Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Tuesday night rant

I'll start with the pantywaists in holding federal office... I am questioning your patriotism.

You know why I think that this whole "insurgent" (read: terrorist) nonsense didn't happen after we toppled the Taliban? Because the whole world knew that we were damn serious about putting a boot in the ass of anyone who stood in our way of victory.

The "build-up" to the Iraq war was filled with girls who pretend to be men moaning about our losses that could come at the hands of Sadaam's WMDs. American boot, meet Sadaam's ass.

But the quivering lip crowd just can't stop talking about our imminent failure. They can't possibly anticipate victory, they can't possibly root for our side to win.

What they should be doing is round the clock war propaganda. Talk about how we are winning. Talk about the futility of the terrorist's resistance. Talk about how their cowardice is laughable in the face of the greatest superpower known to this world.

If you can't do that then you are a bad American. That means you, you filthy America hating liberal who is reading this right now. Go to the Netherlands you freak.


Next, I'm glad to see that there is some backlash to the "happy holiday" nonsense. Thank goodness Speaker Hastert made a statement today and many conservative groups have lawyers working overtime to protect Christmas.

But I'm going a step further than "Merry Christmas." I'm going to tell people "Happy Birthday Jesus." That's what we are celebrating. The birth of our Lord and Savior. You don't like it? Move to the Netherlands.


And finally, the calendar:

Meetup.com
What: The Washington County Republican Party November Meetup
When: Wednesday, November 30 at 6:30PM
Where: Baja Fresh12286 SW Scholls Ferry Rd Tigard OR 97223

OFIR protest
Dec. 3, 8:30 a.m.
French Prairie Middle School
1025 N. Boones Ferry Rd, Woodburn OR

10 comments:

MAX Redline said...

"You know why I think that this whole "insurgent" (read: terrorist) nonsense didn't happen after we toppled the Taliban? Because the whole world knew that we were damn serious about putting a boot in the ass of anyone who stood in our way of victory."

Hmmm. Wonder why Libya decided to give up the whole weapons program? Nahh...probably didn't have anything to do with Afghanistan and Iraq. They were probably planning to get rid of all that, open up to inspections, and join the rest of the world long before.

Daniel said...

Oh yeah, Teddy Kennedy saw that one coming a long time ago. Or maybe Jimmy Carter convinced them like he did with the Saudis. Oh wait...

The Manly Ferry said...

I know I shouldn't comment here, but can't help myself.

Read the papers, fella. This "whole insurgent" thing continues in Afghanistan; by way of evidence on that subject, a useful thing to support arguments, here's yesterday's "Daily Terror Update" from the Christian Science Monitor. Things are definitely better now than they were under the Taliban, but it ain't all sweetness and light either.

As to Libya's weapons, that's one analysis, Jay, and - brace yourself - historical events often bear multiple interpretations. The tricky thing with Libya is they'd been trying for, oh, a decade, to inch back into the world's good graces; it's instructive to think about their decision to surrender their nuclear program in that light; the fact that they were caught red-handed with stuff provided by Pakistan's A. Q. Khan (now there's a proliferation threat...and to "the terrorists" to boot) may also have played into it. Iraq and Afghanistan? That requires some evidence.

Anyway, what actually inspired me to comment was the overall thrust of this post, specifically the idea that the war effort should be supported by propaganda. From a practical point of view, it's not the worst idea. Though encouraging that kind of statist intervention in the press and dissemination of information really runs counter to notions of American liberty. Still, it would no doubt be effective.

Have a nice day. Hope to visit again soon. Oh, and while I'm not the kind of liberal you probably have iin mind, (I count myself more of a classic liberal (more liberty, etc.)), I'm not pissed off or offended by your work....

Anonymous said...

Daniel,

So how long is it going to take for democracy to spread across the middle east as President Bush envisions?

Anonymous said...

4 Allah & he will say
Everybody is gonna pray
Five time every day
As salatu is a must

Que tous le monde doit savoir
El Zakat est un devoir
C' est la joie de l'affame
Le pouvoir de donner

Kaelri said...

To calm yourself, I'd recommend reconciling that with the President, yesterday:

"You see, they can't stand the fact -- (applause) -- they can't stand the fact that we allow people to worship freely, or to speak their mind in the public square, or to print articles the way they want to print them in America. They have a different view of the world. They've got this vision of darkness that stifles dissent..."

Your anonymous constituent would probably remark "f*** you, hypocrite," but I'll try to exercise more tolerance.

You might be right about why there isn't much of an insurgency in Afghanistan. America was pissed. We'd just had an attack on our own soil for the first time since 1941, and we were going into a war (which, like Iraq, we'd already been planning for months anyway) to repay the sick blighter who'd done it to us. The reasons for that war were 100% unambiguous: to truly liberate a nation, capture a criminal and a delicious icing of well-deserved vengeance.

It was also an incredibly easy war. We bombed Afghanistan back to the Stone Age when it was already there. Fourteen years of Soviet occupation another six of civil war, and the last four of rule by tyrannical warlords who didn't have much of an interest in health care and the economy to begin with.

None of these things were true about Iraq. Saddam hadn't lifted a finger against us for a decade - why would he risk his second chance so soon? - and, despite claims to the contrary, hadn't a truck with the ones who did. Oil interests muddied the whole justification from the very beginning, which as we know wasn't very strong on its own, even after it was doctored with such loving care. Above all was the very real possibility that it wasn't the right buttocks between which our boot should have been placed.

"Talk about how we are winning. Talk about the futility of the terrorist's resistance. Talk about how their cowardice is laughable in the face of the greatest superpower known to this world."

I don't need to tell you why that sounds so familiar.

"Greatest superpower" isn't saying much. The Cold War's over; there's no such thing as a superpower anymore. Certainly not compared to the days when a man could walk across the known world without fear, shielded only by the words "civis Romanus." The United States have invaded two countries - small, weak bits of desert that couldn't possibly defend themselves against us - and we're already spread thin (probably the only thing stopping the administration from a third).

"Their cowardice is laughable?" It takes courage to blow yourself up and take a wedding reception with you; a uniquely evil and brainwashed sort of courage that neither of us possesses.

We're winning? The Prime Minister disagrees. "'People are doing the same as [in] Saddam’s time and worse,' Ayad Allawi told The Observer. ‘It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things.'"

As to "America hating..." I thought about how to articulate this for you, again, but I think Bob Harris recently hit the nail on the head:

"Still, one last aside. To those who repeat the current GOP spin that opponents of the war are motivated by a hatred of Bush or a desire to see America disgraced, I would like to respond:

"I can speak for no one else, but it seems obvious to me that it is the war which disgraces America. It is the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people which disgraces America. It is torture which disgraces America. It is imprisonment without trial which disgraces America. It is the use of chemical weapons which disgraces America. It is disdain for international law, the use of military power as a first resort, the intentional confusion of the Iraqi people with terrorists thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, and the corruption of the very word 'democracy' which all disgrace America.

"As an opponent of the war, I am trying to stop my country from being disgraced any further."

Anonymous said...

I can't remember who originally said it but...

"If you're not going to root for your team, then get the fuck out of the stadium!"

Kaelri said...

It's extraordinary how sports metaphors can be used to simplify wars and politics to an insulting extent, but to answer you: you don't root for your team when they shouldn't be in the stadium at all, you help them make it out alive.

Gunslinger said...

Hey K, what chemical weapons did we use? Where did you find that information?

Kaelri said...

As I said, I was quoting a paragraph of Bob Harris there, but I think he was referring to white phosphorus, which is quite uncontestably a chemical weapon.