http://www.jhm.org/home-new.asp One of the difficulties of carrying on dialogue with some folks is the cloying urge to stop being polite and just explode with a perfunctory "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!?" This is my reaction when I hear or read enough of the kind of thing to be found…
A new Washington Post article reveals that the feckless Bush administration blew off rebuilding Iraq in 2003. Instead of securing the country and providing water and electricity to the Iraqis, the administration doled out billions to inept applicants demonstrating political and philosophical loyalty to Bush: After the fall of Saddam…
Shortly after 9/11, we asked why “they hate us.” We still haven’t considered who “they” are, much less "why" "they" allegedly hate us. At Alternet, Matt Taibbi has posted a sharp criticism of America's refusal to take this question seriously. Taibbi correctly notes that America versus the World (similarly consider American versus…
Here’s what the president said Monday night:
“The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad”
Here’s an exerpt from a well-written post by Robert J. Elisberg:
Actually, no, it doesn’t. Anyone who thinks our safety “depends” on street fighting in Baghdad has a piss-poor, pathetic view of America and should be so ashamed that they stay in their room in disgrace. Of course, if they think that little of America, they probably are already hiding in their rooms.
Elisberg continues:
We’ve reached the point where the White House has become a scene out of the “Wizard of Oz.” A disembodied head blowing smoke and making ominous pronouncements, while begging us not to look at the little man behind the curtain.
The words are fantasy, the reality befuddled.
Here’s some more examples from Bush’s 9/11/06 speech, all of them equally pathetic:
We’re adapting to stay ahead of the enemy, and we are carrying out a clear plan to ensure that a democratic Iraq succeeds. [Clear plan? Could you please remind us of the terms of this “clear plan”]
We’re helping Iraq’s unity government grow in strength and serve its people. [It’s getting so good, that our military personnel are bringing their spouses and children over there to vacation while the soldiers are off-duty. Oh, wait. No, I was thinking about Hawaii.]
It appears that the War on Terror is shaping up to be as decisive, efficient and effective as the War on Drugs: “Mission Accomplished since 1933”. The enemy is hard to define, hard to detect, and there is no exit strategy (see bureaucracies, below) in the unlikely case of a declared win.Terror is a state of mind, a reaction to extreme and unexpected negative events. Those Saudis who attacked on 9/11/01 (using materials and training acquired in the U.S.) set off a chain of events that is turning our country into a Police State. This is a win for them.
Here are some signs of a gathering Police State.