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“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).
Like everyone in the world who doesn’t watch Fox News, I feel all white racists in Missouri should all be killed. However, there is just one small argument against it….
Massive non-violent protest is so much more effective….
To effectively protest, two things have to occur….
A) It has to be massive. Gigantic… Huge…. involving the heart-strings of hundreds of millions.
B) It has to be at a higher rung on the moral ladder than its opposite…
Both planks have to be in effect for the demonstrations to change policy…..
There are considerable examples demonstrating this: One: the Arab Spring. The size was there, and the freedom of the movement enthused populations more than the oppression of the status quo. Another was Ukraine. The oppression of one administration was balanced against the freedom of a new one. However in both cases, as it became apparent that the reality was replacing one oppressive system with another one, the enthusiasm dampened.
The opposite example demonstrates the need for numbers. Occupy was full of enthusiastic people. But though it had strong passive sympathy for its message against the one percent, it never generated the massive demonstrations needed on the scale of the Arab Spring….
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What will happen over the fallout of these two (examples of power able to act outside the law with impunity using a Grand Jury process as long as the victim is black), will depend solely upon whether you (and everyone else) goes to a protest demonstration this weekend… One is being held somewhere near you….
If very few show up (if you do not show up), then rightfully, this is not a real issue…. It is a fake one being broadcast by a few highly concerned individuals over the yawns of many…. But … If you do show up, and everyone else follows you to the demonstration, only then change is possible…
Democracy demands your involvement. The only reason you have freedom today as we speak, is because your bloodline, or your neighbor’s bloodline, chose to get involved in the sticky, messy ordeal of defending what was right… It is the only way change ever occurs. If you choose to not get involved: then hell with democracy… Might as well live under tyrants…
If I said… “Hey, dude, what happened 100 years ago today?”…. about 4 out of every 25,000 of you, would know and answer back with a question…. “Are you sure you are not talking about 100 years yesterday?” You would be officially right of course… June 28th…. But I would be “politically” right, I guess, (struggling for an adjective to describe the rightness I would be..).
To fill in the rest of the 24,996 of you…. yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the shooting of the Archduke of Ferdnand,,,,
“Who the fvck is that?” say 24,996 people all at once…. (People in Oklahoma hear that rumble as another frack quake..)
Since reality is 100% of reality, I’ll take that on….
In 1914… there were 5 nations that mattered. One of the nations that didn’t matter back then would have been the United States; others: China, and Japan… The 5 nations that were relevant back then actually included Russia, believe it or not…. with Germany, France, Britain, and Austria-Hungary rounding out the full 5… This last nation, I always think of as a joke, and say so sometimes… (“What? Austria’s Hungry? What a joke!”) That is because I tend to ignorant of anything southeast of Germany… I’m an American, you know…
Austria Hungary was called the Dual Kingdom… Can you guess why? One was Austria, the other was Hungary. Austria ran Austria/ Hungary ran Hungary, and a couple of times a year they got together to coordinate… Those episodes resembled today’s divided Congress. Neither side would accept the provisions of the other…. and stalemate meant each could go their own way with little interference from the other… However on security matters they were conjoined… Austria had the military; a standing army of 900,000.. and Hungary bordered Russia from where any major attack would come…
To the south the ancient empire of the Ottoman Turks was decaying from its inside. Recognizing that most of the Empire’s attention had to be focused inside of Turkey proper, all 5 relevant nations begin eyeing the Balkans and Dardanelles and sizing each other up… Significantly, Russia was very nervous over the Dardanelles because the wrong person owning that property, could bottle her navy inside the Black Sea…
Austria had, in just a very few years before, annexed Bosnia, roughly the same size as it is today, by marching in and calling it their own… Serbia, had wanted the same, but was too small to do anything about it and no one came to their aid…. But people inside of Bosnia who had wanted Serbia to control it, had financial resources made available to help make that happen…
The archduke was the next in line to the Austrian emperor, who himself was getting quite old. Both the archduke and emperor were primarily pacifists who didn’t believe that war was profitable. But like any nation, within their cabinet as well as in charge of their military, they had well-spoken ministers who argued that a “shock and awe” first strike was always the best option…
Unfortunately for the world, it was one of those two pacifists who was assassinated 100 years ago today…. along with his wife… killed by what today would be considered a terrorist cell of about 5 people total… working independently… meeting in secret. etc. etc. They botched their previous attempts and by today’s standards were almost comical, until they finally got lucky on number 3…
Some people got the word 100 years yesterday… June 28th. Who these were, were mostly heads of state, many of whom were on summer vacation so telegrams had to jump all over the country, and in some places be put on skiffs and rushed out to meet the heads of states floating in the Baltic…. No one at first predicted what this assassination would preclude… Those who firmly believed in war, thought it precluded war. However most thought that was too unreasonable and assumed everyone would of course get mad first, then settle down and make certain arrangements and life would eventually go on as normal….. After all, worse crises had been settled such….
