Bush and McCain Tell Americans that the Economy and Iraq are Okay

To quote John Stewart, "In order for the Jedi mind trick to work, you have to be a Jedi."

Dick, you're such a dick!

It is one thing to do what is best for the American people, especially when a majority of the American people do not realize what is best for themselves. It is another thing altogether to disregard the American people when most of them know what is, in fact, best for themselves and are right.

McCain's Credibility on the Iraq Surge

What happens to McCain's credibility about the Iraq surge's success when the ceasefire the U.S. has with al-Sadr collapses and massive violence erupts?

This Sucks

Now, CNN reports that 4000 of our young American soldiers have given their lives in Iraq.

George W. Bush Thinks War is Romantic

Wilfred Owen disagrees. See post below.

Wilfred Owen

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

8 October 1917 - March, 1918

Unconventional Reason

There is much talk these days about what would happen were we to withdraw from Iraq. What is especially clear to me is that pundits and McCain tend to exaggerate. From all the information that I have gathered from 2005 to the present, it appears that when we withdraw, the Iranian-backed Mahdi militia and Bader Brigade will mobilize against al-Qaeda. The current U.S.-backed regime will kowtow to the Iranians even more, and the eventuality facing that regime will be a slow shift toward an Islamic theocracy. This, I believe, is not something that we can or even should prevent. Stability is more important to the Iraqis than democracy, but we are most likely preventing the very people that can eliminate al-Qaeda from doing just that. Our presence in Iraq, therefore, is most likely perpetuating instability. All the evidence that I have gathered seems to point to the fact that the Iranians and their surrogates are poised to fill in the vacuum when we depart. McCain and others seem to think that that is an untenable situation for the U.S., and maybe it is in some ways, but our invasion was supposed to somehow benefit the Iraqis. If we can do just that by leaving, then we will have actually accomplished more than we have since March 19, 2003.

The McCain Quandary

McCain wants to bomb Iran. I thought he was the foreign-policy genius. Admiral Fallon was right to tell Esquire that the only tenable relationship the U.S. can have with Iran is a diplomatic relationship. How does McCain propose to fight a war with Iran that would alienate more of the Islamic world, essentially encouraging young Muslims to embrace terrorism, all while he proposes to stay the course in Iraq? He talks about Democrats' desire to raise taxes while he has no economic plan to sustain the status quo much less more ambitious military endeavors. He would bankrupt us the way the former Soviet Union bankrupted itself. America cannot afford another egotist.

Five Years and Counting

This Wednesday, March 19, 2008, will be the fifth anniversary of our having invaded Iraq.

The Politics of Faulty Logic

Is there such thing as guilt by association? There is, only so far as one perceives that one thing is true given the truth of some other thing. Of course, the association is predicated on causation. For example, Rev. Wright says "god damn America," and pundits say that Obama, therefore, believes that God should damn America. This, however, is faulty logic. Because there is no clear causation indicating why the second thing should be true, one cannot ascertain that the second thing is, indeed true because the first is true; and the name of this fallacy, ladies and gentlemen, is: post hoc ergo propter hoc, literally: after this, therefore because of this, otherwise known as a false cause.

So why do knuckle-head politicians and their surrogates use such garbage to sway the average person? The average person is not inclined to know what is fallacious. The short answer, then: because using fallacies works.

Damned the Whole Clinton Thing

What is all the talk about an Obama/Clinton ticket? Are the Clintons trying to get back into the White House one way or another? I support Obama's campaign, but I cannot in good conscience support Hillary in any way -- not even as a vice president. Nothing will drive away support for Obama from Independents and Republicans than Obama choosing Hillary for a running mate. It is support that will go straight to John McCain. An Obama/Edwards ticket would be a formidable one against McCain. I also would consider quite strongly Senators McCaskill, Hagel, Biden, Landrieu, Feingold, or Webb. These are people adept at reaching beyond partisan politics to affect positive change. Let's keep this thing going in the right direction, folks.