Author: glenj

Here’s a couple of comments that just stood out this week:

“Asked point-blank whether the United States is winning in Iraq, Abizaid replied: ‘Given unlimited time and unlimited support, we’re winning the war.'”

I’m putting that one right up there with given infinite energy, I can achieve the speed of light.  Or how about if we put Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al, in a room full of typewriters for infinity, we would get Shakespeare, or good policies (take your pick, both are equally impossible).

More below—->

Ah, the war on terror, or watch President Bush lose a war to a WORD:

Digby quoting a former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky:

    So, why would democratically elected leaders of the United States ever want to legalize what a succession of Russian monarchs strove to abolish? Why run the risk of unleashing a fury that even Stalin had problems controlling? Why would anyone try to “improve intelligence-gathering capability” by destroying what was left of it? Frustration? Ineptitude? Ignorance? Or, has their friendship with a certain former KGB lieutenant colonel, V. Putin, rubbed off on the American leaders? I have no answer to these questions, but I do know that if Vice President Cheney is right and that some “cruel, inhumane or degrading” (CID) treatment of captives is a necessary tool for winning the war on terrorism, then the war is lost already.

That’s depressing, but I have to agree.  We are fighting a war against terror and WE HAVE TO TORTURE.  Well, we have already lost.

Finally, it’s time to hear a real man talk about responsibility and the war on terror:

I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get Bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try. And I did everything I thought I responsibly could.

As you may have guessed, that’s President Clinton on Fox News. Go watch the whole show at Crooks and Liars.

Sometimes you go look at the headlines and it just nails you in one quick glance:

    http://www.nytimes.com/

    Civilians in Iraq Flee Mixed Areas as Killings Rise

Sometimes we just dance around the obvious, don’t we?  When do we call this a civil war?  Probably when Bush leaves office.

    In Remote Pakistan Province, a Civil War Festers

Well, at least we can call this a civil war.  That’s progress of a sort.  Afghanistan and Pakistan are in rough shape – what a total surprise!

    Rice Finds British Muslims Want to Give Her an Earful

I guess Ms. Rice is not getting a warm reception in England.  Apparently Bush spreading freedom is a bloody business.  Thank God, we’ve got freedom at home, or am I getting ahead of the headlines?

   When a Vehicle Serves as Home, Troubles Abide

Opps!  So things aren’t going too well at home either when the headlines are about more people living in cars.  Oh, I forget, Bush defines people as someone who deserves a tax cut, everyone else can be a “guest worker”.

   FEMA Calls, but Top Job Is Tough Sell

Even the “Bush people” are starting to know a sucker punch when they see one.  Looking out for all those poor “guest workers” is going to be a losers job because Bush really doesn’t give a frack about them anyway, anyhow.  Don’t worry though, the barrel is deep, and the scraping has just begun.

Is it just me, or are we all April’s Fools this year?
There is a silver lining to this frontpage. The last headline gives me hope:

Internet Injects Sweeping Change Into U.S. Politics

Great things happen when all people have equal and unfettered access to information. This is how the printing press revolutionized the old world. This is why the First Amendment is SO important. And this is how Booman tribune is doing it’s part.

Today the NY times had headlines that poked my eyes out as soon as I scanned the page, but that is not the norm anymore. I have come more and more to depend on untraditional non-MSM news sources. I will tell the MSM every chance I get that unless they are more willing to report the unpleasant, hard, unvarnished, gross, unfiltered truth then they will become obsolete, and then they can be the April’s Fools.

Can we get the Dem’s in the House and Senate to sponsor a bill I somewhat jokingly call the Real Patriot Act?

Here’s what it would do – it would allow us to GIVE BACK our Bush tax cuts to be used to PAY DOWN the Federal deficit principle.  I don’t want to buy T-Bills and I don’t want to give anymore money to a President that’s going to flush it down the toilet, but I’d like to do something to really reduce our national debt.

No armed service people or families are even allowed to donate, they are already sacrificing too much.  In fact, ten percent of the money donated goes to right into their pockets, tax free.

This would point out the continuing Repub hypocrisy of giving rich folks money while everybody else suffers from a failing economy, a failing war on terror, and a failing Republican Federal government.

Can somebody think of a better name?

Best defense is a kick them in the nuts offense.