There were two small problems… One involved the signing of treaties, some secret and some not, that tied promises of reaction to any military invasions of one of the signatories… The other, was the Victorian mode of character which dictated that one dutifully filled out one’s signed obligations, regardless if they had been originally made in error… One filled out ones obligations and damned the torpedoes.
In efforts to preserve a peaceful Europe, (which had been effective for 40+ years, and probably a world record at that time)…. alliances had been made loosely between Britain, France, and Russia… With the two extremes of East and West appearing united, this left vulnerable those who could get crunched in the middle, so they formed an alliance too: Germany and Austria-Hungary….
But no one ever thought they’d be used. Ever! Europe was one chummy place. The heads of England, Germany, Russia were all related, and met for state weddings and funerals regularly. Vienna was one of the playful destinations in Europe, and socialites from all 5 nations frequented there every summer… It and Paris vied for the Art & Music capitols of Europe… Tension was not like during our Cold War at all. Europe was very open and much like international relations today, where one could travel freely, where all the big powers meet occasionally and decided how to deal with each of little tweaks and interruptions….
So 100 years ago today, people woke up to this assassination story …. Today (yesterday) is the real beginning of the count-down-clock because for the first time in European history, the populations inside the nations were to have a profound impact on the upcoming events to come… (even though the structures of the governments were very closed to all but the upper crust of society…) Public opinion primarily through the growth of large metropolitan newspapers, had become an influence that had to be “reckoned with”.
For Austria Hungary was hot! You can imagine if Joe Biden was killed. Though some here love him, and some here make fun of him, … were he assassinated, this entire nation would demand retribution…. So Serbia got blamed…. In Austria-Hungary, with one pacifist dead, and the other now solo against a cabinet calling for an invasion, the call to go to war with Serbia came quickly…
Serbia appealed to their soul mate Russia. There had always been a deep Slavic bond between the two nations… and the head of Russia, when confronted with the fact that his people would rebel against him if he ignored his brother nation’s plea, said Russia would attack Serbia’s attacker if Serbia were attacked by Austria Hungary… Military philosophy at this time dwelt solely on the benefit of a quick attack. All armies were trained to attack, not defend. Simply put, the philosophy was that if you attacked quick enough, you always won… And all nations suffered from this delusion, though reality had showed it certainly hadn’t worked in all the proxy wars (Boer, Sudan, Balkans)…. As Austria began to mobilize her troops towards Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, Russia began mobilization to send it’s troops to the Austria-Hungarian border….
Austria Hungary had the second largest standing army in Europe (Russia had the largest due to its gigantic size relative to European nations) but even still, Austria-Hungary could not both defend its border, and attack/occupy Serbia simultaneously… Therefore they appealed to Kaiser Wilhelm to promise an attack on Russia if Russia attacked The Dual Kingdom… Previous handshakes had sealed the deal long before, and the Kaiser promised he would….
Now this caused a dilemma within Germany’s army. Their plan had long called for first attacking France … France was the more dangerous of the two, so it made great sense to defeat France first and then attack Russia, instead of attacking Russia and have a fit France barge in through the back door… No one had ever considered the option that perhaps a minor limited war with Russia could happen first without French involvement. But plans were plans and the detail in them was so meticulous that there was really no option to opt-out and siphon off troops to the Russian Border…. (all the trains would be tied up and busy carrying soldiers to the West) until after France and fallen and signed their surrender… The surprise Russian build-up now meant it was more imperitive than ever that France surrender before Russia could mobilize to march into Prussia proper….
France was insistent that it would not make the first move. They tried to dissuade Russia to stand down, but Russia’s people felt a personal insult (and a rational fear of internal overthrow) if Serbia fell, so that didn’t happen. The French who were the villains of the last European War( the Franco-Prussian War that ended in 1870… a quick war, which France had lost, and been paying repatriation upon for a long time), were very squeamish about being considered the aggressor again, and so they mobilized defensive forces and fortified their common border with Germany, just in case.
Britain’s Prime Ministe firmly believed in making alliances but also keeping them secret so both his allies and enemies would be left guessing… He was so good at it, that the Kaiser was convinced upon invasion, that Britain would definitely not interfere and that Paris would fall quickly as had long been planned (across twenty years)….
The accidental player in this scenario, turned out to be the tiny little neutral nation of Belgium…… With no real army and a reputation for being a peaceful take-what-comes population, its future role had been dismissed by Germany, France and Britain… Germany simply assumed that it being a neutral nation, it would take the gentlemanly course and let the German’s pass through unopposed to attack France where it lacked defenses. Britain and France had assumed due to its neutrality, Belgium would be off limits for any German advance….
