Wow - Drudge Report is actually worth reading today. Lots of good stories to peruse, the first obvious one being Rumsfeld getting hated on by Trent Lott. WTF? I know I'm feeling a little under the weather, but am I actually hallucinating here? The administration's butt boy revolts?
"I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld," Lott, R-Mississippi, told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday morning. "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers."
Maybe it has to do with
this other story about the soldiers getting zero intelligent support from this admin:
Evidence includes numbers of deserters (reportedly in the thousands), resignations of reserve officers, lawsuits by those whose duty period has been involuntarily extended, and a refusal to go on dangerous missions without proper equipment. There's also been a willingness at grunt level to publicly challenge the Pentagon - as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld found out recently in a trip to the war zone, where he got an earful about unarmored humvees. (My emphasis)
But I'm sure the soldiers are still praying for Bush - which is good, since he'll need all the divine guidance he can get when he
shuts down the GPS system to find the "evul turrists" (what, don't you
believe?!?). There's also
a great article in the
Washington Times (for once) about the other shit we can expect in the next decade - and it's not all fire and brimstone. And it's not in the distant future, either - look at how
Israel recognizes what the next big thing is - and it's not us (maybe it's
Asian values?). Wow, where's all this Judeo-christian solidarity that I get shoved down my throat every time I question why we put that little mooch state's security above ours? And it looks like
I'm not the only one who doesn't dig our "Bring it on, grab our balls, and flick off the world" excuse for a foreign policy that actually makes us less safe.
And the best news for the future of these united States? DC decided that Major League Baseball can't loot the pockets of city taxpayers to get rich. Am... I awake? Is this a dream?
pinches self
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Heh heh heh... Wonkette comments on Bush's participation in the Jewish Menorah lighting ceremony thusly:
You wouldn't necessarily think a holiday that celebrates the victory of a small band of religious insurgents over an occupying foreign power would be one of Bush's favorites.
Sick, Wonkette. Sick - but true.
By the way, after looking over this post again, I realize it's not entirely fair. Liberals don't usually acknowledge the consequences of our past foreign policy, either. Basically we have an establishment that will twist whatever facts and logic they have to in order to make it seem that all this "just happened to us", regardless of the role we have played in the world.
It just boggles my mind. We constantly have it shoved down our throats that we're a superpower with peculiar "responsibilities" in the world. In pursuit of these unprecedented obligations (self-assumed, alleged obligations I might add), we have had to be involved in every single issue and dispute on the planet. Yet, somehow when the shit hits the fan, we had nothing to do with it. Magic - you can do anything you want with no accountability for long term consequences.
How can you have it both ways?
You know what? I'm tired of fighting about politics.
Seriously.
I'm sick of it. I just want to have my beliefs, and live my life. Of course, that's precisely why I became a libertarian, but whatever.
I don't want to shove my beliefs down others' throats. Really, I don't. I just wish that what other people thought didn't affect me. Frankly, my fellow Americans scare the hell out of me. And not just the Bushites. There's a whole crapload of liberal-progressives that have just as puritan of an agenda, and all the moral high ground they need to whip the country into Stalinist shape. Downright fricking scary.
I guess the best thing that could happen might be if the two extreme wings could just kill each other off, leaving moderates in the middle. What we really need is a newfound distrust of the state, but I'll settle for a simple civil war.
But seriously, I think the answer to this for me is to politick locally. I have all the respect in the world for Libertarians who work the national circuit every four years with no hope of victory, but I just don't think I can handle it. I can barely handle state politics. Maybe I just need to find someplace I like - someplace where I actually can see myself caring what others think.
Bah, I'm tired. Or as the say here in Tappahannock, "tard".
From the Christian Science Monitor, a new report by the Defense Science Board - a Pentagon advisory committee - sharply constrasts the message of the Neocons:
Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.
This
matters. It is not incidental, and it is not mutually exclusive with condemning the horrors of terrorism. But it
does matter.