Bush stuck the word victory behind himself all week long.  What does that REALLY mean?  Did he tell us WHAT a victory in Iraq is?  No.  Did he tell us HOW he’s going to do it?  No.  Did he tell us WHEN it will happen?  No.

Did he tell us WHY?  Yes!  I believe the reason this  week is to establish democracy in the Middle East.  Admittedly though, this list is rather long so you can take your pick: 9/11, WMD, bad Saddam, bad intelligence, tried to kill Dad, has oil, bla, bla, bla…
So what is REALLY happening in Iraq?  Remember how OBL wanted to establish the Caliphate?  Well, he’s thanking his luck stars that the US was there to DO HIS BIDDING.  The majority of Iraqis now hate us and voted to form a government to get the US out of their country.

But the Dems are in a disarray and have no plan!

NOT TRUE!  The Dems all agree Bush has screwed this up worse than anyone could have imagined.  They have begun HONEST DEBATE about how to save our asses from this huge cock up.  Right now the consensus is that continuing with the present course will not be in the best interests of the US nor will it contribute to winning the war on terror.

As for Bush, there doesn’t seem to be a plan, he seems to just wing it from week to week, saying whatever Rove tells him to say.  All they figure they have to do is draw down enough troops right before the 2006 elections to claim progress towards victory.

All leading one to say:

Bushie, you’re doing a heck of a job!

I recently read an opinion column started thus:

And ended like this:

Here’s the complete column: Mr. Bush, have I got an exit strategy for you

Wow.  But it isn’t the first time I’ve heard the opinion expressed that today’s Republican party has all but abandon it’s roots. And I’ve heard similar complaints (from Republican I would assume) that the neocons and radical religious right have hijacked the Republican party.

So what?  More on the flip…
I certainly agree that political parties tend to swing more right or left depending on the mode of the nation, but it would seem that the current crop of Republicans have moved in a new and disturbing direction.  Gus Stelzer, I’m sure represents the tip of an iceberg – there are a large and growing number of Republicans who are becoming alarmed and concerned.  They are seeing a party composed of leaders who shirk duty, tarnish honor and place themselves above their country.

What has been most appalling to me is that Bush says things which are flat out lies.  The man isn’t dumb, he’s gotta know he’s taken the Presidency to a moral dead zone, but I’m certain there’s a large percentage of Republicans who accept what he has said because they remain blissfully unaware that their party has been hijacked by pod people.

How do we help the Gus Stelzers of the Republican party?  Or should we even try?  I believe that we MUST continue to point out the moral abyss that the current Republican party is flushing itself down.  The level of rancor, corruption and resulting political polarization which they have sown into the political process like so many poison apples is dragging everyone and everything it touches into the gutter.

I applaud Gus for speaking out, it’s long overdue.  But it’s time for Gus (and everyone like him) to do even more.  It’s time for you to help us get our country back.

Those good ideas on how to run your country just never seem to go out of style.

Yikes! Does THAT sound familiar or what?

I remember taking a short course on Energy back in the early 80’s where we had a guest lecturer come up one day from Stanford.  The whole gist of the lecture was that mankind has based almost it’s complete societal infrastructure on the consumption of a non-renewable cheap energy source – oil.  That at some point the finite resource would peak (his guess was about 2000 at the time – not too bad) and that world society would have to essentially implode back to a more sustainable level.  This called for the reduction of world population by about two billion people due mostly to reduced food resources over a short period of time (decades).  I still remember his answer when I asked him what he thought  would happen – like that old Chinese curse – damned interesting times.  So here we are in the beginning of damned interesting times and it’s only going to get more fun from here on out.

Human Nature

I always got a kick out of my buddies who would have to run out and buy cheap Norinco SKS’s (AK-47 clones).  I used to always asked them if it felt good to support the Red Chinese Army – as good NRA members this used to piss them off, but Norinco is a front for the Red Chinese Army.  I feel much the same about Walmart.  Yes, much of America is willing to piss it’s future down the drain for a bunch of cheap trinkets made in China.  Why is this so?

The Bushco Carrot

American capitalism’s weakness seems to be based on it’s current obsession of instant gratification.  Why plan for tomorrow when you’re  only interested in buying/burning/using/profiting in the next six months? And this same attitude seems to be found in Bushco’s policies.  Indeed, this attitude seems to one of the underlying themes of the current GOP: there is a free lunch, you can have your cake and eat it, and there is no tomorrow.  This theme is what has been used to get so many voters to vote wildly against their own economic self interests and support a president who has never supported them.  The result has been tremendous federal deficits and trade deficits, both combining to undermine the future of our country.  Never in my wildest imagination did I think that such a conservative POTUS would sell the US down the river like Bushco has and manage to take much of the world with it.

