Tina —
I'm not particularly "hung up on this two-party thing." However, our splendid winner-take-all/indirect-electors system is very much hung up on the two-party thing. Third-party votes have at most a negative effect, taking away votes from other candidates. I wish we had something closer to a parliamentary model but I wish I had lots of things I'm never going to get.
Yeah, I'd say you're throwing away your vote. But it's yours to throw.
J. Scott —
If I've hurt your feelings, please accept my apology. I'd be happy to address the substance rather than the form of your posts (though the two are intertwined), if I could find any substance other than unsupported opinions and assertions. If you want an informed discussion, you have to bring something to the table.
J. Scott 97
If you mean "the Clinton administration," don't say "the Democrats." The two terms aren't synonymous.
For someone who says he's thought about the questions I raised, and cares about the answers, you show a curious reluctance to face them.
Clinton said they had them. (see Operation Desert Fox) Clark testified in '02 before Congress that he thought they had them.
Which demonstrates my point. Clinton looked at the intel and ordered Desert Fox. Bush looked at much the same intel, minus the capacity destroyed in DF, and invaded a country. Why? (Remember, there's no evidence linking Iraq to 9/11.)
...I recognize that there has been a huge failure, one that needs to be accounted for, in our government's handling of intelligence. Hold Bush accountable if you choose too.
Do you see any indication of any investigation of the failures in intelligence, strategic planning, or anything else? If so, please clue me in. And it's not a matter of me, or anyone else, "choosing to" hold Bush accountable. He's the guy in charge, right? Commander Codpiece, prancing around in the flight suit. He was hellbent on starting this war and, like it or not, it's his.
But should the answers be not politically convenient for you...I wonder if suddenly YOU won't care.
I would find it "politically convenient" if I felt able to trust the president of my country without having to limit my reading material to Highlights for Children. Getting clear and cogent answers to my questions would be a good start toward that.
J. Scott 97
If he lied, then so did the Democrats when they claimed Sadaam had WMD. He didn't lie, neither did Clinton. The intelligence was faulty. Remember, regime change was the policy of the previous administration as well.
* The "Democrats" never claimed Saddam had WMD, and to state that they (or we) did is careless phrasing, so lazy and sloppy it's nearly meaningless.
* Clinton's "regime change" policy specifically excluded the kind of large-scale military adventurism we're now pursuing.
* Even if Clinton's policy had aligned perfectly with Bush's, you'll notice that only one of those men invaded another country. How did Bush look at substantially the same intelligence available to Clinton, and come to such radically different conclusions? (Points off for waving the bloody 9/11 flag. There is no evidence Iraq was involved; Bush has said so, Powell has said so. Too bad they couldn't have figured that out before the invasion.)
* "The intelligence was faulty" 97 you're really going out on a limb here, J. Aren't you the least bit curious about why it was so faulty? Are our intelligence agencies that incompetent and clueless? Then heads should roll, don't you think? If they didn't screw up, who did?
* If getting rid of the heinous butcher Saddam Hussein was the real reason for invading, then why did Bush, Powell, Cheney, Perle, et al., keep intoning all those dire warnings about WMDs ?
* If remaking the Middle East was the real reason for invading, then why did we go in with absolutely no plan for occupying and administering Iraq? "Theyll love us! You'll see!" 97 that's not a plan.
Have these questions never occurred to you? Or do you just not care about the answers?
Not actually a work commemorating that giant cheese, but worth noting nonetheless. (Besides, one must seize oversized-cheese-celebrating opportunities as they present themselves.)
Ode on the Mammoth Cheese
Weighing over 7,000 pounds
by James McIntyre (1827-1906)
We have seen thee, queen of cheese,
Lying quietly at your ease,
Gently fanned by evening breeze,
Thy fair form no flies dare seize.
All gaily dressed soon you'll go
To the great Provincial show,
To be admired by many a beau
In the city of Toronto.
Cows numerous as a swarm of bees,
Or as the leaves upon the tres,
It did require to make thee please,
And stand unrivalled, queen of cheese.
May you not receive a scar as
We have heard that Mr. Harris
Intends to send you off as far as
The great world's show at Paris.
Of the youth beware of these,
For some of them might rudely squeeze
And bite your cheek, then songs or glees
We could not sing, oh! queen of cheese.
According to the highly recommended anthology Very Bad Poetry, where this stirring ode may be found: "A furniture maker by trade, James McIntyre turned his hand to poetry in order to help others appreciate the many wonders of Canada as he viewed them. Key among them: cheese. Few could argue with his rationale; to wit, 'it is no insignificant theme.'"
And, yes, Novak is a simpleton.
Thank you, Patrick. You're getting at something that's bothered me more and more over the past few weeks; that vague botherment coalesced into real anger when I read Jane Galt's infamous 2x4 post and the resulting jabber. Yes, she glibly and gleefully advocated violence; yes, her "I don't know nuthin bout no buildin materials" apologia reveals her to be either disingenuous or moronic, if not both -- but what infuriated me most about her comment was her misappropriation of 9/11, when she referred to New Yorkers as (I believe -- I refuse to re-read her blather for the exact quote) "those of us who know what war is like." We don't know. We don't. We've had one searing, transformative experience. Compare that to, say, London or Leningrad during WWII. Or Nicaragua in the 1980s. Or Rwanda in 1994. Or the Ivory Coast right now. We don't know shit.
Yet we know far, far more than most Americans. That's what struck me most in the days after 9/11, the infinite orders of magnitude between watching something on TV and seeing it -- smelling it, hearing it, feeling it -- unfold in front of you. It's not like I ever watched news from Bosnia or the Middle East or whatever "hot spot" had managed to make the news without some empathy, some attempt to understand what was happening to those faraway people. But until your own tangible, everyday world is affected, it's an abstraction. Breathing that stinking air (full of not only incinerated biphenylchloride- interofficememo- asbestos but also carbonized humans), watching people post those unbearably sad flyers (so many photos of weddings and christenings and graduations, so much 2D happiness) , waking up on 9/12 terrified by the sound of a jet (a military plane passing over the city) -- that's my tiny little vile nibble of war. It's enough. Enough to convice me that you do not inflict this kind of pain lightly or casually. You do not injure people to this extent without good reason. And, yes, I'm selfish enough that a "good reason" is my own safety and that of my loved ones. I've not heard or read any argument for attacking Iraq that makes me believe that I or anyone I care about will be safer as a consequence.
A friend who lives in Chicago told me that on 9/11 she sat down with her 10-year-0ld son to watch the coverage. The first time he saw that endlessly looped footage of the plane flying into the south tower, he said, "Cool!" My friend took a deep breath and explained that this wasn't a movie, it was real. It really happened. Long pause, then her son said, "But they got everybody out of the building, right?"
Bush seems to be operating at this level of engagement. Yeah, it's real but not really real. And that's what's really, really scary.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 1 |
| 2004 | 4 |
| 2003 | 2 |
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