Too many lies, too many ugly messes created by trying to cover up and explain away those lies. For someone dedicated to serving his country, that’s got to wear on you…and it certainly did on Wilkerson. When a man who has spent his career and entire adult life upholding a code of honor, it’s got to rankle being around people for whom “honor” is neither relevant nor a matter of priority. Lawrence Wilkerson saw a world in which power corrupts, and absolute power is the ultimate goal. Being a man of honor, it’s no wonder Wilkerson resigned. What good and decent person would want to be surrounded by those who so willingly and easily engage in such dishonor?

Wilkerson is clearly a man who understands the perils and pitfalls of power. Having seen it firsthand in combat, Wilkerson would seem to be singularly qualified to identify it and fight it in the civilian world. Of course, the civilian world knows nothing of military honor and discipline. The civilian political world is about power, money, and influence- not concepts that respond to military discipline.

And how sad is that, when the only way a man can rationalize not resigning is to attempt to convince himself that he works for the only person in the Bush Administration who is not evil and corrupt? For a man who has devoted his life and his career to the service of his country, that’s got to be a tough pill to swallow.

Those who fear for our country and the direction in which it’s being led owe a debt of gratitude to Lawrence Wilkerson. Without good, decent, and conscientious public servants like Wilkerson, we risk being turned over completely to those concerned with nothing beyond money, power, and influence.

The truly sad aspect of this sorry saga is that the wrong person resigned. Lawrence Wilkerson, and those like him, should be the ones in power, for when government is without honor and integrity, evil has free reign.

WE DESEVER BETTER.

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A war of ideas? Man, who’s going to tend to the dead and wounded?? Oh, the humanity…. And hateful professors? Spewing anti-American rhetoric?? Yes, these folks have a SERIOUS (and completely baseless) persecution complex. But they certainly look spiffy in their Brown Shirts, don’t they??

Uh, what truth? That we were supporting a corrupt and inept regime who couldn’t have governed their way out of a wet paper sack? That there was no central political or military strategy in the American Government? That American troops were asked to fight an uncovential war using conventional strategy and tactics? Or perhaps that our government completely ignored public opinion, convinced that they could not afford to lose face and still hope to keep their jobs?

Right; 58,000 Americans died for no reason. Vietnam had nothing that could even remotely be related to American national security interests. We simply took over from the French, who got their butts kicked at Dien Bien Phu, recognized they had nothing to gain by continuing the fight, and got the hell out of Dodge.

Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it…and it cost us 58,000 lives and a broken generation to figure this out. And now a whole new generation of leaders has proven repeatedly that they know NOTHING of the lessons taught by our own history.

Well, a good number of us didn’t support these missions, either, but regardless, this is an “apples & oranges” comparison. Somalia, and Haiti were “peacekeeping” missions (Kosovo was a NATO operation to counter Serbian genocide), not pointless (and seemingly endless) wars of aggression. Nice try, y’all, but you lost this argument before you even left the gate.

Yes, it IS important to continue the debate. That is, after all, part and parcel of what a democracy is all about. To call this a BATTLE, however, is to prove that y’all take yourselves WAY too seriously.

What all y’all fail to realize is that those of us on the Left do not hate our troops. I am wholly supportive of any program or heartfelt effort to get anything to our men and women in uniform overseas that makes their existence more pleasant and endurable. Speaking for myself alone, I resent the implication that somehow those of us who oppose the war in Iraq also hate our troops. What an arrogant, unfounded, and cruel accusation. But then, it’s all about winning for you, isn’t it? Whatever it takes, eh??

No one is stripping anyone of their right to serve their country. Anyone so inclined can enlist. What the opposition to ROTC is designed to do is to point out that there are those of us who do not believe that the military belongs on a college campus. Join ROTC if you want. In fact, I wish you would. If you support the war so wholeheartedly, shouldn’t you be helping to fight it?

Now THIS is a talking point. It has absolutely no basis in truth, but if you repeat it often enough, people will begin to think it’s Gospel. What a beautifully crafted piece of propaganda….

Uh…this is a pointless and useles piece of Doublespeak if ever there was one. All those of us on the Left are doing is asking that those who so wholeheartedly support the endless war in Iraq from the safety of their keyboards give some thought to putting their money where their mouth is…figuratively speaking, of course.

We have never stated that only people who are involved in something can voice an opinion about it. What we are saying is that the chickenhawks who so vociferously support the war in Iraq might be more credible if they were willing to assume some of the risks instead of fighting from the safety of their keyboards.

Of course, being a Chickenhawk means never having to actually do the heavy lifting. Think I’m kidding? Check out this list of Republican politicians, pundits, and preachers:

Not a lot of military service for such an impressive collection of Republican True Believers, eh? Now, compare and contrast that list to these Democrats:

Memo to all you Chickenhawks: the next time you feel the need to run your mouth and run down those of us on the Left for being “insufficiently patriotic”, or “anti-American”, or even “not supporting our troops”, how about getting your own house in order first? He who lives in a gas tank would be well-advised not to play with matches.

