Irony on the rocks with a twist...

In a nationally televised address to the American people, President George W. Bush proved beyond a shadow of a doubt the sheer depth of his ineptitude by announcing plans to send a “force surge” of 20,000 more troops to Iraq. This completely predictable decision not only defies logic, but Bush’s own military advisors don’t support it; most troops already on the ground in Iraq don’t support it, the democrats do not support it, even members of his own party are divided over it. If this wasn’t enough to give the President pause for consideration, perhaps the fact that he doesn’t even have the support of the majority of the American People, for whom he supposedly “serves.” Alas, never to be the one who caves into advice, nor political pressures, not even the demands of the people he serves, nothing shall deter Bush from his self-anointed role as: “The Decider.” Had all those mindless drones who voted for him (many twice) bothered to check his credentials before 2000, they would probably be puking from the irony that W’s only true talent in life lies in his absolute inability to make an intelligent, well-reasoned, and cohesive, decision on his own, (although he does seem to show skill in the area of running up debts and getting people killed).

The U.S. invasion Iraq was a complete failure even before it began. It does not bode well for politicians to base an unprovoked military invasion of a sovereign nation upon a series of ethical blunders predicated by a deep seeded obsession to morph the invasion and occupation of Iraq into the greater “War on Terror,” such as: “cooking prewar intelligence,” telling a complete pack of lies, and the absolute failure to properly plan for the inevitable chaos that occurs when one topples a government. These vast failures have gotten Americans and Iraqis killed folks. Bush’s justifications for the Iraq incursion was focused solely upon spinning a relentless succession of phantom fears and menaces, and the American people bought it. We have nothing to show for our dead, and the Iraqis have at least as many graves to dig as they did before we invaded.

It should be noted that basic military strategy dictates that an invading military and occupation force must do everything in its power to win the hearts and minds of the people in the country they invade, otherwise, all they are doing is inviting partisans, counter-insurgents, and anyone else in the neighborhood that may have a grudge, to start attacking them by any and all means necessary (note the striking similarities between this scenario and what’s been happening in Iraq). A failure to win the hearts and minds of the people isn’t going to be corrected by adding troops; it’s only going to make the enemy that much more determined to make remaining in place unbearable for the troops on the ground, and the families at home watching them on TV. Thanks to the policies of President Bush, not only is our nation less safe than it was six years ago, but the world at large is far less safe. When a leader makes poor decisions that affect the lives of millions of people and nobody , it is bad enough, when that leader continues to make poor decisions after just about everyone around him has advised against it, that’s downright dangerous.

For far too long, it seems, Bush has surrounded himself with “yes-men,” who have told him only what he wanted to hear and did not bother him with any “troublesome facts.” People who voiced dissent, or wouldn’t “play ball,” were ever-so-quietly shown the door. Objecting or voicing opinions concerning policy decisions seems to be frowned upon in the Bush Administration. Bush himself admitted he didn’t bother watching the news, or reading the newspaper, because his staff told him all he needed to know. This is the beginning of the kind self-deceptive denial that can cause even great men to become megalomaniacs, imagine what this does to a not-even mediocre man, whose only claim to fame is having been born into a prosperous, powerful, and influential family with a checkered past? It is not difficult to see that not only was Bush the wrong person for the job seven years ago, but he has demonstrated a serious lack of leadership, class, and style, since then. Bush has permitted Iraq to become his “Political albatross,” and he seems determined to hang himself with it. So be it.

In essence, Bush’s failure in Iraq is part of a much larger historical misconception that has plagued U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East for nearly 50 years: political expediency and military strategy are totally incompatible with one another. In order to successfully invade another nation, one must “Win the hearts and minds of the people.” This is impossible when the politicians in charge don’t take into account the consequences of cultural, tribal, and religious differences in the battle plan before they order the invasion. Most troubling is the fact that most of our elected officials haven’t troubled themselves to discover the difference between a Sunni and Shiite. It also doesn’t take any sort of military genius to figure out that occupying another nation is bound to breed the kind of insurgency we’re experiencing in Iraq; if nothing else, the insurgency our troops faced in Vietnam should have taught us this lesson (oops, I forgot, Bush “skipped” that war).

