DON'T CRITICIZE THE OCCUPATION (wmd's don't matter)

I'de like to examine one of the right's most prevalent arguments for not criticizing the failing Iraq occupation. It goes like this:

Now that the Iraq invasion and subsequent occupation is underway, any arguments critical of the decision to invade, or the strategies and tactics used, are unpatriotic/help the enemy/demoralize the troops etc....

Now that is a pretty sweet deal if your the decider responsible for this unholy mess. Why should you give any consideration whatsoever to the concerns of the citizens or the Congress when making decisions? After all, even if every American except you is against it, once the decision is made its their job to forget their objections and get on board.

• America, lets invade Canada!! Now I know that you will all be against it, but once the invasion begins you must forget your opposition and support the war effort.

In this new America, the president no longer has the unreasonable burden of considering the opinions of those he represents. He can ignore the citizens protests because they'll all be on board after the decision is made anyway. If our president should decide to launch an unprovoked intercontinental ballistic missile strike against China and they respond likewise resulting in the death of 80% of the the population, it would be unpatriotic to question his decision. Don't consider whether it a wise decision or if the results are good for whats left of the country, lets get behind this guy and give him our full support. After all, we would! be at war at that point. One more thing, if there's an election shortly thereafter, we must all vote him back into office. We certainly wouldn't want to change Presidents during a time of war!

IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END....

OF OUR NATION AS WE KNOW IT??? Or just the neocons?

If it isn't obvious to you by now, you just haven't been paying attention. Let me make this perfectly clear to anyone in doubt. George W. Bush and his group of psychopaths intend to launch a military strike on iran.

There are a number of reasons why this may not happen, but do not be misled, the desire and opportunity exist. The only question is whether they have the power to drag a reluctant U.S. Military along with them. With 140,00 plus men and women within easy missile range of Iran in Iraq, and a significant number of U.S. Navy vessels in the same predicament. The Pentagon recognizes the obvious result should Iran decide the path of massive retaliation. This doesn't even address the asymetric resources available to Iran in Iraq and throughout the middle east theatre. While the Pentagon is full of career loyalist to the Commander in Chief, everyone has their breaking point and I suspect that sacrificing their subordinates like so many goats at the alter of lord Bush is darn close to theirs. Such heavy Pentagon resistance was reported by Seymour Hersh when the Administration was contemplating an offensive nuclear strike on Iran that the option had to be taken off the table. I'm no military man, and even I could see the potential for massive US casualties if things didn't quite work out as the Neocons predict, and we've had a slice of that pie already.

But what if the neocons are able to pull this operation off, what are the real consequences? First we must examine the possiblities and then think like a neocon. The potential for a massive regional war and staggering oil prices triggering a worldwide depression are certainly the most obvious, and one might even argue likely, risk in the imediate term. But neocons have more important things to think about, like more and broader conflicts with North korea and possibly even China. Certainly lets not forget Hugo Chavez and his huge supply of Anti-American oil in South America. I fear that in the twisted militaristic minds of the neocons, a massive retaliation by Iran resulting in massive US Casualties would be a welcome result. This may sound extremely cynical but lets face facts. Without an influx of new bullet catching bodies, the US military will be DOA somewhere right around the 2008 presidential election. They'll be bringing back ghosts from the war of 1812 for duty in Iraq at the rate we're going. Its a pretty sure bet right about now that the US citizens would blow a gasket at the mere mention of military conscription with support for the Iraqi campaign hovering just above support for reinstating prohibition. But think of the unifying effect of substantial military losses? They would likely argue that Iran has killed our boys by the thousands and we have to declare war on Iran for revenge, naturally a military draft comes with any declaration of war and voila, all the bodies you need to invade Syria, North Korea, and maybe even France. Not that there's any real reason for the France invasion, but if you're going in the direction of fascism, then invading France is your coming out party. It's like kind of your announcement to the world that you're a fascist regime and darn proud of it.

So thats the neocons dream scenario, you've got the bodies to attack the enemies you are making at a rapid pace and ideally the support of a bunch of flag flying, yellow ribbon on their SVU, Lib'ral hating "real Americans". Everyone else either keeps their mouth shut or goes into those fresh new internment camps that Halliburton has built throughout the US.

