AVOIDING THE SQUIRRELS

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.” - T.S. Eliot

Brothers and Sisters of the Imaginary Church, we are gathered here for the last time this year.  I will be taking a short sabbatical in order to recharge the holy batteries with a much needed trip to the City of Angels and the Holy Temple of the Las Vegas Strip.  As we prepare to celebrate the New Year it’s customary to make resolutions.  What can we do better?  How can we improve ourselves in some small ego driven way?

Well, I for one am already perfect so that seems like a tremendous waste of time.  Besides, the dark cold days of February kill off the best of intentions with a frigid laugh.  Instead, I’m going to offer a list of qualities that I’d like to increase as well as shit I could live without.  This seems like it might be more useful.  Or not.  Only time will tell.  Feel free to make your own list.  Or be lazy and use mine.  What the hell.  And so it goes.

Oh great and mighty unfeeling and uncaring Universe, hear my intentions and take note.  Even if you don’t give a fuck.  I would like my 2010 to include:

More joy and more music.  More fun and more rum.  More compassion and more beauty.  More freedom and more tolerance.  More training and more riding.  More friends and more sex.  Better food and a calmer center.  And more kids made a little bit more content.

Fewer judgments and less anxiety.  Less worry and less fear.  Less religion and less hatred.  Less caution and less repression.  Less greed and fewer corporations.  Oh, and well we’re at it, let’s kill off Fox news.

So there you have it.  My plans for 2010.  See you next year.  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.  Amen

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Okay.  The final war post, at least for the time being.  I truly believe in balance.  Yin yang.  Finding the middle by holding both extremes.  It’s the core belief that all my other beliefs are built on.  All good things rise out of balance, both individual and societal.  And now it’s time to look at the ‘other side’.

In my first war post I professed a support for the military and the necessity for war.  I also strongly support anti war groups and pacifists.  They help keep our society honest and provide a needed conscience.  They also help keep us out of stupid useless wars and idiocy fueled adventures.  So where the fuck are they?  We’re currently fighting not one but two pointless wars.  They’ve been going on for 8 god damned years and there seems to be no real resistance.  When I was a kid there was only one small war going on and the pacifists were running around everywhere.  College campuses were hot beds of antiwar sentiment.  Now, almost nothing.  The occasional Pink Lady protest.  Move On bumper stickers.  Come on people.

I would hate to think that the protests around the last war were just about rich white kids not wanting to be drafted.  (Although that may well be true.)  These wars suck just as much as Vietnam.  The kids who come home in body bags are just as dead.  The innocent casualties are just as horrific.  Why aren’t there giant parades and rallies?  Where are the militant groups threatening violence?  Get off your lazy asses and bring this thing to an end.  Do you think Obama would order 30,000 more troops if his constituency was marching in the streets calling for peace?

Part of the blame here is going to have to be shouldered by the artistic community.  40 years ago the pop charts were peppered with Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Peter Paul and Mary and Pete Seeger.  Joan Baez, Judy Collins, John Lennon.  Now we get nothing but political silence.  It’s shameful that a large percentage of the American casualties are African American soldiers but the hip-hop world is more concerned with buying jewel encrusted cars.  I mean really people, what is public television going to play during pledge drives in 2035 if there isn’t great protest music being written?

It might sound like I’m kidding, but I’m deadly serious here.  Are we so controlled by the corporations that profit from war that we can’t get music published that has different opinion?  Are we all sheep?  Sometimes I wonder if even Pete Seeger looks around and gets a little pissed off.  So let’s get off our asses, leave the comfort of our televisions and our video games, and get to protesting.  I don’t want to have to tell you again.  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.  Amen

“Fear is, I believe, a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual — and the soul of a people.” - Anwar Sadat

So, loyal parishioners, now we are well into our discussion of war and the US of A.  Last time we, or shall I say I, decided that we needed to get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan post haste.  Today I’m going to go one step further.  I’m going to describe what our military policy should be.  I expect these changes to be implemented immediately.

Like or not we’re an empire, albeit an ineffective one.  Hell, the average American is so drugged by tv and walmart that they don’t even know that we’re an empire.  This has to end.  It’s just stupid.  We currently have SEVERAL HUNDRED military bases in about 100 countries that aren’t ours.  The actual numbers are hard to come by, which is interesting in itself.  Why are we doing this?  How many billions of dollars does this cost?  What do we really get from it?  Jeez, what a mess.

As I said, I’m not antimilitary and I understand a strong presence is sometimes necessary.  I’m even willing to concede that the occasional war is okay.  But we don’t need bases from wars long past.  Do we need to be in Japan and Germany even though WWII ended 65 years ago?  South Korea?  The Philippines and Guam because we beat Spain 100 years past?  We don’t need to be policeman to the Earth.  It’s just silly, and you’re paying for it.  I haven’t noticed any foreign bases on our soil.  Why are we there?  What gives us the right?  What good does it do?  All it does is provide vast wealth and power to the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about.