The more I consider just how stark and dismal Bush’s failures have been, the more his willingness to buck everyone who believes more troops can’t solve this problem troubles me. The situation in Iraq started out bad and has never gotten better. Giving our enemy more targets to shoot at and blow up seems ludicrous to any right-thinking human being. My greatest fear is that this asshole may just be willing to sacrifice more American lives in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable withdrawal from Iraq until 2008, so he can dump the problems he created on his predecessor. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was not only illegal, but his justifications were pure fabrications. Our subsequent occupation of Iraq has degenerated into a civil war with our troops caught in the crossfire. Bush’s latest strategy in Iraq has little chance of doing anything but getting more of our people killed. It is time to pull our troops out of harm’s way and let the Iraqi people settle their differences the way they’ve been doing it for thousands of years. It is time for Congress to stand up and remind George W. Bush that being President does not give him unlimited powers, that he is answerable to the other branches of government, and ultimately, the American people, for his continued poor judgment in Iraq.

TANSTAAFL!

©J.S.Brown 2004-2007
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This has been bothering me for some time, and while we wait with breathless anticipation for Bush to announce his “new/old/same” plan for cleaning up his mess in Iraq, I thought I’d take a moment to ask a question: Do the warnings of possible side-effects provided during all those annoyingly wholesome and carefree prescription drug commercials make anyone else (besides me) cringe?

They promise the world, everything from lowering the bad cholesterol (while maintaining the good), managing those pesky genital herpes outbreaks, growing back your lost hair, stopping indigestion (while healing the damage), diminishing seasonal allergies, not letting asthma ruin your day, and even giving you and your partner up to 36 hours to get your groove on. It sounds too good to be true when they play that upbeat music and show those images of people having so much fun. See all the people who are getting back to doing the things they used to do before they got older and you could be one of them! Then of course they have to go and ruin the ride (thanks to the U.S. Government, no doubt) by mentioning a few “rare-but-potentially-serious” side-effects:

"Common side-effects are generally mild, and may include: headache, stomach pain, dizziness, sweats, vomiting, and diarrhea, and in rare cases: insomnia, halitosis, unusually colored discharge during sexual activity, shingles, hives, and may produce a slight tendency to drool (they don't show anyone suffering from these "common-but-rare" side-effects in the commercials, so I guess I'm probably safe, right?)"

"Women who are pregnant, or may become pregnant should not handle [prescription name here] as they have been associated with a rare birth defect (yeah, like this makes a person feel real good about taking that pill)."

"Seek immediate medical attention if you experience an erection lasting more than four hours (by which time, most men will have become completely addled by a nearly complete lack of oxygen to their brains)."You shouldn't drink in excess with [insert prescription name here] (as your brain may swell up like a watermelon, and reality may start to be a real downer)."

"Tell your doctor about any liver or kidney problems you may have (as this may increase your risk of these organs exploding and causing severe hemorrhaging, even death)."

"Tell your doctor if you have high blood pressure, or are taking nitrates for chest pains, as taking [prescription name here] could lead to a sudden drop in blood pressure (which could really ruin your whole day)."
"Do not drive, or operate heavy machinery, until you know how taking [prescription name here] will affect you (and of course most people are likely to pop a few pills, before they drive in a NASCAR race, play with a backhoe in their back yard, or take their space shuttle for a spin). "

Personally, I believe these commercials were far better before the Feds started mandating all the risks and side-effects be mentioned. Let people have that moment of hope and delusion that some biochemical concoction will cure whatever ails them, let their doctor be the one who gets to whack them over the head by telling them all the potential risks and side-effects (somehow I’m sure Big Pharma would agree).