As troop deployments began to show the German’s hand, four nations raced to shore up that area…. Belgium said it would not allow German passage and began to mobilize its defense…. (This infuriated the Kaiser who apoplectically raged how dare that tiny nation not fall in line with Germany’s plans; who did they think they were?)… which shows how reality and clear thinking often had little voice in governments at that time…. Assumptions made by whomever was annointed head of state, tended to always carry the heavier weight.
With everything ready and the impetus on the Axis (Germany/Austria) to strike quickly and the Entente (Britain, France, Russia) to wait and only fight defensively, all pieces were in place for what everyone thought, would be a short little war… Most analysts assumed everyone lacked resources or the will to fight in order for it to carry over 2 months… “By Christmas all the troops would be home” each nation’s people were promised….
What impressed me most upon looking back from a 100 years’ perspective and I guess it is true with any war, was how life went on normally for 99.999% of the world’s population while this crises brewed… Future weddings were planned, meetings between future adversaries were scheduled, treaties and statements of purpose continued to be signed between the future enemies… At any point, if anyone powerful enough had said, “STOP! let’s talk about it”, (as is done so often today it now seems like an extra step), this war would have been prevented… If Russia had not mobilized, this would have remained a local conflict, taking place only on Serbian hillside whose outcome have been very quickly settled. Or if Britain had been forthright, stating that it would come to France’s aid and attack German interests, then the cost of war would have risen to where the Kaiser would have backed down from attacking France first and would have made a deal with Russia… If Germany had not been locked so deep into its own plans, so that once the order was given to mobilize it started everything which precipitated the next step automatically like a line of dominoes. …. if any of these occurred prior to the First World War , history would be far different today; The First World War would not have happened…..
The suddenness is simply mind boggling. How could Europe go from congeniality and peace and prosperity and hope, to an all-out brawl. Like a bar fight that erupts instantly leaving lifelong scars?
It would be like today… if we opened our paper and read the news that one of Putin’s emissaries was assassinated in Sevastopol, Crimea…. And… by this upcoming Saturday (July 5th), Russia had asked China if it will help fight and China agrees. .. and exactly two and a half weeks later on July 23, Putin’s Russia surprises the world with an ultimatum to Ukraine designed to be so harsh that the Ukraines cannot possibly accept it. The world holds its breath, and the 5 day deadline passes, and Russia declares war on the Ukraine…. July 28th, exactly on month from today!
NATO mobilizes, beginning with their declaration… . All NATO units are then put on full reserve and active units are then moved into Turkey, Uzbekistan, Poland, and Finland, positioned along their borders with Russia….
On the last day of this month, July, China calls upon the NATO to stop its mobilization…. NATO says no; it is mobilizing solely against Russia and for only the protection of the Ukraine people…. Then on August 1st, China declares war on NATO, including the US….
The very next day, August 2nd, China bloodlessly rushes in to occupy North Korea … China then demands of South Korea to let them use its seaports to facilitate their landing craft invasion against Japan. They promise that after hostilities are over, all Korea will be free and promise it can under them become one nation again…
The very next day, on August 3rd, China declares that the state of war now exists between it and Japan, Taiwan, North Vietnam, and the Philippines, and moves their navy into blockade those ports… All those nations plea for help from the US and the US promises it….. South Korea to the Chinese surprise, announces despite overwhelming odds, it will NOT grant permission for China to enter peacefully, NOR allow Chinese military hardware into its country…. A brief testing skirmish occurs on the 53 parallel between US and Chinese troops becoming the first engagement of the war…. On this same day unknown to almost everyone, China and most Latin America nations sign a secret treaty…. relating strictly with the US and stating that if China is attacked, Latin America will side with China in order to protect their massive investments there….
The very next day, August 4th. China swiftly invades South Korea and quickly over runs Seoul and commandeers all the ports on the peninsula. China’s massive merchant marine of commercial cargo ships out of nowhere suddenly gather outside all of Korea’s ports. The US protests. calling for China to leave Korea. China flatly says it won’t. The US declares war on China…. The Chinese merchant marine begins loading up the 2 million troops and lands them on the remote undefended section of north-western Japan… Within 7 days, 2 million Chinese are moving towards Tokyo….
The very next day, August 5th… Latin America surprises all and closes shuts down all commerce with the US, closing it’s borders… All US firms have their property confiscated to be nationalized and the Panama Canal is closed to all but Latin American and Chinese traffic…
The very next day, August 6th… Putin’s Russia declares war on the US and NATO….. and for what it is worth, the Ukraine declares war on China….
