'I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk.'
The author of this lethally nonsensical statement was assistant to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld from 1975-77, and arms control director under President Reagan.
AND, he is also now another...wait for it...ENDORSER of Senator Obama!
With friends like these...
21 October 2008
20 October 2008
Regarding the Vastly Vaunted Endorsement of Senator Obama by Colin Powell...
The media is rewriting history and I find that terrifying.
When I worked in intelligence, I became very familiar with the compelling insidiousness of propaganda, all the while I was clothed in the lofty knowledge that our country was largely above such devious and deceitful methods of dealing with its populace.
We've come a long way, Citizens.
Now I'm not so naïve as to think our media is free of proselytism, or ever has been, but we have now arrived at a place where the majority of facts are not just being parsed, or slanted, or omitted, or ignored—ALL of which describe what the Fourth Estate has done in this last shocking decade--but rather, invented. Our national media is taking it upon themselves to rewrite history.
As Blue Lyon cogently says on her blog, the Colin Powell of yesterday's endorsement bears little resemblance to the Colin Powell we all know and love. She also discusses the hypocrisy of the left in their embrace of a sometimes-reviled Republican, but as the left barrels remorselessly down its path of no-return, I'm learning to step out of the way rather than be mown down.
I've no such compunction with our national media. It continues to be an outrage of the highest order that our sources of information—FACTS—can be wholly controlled by an increasingly powerful corporatocracy with everything but Americans' interests at heart.
For reasons that I still cannot thoroughly refine in my mind, it serves our media best to elect Senator Obama to the presidency. For this, it will pervert and scorn any and every 'fact' that comes its way. The latest incarnation of this is the glow that surrounds Colin Powell. To listen to the media, he is the most respected voice in America, the voice of reason, the final say.
So let's go back a lot of years. I liked him. He seemed fine, upstanding, honest, honorable. That was until he joined the Bush team and then Colin 'Macbeth' Powell went over to the dark side. And in the worst way possible. He used the esteem of the military and his laudatory service in it to dupe the countries of the world. If smarmy Cheney had made that same presentation at a plenary session of the UN, postulating the lethality of Iraq's intentions, there might have been some hesitancy to sign on. But Powell is a soldier, endowed with all the dignity, honor, and respect of his military career and years. When C.L. Powell speaks, people listen.
And with his help, the Iraq slaughter was born. He betrayed the troops who would die for years to come by using the honor of his uniform and all that entails. I find that insupportable.
Disgraceful too, is the betrayal of his oath. It is incumbent on every officer to desist from obeying an unlawful order. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) says,
'An order which is unlawful not only does not need to be obeyed, but obeying such an order can result in criminal prosecution of the one who obeys it. Military courts have long held that military members are accountable for their actions even while following orders -- if the order was illegal.'
The last I heard, the order to lie is illegal. He knew what he was doing when he lied straight into the eyes and ears of the world, watching and trusting what he would say.
And this is the man who has now endorsed Obama, the man whose endorsement is the final jewel in the crowning of the media candidate, the man who holds all sway over our voting choice because he and his honorable career are unimpeachable.
Nice invention, media. I marvel that you think you may rewrite a history that is still ongoing.
Our kids are still dying in Iraq and Powell's words helped put them there.
Rewriting history only works if we let it.
When I worked in intelligence, I became very familiar with the compelling insidiousness of propaganda, all the while I was clothed in the lofty knowledge that our country was largely above such devious and deceitful methods of dealing with its populace.
We've come a long way, Citizens.
Now I'm not so naïve as to think our media is free of proselytism, or ever has been, but we have now arrived at a place where the majority of facts are not just being parsed, or slanted, or omitted, or ignored—ALL of which describe what the Fourth Estate has done in this last shocking decade--but rather, invented. Our national media is taking it upon themselves to rewrite history.
As Blue Lyon cogently says on her blog, the Colin Powell of yesterday's endorsement bears little resemblance to the Colin Powell we all know and love. She also discusses the hypocrisy of the left in their embrace of a sometimes-reviled Republican, but as the left barrels remorselessly down its path of no-return, I'm learning to step out of the way rather than be mown down.
I've no such compunction with our national media. It continues to be an outrage of the highest order that our sources of information—FACTS—can be wholly controlled by an increasingly powerful corporatocracy with everything but Americans' interests at heart.
For reasons that I still cannot thoroughly refine in my mind, it serves our media best to elect Senator Obama to the presidency. For this, it will pervert and scorn any and every 'fact' that comes its way. The latest incarnation of this is the glow that surrounds Colin Powell. To listen to the media, he is the most respected voice in America, the voice of reason, the final say.
