America has led the way, and the rest of the world is falling in line. Because of our brilliant, resolute, might-makes-right brand of leadership, elections are taking place, and Democracy is finally fixing all of the Middle East’s problems. And to think that for the last few millennia, nobody realized it was just that easy.
More satisfying than the elections taking place though, is knowing how grateful they all are for what we’ve provided them at gunpoint. So grateful in fact, that Palestinians elected Hamas to run their government!
Oh, can you feel the warm glow of Democracy at work? It feels so good. I’ve got to say, our efforts are definitely making a difference in the Middle East, and anyone who says otherwise hates the troops. It’s that simple.
Do you hate the troops? Alright then. Terrorists may be the elected leaders of choice in Palestine, but that’s alright. Who cares anyway? Really…why the head scratching? Do you hate the troops?
FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH!
This was quite funny. I liked it Chris.
Sarcasm becomes you
Sarcasm led to a lot of pain growing up, but now it’s a hell of a lot more theraputically effective than any pill a doctor could prescribe. The news has been bumming me out big time lately, and the notion of banging out one of my essays just seemed to make it worse. Today I was thinking about it, and since I alone won’t make a difference one way or the other, I might as well try to envoke a joyfull response to it if I can.
Seems to work – – – I’ll keep at it.
How depressing is it though, that these policy decisions some of us questioned from the start (only to be brushed off w/ a ‘you just hate Bush’ response), are resulting exactally in the type of bullshit these leaders of ours said wouldn’t happen.
Prediction: No insurgency
Result: Insurgency
Prediction: Democracy alone won’t fix what’s broken
Result: Democracy alone didn’t fix what was broken
Prediction: We can win over their hearts and minds with force
Result: They hate our guts
If you didn’t agree you were a “naysayer” I am not sure democracy is working that good here in the US of A, given that due to apathy the right wing has taken over the country. I guess it should not be a surprise that religous extremist are taking over in places like Iraq and Palestine as well.
On a lighter note I feel bad for Plummer. The guy did get the Broncos to an AFC championship and you should hear what is being said about him.
I hope your new house is treating you well.
Stop playing politics! The American voters decided who they wanted to be President, and that means anything he does is always the right thing. Because the American voters are brilliant and righteous in every way…just look at how much they read, how they don’t max out every credit card they’ve got, how they watch what they eat, their childrens’ test scores compared with the rest of the world…
Yes, we’re in great shape, and as long as Pat Robertson keeps getting money, we’ve got nothing to worry about.
Ignorant and pregnant.
Justice Alitos broad interpretation of presidential powers is just what the country needs, their are several vegan groups that Bush is not spying on.
Christ specifically instructed us to eat meat, and those Quakers are so stuck up. It’s all terrorism!
THESE PEOPLE AREN’T SAVED!!!!!
And that makes me happy, because the only people I want to see in heaven are the ones from my church!
Also, remember the Abramhoff thing is OK because everyone does it, and thise pictures of Bush and Abramhoff don’t mean a thing.
It really is time to think seriously about impeaching Bush, has the man not screwed up anything?
That’s just partisan politics! Abramoff was a Democrat, everybody knows that. And Ralston, Rove’s top aide who worked for Abramoff before she got that job…there’s nothing there. Rove and Abramoff have never even met. That woman sent an email to the White House HR department and since she was the most qualified, she got the job.
Democrats want to make a stink about all this, but the fact is, everyone working within the Republican machine got to where they are because they worked hard…not because of who they know or what they believe. Seriously, Bush is a self made man, and it just pisses off the Democrats so much!
He grew up in poverty…his father was an immigrant. When he went to school with shoes that were falling apart, the other kids mocked him…but that only made him stronger! And when he got drafted and had to serve in Vietnam, he was the best soldier in his platoon. That’s why they promoted him to sergeant after only one month in country.
One time he killed 36 Viet-Cong on his own and rescued 420 POWs, but the Democrats got some partisan veterans to write a bullshit book about how all of it was made up. Can you believe it? He got shot at, saved lives, and they say he’s not a hero?!?!?!
What’s this world coming to?
