Why the surge is a failure

“Never was so much false arithmetic employed on any subject, as that which has been employed to persuade nations that it is their interest to go to war.  Were the money which it has cost to gain, at the close of a long war, a little town, or a little territory, the right to cut [...]

The Iraq War, in the tradition of Jonathan Swift

Before reading: Read Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. This will help you understand the title and the tone. http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/modest.html Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFptybbietQ Intellectuals will understand the nature of this piece without explanation, and those readers who do not will find themselves inspired to defend the Iraqi people, which the media has taught them are subhuman. It [...]

Unjust war: are passive Americans responsible?

“A policy of overthrowing or destabilizing every regime our government dislikes is no strategy at all, unless our goal is international chaos and domestic impoverishment.” – Ron Paul I received a good question about a post in which I asserted, “those who henceforth perpetuate the lie that the surge is working are war criminals, and [...]

Iraqis have a voice, “but nobody listened.” Will you?

I have written a book; and if it cannot be refuted, it cannot be condemned. But I do not consider the prosecution as particularly leveled against me, but against the general right, or the right of every man, of investigating systems and principles of government, and showing their several excellencies or defects.” – Thomas Paine [...]

Government submits to God, who wants to leave us alone

This story is, of course, fictional.  If you see this headline in the newspaper tomorrow morning, you will need to pinch yourself–and if that does not wake you–realize that you have in fact died and gone to heaven.  As I imagine it, there are no tax collectors in heaven.  Upon entry into heaven, I could pick up the [...]

Let me get this straight, neoconservative freak

A continuation of my education of the neocon:  Let me get this straight. You think a tall slender man in the mountains of Central Asia is orchestrating the end of American freedoms. Okay. Assuming that true, we must also admit that Bin Laden has received help in this pursuit from the Bush administration. Are we not losing [...]

Nationalists on the Right, Socialists on the Left, compromise for a planned economy with Muslims in concentration camps

The following was a response to the letter that appears below it, and I share as proof that neoconservatives are a little confused about reality–too much Fox News perhaps.  The writer of this rudimentary stream of consciousness–if it can be called that–is to remain anonymous.  I would not sacrifice a friend for a political disagreement, regardless of his [...]

Letter to the neo-American

I wrote the following to a dear friend and fellow American who will remain anonymous: When I reflect on our conversations, and consider the compassionate and insightful person I know you to be, I find it hard to believe that you sincerely support the hostilities in Iraq, or that you cannot see through the confines [...]

The birth of a new Republican party

Throughout the primary season, Republican activists have been turning out in droves to denounce the mistakes their own party has made under the reign of President Bush.  The Republicans who elected Bush in 2000 supported a platform of non-interventionism, lower taxes, less spending, more individual freedom, and smaller government.  Bush delivered almost exactly the opposite.  [...]

Dollar tanks; sheep discuss a sleaze and a whore

Prostitution: it has been around a long time, and it is never going away.  I do not understand why all of you sheep are so fascinated by this one.  Any bloke can fornicate, especially if he is willing to pay.  This has always been the case, and it always will be.  Newsflash: men sometimes stick their peckers where [...]