuclear = fire - the metalworking puzzles me

Roman Mythology. The god of fire and metalworking -

[dweller]

10. strange...vultures is more appropriate n/t