Al Franken has a great way to simply characterize the difference between an extreme conservative's love of country and a progressive's. The conservative love is much the same as a 5 year old boy's love for his mommy: its simple, unconditional, and anyone who says mommy is less than perfect is gonna get a big punch in the nose! The progressive's love, in contrast, more closely resembles a mature adult romantic relationship: deep, complex, always open to ways it can become better; recognizing that there are flaws in all of us, but still loving, building, growing.
There has been a lot of good, constructive analysis from a lot of great minds in the U.S. detailing what is wrong with our foreign policy, and our military approach in Iraq. The 5 year old calls many of them traitors, cowards, soft on terrorism, Osama-lovers; well, you get the idea (funny how just 6 years ago criticizing the Commander-in-Chief was tres fashionable in their circles). We've also endured considerable criticism from around globe, much of it virulent, from friend and foe alike. However, now we have some comprehensive feedback from one of our oldest and closest friends and allies, the British. A high ranking officer in the British military has written a very
constructive but painfully frank critique of U.S. performance in Iraq after spending a few years working alongside the Americans in Iraq. There is much praise, but also a heaping helping of some friendly advice. What is more remarkable and very encouraging is that the U.S. Army published in in their magazine,
Military Review (kudos to Colonel William Darley, editor; it's a great first step). No "peacenik", the man who wrote it.
While the British understandably are distancing themselves from the article by saying it does not reflect the view from 10 Downing, indications are that his are widely held opinions among high ranking officials, perhaps even in the mind of Mr. Blair himself. Of course, the rightie rule number one being to viciously attack the messenger, Brig Aylwin-Foster will be the target of long worn out negative cliches about the British over the coming months. Perhaps there will be a ban on fish-and-chips in the senate lunchroom. Maybe something less mature like giving up gin. Or, as we love to do to the French, we can declare "we pulled your fat out of the fire in WW II!" with all the righteous indignation we can muster.
Or we could listen to the sober words of a good friend.
No doubt there are some misconceptions in the article, but the overall tone supports many, many other assessments from other sources. We are morphing into a caricature of wild west movie gunslingers in our approach to the rest of the world, allowing our diplomatic skills to atrophy. No subtleties, no grays or nuance; Black or white, with us or again' us, good guys or bad guys. And what we don't like we blow up. Then we blow it up with a bigger bomb. Shock and awe. Civilian casualties? What civilians? They're
all bad guys!
I know, I know. The world's an ugly place with some pretty ugly characters in it, who'd cut my throat without a second thought. True. And then we can trot out that Swiss army knife of excuses and justification, 9/11. And I take this life for granted in the comfort of my living room, never threatened by the hell that's out there. Again the all or nothing approach.
But the reality is that the world is evolving politically and diplomatically, especially the west, and we are becoming increasingly out of touch. We are losing our credibility in diplomatic circles as we continue arrogant unilateral actions, much as we are losing our moral authority through situations like Abu Graib, illegal detentions, black sites, illegal wiretapping, torture and rendition. Most progressives love this country, and are desperately trying to sound the wake-up call. This article is the latest wake-up call, let's hope its loud enough. We've stopped growing, folks (in some ways we're regressing).
Bill Clinton (among others, like W's dad) has said that we can never kill, capture or contain all those in the world who mean us harm. In fact trying to do so alienates those who would be our friend, and fuels those who won't. We can still set a major example for the world if we recognize this, and act accordingly. Mr. Clinton understands the world community we live in; he's a true patriot. Mr. G.W. Bush is an oligarch (or a plutocrat?).
"317,000 employees", "71 million local landline customers", "54 million cell customers", "largest merger in telecom history" and so on. Then the familiar drivel about benefits to customers, efficiencies, synergies, more and better services, discounts for bundled services, etc. (Forgive my cynicism but I've lived it from the inside). Finally the outcry from consumers' groups about the lack of competition, higher prices and so forth.
Like many in the world I have felt a great deal of respect, sympathy and empathy for Christopher Reeve since his resulting paralysis from a horseback riding incident in 1995 through his death in 2004, with all the courage, effort, painful struggles and inspiring, tireless work in between.
It is said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. That is, it is only when we are truly mentally and spiritually ready to absorb and comprehend new information that we will recognize that information. Kind of an awakening. Or better, the removal of a block.
So W has decided to go back to the tried and true rightie playbook which guides him in crisis, the one that has served him well over the years, as well as such public service icons as Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay.
But beneath the prank is a familiar theme: W is long on political show (such as his pricey Jackson Square performance), but short on performance (even as he plans to spend still more on "national defense"). Assistance is critical now, before the city loses its character forever, and its residents lose their home forever. NOLA burns, Nero continues to fiddle.
factions, have seen Monty 
Python's Life of Brian at least 30 times) abduct this woman, threatening to kill her unless several demands are met by the Americans and their Iraqi government. It's a message kinda like "they tell you we're barbarians so now we'll prove it!". I would think these folks would be giving foreign journalists an armed escort around the country (except FOX "news") so the world can see for themselves the extent to which the average Iraqi is affected by the occupation and growing civil war.
Al Franken has a great way to simply characterize the difference between an extreme conservative's love of country and a progressive's. The conservative love is much the same as a 5 year old boy's love for his mommy: its simple, unconditional, and anyone who says mommy is less than perfect is gonna get a big punch in the nose! The progressive's love, in contrast, more closely resembles a mature adult romantic relationship: deep, complex, always open to ways it can become better; recognizing that there are flaws in all of us, but still loving, building, growing.
I know, I know. The world's an ugly place with some pretty ugly characters in it, who'd cut my throat without a second thought. True. And then we can trot out that Swiss army knife of excuses and justification, 9/11. And I take this life for granted in the comfort of my living room, never threatened by the hell that's out there. Again the all or nothing approach.
It was one year ago this blog was started for a number of reasons, among them the need to vent over pent up frustrations, to celebrate the good stuff, and the desire to develop and improve a writing style (you might say it was a New Year's resolution). I was not sure how long it would endure, but here we are going strong a year later, and I feel like I'm just getting started! For those who have been repeat visitors, I thank you!