The very next day, August 7th… The first US troops from Okinawa, land in Japan and rush north to engage the advancing Chinese… Battles ensue and the Chinese throughout the next week, till the 13th, win all of them…
The very next day: August 8th… NATO and the US finally declare war on Russia…
For the next week, all eyes focus on China’s advance to Tokyo. Then one week later, August 15th… Ukraine counter attacks a Russian outpost on its border, and regains control of the entire border area… The Russians run back across the border. It will be the first allied victory of the war…
Two days later… August 17th… The US and NATO forces invade Russia proper upward from Uzbeckistan, and upwards from Turkey through Sochi, and eastward into Belarus from Poland, and towards Leningrad from Finland….
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4 years later, 2018, the armistice will be signed, leaving 37 million souls dead…. 93 million wounded for life…. and 34 million people simply missing… never heard from again…. And the borders between most of the big players will primarily remain just as they are… ( Hopefully all parties refrained from nuclear weapons….. or citizen causalities would be uncountable.) Unsettled emotional antagonisms will continue to fester, and won’t be settled until after the next great war beginning in 2039…..
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This is how life changing that event was 100 years ago…. Literally it came out of nowhere….. Just take a moment to consider the breathtaking speed with how fast this occurred and stretch your imagination wide enough to take in us being in a full fledged real world war equivalent to WWI in less than one month and 5 days from today, as you read this and the News Journal and fret over Greg Lavelle… ….. Maybe this could happen today, maybe not. You and I need to make sure the “not” wins out…. were such a crises to occur.
The lessons of yesteryear are so lost on us today, as I’m afraid they are on every new generation. I only share interest because of a personal bond with a relative, who was called to France in 1918. So unlike most today, this history to me is something very real. Upon my passing, there will then be no one to remind us of how stupidity can sometimes take over an ruin a world of good… But for the rest of you, 100 years ago today you would be just reading about this life-changing first step in the paper…. (yawn) another assassination in Crimea… possibly thinking “awwww… how sad”… but never dreaming it would within four years time, cause you to lose your entire family in the same amount of time that briefly passes between two World Cups….
Life should never be taken for granted. Lesson. Always be vigilant against war. Always.
Did you ever walk into the middle of a scandal brewing? Perhaps at work, or your church, or social club you frequent to get time away from your spouse? You had no clue walking in that anything had happened, and the business meeting to censure someone is underway….
You get told… “oh, it’s terrible. It’s the end of the world, We have to do something. Why have they not done something yet?”
And you are going… “Really? What’s going on? Someone fill me in. What started it? Why is this so bad? What really happened? Why do we have to get a new boss?”
Sort of like walking into the Monica Lewenski scandal midway, and going,…. what? You’re impeaching the best President of the United States we’ve ever had, …. over a relationship?
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So can someone fill me in as to why this Veteran’s controversy is so bad? It is not like it is news. We’ve known this, since forever. The demand has always been greater than the supply. In fact, this leader whose head we are calling for, has moved the department competitently forward during difficult times.
Perhaps perspective is called for?
Did we fire the head of JP Morgan for the London Whale disaster? Both are still working for JP Morgan, aren’t they? Did the head of BP resign or get fired? I don’t think so. Is Freedom Enterprises still intact after spoiling the drinking water of all of civilized West Virginia? Why yes, it is..
So what was so bad at the Veteran’s administration, that is so horrible, so abysmal, that it trumps the theft or loss of $2 billion dollars, or a gigantic oil spill ruining miles of 5 state’s Gulf Coasts, or toxic licorice smelling chemicals infesting the tap water of a entire state’s largest two cities?
Waiting lists.
Oh… waiting lists?
Yes… it it terrible, tragic, horrible, that due to insufficient space, veterans were put on waiting lists….
Uhh….. Ok.
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Is there anyone out there who can explain why this waiting list thing is so bad, why it is being called a terrible scandal? One necessitating the firing of the Secretary in charge of the Department? Why is this not being treated as was Abu Ghraib , which was just some rogue soldiers messing around that certainly didn’t require chopping off the head of the Department of Defense? What was his name back then? Oh yeah… Donald Rumsfeld.
Especially since the only person who can fix the Veteran’s Administration in a timely fashion, is the very person Republicans are calling upon to be fired?
So please…. inform me. Otherwise just stepping into this and trying to grasp what is going on, looks just like an exercise, similar to Benghazi….. of watching people trying to make a GIGANTIC scandal out of one pea missing out of sequence from an unopened pea pod……
Isn’t the real scandal, seriously, one about the incompetence of these people shouting: its a major scandal?
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Sheesh. And people ask why no one cares about politics anymore? Now, Lindsey Lohan? …. there’s a real scandal….