It seems to me that the cures are as bad as the diseases. Rather than hassle with all those doctors and prescription pills, I say take 3 bong hits, suck down a half-dozen raw oysters, chase it with a shot of top-shelf bourbon, and top the whole thing off by eating a few cloves of garlic (if there's anything still wrong with you after that, you're pretty much beyond any hope).Oh, and don’t call me in the morning (‘cause I’ll be out doing all those things I used to do before I got all those things I needed all those fancy prescriptions for).

TANSTAAFL!

©J.S.Brown 2004-2007

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I admit it; I’ve made mistakes in my life. Not only have I made multiple blunders, but I’ve actually tried very hard to learn from them and not make the same mistakes twice. Even Bill Clinton admits to fucking up, and perhaps this is the only redeeming quality of his presidential legacy, such that it is. In contrast to this, Bush and his pals seem convinced that they don’t make any mistakes. It makes me wonder how they could learn anything useful about fixing the myriad of problems this country faces when they can’t even admit to the fact that they are the primary cause for leading this country to its ultimate ruination.

My father is of the opinion that the only “legacy” of the Bush Administration will be cutting taxes for the wealthy and getting people killed. Perhaps if only they could kill the wealthy, we might have an outside chance of balancing the budget with the still in-place estate tax.

Honestly, no president has truly addressed the horrid welfare problem we have in this country. The government, in our name, has given more of our tax dollars to corporations who don’t need it; and foreign powers just so they’ll pretend to be our friends (most of who have laughed all the way to the bank and stabbed us in the back when we weren’t looking). If even half this money was turned back over to WE THE PEOPLE, maybe the U.S. wouldn’t still be an economic sinkhole of debt owed to China, and other dubious sources.

Bush and most of his closest cronies have truly never known want; they’ve always been members of the “haves.” They probably see the “have-nots” as a flock of weak sheep that need a shepherd, and they know just the men for the job. As Hunter S. Thompson probably would have said: “This is politics Bubba, and politicians don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves.” The Bushites have demonstrated that incompetence in government is a great way to keep the people occupied whilst they rape and pillage the euphemistic “American Dream,” and nobody really wants to know the full nature of the greed, corruption, and power mongering, that goes on behind the scenes. We all pretend that it doesn’t matter, and that somehow we’ll manage to get our own little “sliver” of that “American pie.”

Most of us go through our daily grinds oblivious to what’s really going on. We watch “the show” in the peripheral of the daily news, which meticulously sifts and filters what we get to see most carefully, so we never get a “true picture” of the filth we wallow in like pigs in shit. Perhaps they do it because they are in league with the politicians, perhaps they do it because calculated misery on local and national news gains more attention than an obscene animal sex show at a Tijuana titty bar (more than likely its a little of both and then some). Whatever the reasons, the spectacle is like driving by a bad car accident and feeling that irresistible urge to gawk at the carnage.

Folks, these people don’t give a rat’s ass about us. They feed us lines that appeal to our political leanings like snake oil salesmen selling “cure alls.” They would lie to their mothers, steal their stockings, and sell them to someone else’s mom, if it would get them just one more vote. They make dirty deals with the lowest forms of life (usually fellow lawyers like themselves) and at the end of the day, they count themselves lucky not to worry about social security, medical insurance, or whether or not they have a hot meal and a place to lay their heads at night. Most of these jokers don’t know what it is like to have virtually nothing in their savings accounts and live from paycheck-to-paycheck. How can they hope to solve problems they know nothing about, and why do we let them fool us over and over again? Because we desperately want to believe them; anything else would lead to anarchy, lord kows we just can't have that.

I have always believed that Politics is the show produced by economics. I wonder when it was that politicians realized it was far more rewarding to cater to the smaller portions of our society who actually have money, than it ever was to cater to the people that the U.S. Constitution says they are supposed to serve. Perhaps this was the gig all along, and the most of us were always just along for the ride. Who knows? What we do know is that the Bush administration legacy is one mostly of failure to listen, failure to work with all levels of society, and failure to admit that they’ve even failed.

TANSTAAFL!

©J.S.Brown 2004-2007
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