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‘Cuz Lords knows we Liberals are a nasty, brutish, discriminatory bunch who don’t tolerate self-absorbed, Amerika uber Alles Conservatives, eh? I guess that would explain why we have a Republican President, and why both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans, huh??

No problems here. Honestly, I have no problem with Conservative groups on college campuses. Hey, it’s a free country….

What I object to is the College Republican battle cry of “Poor, poor pitiful me…persecuted and repressed by the Evil Liberal Bullies.” In addition to being patently absurd, it simply points out the reality that Conservatives have little to offer college students in the way of ideas. If the only way you can attract attention to yourself and you ideology is to cry persecution simply because you are roundly ignored, you’re truly in a sorry state.

If you want to be taken seriously, come up with ideas that will resonate with college students. Otherwise, shut the hell up. Your whining and bleating merely exposes you as the intellectually and ideology bereft collection of desperate individuals you are. Stop whining and get to work.

BTW- enjoy your 15 minutes….

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Though Putin’s government may protest that it is simply reacting to Ukraine’s refusal to negotiate new terms and prices for access to Russian natural gas, it’s quickly becoming clear that there is much more at stake here than a simple price increase.

That being the case, Ukraine has claimed the right to siphon gas from any piplelines that cross Ukrainian territory in lieu of transit fees. It doesn’t take much to see the possibility of a crisis escalating from there, and escalating into something that could quickly and adversely impact the entire European and, ultimately, the world economy. Russia may be in no condition to go to war against Ukraine (not that this unpleasant fact will stop Putin), but Vladimir Putin’s dispute with Ukraine has just deteriorated into a declaration of economic war. The question is what, if anything, can be done to convince or coerce the Russians to back off their insulting and inflammatory four-fold price increase. Not bad for an opening negotiating ploy, eh?

Russia seems to neither notice nor care what impact their spat with Ukraine could potentially have on Europe this winter, nor what this lunacy could do to an already fragile and nervous world economy. It seems far more interested in convincing Russians that their country is still the dominant regional and world power they have always seen themselves as- rather than the tired, corrupt, and decrepit excuse for a world power that it currently is. Yes, Russian may nominally be a democracy- if one believes that merely holding elections is enough to define a democracy. The sad reality, though, is that even though the Communist Party no longer has a death grip on the Russian body politic, Russia is still the sick old man of Europe. Take away the failing, decades-out-of-date and dangerously crumbling infrastructure, the lack of any meaningful economic opportunities for everyday Russians, a political system that still discriminates egregiously against women and minority groups (to call it a “kelptocracy” would be simpler), and a myriad of similar problems not likely to be solved, much less addressed, any time soon, and what you have is the world’s largest and most dysfunctional Third World country with a highly unstable and immature government. Nice combination, eh?

Despite all of the verbal saber-rattling emanating from the Kremlin these days, the Russian government is at best a corrupt, inept, and morally bankrupt collection of power addicts, and at worse a xenophobic, self-interested, venal, corrupt, inept, and morally bankrupt collection of power addicts. It is difficult to know with any degree of certainty what the end game will be in this dispute when all is said and done. I suspect that the Russians may eventually back off under intense pressure from the US and Europe after extracting promises and concessions to improve their own position…because in the end, that’s really what this is all about, don’t you think?

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Watching Judge grow has been truly amazing. We’ve had him for about six weeks now, and he’s easily 3 1/2-4 times larger than when She Who Endures My Myriad Eccentricities brough him home. Sometimes, I could swear that, if I’m close enough to him, I can actually hear him growing. There is really no way of knowing when it will all stop, but Labradoodles in some cases can grow up to be about 90 pounds. Right; and about that time we should be able to throw a saddle on him and ride him around the back yard…. GIDDYUP!!!

Like most puppies, there is almost nothing that Judge will not stick in his mouth. We’ve somehow managed to minimize the damage in the house, but our backyard looks like a combat zone. Look out the dining room window, and you’ll see a hodgepodge of stuffing from various toys, chewed up outdoor furniture, holes from where Judge has been digging to China. He’s discovered that the lake in the backyard has water in it, which being half Labrador, I suppose was just a matter of time. Before we know it, he’ll probably be swimming after the ducks.

The adventure continues….

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It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. Time and again, I’ve heard people from New Orleans say something along the lines of “You realize that we never would have done the same thing for y’all, right?”…and perhaps that’s true. Of course, that never really mattered to anyone here. New Orleans is only about six hours east of Houston on I-10. But for a turn or a jog in Katrina’s path, she would have devastated the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Who knows what would have happened if that had happened? Thankfully it didn’t, but the devastation and the human toll in New Orleans was such that it simply couldn’t be ignored, especially by those of us so close to New Orleans.