Being a republican is so much easier. I know I am glad I converted. Talk to you later I gotta go fag bashing.
I think we should pay poor folks to have more kids. I like giving my tax dollars to support crackwhores and their many pregancies. Are you a terrorist? Why do you hate America? Don’t you know that the aqful raghead terr’ists out there want to kill you in your one-shop podunk town? That is what they prefer to target…
That is what I like about abstinence only education, it keeps those poor women popping them out. I also think it is good to keep teaching intelligent design that way I wont have to compete with these people for jobs. Keep them poor and uneducated that is what I say.
Nobody is EVER poor or uneducated when they walk alongside the holy spirit! That’s what liberals will never understand. Evolution, dinosaur bones…all pitfalls set up by the devil to take your eyes off the ball.
Look, Jesus went into the desert w/out food or water for 40 days/nights…same thing with these people, they’re looking for a burning bush, and if that’s impossible, they’ll settle for any bush they can find.
I am glad you have seen the light. I hope you will talk about how unpatriotic all those people who have died in Iraq are. They threw themselves in front of bullets just to make our president look bad.
Another thing I hate is those activist judges who pretend the constitution says something about seperation of church and state. We are one nation under god, Goddammit.
BTW
rightthinker is OK for a moderate
Wow, a sureal look into the liberal mind. (shudder) Al Gore is about half way through his second term as president of fantasy land.
rightthinker is OK for a moderate
Sarcasm is fun, I’m gonna try it. If you want a party with a big tent philosophy, go Democrat. The tent is so huge, in fact, everyone who adheres to the rigid liberal code can fit inside.
I have learned to respect the “truthiness” of conservatism. That great conservative Stephen Colbert has shown me the light.
Scott McClellan has shown me the light…and it’s clear to me now that ‘Crosseyed and Painless’ is perhaps the best song every written in the history of melody, technology and humanology…not to mention globalogy and galaxology. It goes, ‘facts don’t do what I want them to’ (full lyrics arriving soon)
The facts are partisan, and if we can somehow get it so they’re neutral, all this pissing and moaning can finally go away. Indeed, we’d all come together and engage in DC-style orgies, down gallons of booze and agree once and for all that the real world is much too small a place for the politics of our brilliant community here in America…only in a fake world of our own conception can the agenda be seen through.
So I propose that we eliminate every news source operating within Iraq and Afghanistan, replace them with right-wing bloggers and talk show hosts…eliminate state lines and figure out who understands the philosophy of Ayn Rand the best out of everyone alive, put them in charge of the government…I, of course, will take over the toll booths running from exit 2-5 on the Mass Pike, and my first order of business…FREE SMARTIES for everyone who passes through and can guess that day’s secret word.
Right there you’ve got all the makings of a dynasty, and WITHOUT Brady or Belichek involved at all.
Yes Yes
I just want the NSA contractor who is monitoring this to know that I don’t beleive in term limits and wholly think that George Bush Deserves a third term, and I did not all this disrectful things I said about the US losing the Iraq war because of Bush’s incompetence. I now know we lost that war because it was part of his master plan. Ditto for my comments about Bush’s incompetence regarding 9/11
I have not been around here for a while because of work and real life pressures lately. But I had to share this.
I respect your opinions and have tried to repsectpfully disagreed with some of what I have read here at Deadissue.
With this post I ask that you look in the direction my finger is pointing, just for the next few minutes, with an open mind, and not bite it off because of what it is pointing at. If you can do that, with an open mind, and still disagree I can live with that and even respect you for it.
If you did not read any of the other links I ever posted, or will post in the future, read this one. Do we really know what is going on over there (Iraq) … really? Is it really as bad as we are being lead to believe? Are we
getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth about conditions in the war on terror?
This article asks some very tough questions. The answers may suprise you. I have tried to say something like this in some of my previous posts. “What will we say in 10 years about this war?”
You owe it to yourself to read this.
http://www.taemag.org/issues/articleID.18977/article_detail.asp
(snip)
“How is the morale of our soldiers holding up?
