Jerry Ford died.
Goodbye Oatmeal Man.
All this week you will hear about this "Healer" of America's soul. How letting Nixon fade into San Clemente was so important to curing the Nation of the Nixon nightmare.
BulIshi+. That move wasn't any more therapeutic than a band-aid on cancer. Nixon was unpardonable, a cancer on the presidency, Ford avoided dealing with it, so, Nixon and his bitter-enders were able to convince themselves and anyone who would listen that they had been unfairly hounded out of office by hippies and libruls.
VietNam had polarized this country for half a dozen years. Liberals that had resisted and protested the war had been so demonized that the National Guard had opened fire on college students. Dozens of agencies from the Army and the CIA to groups that we still can't identify, infiltrated and derailed peace groups and it was common for "hippies" to get beat up by "Patriots" and harassed by police. Mainstream employers still wouldn't hire longhairs up into the eighties.
We got blamed for "losing the war". Nevermind that the warriors hadn't been able to win the war in seven years, right? History proved the Left, right. The VietNam war was a terrible blunder that cost millions of lives and encompassed enough atrocity for a Nuremburg. Nixon and Kissinger also had culpability in Chile, in Central America, the Philippines and several other theaters.
All the Perps got away. In the interest of "Healing", the Bitter-enders were allowed to fester. They became the Conservatives, then the NeoCons, that so dominate the political landscape now. Big Money, Big Religion, Big Media, the think tanks, all came from reaction to the People intervening in the Establishment's game.
Pardoning Nixon and glossing over his crimes and those of his cronies, deprived US of Justice. We needed the revelations that a trial would have featured. We needed an unequivocal statement that a verdict would have provided. We needed to repudiate the greedy, ugly America that we were starting to become, because that national debate was swept under the rug, it gave rise to the culture war that the Right has been waging and winning ever since.
Jerry Ford "kept the lid on", it's said, but really, he just kicked the can down the road.
(I always wore my WIN button upside-down)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
All over but the Screaming
Listen Guys, it's over, we lost, time to go!
Our troops didn't lose this one, our "Leaders" did.
Before the war even started, there were many voices, including retired and active duty military, that could see that attacking Iraq would be a disastrous mistake. Now, nearly four years later, the majority of the American people have come to the conclusion that we were right.
Despite the blaring megaphone of propaganda that has been drowning out any realistic discussion of our middle east policy, the truth of the disaster is coming out. Over 1.4 million American service(wo)men have cycled through Iraq, nearly 3000 have died, more than 20 000 have been grievously injured, the military infrastructure, the trucks and tanks and all the other gear, are wearing out without replacement or repair, many of the troops are on second, third, even fourth deployments and a lot of them are National Guard or Reserves. Some who thought they were done and heading home have been held over under stop-loss and others that had retired are being re-activated.
It's said that the Nascar voter knows more people in uniform than in same-sex relationships. That's one reason why the public has changed it's view. Troops in the field and returning Vets talk to their families and friends, their friends talk and so more people learn, from a source they trust, that the Occupation is a debacle, that we aren't helping and that we need to get out.
But there is a problem.
George Walker Bush, the Decider.
This guy is a walking disaster all his own. He's failed at everything he's set his hand to and his dad and Jim Baker swing in and rescue him, it's a pattern. Only this time the little thug is the POTUS and the business that he's driving into the ground is America. Problem is, he's so big now, he shrugs off Baker and Poppy, even as they try to find a way to salvage the "mission" (permanent bases in Iraq keeping control over the Oil in the hands of Bush's buddies).
Denial is a wide river that runs through the WhiteHouse. Even as Bush announced his pick to replace Rummy, he was touting the success of his adventure in Mesopotamia (which Gates promptly contradicted in Congressional hearings). No one seems to be able to get through to the Fool that he has to accept failure and take the responsibility for it.
And you can bet that the propaganda machine is cranking up a campaign to blame "Liberals" for "Losing" another war, "Backstabbing our Troops" and other spiteful lies. Folks, Liberals had no control over this mess, we didn't lose the war and neither did the troops (in fact, the War was won, the Occupation has been the disaster). We will hear a lot about how liberals don't support the troops. Bullshit, all of it!
If you want to support the troops, don't send them off to fight wars for lies. Don't send them into unwinnable situations. Don't send them off ill-equipped and under armored. Don't cut their VA support when they return, physically and mentally wounded. Don't hide the fallen and the wounded from the public. Don't hide from the families of the casualties.
If you support the Troops, bring them home NOW!
Our troops didn't lose this one, our "Leaders" did.
Before the war even started, there were many voices, including retired and active duty military, that could see that attacking Iraq would be a disastrous mistake. Now, nearly four years later, the majority of the American people have come to the conclusion that we were right.
Despite the blaring megaphone of propaganda that has been drowning out any realistic discussion of our middle east policy, the truth of the disaster is coming out. Over 1.4 million American service(wo)men have cycled through Iraq, nearly 3000 have died, more than 20 000 have been grievously injured, the military infrastructure, the trucks and tanks and all the other gear, are wearing out without replacement or repair, many of the troops are on second, third, even fourth deployments and a lot of them are National Guard or Reserves. Some who thought they were done and heading home have been held over under stop-loss and others that had retired are being re-activated.
It's said that the Nascar voter knows more people in uniform than in same-sex relationships. That's one reason why the public has changed it's view. Troops in the field and returning Vets talk to their families and friends, their friends talk and so more people learn, from a source they trust, that the Occupation is a debacle, that we aren't helping and that we need to get out.
But there is a problem.
George Walker Bush, the Decider.
This guy is a walking disaster all his own. He's failed at everything he's set his hand to and his dad and Jim Baker swing in and rescue him, it's a pattern. Only this time the little thug is the POTUS and the business that he's driving into the ground is America. Problem is, he's so big now, he shrugs off Baker and Poppy, even as they try to find a way to salvage the "mission" (permanent bases in Iraq keeping control over the Oil in the hands of Bush's buddies).
Denial is a wide river that runs through the WhiteHouse. Even as Bush announced his pick to replace Rummy, he was touting the success of his adventure in Mesopotamia (which Gates promptly contradicted in Congressional hearings). No one seems to be able to get through to the Fool that he has to accept failure and take the responsibility for it.
And you can bet that the propaganda machine is cranking up a campaign to blame "Liberals" for "Losing" another war, "Backstabbing our Troops" and other spiteful lies. Folks, Liberals had no control over this mess, we didn't lose the war and neither did the troops (in fact, the War was won, the Occupation has been the disaster). We will hear a lot about how liberals don't support the troops. Bullshit, all of it!
If you want to support the troops, don't send them off to fight wars for lies. Don't send them into unwinnable situations. Don't send them off ill-equipped and under armored. Don't cut their VA support when they return, physically and mentally wounded. Don't hide the fallen and the wounded from the public. Don't hide from the families of the casualties.
If you support the Troops, bring them home NOW!
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