When one first starts blogging one always pens a brief note regarding Veteran’s Day. After doing it several years in a row, one gets to feel that one is actually demeaning a special day, for over time, one loses the ability to come up with something new to say. It’s all been said before… by you.
If you stopped by any Veteran’s Day Memorial Celebration, you probably felt the same as I. The heads of office all get up to spout off some words their publicist dashed off in the middle of last night, the functionary guild officers roam the crowd and do their politicking, the high school band looks like it got up too early on it’s school day off.
It seems shallow; perfunctory.
That is not what I saw.
I saw 200+ people who got out of bed and made it a point to attend. Why? I saw some in current uniform. Some in their American Legion of VFW uniforms. I some some in jeans, . But for some reason, some deep underlying force motivated them to get up, get showered and dressed, get into their cold cars and drive to and then park, and even then, walk half a mile in the cold to sit under at tent for two hours of boring speeches all the while exposed to elements.
I saw the US Flag with the MIA flag underneath it, and the 5 service flags all waving in the breeze, while the functionaries droned on and on, each trying to make it sound like they were America’s solders’ best friends. It waved magnificently.
When one writes a blog and centers it on passion, a lot of phrases oneself used in the past, when uttered again ring hollow from overuse.. Perhaps they still inspire those hearing it for the first time.
Every year brings something different . A new perspective. This year was no different….
Perhaps because it was the 95th anniversary of that day when the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, caused the guns to go silent.
A moment of silence was offered. And since I wasn’t paying attention to all the blah-blah-blah leading up to it, the silence hit me stronger than before. There was all this background noise, and suddenly it was quiet…
Don’t know if any of you have been in war, but war is full of noise. The closest to that situation then, is the 53rd Parallel today. Shots are randomly being fired, and no one really pays attention to who is firing them. Sometimes one side even gets orders to use up as much ammunition as possible, since peace will soon be coming upon them. Yes, war is ruled by the dumb. Those things happen.
But what it must have been like to have heard the distant non stop booms of artillery for the past 8 months, and suddenly then, it stops.
Instinctively you wait for the next one…. and it never comes… Slowly it dawns on you that it is over. You made it. You didn’t die. You might make it home after all….
It is hard to imagine that feeling unless one has lived it. One’s duty done. One’s memory bank full. One’s emotions unexplainable except through eye contact with fellow soldiers. You get to go home, and many of your friends… won’t.
There are a lot of things you wish you could take back. Actions against the enemy you wish you hadn’t taken. You don’t feel like the hero you will be hailed as when you get back.. What you did was dirty business. But you are going to praised for it back home. You tell yourself, it is just how it is, and you put up a brave face….
You are scarred. When you get back, you see other people who didn’t go, and they seem so immature. They act like they are in elementary school. Gradually it seems like everyone is like that. A whole society is completely engrossed in a television series the played the night before… Don’t they know that is just made up? Don’t they realize it is just pretend?
Your best friends, who you longed to get back to normal with while you were under fire, now think you are weird. When you walk into a room, you can tell, they weren’t praising you, and you simply don’t know why.. Weren’t you the one… WHO DID ANSWER THE CALL?
Only others, those coming back with you, seem to accept you.
It is no one’s fault really. Just an educational divide that has to be experienced to be believed. And war is an experience that we don’t want happening very often.
That is why black, Hispanic, Caucasian, Asian, male, female, those petty differences don’t matter any more. By the unique experience of serving the United States of America, these comrades are family.
And so…. they get up early on Veteran’s Day. Dust off the parade uniforms, and squeeze themselves back into those now tight fitting clothes. Some are pulled by memories. Some are pulled by psychology. Some are just pulled.
They are America’s true heroes… As foes become friends, and friends become foes across the spread of years, ideologies and philosophies fall by the wayside. Words like Democracy and Freedom and Liberty ring hollow, especially when as an invader you brought none of that. You brought martial law.
But the bond exists between all those who’ve faced someone trying to kill them. Someone who doesn’t know them. Someone who in another time or place would be hilarious to get stinking drunk with. Someone who may miss their loved one. Someone who may have more kids. Someone who loves their mother, maybe even more than you.
But we ask these men, and often tell them… to disregard humanity, that there is a greater purpose, one justifying taking a life just like yours…. A greater cause that can only be fulfilled by having more soldiers left standing then the other side is capable of replacing on their side…
These men, these women, fought war. War, the senseless, cruel, wasted reality that makes no sense once it is over. They fought war. War which is stupid. War which is costly. War which kills.
There is only one reason war exists… One side wants it…. and as a defensive nation, through most of our history, we were not that side. We fought to end wars. We fought to stop it…
These veterans for their small part they played, all tried to do what they could in their own small way, to end war…
And for that… we must honor them always…..
