Atrios says all that needs to be said about actually most of the past 7 years of horseshit here when he says:
The fact that some people failed to have "foresight" does not mean that those who did were only correct in "hindsight."
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Draft 2.0
Talk about conflicted that is me.
According to this story in the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0%5C,%5C,%5C-6841959,00.html the draft is on the table.
As one who survived the embrace of the draft during Viet Nam (4F - for reasons that baffle me still), I cannot decide what I think of the draft.
On the one hand it gives this vicious government - the same government that can intern, murder, torture, and disappear unhindered and now thanks to our Democratic Congress ,spy in all manners of ways on Fredo's say so- the bodies to go kill also on its unimpeded whim. But then it seems to have those anyway.
On the other hand there is nothing like getting drafted to get your attention, and all those who care about you, about going to fight a war.
If you are gonna be drafted during a war, you want a damn good reason for that war. It is not like a volunteer force where you decide to accept the risk and it is still less like our current mercenary auxiliary - almost as numerous as the actual soldiers on the ground approximately 120,ooo strong with fully 20% of those in combat roles (and over 1000 dead) - who do it for whatever reasons they have.
Viet Nam proved that a draft cannot prevent a war but more than anything it proved that you can stop a wrongheaded war once it was going. Granted 50,000 soldiers had to die. And yes they died in vain. Let me say that again - in Viet Nam they died in vain.
Just like every military death in Iraq has been in vain because stupid people made stupid decisions and We The People were too stupid to stop them when we could.
So let General Lute, our War Czar - remember when we used to call that the President? - say a draft is "on the table" (another mushy run-it-up-the-flagpole locution that seems to have become a well-honed exercise for this criminal regime).
All I can say is go ahead - re-invigorate the draft.
Until now the new progressives have dissed open protest - taking to the street as being a gauche hippie thing or something.
The right has people whose entire careers are dedicated to making the left a laughing stock for any protest no matter how meager.
We now have "Free Speech Zones" where those who might disagree on the street can disagree in corrals set up by local police and political operatives impersonating law enforcement officials harass lawful participants in public meetings and everyone does surveillance.
So, yeah, see what happens when you force every kid to try to Cheney his way through deferment after deferment or to Bush his way through through an AWOL by another name.
Yeah just see...
Maybe this War Czar - unlike the previous one - can do some good.
According to this story in the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0%5C,%5C,%5C-6841959,00.html the draft is on the table.
As one who survived the embrace of the draft during Viet Nam (4F - for reasons that baffle me still), I cannot decide what I think of the draft.
On the one hand it gives this vicious government - the same government that can intern, murder, torture, and disappear unhindered and now thanks to our Democratic Congress ,spy in all manners of ways on Fredo's say so- the bodies to go kill also on its unimpeded whim. But then it seems to have those anyway.
On the other hand there is nothing like getting drafted to get your attention, and all those who care about you, about going to fight a war.
If you are gonna be drafted during a war, you want a damn good reason for that war. It is not like a volunteer force where you decide to accept the risk and it is still less like our current mercenary auxiliary - almost as numerous as the actual soldiers on the ground approximately 120,ooo strong with fully 20% of those in combat roles (and over 1000 dead) - who do it for whatever reasons they have.
Viet Nam proved that a draft cannot prevent a war but more than anything it proved that you can stop a wrongheaded war once it was going. Granted 50,000 soldiers had to die. And yes they died in vain. Let me say that again - in Viet Nam they died in vain.
Just like every military death in Iraq has been in vain because stupid people made stupid decisions and We The People were too stupid to stop them when we could.
So let General Lute, our War Czar - remember when we used to call that the President? - say a draft is "on the table" (another mushy run-it-up-the-flagpole locution that seems to have become a well-honed exercise for this criminal regime).
All I can say is go ahead - re-invigorate the draft.
Until now the new progressives have dissed open protest - taking to the street as being a gauche hippie thing or something.
The right has people whose entire careers are dedicated to making the left a laughing stock for any protest no matter how meager.
We now have "Free Speech Zones" where those who might disagree on the street can disagree in corrals set up by local police and political operatives impersonating law enforcement officials harass lawful participants in public meetings and everyone does surveillance.
So, yeah, see what happens when you force every kid to try to Cheney his way through deferment after deferment or to Bush his way through through an AWOL by another name.
Yeah just see...
Maybe this War Czar - unlike the previous one - can do some good.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
So this is the best the Democratic Majority can do?
WTF is going on with this Democratic leadership?
We saw in the span of less than one week both the Senate and the House get completely rolled over the FISA Deconstruction Act of 2007. In God's name who in any position of oversight authority can think that it is a good idea to take the review of Constitutionally sensitive intelligence operations away from an independent judicial review and place it in the hands of not only an executive that has dope-slapped you ohhh a million times but put the decision directly in the hands of his attorney general who has all but pissed on your chairs before you sat down on them.
I thought that once the Democratic majority was in place we would at least see a halt to further erosion to civil liberties caused by the Bush junta. I wasn't looking for miracles. No Bush impeachment, no Cheney impeachment, no Rove frog-march. That was all too much to ask but simple adherence to the Bill of Rights - now that I thought was doable. Silly me.
God how I long for a Tip O'Neil at this moment. If he was around we would not have seen a cave like we experienced over the FISA bill.
No long before now we would have seen Gonzale's balls hanging from the fools cap that Tip would have made Bush wear on national TV.
Christ I hate these people.
We saw in the span of less than one week both the Senate and the House get completely rolled over the FISA Deconstruction Act of 2007. In God's name who in any position of oversight authority can think that it is a good idea to take the review of Constitutionally sensitive intelligence operations away from an independent judicial review and place it in the hands of not only an executive that has dope-slapped you ohhh a million times but put the decision directly in the hands of his attorney general who has all but pissed on your chairs before you sat down on them.
I thought that once the Democratic majority was in place we would at least see a halt to further erosion to civil liberties caused by the Bush junta. I wasn't looking for miracles. No Bush impeachment, no Cheney impeachment, no Rove frog-march. That was all too much to ask but simple adherence to the Bill of Rights - now that I thought was doable. Silly me.
God how I long for a Tip O'Neil at this moment. If he was around we would not have seen a cave like we experienced over the FISA bill.
No long before now we would have seen Gonzale's balls hanging from the fools cap that Tip would have made Bush wear on national TV.
Christ I hate these people.
Friday, August 03, 2007
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