But of course as history has shown time and again, the rest of the world will see the need to take action. For one thing they'll be starving in the new depression, but more importantly they will recognize the long term threat of a new gobal ruling party of elites with the conscience of a block of ice. Realistically, the most powerful weapon in modern warfare is not used on the battlefield, its the power of worlwide consumers. If the major consumer markets throughout the world decide to boycott American goods, the war party will quickly find that their corporate support has disappeared. If you research the history of Fascism you'll find that the real definition of a fascist government as defined by the Musollini, the man who coined the phrase, is a government in which the power is shared by the Government officials and the largest Corporations.

"In classic terms, fascism is defined by five characteristics of governance: nationalist aggression; fusing of the state with corporate interests; single party rule; the suppression of civil liberties; and pervasive propaganda. All of these inhered in the Italian, German, and Japanese governments of the 1930s and '40s. All of them would have to be present before the label "fascism" could legitimately be applied to a modern regime."


So what happens when the corporations start going broke? Obviously one partner isn't happy and the love affair begins to crumble. However, unfortunately for you and I this scenario will also result in our economy and entire way of life being flushed down the right wing toilet for the next 50 years.

So lets keep our fingers crosse, and more importantly, try to overturn the Republican majority in Congress this November, otherwise the atack on Iran is a serious possibility. Counting the dead soldiers and paying ten dollars a gallon for oil is no way to spend a winter.

Hey King Dubya, Why bother with the PATRIOT ACT???

Here's my point, If you are arguing that you have the right to snoop on Americans even thought the law clearly prohibits it. Why bother with the PATRIOT ACT. After all, what is the PATRIOT ACT but a series of Laws which you claim are designed to help fight "The War on Terra", as you refer to it. In the case of FISA laws, you argue that you can ignore the laws because you are in fact fighting "The War on Terra".

If you are correct in your assertion that you can circumvent laws established by COngress due to your executive authority, then whether the PATRIOT ACT is there or not you can pretty much do whatever you want already.

There are provisions in the PATRIOT ACT which require you to get a warrant (albeit a rubberstamp warrant but a warrant nonetheless) for particular investigative actions such as searches and wiretaps. If, as in your current actions, you are
claiming that these investigations are part of the "War on Terra", then just as the FISA laws, you can ignore PATRIOT ACT laws also.

Further, you are now making the same argument for torture claiming that you can ignore the torture laws. Why did VP Cheney lobby Congress so hard for those laws if you believe that you can ignore them. Is this a case of you trying to get laws and then deciding that you will do as you please when you could not get the Legislative Branch to approve your request?

It must be nice to be the King?

I've Gotta Wonder......

Whats going through the mind of those who still drink the Bush koolaid?? How can any sane person possibly reason that the Iraq folly is anything other than a complete disaster that is proving counterproductive to everything that its Neocon parents claimed it would achieve?

Iran recently announced their pleasure with the outcome of the elections. Thats right, a charter member of Bush's own "axis of evil" has personally thanked America's chief lunatic for handing them the keys to the second largest oil reserves in the world.

Both Shiite and Sunni deathsquads roam the countryside at night randomly kidnapping and executing their counterparts citizenry.

The Shiite, not Iraqi, but yes I said Shiite, Interior Ministry has assumed Saddam's sons jobs as the overseers of torture. Every other week another torture center/jail filled with Sunni men and run by Shiite militiamen is discovered. It is fairly obvious by now that the Iraqi Government is condoning, if not actually taking part in this sectarian oppression.

We are financing and training and an Irai military that is nearly 100% Shiite and Kurd to defeat an insurgency that is nearly 100% Sunni. Couldn't it easily be argued that we are in fact creating a civil war?

Tanker trucks filled with ballots were discovered crossing the border from Iran weeks before the election and now the US is acting surprised that there are accusation of election fraud?

It appears that the the people that P.T. Barnum was referring to when he said "you can fool some of the people all of the time" are the ones that the Bush administration are concentrating on. Hopefully, that group is shrinking.

Isn't it about time?

Heard the Word of Blog?

Universal Ponderings of the DAY

I was just sitting here pondering the mysteries of life and I decided to jot down some of these disjointed thoughts. A lot of it may not make much sense but these are my current random ponderings:

Maybe its a really bad thing that we, as a society, glorify military action and the "heroic" acts committed during a war. Because that reinforces the belief that war is a positive thing. That the men and women in uniform are automatically heroes and that, whereever US military action is involved, it is blasphemous to oppose or question that action.