With an editorial in the Washington Post titled “With No Consequences, Our Credibility Is At Stake“, Mr. David Ignatius makes some erroneous suppositions, then basis his argument upon them….
His words: “It becomes obvious in recent weeks that President Obama whose restrained and realistic foreign policy I admire, needs to demonstrate that there are consequences for crossing the American Red Line. Otherwise the coherence of the global system begins to dissolve…”
Is that true? Do you lose respect for someone who doesn’t Immediately punish you after catching you red handed?
That, I think, depends upon how much clout that person has. Let’s look at this same situation in other types of relationships.
Parent-Child. Do you punish your child for every single wrong thing they do? From toddler up? If so, where do you stop: at 21 or when they move out? Bottom line, one would be hard pressed to find someone who belts their child over every little infraction. That childhood punishment would be the equivalent of war I think. In fact, most of us who knew of a parent who did so, would feel obligated to call Child Services. A parent could use a time out corner. Take away a privilege, or in most cases, threaten a punishment and not deliver, and get sufficient results.
You reading this are grownups. Some of you were whupped, many of you weren’t.. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t respect their parents because they weren’t excessively belted? I’d guess very few. The point is, that we respect people for making good choices; not for pettily following rules, which may be petty at times. We respect people who make punishments fit the crime. We disrespect those who pull out the belt over every tiny infraction. Those that suffer the belt, only do so because they know that if they run away, they have no food, no shelter, no toys, no money. They figure better to take the momentary abuse, than run. The fact they choose to take it, doesn’t make it right.
Let’s jump to the workplace. And look at the relationship with one’s supervisor. We all know that the bosses we respect, are the older ones who practice wisdom, who arbitrarily apply punishments only when they are necessary. And when they do, all means get exhausted first, before firing the employee, (probably the equivalent of a first strike in this situation). They never lose respect; they maintain it. It is those brand new mangers no one respects, who walk with a book in their hand, and upon any infraction, they fire people. The movie depiction of the young kids who were fast food managers is a good example. if someone uses multiple threats to fire, and then acts accordingly, he has no respect. None. In fact, he is disrespected to the max simply because he fails to apply wisdom to the issues at hand. In fact one has the most respect for a supervisor, who has the right and valid reason to fire you, but gives you one more chance. Most of us respond and change our behavior to justify his wisdom in choosing that action. Our actions prove him right, and we have tremendous respect for that.
Again, respect is not derivative of excessive behavior. Respect is garnered more strongly to those whose decisions we trust
And what about respect in marriage? Does one have to be the dominatrix and the other subservient, for a marriage to function? Most would say divorce would be far better. Do you really want a spouse threatening you, then taking those threats out on you while you sleep? Not much sleep you will get. Our future president once had to make that choice. Under a lot of advice to dump her cheating husband, for some reason she chose not to. And it worked. It always works…
Which is why it is extemely odd for David Ignatius to propose that unless we go to war RIGHT NOW, no one will respect the United States. I beg to differ, Just saw a poll of 93% against Syrian action, and only 6% in approval. Truly, do you think that by going to war, those 93% are going to respect the president? What a ridiculous notion!
Do you think most of the nations we have to work with, will respect us if we go into Syria, even after they have all stated they would not join, and would not support such an action? If we attack Syria, will all those nations and their inhabitants hold us in higher esteem? I think not.
Since in these four real life cases, the premise stated by David Ignatius is the exact opposite of what actually works best, most normal people would be hard pressed to accept that in the case of Syria, against natural law, it would achieve the desired results….
The premise that our respect comes only from our ability to deliver upon threats, is childish in the least. Most people lose that idea forever with their first baby.
Next, David makes a very odd, perhaps misguided assertion. He says: “Look around the world and you can see how unscrupulous leaders are trying to attempt to exploit Obama’s attempt to disentangle America from the tumult of the Middle East… “
Is that true? Is a nation that’s felt the onslaught of America’s military ordance within it’s own territory, really unscrupulous because it doesn’t automatically succumb to what the USA wants?
In Yemen and Pakistan, we send drones overhead on a regular basis to take out hideaways. Would Americans roll over if we were the ones getting our airspace violated? Iraq, suffered American occupation for over 6 years. Are they now unscrupulous, because they don’t automatically succumb to what the USA wants? Iran, as actually since the last election, become far more moderate. Even with that, despite our history, should they acquiesce to whatever the USA might want?
Almost as if wiping out the history of the past decade, he makes the assumption that only a military strike into Syria, would again pull these people back under America’s umbrella. I really can’t see the reality David thinks he is standing on. If you were in a bar with your best friend, and someone walking by suddenly suckered-punched him, really hard, putting him on the floor, according to David, you would get off your chair, shake hands with the perpetrator, and scold your best friend for whatever he must have done to make this nice guy knock him out. According to David, you would not grab the perpetrator by the collar, and you would not attempt to slam your closed fist into his nose repeatedly!