So let's go back a lot of years. I liked him. He seemed fine, upstanding, honest, honorable. That was until he joined the Bush team and then Colin 'Macbeth' Powell went over to the dark side. And in the worst way possible. He used the esteem of the military and his laudatory service in it to dupe the countries of the world. If smarmy Cheney had made that same presentation at a plenary session of the UN, postulating the lethality of Iraq's intentions, there might have been some hesitancy to sign on. But Powell is a soldier, endowed with all the dignity, honor, and respect of his military career and years. When C.L. Powell speaks, people listen.
And with his help, the Iraq slaughter was born. He betrayed the troops who would die for years to come by using the honor of his uniform and all that entails. I find that insupportable.
Disgraceful too, is the betrayal of his oath. It is incumbent on every officer to desist from obeying an unlawful order. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) says,
'An order which is unlawful not only does not need to be obeyed, but obeying such an order can result in criminal prosecution of the one who obeys it. Military courts have long held that military members are accountable for their actions even while following orders -- if the order was illegal.'
The last I heard, the order to lie is illegal. He knew what he was doing when he lied straight into the eyes and ears of the world, watching and trusting what he would say.
And this is the man who has now endorsed Obama, the man whose endorsement is the final jewel in the crowning of the media candidate, the man who holds all sway over our voting choice because he and his honorable career are unimpeachable.
Nice invention, media. I marvel that you think you may rewrite a history that is still ongoing.
Our kids are still dying in Iraq and Powell's words helped put them there.
Rewriting history only works if we let it.
16 October 2008
Kindergarten Promises
Do you ever feel like you're back in grammar school and the candidates for school president are promising you hot and cold running chocolate in the water fountains if you'll vote for them?
'Hot and cold running tax cuts in a globally tanking economy. Just vote for me.'
Yeppirs.
'Hot and cold running tax cuts in a globally tanking economy. Just vote for me.'
Yeppirs.
15 October 2008
The World According to Hard Facts, or Thank You Again, Senator Clinton
Surprise, surprise...
'[Hillary] Clinton dropped out of the race four months ago, but her presence looms large at tonight’s final McCain-Obama debate being held, appropriately enough, in her adopted state of New York.
Clinton was arguably the first candidate in either party to grasp the transformative political effect of the economic crisis, and her onetime rivals have been borrowing — liberally — from her policy and rhetorical playbooks.'
Here's a quote from a pollster...
“Everything in this election is being washed away by this stock market and economic stuff ... and she was the one who came out first with specific policies to deal with this, so she’s clearly having an influence on both of them.”
...from a Clinton aide...
”She was the first one to really pay attention to people’s anxieties, and both Obama and McCain have been playing catch-up ever since.”
...from a McCain aide...
“McCain said he had been motivated by [her proposal to have the federal government buy up bad mortgages and renegotiate terms more favorable to homeowners on verge of default]...he was very complimentary about what she had proposed and wanted to know more.”
...from an Obama aide...
...oops...
An Obama spokesman had no comment.
That may be because he's already chewing on his comments and they're not at all tasty.
On Monday, Obama told a crowd in hard-hit Toledo, Ohio, that he wanted to impose a 90-day freeze on foreclosures by banks that partake in the $700 billion rescue plan.
When Clinton proposed a package that contained a similar measure in January, Obama nixed it. At the time, his staff posted news stories denouncing the freeze on his campaign Web site, including a Fortune magazine story that tagged it “perhaps the dumbest solution to the current mortgage mess.”
And that's all I have to say about that.
'[Hillary] Clinton dropped out of the race four months ago, but her presence looms large at tonight’s final McCain-Obama debate being held, appropriately enough, in her adopted state of New York.
Clinton was arguably the first candidate in either party to grasp the transformative political effect of the economic crisis, and her onetime rivals have been borrowing — liberally — from her policy and rhetorical playbooks.'
Here's a quote from a pollster...
“Everything in this election is being washed away by this stock market and economic stuff ... and she was the one who came out first with specific policies to deal with this, so she’s clearly having an influence on both of them.”
...from a Clinton aide...
”She was the first one to really pay attention to people’s anxieties, and both Obama and McCain have been playing catch-up ever since.”
...from a McCain aide...
“McCain said he had been motivated by [her proposal to have the federal government buy up bad mortgages and renegotiate terms more favorable to homeowners on verge of default]...he was very complimentary about what she had proposed and wanted to know more.”
...from an Obama aide...
...oops...
An Obama spokesman had no comment.
That may be because he's already chewing on his comments and they're not at all tasty.
On Monday, Obama told a crowd in hard-hit Toledo, Ohio, that he wanted to impose a 90-day freeze on foreclosures by banks that partake in the $700 billion rescue plan.
When Clinton proposed a package that contained a similar measure in January, Obama nixed it. At the time, his staff posted news stories denouncing the freeze on his campaign Web site, including a Fortune magazine story that tagged it “perhaps the dumbest solution to the current mortgage mess.”
