Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Something To Chew On
The time has come to have a rational debate about if, when and how the United States should pull out of Iraq. I’m happy to see our national ability to have reasoned debates — such as it is — applied for this purpose. I’m pessimistic about seeing that reasoned debate. There is very little surviving in said “national ability.” If it is a V-8 engine, it has thrown a rod or two, is mixing the oil with the coolant, and is badly in need of a new fuel pump, water pump and plugs — it just won’t go. If it is a copier machine, it reeks of burning toner and scalded mouse flesh, it shakes when it runs and makes an excruciating grinding noise, has smoke coming out of it, and the glass thing on top has been shattered by someone’s ass.
You get the point. We can’t think anymore. We may choose to as individuals, but that doesn’t help you when you try to discuss something with someone else.
What does it take to fix this national ability to think things out? Step One, as far as I’m concerned, is to do something about the dreadful bias — something that can’t be done, until you acknowledge it’s there. Here’s my proof:
Many among those who insist the Iraq invasion was a mistake, are going to further insist that they and their representatives are in favor of the War on Terror, but are simply taking the position that Iraq is a bad target. Therefore, the point of real dispute is a military action that was started in March of 2003.
Now, if and when the War on Terror is yanked off the front pages, however this may be done, we’re all set to resume our arguing about domestic issues. In this country, “domestic issues” refers to two things. 1) Old people, many of whom are not only financially solvent, but enjoy summer homes and Winnebagos, renewing their lease upon an ever-expanding assortment of free drugs and medical care, at the expense of thirty-something apartment rats who are barely making ends meet; and 2) Advoacy groups who represent “minority” classes defined by racial, gender, gender-preference, union-membership and language considerations, coming up with lower and lower thresholds of pain and grievance so they can picket, decry, libel and sue.
There are other things we think of as “domestic issues,” but most of them fall into one of those two categories.
And those two categories have a unified-common-ancestor in the New Deal.
The New Deal started in March of 1933. Exactly seven decades before the Invasion of Iraq.
So the Bush administration has been trying to bring democracy to Iraq, exactly seventy years, to the month, later than the Roosevelt administration started trying to bring socialism here.
I mean “socialism” as in absence of capitalism, and I mean capitalism as the broad, simple contract that holds our society together. “I’ll make demands on you and compensate you for fulfilling them, up to but not beyond the point where I’ve depleted the compensation others have given me for the demands I’ve satisfied of theirs.” Corruption of that simple contract. Erosion of that fragile foundation, by which our society had erected its promise that no man shall be the tyrannical master of another — with no new foundation to provide substitute support.
Capitalism has been crumbling, and with it, the promise has been slipping away — as it must. The government forces people to spend huge, and growing, chunks of their lives, for no purpose but to fulfill the needs and desires of strangers.
The white flag is now being forcefully argued as the only fitting final curtain for President Bush’s quest. His quest to spread democracy abroad — while, for seven decades longer, Democrats have labored to bring socialism here.
So here’s the something to chew on:
If surrender is a noble and fitting end to one of these campaigns, shouldn’t it be a noble and fitting end to the other as well?
Not only is our media unlikely to consider a positive answer to that, it’s highly unlikely to even seriously review the question. I open the paper every day, and I’m going to see evidence that President Bush’s mission has turned into a boondoggle. I could see a lot of evidence that President Roosevelt’s mission, likewise, has turned into a boondoggle. But I won’t.
Some argue that an uncertain or wavering objective in President Bush’s mission, is proof-positive — it’s a boondoggle. Good heavens, how many differences are there between Social Security 2005, and Social Security 1935? Could a reasonable person infer these differences make Social Security a boondoggle, or at least give it a good shove in that direction?
Some argue that Democracy is bound to die in Iraq, so why bother trying. There are other places to live where one can enjoy Democracy. Well again, good heavens. If you like socialism, there are also other places you can live. Scores of places.
And others argue that the campaign to liberate Iraq has just gotten hard to cheer on. It’s gotten boring. It’s gotten to be a pain in the ass.
So for a third time, good heavens!
The two-year-old war must be ended because it’s lost its pizazz. I would say, speaking as one of the generation that must fund it, the seventy-two-year-old war hast lost even more of this pizazz. If we’re oh-so-bored by the two-year-old campaign to create freedom where there once was none, I hope we become similarly bored by the seventy-two-year-old campaign to end that freedom where it was previously enjoyed.
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