The Bushco Stick

What, you say?  Mess up the world?  Indeed, here we are at the forefront of damned interesting times, and rather than acting like adults and working with the rest of the world to head off this crisis, Bushco has decided to use 9/11 as an excuse to swoop into the Middle East, plant the American flag, and chant his mantra: mine, mine, mine, mine… (Well, you get the idea – it helps to picture Bushco as a two year old having a clenched fists, red faced, both barrels, temper tantrum.)

But 9/11 Changed Everything

I’m fairly certain history will judge 9/11 rather different than Bushco would like.  9/11 outlines in bold flashing red letters the unwillingness of the Bushco Whitehouse to acknowledge or react to the dangers of a real world and an inability to protect our country.  And the Bushco response to 9/11, well, much of that will be seen as burning down the barn after the horses have gotten out.  To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much screwed up for so many by so few.”  Given what we now know about the events before and after 9/11, the only explanation for the Iraq conflict was an attempt to enact the “Persian Gulf is the US sand box policy”.  This policy has failed.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

The rest of the world did not stand idle while Bushco turned the us in the wrong direction and marched off.  We have sweep what little international cooperation was underway off the table and have just begun to reap the bitter harvest of our failed foreign policies.  Nationalism is on the march in much of the world.  New alliances are forming and a revise world order will result. Unfortunately, the Bushco Carrot has combines with the Bushco Stick to truly leave the US open for military and economic woe. (But lucky for Bushco, it will only impact the little people i.e. everyone but the rich.)

Itchy Trigger Fingers

Given the present US policy of preemptive attack, we are entering a new period of militarism.  There has never been a time since the end of WWII where more compelling reasons existed for countries with the capacity to build nuclear weapons to do so than the present.  These have become the only absolute guarantee that national sovereignty will be respected by the US.  The only other option is to align with another nuclear power while expanding your own military.

The Trap of An Expanding Military

America’s military has been growing since 9/11.  Yet, our military’s ability to defend America has been seriously reduced.  This is not due to the failures of the men and women of the military.  They have been handed an almost impossible task and have performed beyond all expectations, but they cannot be expected to be successful if the policies which govern their actions are flawed.  Indeed even if we could magically double our military it is doubtful the outcome would change and it is doubtful we could sustain the cost to our country in people and dollars.  As Russia demonstrated, maintaining a large military is a WASTE of resources and a drain on the economy.  Am I proud that we have the world’s largest military by far?  I am proud of those American’s who choose to serve because they are making great personal sacrifices, but I am alarmed by Bushco’s polices which require us to enlarge the military because Bushco’s policies have FAILED.

Rising Economic Giant China

It’s hard to ignore China’s looming presence.  They have just started their climb to economic superpower status.  As far as China becoming a big military power, I don’t think that is the goal.  As we say, it’s the economy, stupid.  America gained it’s position in the world by being an economic giant which reluctantly went to war as a LAST option.  Bushco has stood this world view of the US on it’s head.    China is all to happy to assume the role of benevolent giant (at least for now).  China recently was picked in world opinion polls as a country more looked up to than the US.  Am I surprised to see that they are trying to buy Unocal?  Or that they are negotiating with Canadian companies for long term contract on oil sands?  Absolutely not.  They seemed to be resolutely focused on securing their future by peaceful means – something we are definitely NOT doing.

The Shining City On The Hill

Being the leader of the free world empowered the US to ensure that the rights of people came first when Communism collapsed, but we have to lead by action, not by talk.  Much of the world no longer trusts the US to act in the right way much as I have do not trust Bushco to act for us.  We have abdicated our leadership as a result of Bushco’s mistakes in the war in Iraq.  We will not be a world leader during these damned interesting times and we will pay the price.

Damned Interesting Times

So where does that leave us?  Does the end of the age of oil represent the beginning of the end, or a chance for the world to come together and move forward.  Even as the coming of nuclear weapons represented a time where world war could literally torch the face of the earth, the current rising world societal and economic structure may now become a consuming force which cannot be sustained.  Indeed Bushco’s policies may have started a world wide rise of greed and militarism just when we can least afford it.