Today’s supposed hemorrhaging in military manpower is mostly a fiction manufactured by the media. Moderate shortfalls in recruiting new bodies have hit reserve and National Guard units. The latest Army Reserve recruiting
class, for instance, totaled only 96 percent of the goal.
All active duty branches, however, are exceeding their recruiting requirements in the latest monthly figures from the Department of Defense (released in December). The Army and Marine Corps (who are doing most of the hard service in Iraq) were each at 105 percent of their quotas. After a dip early in 2005, the Army has met or exceeded its goals for new recruits in every month since June. One source of pressure on the active-duty Army is the process of expanding from 482,000 soldiers to 512,000, as a dozen new combat brigades are added to the force.
We are at war, and our Army and Marines are being used hard. But there is no crisis of alienated servicemen.”
(snip)
“Only in 20/20 hindsight have our wars been reinterpreted as righteous and widely supported by a unified nation. Even World War II, the ultimate “good” war fought by the “greatest” generation, was deeply controversial at the time. Fully 6,000 Americans went to prison as war resisters during the years our troops were conquering fascism in Europe and Japan.
There’s no reason to think of the Iraq war as more unpopular than any other U.S. war. If it is prosecuted to success, there’s little doubt that the war against terror in Iraq will in retrospect look just as wise and worthy
as previous sacrifices. But there is a wild card: Would the nation have retained the nerve to finish previous successful wars if there had been contemporary-style news coverage of battles like Camden, the Wilderness, or Tarawa?”
(snip)
“Western reporters have emphasized the many ethnic and religious schisms that divide Iraqis. They rarely note that there are also some countervailing common interests, social forces, and leaders who pull Iraqis together. An
observation passed to me by a U.S. commander after the December 15 election illustrates some of these positive forces:
“The highlight of my day was in Mahmoudiyah (south Baghdad) where there were no polling stations in the January
election, and where many Sunnis refused to vote in October. I watched as two affluent local sheiks walked into the polling station together holding hands (a big sign of respect here). One sheik was Shia, the other Sunni. I stopped them and offered my congratulations on a great day for the people and country of Iraq. They both told me how much they appreciated what the United States had done for them, and that they could never repay us. I told them we neither needed nor expected repayment, but if they wanted to show their appreciation they needed to ensure that the move toward democracy continued and that Sunni and Shia come together to live in peace. The Sunni sheik said, ‘We are tired of violence and fighting that destroys our people and our country.’ These two guys got it.”
Sigh. It never fails. I proof read and proof read before submitting a comment and almost always it seems I forget to include something. That has happened here in the previous comment. I wanted to close with this thought from Blogger Jeff Goldstein.
“Opinion I can handle; it’s biased narrative posing as oblective reporting that really needs to stop.”
Somehow it looses it impact here …
Great post Frodo!!! Democrats have become so radical that they turn on eachother and attack the moderates of the party. They are still the hippy, if it feels good – do it, of the 60s with no vision or message.
Winning elections and destroying opponests have overtaken working for the common good and solid principles. Jimmy Carter now says Hamas isn’t all that bad. Hilary Clinton says Republicans now run the plantaions that the Democrats built.
Biased narrative is a great way to describe sites like dailykos and democraticunderground.
Thanks again Frodo.
Frodo – There are some things written in the material you shared that is just untrue. This one is the one that I wrote about a long while back, first the quoted text:
“All active duty branches, however, are exceeding their recruiting requirements in the latest monthly figures from the Department of Defense (released in December). The Army and Marine Corps (who are doing most of the hard service in Iraq) were each at 105 percent of their quotas. After a dip early in 2005, the Army has met or exceeded its goals for new recruits in every month since June. One source of pressure on the active-duty Army is the process of expanding from 482,000 soldiers to 512,000, as a dozen new combat brigades are added to the force.”