What kind of world does David live in? (Oh, I see. He lives inside the Beltway! Ohhhhh)…
Then he says: “Here is another thought to ponder. Is it possible the the Syrian chemical weapons attack was planned and coordinated with its key ally, the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards? Surely they were in the loop.”
He knows this…. how?
Isn’t this what we call pure speculation? Does he have the cable dispatches from the NSA? How does he know they didn’t collude with North Korea? They did before! From the buzz I’ve heard the only people who really know what happened were on the ground at the attack, and inside Assad’s palace in Damascus. But David makes the assumption that Iran must also be in on it, because it fits in nicely with his scenario of how the Middle East works. Forget reality. It is what’s in David’s head that matters.
He solidifies: “The main rationale for military action by American and it’s allies should be restoring deterrence against the use of chemical weapons”.
Syria has been at war for 2 years. if it hasn’t changed its attitude while being under attack from the constant bombardment by the rebels, how will a few more extra explosives change his will which seems bent on keeping power? if you are going to get bombed by the USA, might as well do it now, when all they will be bombing, is already slated to be torn down and rebuilt…
He defines: “The strike should be limited and focused. rather than a roundhouse swing aimed at ending the Syrian Civil War. But it should be potent enough to disable Assad’s command and control structure so he can’t conduct similar actions in the future.”
So let’s be clear. He spend all his effort describing how we need a gigantic threat to cow the middle east in line, and we are going to do it with very limited means.
let’s replay that bar scene above, except this time the stranger just flicks the ear of you friend… Does your friend go: “gee, ha, ha, that was funny, Biff. You a thousand laughs, Always a joker”? My guess is that he will try to hurt the perpetrator, and you might help him.
So what does an ear flick prove? Can you imagine John Kerry’s press conference, “We have sent a signal to the world; if you use chemical weapons, we will flick your ear.”
But that is exactly what David is arguing for. Saying we are going to teach the world a very valuable lesson in respect…. (flick.)
Then to make his point, he becomes very confusing. He brings in Putin, and decries that Putin is determined to take advantage of our reticent president and the fatigued nation he represents. Well, duh, that’s his job, isn’t it? To pursue Russia’s interests? He next jumps to Saudi Arabia and Iran. “US action against Assad, might not deter the Iranians, but it will at least make them think twice about crossing Obama’s red line.”
“Ok Iranian Council. Has anyone thought about the US retaliation?” A hand goes up. “Has anyone else given thought to US retaliation?” Another hand goes up. “Ok, that’s twice, We’re cleared. So when should we begin our action?”
And then he comes to the point.
The contention among members of the Mideast, is that Obama is a weak president. Obama won’t change the opinion by a military strike. But a military strike will at least remind people that American military power is not to be taken lightly.
A weak president? Hmm. He sent a task force into Pakistan and captured Osama. His administration sends drones into three nations daily to hunt and kill citizens of those nations. He orchestrated the toughest economic sanctions against Iran hthat have ever been seen. He hammered out an agreement between Israel and Morsi, that completely shut hostilities down on the West Bank. He changed the regime in Libya by going in with force. He is forcing the Afghans to come to grips with the fact the US is leaving Afghanistan on a strict timetable, with no delaying action.
David must be having hallucinations.
So a dad must belt his child. So a young boss must fire over every single violation. So a married couple must divorce at the first sign of disagreement……
If none of these are true, neither is David’s argument over Syria.
There are many ways we can achieve the same ends, as does a parent, as does a wise boss, as does a willing spouse, without having to immediately take the path of our most forceful action!
The biggest question today…. is why does David no know this?
The Social Media outlets erupt: “Oh no, another school shooting” “I’m so saddened by the sickness in America” “My hearts go out to the families of all involved…”
Another shooting… Seems like one happens after every big blockbuster release these days…
This shooting in Connecticut, is our Norway-bloodbath it appears… The idea that children so small getting torn apart by bullets makes every normal person pause. It is terrible.
But as happens with every tragedy there is soon a period of accounting that takes place, to see if vulnerabilities occur elsewhere in our system, if we are truly secure, if it could happen to us….
Television brings it close. Our media has the capacity to transfer what used to be a printed newspaper byline: “shooter kills 28 in elementary school” into putting us right there into that very school’s parking lot seconds after it happened. We see moms and dad, teachers and support staff, and 3rd Graders themselves… telling us in their words what happened…. As we see the same clips over and over, it is as if it happened to people we personally knew.