How much clearer can the DSB say it? Hold your politicians accountable, America!!!
A lot of people have been finding this blog from one that I've been reading and posting on a LOT lately called Right Thinking Girl. If you want to explore the roots of current conservatism in a fun environment, I suggest you head over there right now. There is a great conversation going on in the "Day of Infamy" thread about why reason should trump revenge in the War on Terruh. I'm still deciding whether putting a blog on your blogroll implies endorsement of the blogger's opinions. But by the same token, I've been writing so much over there that I've been neglecting you people, and I don't want you to... ehh, never mind, screw ya's.
I've been reading Sarah Vowell's The Partly Cloudy Patriot because it is light reading and was made available to me at no cost. It's fun and interesting to see somebody who, like me, is not entirely comfortable with being a nerd. I wish I had more friends like her - intellectuals who are also fun, whom I don't have to trick into a conversation about philosophy or politics. People who can riff on the Secret Machines or Aqua Teen Hunger Force when talking about foreign policy and metaphysics.
The other day I saw the Hayden Christiansen movie, Shattered Glass. It's about disgraced journalist Stephen Glass, and it's a remarkable movie. It's got lots of names in it: Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Hank Azaria, etc. You think at first it's some made-for-TV movie that's struggling to fashion a plot out of an essentially boring subject matter, but that's just it - I think, in this case, that the plot isn't important so much as the character study, kind of like in Conspiracy. You know where it's headed - but how did it happen? Hayden Christiansen is doing a great job of becoming the next Jude Law - a great actor that gets despicable roles and pulls them off brilliantly (when possible; Star Wars is a disgrace).
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Why do conservatives not acknowledge that we've been fucking around in the Middle East for the past 50 years and maybe, just maybe, that has something to do with the animosity (not the whole "we hate freedom" thing - that is just ridiculous)?
After all, didn't the latest tape from al Zarquawi say this:
"You can elect Bush, Kerry or Satan himself, it doesn't matter to us," Ayman al-Zawahiri said. "What's important to us are the U.S. policies toward Muslims."
That doesn't sound like Jihad, personally. Why is it unpatriotic to consider this comment at face value? Is it possible that in the midst of capturing and killing terrorists there is a larger problem that may have something to do with our actions the past fifty years?
The only way you can possibly think that "everything" changed on 9/11 is if you have absolutely no regard for what is done with your tax dollars to people in other countries. Politics is not about this or that group "deserving" anything - it is about forces at work that are not entirely isolated from our actions. Why is beyond the pale to bring this up?
Seriously, I'm asking the closest conservatives at hand... why must patriotism be linked to framing issues from only a certain perspective? That is not how solutions come about - what was it Einstein said about problems not being solved by the same level of thinking that created them?
I took the past week off for Thanksgiving. I am not hungry anymore.
Remind me again: why do people watch this guy's show? Oh, yeah because he's such a successful businessman:
Trump denied the bankruptcy was a setback.
"I don't think it's a failure, it's a success," he said in the interview. "In this case, it was just something that worked better than other alternatives. It's really just a technical thing, but it came together."
"We have one of the most powerful gaming companies the day it comes out (of bankruptcy). There's no way we could have done that without the 'B' word," he said.
He said "the future looks very good."
See, when defaulting on your loans is considered success in corporate America, don't talk to me about free markets and capitalism. This bullshit makes me sick - I'm entirely convinced that corporate America is part of the problem in reestablishing a sustainable, free economy in this country. Bankruptcy is a success? I guess being high on crack is a success, too.
I'm not entirely certain this is a bad idea:
European Union justice and interior ministers agreed Friday that new immigrants to the 25-nation bloc should be required to learn local languages, and to adhere to general "European values" that will guide them toward better integration.
What I like about it is that it acts like an explicit social contract with newcomers to Europe. "This is what you can expect of Europe, this is what you cannot." In fact, I've often thought that the solution to the so-called "culture/value war" in America is for us to really get introspective and think about what values are essential to this country. I'm not talking about Christianity or the golden rule or anything like that - what I mean is, if we could find a minimum set of values that "make" America, and restrict the gov't to only operating on those values, there would BE no culture war. We would all realize that if there is such a war, it should not take place in politics.