I researched this heavily and back in July of last year, a day before my twins were born, posted on the 4th of July:
http://deadissue.com/archives/2005/07/04/an-army-poised-to-snap/
“If a sales manager has trouble meeting their quota, there are a couple of options that could smooth things over with the boss man. Crack the whip, hire better salesmen or whatever you’ve got to do to get more units out the door. Otherwise the only other option is to lower the quota and see if the boss man notices or not. In the private sector the latter would get you canned in short time, but when the boss man happens to be the government, the bottom line we perceive is often not the real bottom line at all. In the case of military staffing, the bottom line for a Bush administration under siege is sexy headlines – positive, spinable and simple. Think nothing of the fact that there are drill sergeants at this very moment hollering at piles of clothes and gear on a floor that’s badly in need of a coat of wax. And whatever you do, avoid articles that mention the phrase ’stop loss’ like the plague. Smile, remember 9/11 and wave that flag.
Because we’ve got good news, people! The Army’s recruiting goal for June was achieved, high fives and cigars all around, things are looking up. That is, the spin is looking up, as before this quota could be met, the Army had to silently adjust it from more than 8000 to just over 5000. With a mere four months left in the budget year, the Army lowered their monthly goals from May on for the sake of the Bush administration’s bottom line, no unspinable headlines. This is done in spite of the fact that with a mere four months remaining, the Army has barely achieved 50% of their quota for the year. Couple that with the lower standards in terms of high school graduation, criminal records and whatever drugs the recruit happens to be using regularly at the time, and it should be clear to everyone that if the numbers don’t come rolling in this summer, they’re never going to.
Ethically speaking, the books are definitely being cooked here, as was the case with corporations that have since collapsed from similar practices in recent years. The interpretation of reality based on the numbers is established in a dishonest way that benefits the leaders along with the organization’s appearance to outsiders, while leaving everyone else out to dry. In the military’s case recruiters are caught between needing to hit the numbers and their own ethical boundaries. Field commanders in turn have to shift resources to accommodate for the gaps growing larger everyday by trimming one unit just back from Iraq to strengthen another about to deploy. Often times this means a soldier who has already served a full term in Iraq is transferred to another unit deploying back over after being home for less than six months. They borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and in the process create a never ending wave effect of band-aid inspired reallocations that are decimating the morale, strength and cohesiveness of every unit involved.
The most shameful side effect of this personell shortage by far though, is the ’stop-loss policy’ that continues to force soldiers who have already fulfilled their contractual obligation to redeploy against their will. The Army’s stop loss policy was greatly increased in scope during the summer of 2004, and stands to affect approximately 7000 active duty soldiers and 4000 National Guardsmen and Reservists. A former Army captain, who served in the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, characterized the current treatment of soldiers under the stop loss policy as “shameful”. “Many, if not most, of the soldiers in this latest Iraq-bound wave are already veterans of several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he wrote to the New York Times. “They have honorably completed their active duty obligations. But like draftees, they have been conscripted to meet the additional needs in Iraq.” President Bush’s concept of America’s sacrifice for the Iraq war is to turn the military from a voluntary fighting force to the involuntary state it now exists in without having to bear the political burden of reinstating the draft.”
The sunny side up spin on the state of affairs for the military in terms of personell or equipment is almost always written by someone who never lived it for themselves. If this writer in the link ever has, I’d be surprised. In fact…10 bucks says he’s never been a soldier or a marine.
The Pentagon simply deciding to change the description of their previously stated goals, like droping it from 8000 per month to 5000, doesn’t deserve the acolades. What this writer is saying here, is that it’s fine to state ‘we hit the number this month’, whether it’s actually TRUE or not. It says that we’re too wraped up as a country to notice such things.
Not true…there are plenty of us on top of this.
I’m not a big ‘list’ guy, mainly because you can never be sure of whether the author properly researched every single one of the items posted. Whether they took it second hand from a fellow blogger, heard it on the TV/radio, whatever…and decided to borrow it for this list they’re compiling to prove a predetermined thesis.
This item is 100% wrong – but the writer isn’t responsible for knowing that? Or does it not matter?
(fatherhood pulling me away from the PC…more to come)
Chris,
I have contacted the author to verify the numbers and we will see if he or the web page decides to respond. You may have a point but I have no way to verify any of the numbers. you make some claims but back it up with nothing. your claims (or numbers) are vary vague. The article is very specific about some of the numbers he uses, and he is not focused solely on the recruitment numbers like you are. I would like to believe he can back them up, but we will see.
