Self governance 202

Ok, we’ve almost made it. We’re nearing the end of an extended and painful semester of Self Governance 202. What have we learned? Surely the lessons include some things we shouldn’t have already known yet, this is a new day and age so there are some new wrinkles to old tricks and some brand new tricks.

We’ve learned that we have to take Governmental information with at least several grains of salt. This is a one we should already have known. Looking back through history we could find many instances of the government telling us "Don’t worry, you can trust us" but the most poignant is Richard Nixon’s "I am not a crook" line. We should have already known that naively accepting everything the government says, with no regard for motives and spin, will most assuredly lead to excess if not total chaos.

We’re supposed to keep them honest. The Media, the various branches of the federal government, but mostly the citizens are supposed to keep an eye on activities, question the validity of statements and demand transparency.

We haven’t done that. Nobody has.

We’ve learned that many people do not want to struggle with the complexities of issues. They prefer to have everything neatly stacked in little black and white piles and if the government uses the right buzzwords those stacks will go unchallenged indefinitely.

Here’s another thing we should have learned.. If you want to cripple the efforts of a group of terrorists first, don’t attack an uninvolved country but really before that, Don’t declare a "War on Terror" and surely don’t call every inane idea, occupation, or ancillary attack part of "The War on Terror". It gets ridiculous quickly.

If you attack a Muslim country suddenly all of Islam is against you and anyone who has to live in that part of the world will be hard pressed to assist you. The leaders of those countries have one main goal, to stay in power. They can act like they’re trying to help you while actually providing sanctuary for terrorists through inaction, while accepting lots of money to find the bad guys.

An administration would be much better off going after the actual terrorist group and would do much better with the secret help of the countries involved. It’s worthless to make all of the Middle East choose sides in a dubious conflict. If you’re not from there you will never really know who your friends are.

But the single most important lesson we should have learned in this endless second semester, is that no matter what happens NEVER EVER forsake your countries core values, like justice and freedom, pursuing the goals of a few misguided people. Never give up the moral high ground and always stand for what’s right. Be a force in the world for truth and transparency and only use force when you have to and only for the right reasons. That way your credibility and integrity stay intact and it’s always clear who the bad guys are. That, fellow citizens, will be on the final.

maxP

Scooter Skates!!

Scooter Libby’s obstructions of the investigation into the Valerie Plame affair prevented the special prosecutors from getting to the bottom of that scandal and now it has proven, with the help of the President, to have been well worth it. They easily sidestepped the laws and prosecutions for breaking laws by obfuscating, ‘forgetting’ and covering up the facts and than liberating the person who was convicted of that obstruction. Truly a dirty deed, done dirt cheap.

maxP

Scooter goes to Jail

It's hard to believe some of the blogs. Goofs are actually saying Pres. Clinton got a slap on the wrist while Scooter got 30 months! Hey, Scooter pulled the short straw and is taking one for the team, or more likely for the V.P.

Plus, the Republican hate machine stalked Clinton for years and finally, when they could find nothing else to investigate, investigated a Presidential, consenting adult, dalliance with a female. Wow. This doesn't actually affect the security of the country does it. The difference between Dems and Reps is that the Reps care so much more about their own petty hate than the good of the nation that they dragged us all through a trumped up impeachment trial.

The Dems have plenty they could impeach Bush over but care more about the country than to do that if they can just wait the 15 months, puking daily, until it dies on it's own.

Now Scooter, if that is your real name, is taking the rap for VP Cheney for the blatant and arrogant political hackery of outing Valerie Plame. How can Rudy Giuliani say there is no underlying proven crime. If Scooter obstructs justice enouogh to hide the underlying crime, and lies enough in the process to the Grand Jury, that is THE crime.

But the astounding thing is that there are people out there who turn a blind eye to all the scandals, loyal to the President no matter what, and still have the unmitigated gaul to bring up Bill Clinton! Yeah all that peace and prosperity was tough to bare. Now there are 3500 brave soldiers who have lost their lives , and probably triple that who have lost limbs, thanks to Bush Cheney, and the Neocons. How far up can your head get?

max

Madame Speaker...

