RANGER AGAINST WAR: Lies II <

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Lies II

Recession in Rural Areas, Jiho

Ah, well, it's no use prevaricating about the bush

--Wallace and Gromit,

The Wrong Trousers
(1993)


Some lie in words and speeches

With every living breath

--Lies
, Elton John

There is nothing more frightening

than active ignorance

-- Goethe


Truth is beautiful, without doubt;

but
so are lies

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

_______________

The above graphic demonstrates what we've seen along the 81 corridor in Pennsylvania in Southern New York. A whole lot of dilapidated towns.

More lies from the national treasure chest (follow-on to "Doubting Thomas"):

  • We won the Cold War, and its corollary, Communism is an implacable enemy.
Without doubt, the USSR disintegrated, so obviously we won one theatre of operation.

But if the Cold War was so important as be a multi-generational military project, shouldn't the same focus be aimed at the evil that is Chinese communism? Cuban communism is treated as a cancer, yet Chinese communists are awarded most-favored trading partner status.

Either communism is a threat, or it is not. Communists are either excellent trade partners, or communist nations are bad. This national inconsistency is an example of American schizophrenia. The same comments regarding China also apply to communist Vietnam.

If the communists in Vietnam were bad then, when and how did they morph into being "good" now? A bit of expeditious political legerdemain? If they are good, why did 58,000 men die fighting them?

  • The U.S. is fighting a global war on radical Islamic terrorism.
In truth, the U.S. is aligned with radical Islam. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is proof of this, as is our relationship with Pakistan, whose intelligence agencies are allied with al-Qaeda.

We are not fighting radical Islam on a world scale, but splinter groups which are radicalized.
By claiming for a Global War on Terror versus radical Islam, we elevate the minimal threat of the splinter groups to an unrealistic and overblown level.

All al-Qaeda members in Iraq Afghanistan and Pakistan are local, Level I threats which can not project their hostility to the U.S. Homeland ™. The only threat al-Qaeda poses to the U.S. comes from the educated, technologically-proficient, English-speaking, clean-shaven, lap-dancing aficionados. These westernized elements and their Western sympathizers and converts are the threat.

Al-Qaeda Taliban riflemen in Waziristan are simply that. Such a person can be no more than he is. He can not go James Bond with his basic Taliban infantry training. His effectiveness is geographically bound by his regional area of operations.

  • Some day Iraq and Afghanistan will be good friends and allies to the U.S.
You have got to be drinking the special Kool Aid if you buy this one.

Allies are a plus in international relations, but neither of these countries can add anything positive to American foreign policy. Ditto the Caucasus region of Georgia. These are not future gas stations for the U.S., but merely money sumps, hastening the end of our empire.


To be continued. . .

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10 Comments:

Blogger The Mad Dog said...

Jim...(With respect for YOU and our Brothers-in-arms). The world is all one great big clusterfuck. The Republic will NEVER be able to extract itself from this SHAME. Call me a nihilist, call me a fool (I spilled blood, lost blood...in the name of this Republic, like you, and I will have my say)...the Romans were amateurs by way of comparison to this modern American monkey. I weep (seriously), for I haven't any more to say.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 1:04:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

MC,

I don't believe we are nihilists because we want something better and we have a reasonable non-violent agenda. Yours is always non-violent and mine will vary to degrees BUT we both know in the grand scheme violence is never the answer. It just feels good at the time.

Both of us have grown up-- also my readers indicate that there are more than just the 2 of us on board.
jim

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 7:04:00 AM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The sad truth seems to be that America has formed the habit of turning her military into private armies in service of corporate masters. "Real politic" was Sunday school pure by comparison. We are selling our blood to the highest bidder now.....

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 9:26:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger The Mad Dog said...

ON WAR MEMORIALS

Corporate America
be forewarned:
We are your karma
We are your Orion
rising in the night sky
We are the scorpion
in your jackboot

Corporate America
be forewarned:
We will not buy
your bloody parades anymore
We refuse your worthless praise
We reject
your war memorials

Corporate America
be forewarned:
We will not feed you
our bodies
our minds
our children
anymore

Corporate America
be forewarned:
If we have our way
(and we will)
the real war memorials
will rise
from your ashes

Doug Rawlings

(from members' poetry at Veterans For Peace, http://www.veteransforpeace.org/index.php)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 3:55:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger coathangrrr said...

In regards to China, they aren't really Communist anymore, they enshrined the right to private property in their latest Constitution. Not that they aren't totalitarian and rather harsh about it, but Marxist/Leninist/Maoist communist is dead at this point and only a few stubborn trots that troll college campuses think otherwise.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 11:20:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

coathangrrr,

Your point is acknowledged. I find it much more comfortable dealing with a totalitarian gov't than a totalitarian communist gov't. Now that's real progress.

The U.S. gov't isn't capitalistic anymore; after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it's clear that we're socialist, too. But at least not totalitarian yet, huh?

Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 7:48:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Peter of Lone Tree said...

Alla youse might be interested in a Bloomberg.com article entitled Senator Bunning Says Paulson Acts Like Socialist, Should Resign.
FWIW, former major league pitcher Bunning is a Republican, but, then again, he might be up for re-election this year. Else, why'nt he say something a couple of years ago when things started getting bad?

Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 12:01:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

Peter,

Well, the gov't conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie is kinda socialistic. That doesn't mean it's bad. In this case, free market led to bloated exploitation of everyone involved.

The gov't had to do something about these runaway horses because they didn't do anything before. The free hand of the marketplace in this case robbed the cookie jar.

Senator Bunning is more responsible for this fiasco than Paulson. Paulson works for Bush; if Paulson acts like a socialist, then isn't he following his boss's socialist policies? The buck stops on the president's desk, not Paulson's.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 3:07:00 PM GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If this is aimed at the repubs: Its not a nihilistic approach, its a holistic approach. If the US has the will to see it through, the good lord Jesus is going to come and make everything all right in the end. You just got to have faith, is what the AEI is telling us all. And the worst is, McCain and Palin and Hagee is going to win. Because the children are scared beyond reasoning and just want to trust the ones of faith who tell them not to worry.

China and them wont matter once the rapture sets in, they will be somebody elses problem. Nothing else explains the rationale behind taking on Pakistan, Iran, Russia as well as Afghan & Iraq at the same time without any thought for logistics and such details. They are going irrational. Kamikaze for Jesus.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 3:19:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

fnord,

"Kamikaze for Jesus" -- that'd make quite a bumper sticker, if it didn't have that reference to the yellow people in it.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 7:07:00 PM GMT-5  

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