I believe that everyone goes around saying "I oppose the war but support the troops" out of fear. Fear that they will be called unpatriotic if they don't add the "but I support the troops" qualifier. The troops are mere humans following orders, truthfully, does going to war make them automatic heroes? Currently, in our country it does. Isn't it true that some soldiers are a really nice people and others are not so nice? Just by shear numbers that has to be true. Actually, I see the current military personnel in Iraq as victims of Bush's lies rather than heroes.

I guess I'm just looking at the mindset of mainstream America and questioning the foundational military philosophy of our society. Personally, I don't know if I "support the troops" because that is such an amorphous term. I know that I don't want any of them killed. I also know that I don't want any Iraqi citizens killed. I don't have a greater regard for an American life, be it military or civilian, than I do for an Iraqi life.

I remember watching the London bombing coverage on the news and thinking, "50 killed, thats just an average morning in Baghdad". I felt that the heavy coverage of the British civilian deaths and the light, if any, coverage of Iraqi civilian deaths actually sends the message to society that our Lives are more valuable then theirs. Maybe thats what Im getting at here in a nutshell. The situational view of the value of human life. Death is deemed more tragic or more important in some situations than others. What do the dead and maimed in Iraq care if we are fighting for liberty, oil, or revenge?

I also think that the Bush administration's "fight them over there rather than here" argument is evil and again reinforces that idea. We are to believe that watching the horrific car bombings and astronomical death toll over there is to protect us from having any death toll at all here? As flawed as that logic is, the inherent evil of sacrificing the lives of innocent Iraqi people because it MAY save a few of your ownn people is clearly evident to me. Just this week Bush casually estimated their civilian death toll at 30,000 and then began telling jokes. How sick are we as a society not to be outraged?

I'm not ashamed to say that I'm not "patriotic" in that I don't believe that America is the greatest country in the world simply because I was born here and that God should bless America independently of the rest of the world. I actually believe that the term patriotism is a term used by the Government to shame the people into following policies that might be otherwise unpopular. However, I am patriotic in that I believe that my country, the earth, should be responsible and work towards helping the least fortunate and the most needy. I am happy that I was fortunate enough to have been born in a somewhat free society but that does not make me or this society superior to any other group of people on earth. Do you see anything wrong with that belief?

I just think that everyone is afraid these days. Afraid of being called unpatriotic, afraid of making statements that those in power could twist with meaningless rhetoric. Fear is the enemy of all sides in the great US debates these days. The right using fear to maintain power and control. The left too often afraid of facing the onslaught of attacks the right is bound to unleash if they stand up to them.

I too am afraid, afraid that the United States ultimate destiny may resemble an Aristotelian tragedy. A tragedy where the brave hero is ultimately destroyed by his own character flaw.

We have entered a period where our government substitutes rhetoric for policy. Where America has let the evil that all men are capable of influence its reasoning. We have just cut college loans and increased tax cuts for the rich and war spending, in the name of God. We're getting less educated in an increasingly competive worldwide job market. We have people in our country conviced that you can achieve peace through reigning death and destruction on a country.

It would have been nice if we had come to our senses after we discarded our apartheid policies in this country. But unfortunately, it appears that all you have to do is stand in front of a flag and say "God Bless AMerica" and our citizens will willingly walk through the gates of hell carrying a five gallon can of gasoline.

Iraq is now officially the Titanic. The Whitehouse and Congress have dragged us into a pit of hungry lions, and as they try to convince us that the lions are vegetarians, they are pointing at each other saying "But that guy has no solution either".

Once you've driven off a cliff, the options are few. America sits in the back seat, watching a DVD on the LCD screen in the rear headset. Complicit in their own destruction. Trusting that the drivers know what they're doing. As the driver and front passenger strap on their parachutes and prepare to jump to safety. . After all, we bought the car and chose the driver and navigator. We saw the sign saying "bridge out ahead" and ignored it. We laughed along with the driver as we ran over and crushed men women and children along the road.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Another Crappy Day

I finally learned how it feels to live in North Korea.