Dear Madamme Speaker!

I humbly submit that if the President will not sign a funding bill that has any timetables for withdrawal would he then sign a bill that specifically recognizes the sorrowful operational failures by his former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and by Paul Bremmer. These should include too few troops which we are still trying to correct, the disbanding of the entire Iraqi army, allowing the looting of Baghdad, allowing the loss of so much unaccounted for money, the failure to find WMD's, The failure to plan for keeping the peace, building permanent bases which inflames the native populace, and of course, The failure to avoid 9/11, etc.?

Otherwise I wouldn't provide funding.

max

Bar Graph of Death,, or life,, well actually Sentiment

Bar graph of death,, no Life,, well actually of American opinion of the war.



IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIi
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

If we could assume that the top bar graph (above) represented all the American people we could also safely assume that the second bar, just under that, could just about represent the percentage of Americans that want our fighting men and women in Iraq to have everything they need to keep them safe and effective for as long as they are there.

If we were to make a bar graph of Americans, relative to the “All Americans “ first graph, who believe that America can’t just vacate Iraq (in a mess we helped create) for fear of allowing a huge power struggle implosion to happen, I think the graph would look like this next one.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The graph under that would, I think, roughly represent, fairly accurately, the number of Americans who also wish there was some way out, where not another American would lose their life. That there would be not one more family left with a big hole in it that is reopened every holiday and missing person’s birthday or anniversary.

The graph of people who think the Iraq war was a poor choice, either because we were not threatened by Saddam or because the loss of life, from all the countries involved, as a result of the trumped up rational for the war, would look roughly like this.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIIII

The next graph is for those who think the “wish we weren’t there” group doesn’t understand the threat posed by the global ring of terrorists. They like to say “fight them over there and not here” (which doesn’t hold any water). They also like to say that those who think our presence is gaining little good while exposing our troops to too much harm are somehow aiding the enemy.

The last graph (invisible above) represents those who feel we should tell all of Arabia and the world that we want just two months to clean up, fix up, and set up whatever we can and then we’re out. We would have to stipulate that if anyone who says they want us out decides to blow something up we reserve the right to start the two months over again but that if they really want us out like they say, they should stop their attacks.

For two months. Of course so far that graph represents only me which is why it is not yet visible but maybe if we can’t start a national “two more months” chant we can get out a little early. Then we can look hard at the people who got us into this war.

max

Could we be a better country?

What if... What if we were a mostly neutral country that would only go to war if threatened or to help protect those who were being attacked. What if every American realized that not only are the thousands of American lives lost a tragedy but so is the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives that have been lost.

What if we were enabling other countries to enjoy the fruits of democracy (and capitalism) through support and economic encouragement rather than engaging in violent regime change?

What if we realized that our actions can cause hope and growth or despair and violence? What if we could get the world thinking that America was a good and helpful and not a crazy country but one that could always be counted on to stand for reason and right. Then we could be a constant and dependable force for good and others would want to be like us.

And over time countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran will slowly turn westernized, without any shots being fired.

max

Plan B?

So the administration either has no plan B in case the "surge" doesn't work, or it is loathe to talk about it, no one knows. That may be because they : 1) Are not fond of doing the homework of contingency planning and/or, 2)Plan B is to wait it out until the next administration takes over making it their problem (then we'll here forever of how great things were going) or, 3) They might have to admit that any real Plan B would have to include Diplomacy which they have been avoiding all along, because they don't understand how that works.

Max Practical

Before it's too late

There have been lots of lame arguments made about why our troops must not be pulled from Iraq but what about reasons they should be pulled? First there is the argument that they're in the middle of a two thousand year old civil war between muslim sects and can not cure that age old conflagration. Secondly their continued presence is at least partially inflaming the issue. The big question to me, now that we've heard about the use of chlorine gas in Iraq, is what if those brave troops become targets in stepped up attacks including those of a chemical, biological, or nuclear nature? What if the casualties take a sudden sharp upturn into the hundred or two a day range. What then will we have accomplished by staying.

Everyone is wary of leaving a power vacuum but I'd rather do that than lose American Lives, at any pace.

max