A Few Thoughts on Military Engagement

President Obama's recent decision regarding Iraq deployment of our troops, and the eventual withdrawal of combat forces, led me to thinking about some people's political responses to any criticism of the war. Any truly just war cannot be the sole domain of a single political party or philosophy. So, I wrote the reply below to a veteran on another site who seems, like so many of the older vets from the 60s, to still be fighting "hippies" who "diss" our troops.

There has never been a nation in the history of the world, which has not found it necessary to expend its blood and treasure in war. Every country has its Honored Dead whose graveyards lie strewn about distand landscapes. This applies even to nations we have defeated, such as Germany's Bittburg military cemetary (which Reagan took flak for visiting in the 1980s).

While we all should remain cognizant and grateful for the sacrifices of individual servicemen and women, we should not delude ourselves into the belief that there is some unique, solely American reason for engaging in war. "War is diplomacy by other means," it was once said -- and not said by an American.

The military should not be deployed overseas for ideological reasons; rather a "just war" should be fought when necessary for the defense of the nation, not to build an ephemeral democracy in countries whose civilizations arose when our European ancestors were still living in caves. Leave politics aside when discussing our military and its sacrifices, and don't demean their necessary work by belaboring some illusory hippies from the 1960s.

Christ once said, "Let the dead bury the dead." And so it shall always be....

Bush Gets the Shoe!

Iraq's Funniest Home Videos. The Great Misunderestimator takes one for the team!

Murderers, Thieves, Traitors

So, I went to Walmart at 10:00 PM last night to buy some emergency CD labels for my printer. This was the first time I ever set foot in the store, and I swore after I was finished, I'd never go back. The only reason I went there was because Fry's and Best Buy were closed, and I needed CD labels for a client's print job.

I swear, I have personally given witness to the Decline and Fall of the American Empire. The ghost of Edward Gibbon is down in Hades co-writing the book with Beetlejuice and the tormented soul of Prescott Bush.

There are two places in this world you do not want to go to find hot chicks: 1) Denny's and 2) Walmart. I saw more toothless hags than Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain, and they all sported Walmart name tags on their black polo shirts. The store is Tweaker Heaven, or where old homeless folks go to die. Leaving the store as fast as I could, I drove home and hit the shower.

"This must be how prostitutes feel," I thought. You sell your soul in exchange for Chinese-made crap. "It's cheap, but it ain't free," Steely Dan once sang.

All of which brought to mind the terrible bridge collapse in Minneapolis yesterday. CNN announced that estimates to repair our broken infrastructure run about $1.3 trillion. But, we have "no money" do repair our bridges, roads, railroads, and airports. Why? Hmm... Maybe because we've squandered a trillion dollars in Iraq?

We've spent all this money in Iraq and have jack to show for it. Their infrastructure is even uglier than ours. "Corruption is the second insurgency," a recent government report stated.
Here's a new and unique idea. By last count, after all the mass murders and bombings, there are about 23 million inhabitants of Iraq. Not counting vermin, of course. So, why not just pull our troops out and give every Iraqi a million bucks? Wouldn't that be the Republican way? "Free market economics: Give 'em the money and let them spend it however they want." Seems like letting them fix their own damn country would be a lot less expensive than letting Haliburton pave it over and rape the earth for oil.

Our relationship with Iraq is like an abusive marriage. As my friend Stefanie recently told me, "We won't leave until they stop trying to push us out." Big Daddy Bush slaps them around and kills 600,000 civilians, and they go all passive-agressive on our ass by planting IEDs under Humvees.

Reminds me of Jack Nicholson in "The Shining." "Here's Jonny!" "Here's your worst fucking nightmare!" A decrepit empire dragging the rest of the world down its own black hole.

Sic semper imperatoris!

Impeach Bush!

Hey hey, ho ho! Bush and Cheney got to go!!

What more can we say? Condi Rice can hit the bricks, too. If she can climb out from under Bush's desk long enough. These guys have led the country to the brink of total disaster.

Once I warned that Bush would break our army in Iraq, like Valens did the Roman army at Adrianople. It seems I was close to the truth.

Speaking of the truth, we have Olbermann, Colbert, and Stewart to keep "telling it like it is," as the hipsters used to proclaim in the 60s.

The Decision Maker

Yesterday I saw our Moron-in-Chief on the news saying that "People are condemming my plan without even giving it a chance." Gee, King George, why would they do that? Hmm ... Let me think. How about these reasons:

• Your administration's utter and abject failure with previous initiatives in Iraq.
• The minor consideration that HUMAN LIVES ARE INVOLVED. Psst--Georgy Boy, running a war ain't like running a failing oil company into the ground. Real men, women, and children will loose their lives due to your faulty planning and execution.
• The idiots who can turn Saddam Hussein into a hero are truly unfit to govern the USA, much less Iraq.