In real life when one witnesses a horrific crime, the residue from it stays with them forever. Whether it causes them to overcompensate, or go crazy, that event makes some dent in their destiny…..
It just makes sense that our emotions would choose not to distinguish between one that happened to us, and one was electronically beamed. To our emotions, both are very real.
We say: someone has to do something!.!.!
And often the medicine we prescribe is worse than the disease we are trying to cure…….
In an effort to put this in perspective, here are some facts I’m willing to share.
There are 39,200,000 elementary students in school today, both public and private. Today we lost 18.
Just saying if you stood every student side by side in a single row starting from Delaware’s Old Courthouse in Old New Castle,…. (39,200,000 feet at 5280 feet per mile, gives you a row of elementary students standing side by side, that is 7424 miles long)…. meaning it would stretch 2 and a half times across our nation… almost exactly the distance Forest Gump ran in the movie Forest Gump.
As you drive home today, imagine a line of students looking at you from the side of the highway from the beginning of your commute to its end. Imagine if that line continued to California, and came back on the other side, and then headed out again!… Imagine as in the Hunger Games, some authority, divine or otherwise, picked out just 18 from that line…..stretching beyond as far as our eyes can see….
We truly do live in a very safe society where most of us have no real fear that our lives won’t emerge at the end of the day, very similar to how they began at it’s start……
We have a lot to be thankful for… that those numbers are not a lot higher….
If we truly want to get that number down to zero, we need to begin fostering a culture where anger and depression are treated as normally as is a common cold. We need to open lines of communication where any child who is abused at home, can simply feel extremely comfortable telling any public official such, and that abuse can stop… We must continue our work against continued suppressed emotions by dissolving anger before, as it did today, it breaks out into an even bigger tragedy.
Steve buried it first.
Tallahassee, the capitol city of Florida, a state of 19 million people, had a parade for veterans, … and nobody came…..
And this state went for Mitt Romney, overwhelmingly. And this state is also considered the birthplace of the Tea Party. And this state is so backward they don’t arrest someone standing over the body of a dead man, because that dead man’s skin is darker than the guy holding the gun….
And this state doesn’t give a fuck about veterans. Yet they were the first to argue that American men and women go over to invade Iraq….
Selfish, selfish, selfish Floridians. And they… liked Mitt Romney the best…
This is exactly what we will get, if Mitt Romney becomes president. A country where no one cares….
Only one man can stop Mitt now. It is now, or never….
(Seriously, how could any person run for the American Presidency and hate American soldiers as much as he does…) Makes everyone want to punch him right in the middle of his square jaw….
He wasn’t much to look at… In fact, a lot of people more in tune with the rush of life, kinda made fun of him.. A dotey old man. One whose humor, and politics had long been used up and become obsolete.
He took pictures, lots of them, of every occasion. So much that when any one else pulled out a camera, the group would groan, and his name would bounce around, with a couple of laughs…
His own spouse brushed him off. He was doofy, couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do, could not be counted on, and probably had to be taken care of like a teenager, which taxed her a little too much, since she was bringing in all the disposable income…
To kids he had a big heart, and big stories…. Especially about Korea.
Soon a precision guard of 6, will unload the casket from a hearse parked on an Arlington road way, pivot the flag draped casket 180 degrees and march to a grave site up the hill, set it down, and stand holding the flag during prayer. Three shots will be fired, taps will be played, a final salute, the flag folded and handed to the closest of kin….
No one really knew he was wounded in combat so many long years ago…
His nation never forgot…. Entitled by law, to a full burial with military honors, his worth to this nation, forgotten while alive by those quite close, his honor was restored in death. Quite a few of those standing around the ceremony, will never have such an elaborate funeral…
One has to love a country that takes such good care of those who fought. It is a nation we are all part of… and proud of.
One can never forget it’s obligations.
It is a simple vote…
Should we or should we not put this man in an administrative function.
Please vote yes…. or no…..
(It should be open cut because a majority have already said they would support Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Agency.) Just get it done…
But, it never goes to vote. In a motion to stop debate requiring 60 votes, 53 are found….
There is nothing more to debate. Vote yes or no… The argument has been on the table for months… But no… it cannot go forward because the Republican Party (all of it) had 45 members who voted against it…
The agency still has no one at the top to get it rolling. There is no one regulating Wall Street as we speak, simply because the entire block of Republicans, who voters put into minority receivership based on their previous track record, voted NOT to stop debate.
There will be no government until there are no Republicans.
There will be no Congress, until there are no Republicans.
There will be no Democracy. until there are no Republicans.
There will be no United States of America, until there are no Republicans.
(Sad thing this is not hyperbole. This is not campaign rhetoric. This is not hateful bantering. This is what is really happening. Makes a veteran want to cry)
kavips 