So what I kinda forsee is a society where when you turn 18, you can decide whether or not you want to be a citizen. You cross the threshold from being a ward to being a free, sovereign adult. And if you want to be a citizen, you have to agree to uphold these minimum American values (I'm talking about things like tolerance, pluralism, non-violence; BASIC stuff). That way we have an explicit contract with each other about what we believe in. You're free to have beliefs above and beyond this, hell, you can believe whatever you want. But in the scope of politics, you would have to agree to honor these values. Otherwise, you can't vote. This way we could be explicit about what sorts of things gov't can do, so the left doesn't get God pushed down its throat and the right doesn't get granolla values pushed down theirs.
Thoughts?
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Can anybody tell me what it means when people say they "support the troops"? What does that phrase even mean?
I assume they're referring to some level of support above and beyond their tax dollars.
You know who is one of the dumbest people on the planet? Peggy Noonan.
For the life of me, I don't understand how an article like this gets syndicated. WTF?!?! "I think I should write a political article about shutting up and not talking about politics. You know, since I don't need to bitch about Kerry anymore."
Yeah, it's the end of history, ya moron...
Regarding the whole Kevin Sites filming Marines shooting wounded Iraqis / terrorists / insurgents / freedom fighters; what the hell is the big deal? I'm not particularly dismayed at the incident since I have no illusions about true the brutality of war. Rules of engagment my ass. Any Marine in a war zone that feels threatened doesn't need a lazy public at home second guessing his stressed, split second decision. What the public needs to be doing is second guessing the decision that put that Marine in that God awful situation.
Which I suppose is why the right is coming down so hard on Sites. Their attacks on the reporter are not in defense of the Marine so much as to hide from the public the true nature of the war they want waged in the American public's name. They know that any public support they have for this war is the result of a very aggressive and comprehensive management of the war's image.
To them, it's not enough to needlessly put troops in harms way and make them do horrible things - they have to deny that such brutality is even occuring! Furthermore, to them it is an act of treason to let the citizens of this country know what is occuring - as if people cannot be allowed to decide for themselves how to deal with this news. If this were a just war of self-defense, no way people would care about this - because they would realize that the brutality is justified. It's only because the entire basis for the war is a sham that appearance of fairness and decency must be maintained. And it's a facade that is breaking down with each and every day U.S. forces continue to occupy that country.
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From David Brin's wonderful blog (which I'm just starting to explore) a great H.L. Mencken quote:
On July 26, 1920 HL Mencken wrote the following in the Baltimore Evening Sun :
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
I think the term "moron" is a bit harsh, because the plain folks got not only an unexceptional intellect but an unpretentious one. And I think that second feature is what is important to them.
Brin's also got a great essay on the nature of this new Republican wierdness that has emerged at his site. I plan on posting my comments on it later. I also want to post more thoughts about the value/culture war on which we libertarians have unique insight, I believe.
Looks like a recount in Ohio is happening after all:
Libertarian Michael Badnarik and the Green Party's David Cobb said on Monday they raised more than $150,000 in four days, mostly in small contributions.
Ohio law requires payment of $10 per precinct for a recount, or $113,600 statewide.
Badnarik and Cobb said they aren't trying to overturn President Bush's 136,000-vote victory in Ohio, but just want to ensure that all votes were counted properly in the face of concerns about Election Day irregularities.
"Our bottom line is to stand up for the integrity of the voting process because the voting process is the heart of the democratic process," said Blair Bobier, spokesman for Cobb.
Kerry and every single member of the Democratic Party should be ashamed of themselves. I guess
this is why we have third parties - so that
somebody makes sure our republic works, even if they have to shoulder an unfair financial burden to do it. I hope America realizes how much $113,600 hurts the Libertarian and Green parties.
