Our state of affairs are not in order.

no they are not.

Our state of affairs are not in order.

so, for example, highly respected Democracy Now can have Jeremy Scahill on, and he says stuff like this:

JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, let me ask you, in terms of this whole issue of mercenaries in general, I mean, are we facing the possibility that a Democratic president would in essence reduce the troops but increase the mercenaries?
JEREMY SCAHILL: Well, Juan, this is a great question, and it was one of the reasons why I started looking at this. I want to read you a quote here. Joseph Schmitz, who’s one of the leading executives in the Blackwater empire, recently said this: “There is a scenario where we could as a government, the United States, could pull back the military footprint, and there would then be more of a need for private contractors to go in.” So apparently these contractors see a silver lining in that scenario. You know, the reality is, right now, that these forces are one of the most significant threats to Iraqis in the country. I mean, we’ve seen scores of incidents where they’ve shot at them, etc.
But as you know, Juan, this is a bipartisan industry. I mean, Bill Clinton really gave rise to this phenomenon of the military contractors. We know that Dick Cheney was running Halliburton in the ’90s. Who was giving Dick Cheney all of those contracts? Well, it was Bill Clinton. And the Democrats have long been good for the war contracting industry. There’s a reason why Hillary Clinton is the number one recipient of campaign contributions from the defense industry. Number two is John McCain. Obama is number four. Chris Dodd is ahead of him. It’s very interesting. It’s a bipartisan phenomenon.

and

And I mean, you know, the reality is that now would be the time for people to raise these issues, and yet no one is talking about this. It’s “Oh, yeah, Barack Obama is going to withdraw troops from Iraq.” Well, not exactly. He’s actually looking at keeping a pretty sizeable deployment. The other thing about them is they’re both calling for an increase in the number of troops in the permanent US military. In the case of Obama—and Juan, you’ve brought this up recently on the show—in the case of Obama, he says 90,000 new troops. Well, that’s going to be a $15 billion increase in military funding just for those troops to be in the United States, not including their deployment.

which is why it is possible to have the partisan left blogosphere or whatever you call it strenously keeping with up with ongoing atrocities and debacles in Iraq, and condemning the Republicans for them, yet vehemently supporting (D) candidates who would perpetuate the same policies.

The disappointment at the “betrayals” of the (D) Congress after 2006 can and will be repeated endlessly unless 3rd party or abstention is seen as viable and doesn’t just provoke Naderitis and a 2-minute hate.

the world

How anyone can seek to justify or ‘explain’ what is going on as cultural desonance simply amazes me.

Were these things happening to you and yours (not so far-fetched as it might seem …) would you be parsing words?

When we leave things will be bad.

While we are there, things are bad.

In the first instance, it is the Iraki people who must choose …

In the second, the choice is ‘ours’ …

There is little food, little water …

But there is much evil, too much death, too much maiming, too much!!

Those of us here, of a certain age, already have the blood of one war on our hands and a stain upon our conscience …

How many more must die?

What are they dying ‘for’?

Too many questions, too little courage …

Too much hubris, too little shame …

Thank you, Siun and thank you, mark.

i travelled today, been outta town, am wired and tired, may be spitting things out too fast……..didn’t clear my head all the way before i logged onto the lake…..hmmmmm, how many can say that? lots…….i missed the lake……hits the part of my brain that feeds my conscience to do more and better.

will reread thread tomorrow when i’m fresh as lilacs tomorrow………

thanks mark and siun.

1-800-405 or 450-8293

call and call and call……and get the numbers for your district and call them for more info.

then go plant your garden.