So, step one of the new reality is close EVERY foreign base.  Bring all the stuff and all the brave soldiers home.  Is there any other country that is so dumb that it can’t protect it’s own borders or police it’s own ports because it’s soldiers are in Turkey?  Didn’t think so.  I think the budget deficit just got way more manageable.

Step two- Let’s re-negotiate who our allies are.  If you’re bagging your women, we don’t need you.  If Israel is truly our friend, agree to protect them.  And let everyone know that we’re happy as hell to fight a war if you attack an ally.  But we’ll fight in your country and we’ll use big missiles full of nukes.

Step three- Build the military to reflect the world as it is, not as it was.  We need  to be able to go in and get small groups very quickly.  Figure out what we need, build it and train for it.  Since the military will be here it shouldn’t be an insurmountable problem.

Step four- Stop being a pussy about nuclear weapons.  Yep, they’re scary.  And as Americans we’re just crazy enough to use them.  So fuck with us and we’ll nuke your ass.  End of story.

We’re Americans.  We have a long history of innovation.  We were the original freedom fighters and nasty guerillas.  We can do this.  And we can use the extra money to educate ourselves and maybe get some healthcare.  Get to it.  NOW!  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.  Amen

“Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” - Hermann Goering

So where were we?  Ahhh yes, war.  In the previous post we discussed war in general.  I thought that was important because I don’t want to be accused of being a flaming liberal.  (Even though it’s frequently true.)  So, now onto our present wars and what we should, and shouldn’t, do about them.

I voted for Mr. Obama.  I still hope he succeeds as president, although I’m beginning to have real doubts.  (Actually, as you may know, I think things are so fucked up that no single person could fix it.)  Anyway, I like the guy.  But he is totally fucking wrong in expanding the war in Afghanistan.  And here’s why…

1-  We can’t afford to keep doing shit like this.  We’re broke.  We need to make tough, maybe even selfish, decisions.  So far we’ve spent about 1.25  trillion dollars in Afghanistan and Iraq and we will get NOTHING in return.  Wouldn’t that pay for healthcare?  Or infrastructure?  or education?  I’m sorry, but Afghanistan doesn’t make my top 10,000 list of priorities.

2-  If it isn’t fixed in the first 8 years of occupation, it isn’t likely to be fixed with one more.  Kind of simple really.

3-  The Taliban and Al qeada are bad but they probably aren’t much of a threat right now.  Our debt is a threat right now.  Americans dying for no real reason is a threat right now.  If you’re worried about Al qeada then make Homeland Security do it’s fucking job.  Killing some guy in a cave won’t help.

4-  This country has been a mess forever.  It’s the place where empires go to die.  Figure it out.  Afghanistan is good for one thing, growing poppies.  If you really want to help them, make hash legal and let them grow it for the world market.

5-  I know Pakistan is a fucking mess.  This won’t help.  If their nuclear arsenal is the real problem, be a man and blow it the fuck up.  From a distance.  It’s the American way.

6-  It’s a crying shame that the American kids who died in Iraq and Afghanistan may have died for no real purpose.  Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be publicly tortured to death for ordering it.  But sending more kids to die in order to justify the earlier sacrifice is just as obscene.  Don’t do it.

7-  You’re making this decision out of fear.  If you pull out and we get attacked you’ll be blamed.  Decisions made out of fear are always wrong.  I thought you were better than this.

8-  As you’ve said, the world can be a very dangerous place.  Well, if you do this you’ll leave us with very few soldiers in reserve.  What if we actually need our army while you have it fucking around in useless country?

9-  American soldiers are amazing and valuable.  They need to be respected and protected.  By bringing them home.

10-  Don’t tell me we’re going to get Al qeada.  If that’s the real plan why aren’t we invading about 20 countries that have more members than Afghanistan or Pakistan?  In fact, shouldn’t we invade Saudi Arabia first since that’s where they started?

11-  Didn’t you just win the Nobel Peace Prize?  Don’t you understand that you’re morally wrong here?  You should.

I could go on but you get the idea.  So here’s the new plan.  Immediate withdrawal from both Afghanistan and Iraq.  Bring everyone home as quickly as it’s safely feasible to do so.  No more casualties.  And bring all our stuff home too.  If those countries devolve into chaos they can find their own way to civilization, or not.  I know this sounds kind of hard hearted, but it really ISN’T OUR BUSINESS.  Half the countries in the world are screwed up.  All we can do is lead by example and help when it seems like we can affect real change.  And this ain’t the time or place.  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.  Amen