And that's all I have to say about that.
03 October 2008
An Intimidating Woman, Part II
I just started writing this little blog with a laudatory sentence about Governor Sarah Palin. Then, almost without thinking, I backspaced right over it. Why, I immediately asked myself, did I do that?
The answer is frightening.
I have been so barraged by vituperative attacks on this Alaskan--both in person and by email--that my own self-defense mechanism shot unbidden from my brain to my fingers before I had a conscious chance to weigh in on its advisability.
Well, pardon me, brain. I'm short-circuiting that little foray right here and now. And I'm going to say it loud and clear.
Last night, Governor Palin was a credit to herself, her family, her state, her country.
She conducted herself with dignity, wit, intelligence, humor, and grit. We could have expected all those admirable qualities in Senator Clinton, had she not been unfairly deprived of the chance to be behind the presidential candidate podium. Instead, we have another woman--one with whom Hillary Clinton has little in common. In fact, only one major thing: gender.
And that's enough to link them inextricably. You see, they're just TOO. Senator Clinton was too hard, too experienced, too loud, too connected, too intelligent, and how dare she tear up...! Governor Palin is too folksy, too inexperienced, too friendly, too conservative, too likable, too family-y, and how dare she smile engagingly and say something witty and pithy...!
Are you getting my sad parallel here? In the space of less than a year, we've been treated to two of the most riveting individuals the feminine gender has to offer in the world of American politics. And, let me put it bluntly:
There is nothing they can do right.
Today I read that the most touching moment last night was when Senator Biden teared up. Senator Clinton was crucified for the same thing.
And Governor Palin? She hasn't had the temerity to show her emotions. All she's done is speak, act, and behave like herself. This is how a 44-year-old woman democrat describes the governor's debate performance: “I still don’t like that pandering to the folksiness: the winking, the dropping the Gs, the shout-outs to third graders. She didn’t completely bomb, but politically, I’m so opposite of what she stands for.”
And the way she talks, of course, is what she stands for.
Right.
Funny thing. I can't recall the particulars of Biden's, McCain's, Obama's, Bush's, Carter's, Reagan's, ad nauseum, cadence of speech, indulgence in winks, or their propensity to mention anyone they knew during debates...a shout-out sort of thing. I wonder how we ever figured out what they stood for.
So here's a shout-out to you, Governor Palin, and you, Senator Clinton, and you, women of America...
Fight on. Lead with your intelligence. Stick to who you are and what you believe. And always remember what one of Jane Austen's heroines said...I live by it....
'My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.'
The answer is frightening.
I have been so barraged by vituperative attacks on this Alaskan--both in person and by email--that my own self-defense mechanism shot unbidden from my brain to my fingers before I had a conscious chance to weigh in on its advisability.
Well, pardon me, brain. I'm short-circuiting that little foray right here and now. And I'm going to say it loud and clear.
Last night, Governor Palin was a credit to herself, her family, her state, her country.
She conducted herself with dignity, wit, intelligence, humor, and grit. We could have expected all those admirable qualities in Senator Clinton, had she not been unfairly deprived of the chance to be behind the presidential candidate podium. Instead, we have another woman--one with whom Hillary Clinton has little in common. In fact, only one major thing: gender.
And that's enough to link them inextricably. You see, they're just TOO. Senator Clinton was too hard, too experienced, too loud, too connected, too intelligent, and how dare she tear up...! Governor Palin is too folksy, too inexperienced, too friendly, too conservative, too likable, too family-y, and how dare she smile engagingly and say something witty and pithy...!
Are you getting my sad parallel here? In the space of less than a year, we've been treated to two of the most riveting individuals the feminine gender has to offer in the world of American politics. And, let me put it bluntly:
There is nothing they can do right.
Today I read that the most touching moment last night was when Senator Biden teared up. Senator Clinton was crucified for the same thing.
And Governor Palin? She hasn't had the temerity to show her emotions. All she's done is speak, act, and behave like herself. This is how a 44-year-old woman democrat describes the governor's debate performance: “I still don’t like that pandering to the folksiness: the winking, the dropping the Gs, the shout-outs to third graders. She didn’t completely bomb, but politically, I’m so opposite of what she stands for.”
And the way she talks, of course, is what she stands for.
Right.
Funny thing. I can't recall the particulars of Biden's, McCain's, Obama's, Bush's, Carter's, Reagan's, ad nauseum, cadence of speech, indulgence in winks, or their propensity to mention anyone they knew during debates...a shout-out sort of thing. I wonder how we ever figured out what they stood for.
So here's a shout-out to you, Governor Palin, and you, Senator Clinton, and you, women of America...
Fight on. Lead with your intelligence. Stick to who you are and what you believe. And always remember what one of Jane Austen's heroines said...I live by it....
'My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.'
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