No city was better situated- geographically, financially, and in terms of available housing- to help in the aftermath of Katrina, and so there was never any question that Houston would become Ground Zero for the relief effort. This area has grown and changed in character since Katrina obliterated New Orleans. Yes, we’ve also had to deal with some of the bad apples from New Orleans, but the the vast majority of refugees are simply folks who want to be able to put their lives back together. In the two offices I work out of, we have at least three transfers from New Orleans- area offices. You’ll find similar stories all over the Houston area.

Overall, it’s been an exercise in change and patience for everyone concerned, but I think that in the final analysis, we here in the Houston area are better for it. We should feel good about what we did to help when help was so desperately needed. Perhaps it might not have happened in the same way had roles been reversed, but those of us who helped never looked at it in that light. What was done was what needed to be done. Period.

Hey, it was the right thing to do, and both White and Eckels set a superb example. They knew that, if people understood the magnitude of the need that it would be met and then some. No, things weren’t perfect, and in some cases they weren’t even very good, but when has an entire metropolitan area EVER had to deal with a disaster of this magnitude in such a compressed time frame?

Houston should be proud of what it has accomplished. The work is hardly over, but at least the crisis of September has diminished- and for that all of us should be grateful.

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Oh, right…journalism and punditry are best left to “those who know”: the Mainstream Media and those who have been anointed by the MSM as “acceptable” channels for disbursing “acceptable” opinions. For, if we allow the unwashed and unruly rabble represented by bloggers to get out of hand, where will the American Sheeple go for their news? Who will these drones believe, some unkempt nutjob sitting in his studio apartment in his unwashed pajamas, or a huge international media conglomerate shiling for Madison Avenue?

And perhaps we can repay the favor by ignoring Parker’s self-righteous, supercilious, self-superior view of her craft, which differs from so many bloggers only in that she is paid for her labors. For most bloggers, like myself, what we do is a labor of love. Whether or not that is legitimate in Parker’s estimation is something I care not a whit about. The next time I want to read a writer with the surname “Parker”, I’ll stick to Dorothy:

If you don’t have anything good to say, come here and sit next to me, my dear….

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I would still like to know how ANYTHING happening in Iraq is making this country safer from the threat of terrorists the likes of those responsible for 9.11. There is NOTHING in Iraq even remotely related to 9.11- no matter how much Our Glorious Leader and his minions spin and prevaricate to the contrary.

Many Americans have come to recognize George W. Bush for the liar, the thug, and the demagogue he is. What I find so disturbing, is that while so many Americans advocated and demanded the impeachment and resignation of Bill Clinton for getting blowjobs in the White House, the silence over a President whose lies are responsible for so many dead Americans is deafening. It would seem that we can forgive the senseless waste of American lives, but get your helmet polished by an intern in the Oval Office and…OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!

We should be demanding that our elected representatives hold Our Glorious Leader to account for the lies and deceptions that have killed so many Americans, AND for his illegal domestic eavesdropping program. Or do most of us still think that staining an intern’s blue dress is a more serious offense that killing American soldiers?

Sure, it’s nice that people are finally coming around to the truth, but where is the anger? Where is the outrage? Where is the demand for accountability? It would seen the American sheeple care enough to recognize that Iraq was a mistake, but not enough to demand that anything actually be done about it. Nice, eh?

No wonder this Administration feels it has carte blanche, because it does. Until and unless Americans becomes angry enough to demand change and accountability, NOTHING will change…and more Americans will die in this generation’s Vietnam, a pointless war of aggression that no seems to care enough to do anything about.

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Although Der Spiegel could not say that these plans were concrete, they did note that according to a January 2005 New Yorker report American forces had entered Iran in 2005 in order to mark possible targets for an aerial assault.

How many more Americans are going to have to die while doing the dirty work for the rest of the world? It would seem that European and Middle Eastern governments are quite content to allow Our Glorious Leader to commit American troops to doing the fighting and dying. It certainly is more convenient, I suppose. When you have an American President willing to go it alone, why should other governments face the domestic music of their own casualties when an American presence means never having to do any of the heavy lifting themselves?

Yesterday, Afghanistan. Today, Iraq. Tommorrow, Iran. And this doesn’t even begin to take Syria into account. The fun is only just beginning, eh?

The Global War On Terror: the gift that just keeps on giving!! Coming soon to a corrupt Third World hellhole near you….

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Yep; when the lying gets tough, the liars turn pro…and go to work for the Bush Administration….

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So…how’d you like to get a call from your son…in Baghdad? (Damn…and I thought he was just making a quick run to the grocery store….)

OK, so Hassan can be forgiven, I suppose, for being your typical overzealous and not particularly thoughtful teenager. Even so, what sort of a DUMB@$$ travels into the most dangerous war zone in the world on a whim? Hassan is very lucky to be alive, and while someday he and his family will no doubt laugh about his escapade, there is nothing funny about it now. Farris Hassan is lucky he didn’t become the latest nominee for a Darwin Award…which are only awarded posthumously.

Jesus, what a DUMB@$$….

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