Oh, It Doesn't Matter Anyway

I caught a politician taking blame today. It seemed like a special moment. Condy Rice admitted to many tactical errors by the Administration with respect to Iraq.

My moment was getting more and more special with every word.Then down came the hammer: it didn't matter too much, because "we" had achieved our goals. (Never mind that those goals were hidden away under the big WMD threat.) I asked myself if this was an acceptable "admission" of error; then it dawned on me: people had died because of those "errors."
What's that? I said "people had died because of those errors." People died because "smart" bombs are only as smart as the people who direct them; people had died because we sent them into battle without adequate body armor, or vehicle armor; people had died, and continue to, because we didn't pacify the whole of Iraq before we declared "mission accomplished",(which we probably could never have accomplished anyway;) yes, people had died, and continue to. So what happens to Condy and her boss and his motley crew? Nothing. What's that?
Nothing, I said.

So, as I said in the beginning, it doesn't matter anyway.
Like hell it doesn't.


Punny for the day:
ruminating is: 1) spraying your room with Raid
2) traveling in Rumania, or
3)doing the rhumba with your roomie
End of ruminations for 3.31.06

National Identity(s)

Who are we?

We once were the good guys, no question.(Our history had been full of exceptions to that identification, but our redemption was in our always making the effort, as a whole people, to improve, to overcome the worst in us. And we did.)

But now, who are we.I remember WW2, when images of the enemy were aired about, and though they were somewhat overdone, in essence, they were right.For what they had done to the world, I had no problem seeing Nazis depicted as huns, or Japanese as monkeys. Truth is, they had carried on like bloodthirsty savages and animals. We, on the other hand , were depicted as the saviours of humanity. And, outside of some general staff decisions, our guys, the grunts in the field, were out doing precisely that, saving humanity.

But now, who are we? And when did it happen? Secret government (keeping secrets from the Congress, no less,) rationalizing torture as a national policy, forging ahead with a war based on the fervor of post-9/11 speechifying, creating a political climate full of hate and deception, institutionalizing propaganda as government P.R.

Blame those who created it, and blame those who stood mum while it all happened, because their political habit was never to do anything too risky. I am as mad at the latter as at the former.

Lady Liberty must surely have tears in her eyes. Seriously.


Today's punny:
What is an American?
1) a torturer? ,or
2) a hoagie?, or
3) a sit-back-on-his-ass-have-a-great-time-kindaguy,
who wouldn't know a voting booth from a urinal?
Not so punny; sorry, too pissed-off.

Ruminations for 3.30.06 all done.

Pete Rose

So Pete Rose wants players punished for using steroids.

Let me just pause a moment to let that sink in. Is this "the pot calling the kettle black," or what?

Truly, I feel sorry for Pete Rose. Actually, I felt sorry for Pete Rose when everybody else thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.I felt sorry for him because his only thought was of baseball; that is, until his second thought was of gambling. He ate, drank, and slept baseball, and became "Charlie Hustle" to generations of kids. But he was a most incomplete person. Why, because he ate, drank, and slept baseball. He knew nothing else, enjoyed nothing else, and hoped for nothing else.That kind of life is the narrowest, to put it mildly.

There are many Pete Rose types around today. Their parents push them out on to ballfields, soccer fields, hockey rinks, gyms, and even ski slopes. Their cultural I.Q.'s are below the humanity line, and their understanding of the world around them is equally lacking.There is a price to pay for this: the athlete, sometimes wishfully referred to as a student athlete, heads out into life an incomplete person, and after his dreams are done, has nowhere to turn for fulfillment; the price society has to pay is that these people often have an influence on others, establishing empty-headedness as a model to be admired and imitated. When these student-athletes find their way into colleges to enhance "the program", they are coddled through their eligibility for four or five years, until they are no longer useful; no follow-up , no after-care, no pension for their services, nothing. And the A.D.s run the University, as the tail wags the dog.

Need I mention, these athletic types become voters, or worse, non-voters. Of course, there are exceptions: athlete-graduates from the few selective schools, and high-quality success stories from kids who just had great families to direct them.lf, however, you want to know if this assessment is close to the truth, just tune in to the end of any ballgame, and listen to interviews: can you understand what most of the players are saying? I can't.


Punny thing for today:

LaCrosse.......is it a)a city in Wisconsin
b) a betrayal of trust, among thieves, or
c) a way to beat somebody's brains in without being arrested?

toodle-oo 3.29.06

Christians, Oh You Christians

So, let me get this straight: fundamentalist Christian Americans got this "W" elected. Their "W" invades Afghanistan to undo some fundamentalist terrorists who are not of the Christian persuasion.Having undone those fundamentalists, the "W" installs a government that will guarantee freedom of religion.So far, not bad.
Underneath it all, some very fundamentalist Afghanis are running the local courts, wherein some very fundamentalist Islamics are enforcing Islamic law, whereby a poor Christian soul who has dared to be Christian in Afghanistan is about to lose his head. Now, not so good.
Into the picture comes "Condy" waving all of our money back and forth, and gets one Mohammed guy to put the fundamentalist kibosh on it all.

Fundamental, "W." But very difficult to follow, yes? Perhaps even Alice-In-Wonderland-ish, yes?



Today's Punny Thing:

"taking umbrage" Is it:
a) hiding your real feelings in a snit,or
b) creating shade with an umbrella, or
c) renting a villa in Umbria for the season

That's it for Tuesday, 3.28.06, day one of this paltry effort.