You also focus on just this one issue, recruitment numbers, and disreguard the arest of the content of the article. Do this mean the thing is wacked if this one area can be challenged? I do not think so but you seem to.
I guess this only proves you see what you want to see when you read anything. You see Bush is wrong on every policy decision he has made and his war on terror is failing miserably. I see the opposite. Again 10 years from now how will this look? What will the historians write about this war?
Update:
From a Christian Science Monitor (CSM I respect as at least trying to be non-biased) article he wrote in 2003:
“Karl Zinsmeister, editor in chief of The American Enterprise magazine, is the author of the new book, ‘Boots on the Ground: A Month with the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq.’ He was in Iraq in April.
FYI This is from the American Enterprise Mag. web site:
“Zinsmeister has been Editor in Chief of The American Enterprise magazine since 1994. He has traveled four times to Iraq as an embedded journalist, leading to three books and a forthcoming PBS film—a grassroot portrait of soldiers and soldering. He can comment on current affairs, the Iraq war and the military in Iraq, social and economic trends, and cultural issues.”,
The most shameful side effect of this personell shortage by far though, is the ’stop-loss policy’ that continues to force soldiers who have already fulfilled their contractual obligation to redeploy against their will.
How do you feel then about certain liberal groups attempts to bleed the military by attacking recruiters and recruitment efforts?
I think the level of perfection your are looking for has never existed during any war in American history. No one tried to impeach Roosevelt for wartime problems during WW2.
Frodo – I appologize for only focusing on that first item – family responsibilities are pulling me away from the PC this week. I had that first part saved, but after it sat for a day I wanted to post it as it was, rather than give the impression that I was ignoring the material you posted.
I’m banking on tonight being a good time to really get into it.
As for the lack of links on the article from last year, that was a product of my not utilizing the link function enough early on…time issue as well.
Rest assured though, that everything in that piece was confirmed, and I hope to dig through my ‘favorites’ folder tonight so I can provide the source.
I will address the rest of what you posted. Again, I didn’t want to just hit up one and split, but couldn’t get it together these past few days.
(babies)
Right – You know what I’m talking about!
Mr. Mom – You’re the veteran father on deadissue
Your definition of the word ‘attack’ and mine are different. I don’t consider a school informing students and parents of an ‘opt out’ choice as an ‘attack’ against recruiters in that area. They aren’t lying to the kids when they inform them of this.
I’m sure there are isolated incidents of people getting out of hand, but there are also isolated incidents of recruiters purchasing products for recruits to mask their drug use for the urinalysis. All in all though, recruiters aren’t being pysically assaulted by other human beings on a regular basis.
The military has a job to fill slots in a volunteer force, representing a republic that enjoys freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to organize…that’s their job. They’re defending these things that they love about their country. It’s still their job to make it happen, regardless of the political atmosphere at a given time.
Having been in the military, I’m not down with anyone passing the buck on responsibilities at such high levels in our government.
Perfection is far from what I’m advocating for.
1. Roosevelt urged and organized ways that Americans could contribute to the war effort
2. Roosevelt managed to align our allies and earn their support for the mission
3. Roosevelt went after a dictator who actually OCCUPIED allied soil at the time we engaged his forces
When FDR and WW2 are brought up in the same discussion as the Iraq war, I cringe. There are fundamental differences between the two, namely the three above, that are so obvious, it shows precisely why the Iraq war was ill-advised in comparison.
Karl Zinsmeister (?) – Frodo, is this the author?
“I watched as two affluent local sheiks walked into the polling station together holding hands (a big sign of respect here). One sheik was Shia, the other Sunni.”
This is a great moment in history for these two people, and for their country. Remember though, that voting hasn’t affected the level of violence in a positive way.
Lamenting news coverage of the Iraq War…this example right here is perfect for today’s media. He published it in a magazine, right?
This scene and an upgrade in fatalities and attacks are indicative of two seperate elements of the war. One doesn’t effect the other in any way that I know of. Violence doesn’t deter Iraqis from voting, and voting doesn’t deter Iraqis from murdering innocent people on a daily basis.