Subj : The War Has No Clothes To : Frank Reid From : Daemon Date : Tue Oct 04 2005 04:14 pm Re: The War Has No Clothes By: Frank Reid to Daemon on Tue Oct 04 2005 02:06 pm > > Odd that we our government is so eager to stamp it out on the other sid > > the globe when such occurs right here on our own streets every day. > > I hope you're still around the networks in three years. I'm reserving *nods* Count on it. > judgment until then to decide whether you sincerely believe America is > off-track and requires an overhaul (which is personally disconcerting, > but that's just my job) or you're actually the ultimate "sour grapes" Why would you consider it "disconcerting" to demand constant improvement across the board, particularly in light of failures illuminated by constant non-partisan, bi-partisan, and even partisan vigilence? > but that's just my job) or you're actually the ultimate "sour grapes" > disingenuous liberal asshole poser claiming to have no agenda. You give How telling, Frank. You imply criticism if I actually have a slant while simutaneously revealing your own. Should I rise to the bait and denouce conservatism just to make you happy, or do you mind if I continue to think both labels are equally harmful and destructive in today's political climate? > disingenuous liberal asshole poser claiming to have no agenda. You give > every indication that no current political apparatus -- left, right or > middle -- satisfies your ends (although, unfortunately, you rarely > provide a clue on what those ends might be). Regardless, I consider Actually, I'm pretty clear about what ends those might be. Cooperative rule devoid of beaurocratic patronage and elitism. > provide a clue on what those ends might be). Regardless, I consider > that both a curiosity and a necessary thing in the big scheme of our > joint experiment... provided, of course, that you have no intention of > harming others in your quest for change. You have piqued my curiosity. lol! Is that a veiled threat, Frank? An almost-but-not-quite accusation of a super-radical agenda on my part that (dare I say it?) for some mysterious reason seems to you to include some kind of terrorism or armed action? I'd love to see a single quote of mine dredged from somewhere in all these discussions that justifies such a concern. Go look for a while, and maybe you'll notice I'm pretty vocally against using force over diplomacy (or instead of it). Rest assured... What faith I have in the system resides entirely in the realm of colliding ideas and a truly free and unbeholden press, not remotely under the umbrella of "might makes right". > I am eager to see who Daemon is when a Democrat is elected in three > years, because a content Daemon satisfied with status quo will have no > future chance of credibility with me (not that you would care!) Actually, I WOULD care, as that would represent a pretty major reversal of my own standards of credibility as well. Please feel free to point out undeserved complacency if it occurs, but also kindly don't make the mistake of assuming that any other person, repub or dem, is automatically likely to inspire NEARLY the amount of criticism that GWB has as the elephant in the oval office the last few years. At least... I HOPE the next pres., regardless of affiliation, isn't as much of a lightning rod as he is, so it's awfully likely my own criticisms will be less absolute than they are currently, but hardly guaranteed. > since my military retirement. I can't go into detail, as I'm sure > you'll understand, but the "services" I provide have included support at > many different agencies at one point or another -- Defense, Justice, > FBI, State and even the White House. Think of me as a "plumber"... I > don't produce the shit at the source, and I no longer consume it at the > treatment plant, but I can pretty well tell when we've had corn for > dinner. Sure, I understand. (Good analogy, BTW.) The only outstanding question I have, then, is whether a regime... er... administration change to a Democratic white house will stand you to lose position, prestige, and/or influence. The point being, sometimes I get the impression you defend GWB like you have something personally riding on it beaurocratically. *shrug* Now would be a pretty good time to make a clear "nope" statement if you do not, and would eliminate a serious series of questions I have of YOUR credibility as well as all insinuations along that vein. > In contrast, my private life is an open book. I consider myself a proud > patriot, and no one will ever convince me it's a bad thing to support my > country and the American way of life. I'm one of those "my country, Who's trying to? > country and the American way of life. I'm one of those "my country, > right or wrong" nut-jobs you read about. I believe military service > builds character and motivation, and is often the only basis one needs > on which to build a successful career. Glad you used the term "nut-job". Shows you're at least aware it's an insane position to hold. I won't argue with you, generally, about military service building character, either (have I mentioned since you've been around that I'd be more than halfway to retirement in the Air Force right now if not for a bone tumor in my leg that took years to diagnose and trest properly? Even not properly diagnosed, it was a disqualifying condition). In fact, I don't recall ever having said otherwise. My problem with recent years of international diplomacy is that the diplomacy part has been subjugated to pure military bullying, using the military in a primary function for which it was never intended and which, IMO, is a travesty of what it exists for in the first place. There's a serious difference between being a mechanism of defense of our way of life and an offensive diplomatic tool pulled out of the briefcase at the earliest possible opportunity time and again. Which is a failure of leadership, not of the function of the military which dutifully does as it's told by the powers it's sworn to obey. Which is why I habitually decry moronic statements made by people who insist you can't be anti-Iraq and pro-military at the same time. Credit where it's due, and recriminations where THEY'RE due. The people spouting this drivel should actually be grateful there are those of us who can see through the bad decisions of our leaders to not lose sight of the honorable execution of the duties of the armed forces. > informed (or purchased) political opinion. Since then, I've put my life > on the line for both Democratic and Republican administrations with > equal lack of reservation, so I really couldn't care on which side of > the aisle our Commander-in-Chief sits. Then you understand my position politically regarding parties/affiliations far more than you think you do. The difference between us in this regard is that you sanctify the office, while I santicy the people the office exists to serve. Frankly, if I had the president of the United States at my dinner table (any of them) next to any other perfectly ordinary non-elevated citizen, the president would get served second. Which is the proper treatment of a person dedicated to being a servant of the people in such a singularly dedicated capacity, and if the president was worth the position he sat in, he'd have no problem with that at all. I suspect you would act differently, in deference to the office. Here, we're going to have to resolutely disagree if so. > What it also produced was the realization that my freedom as an American > was all that I needed to achieve my goals for personal and financial > security for me and my family, and it obviated any need to rely on the > government to satisfy my personal needs. *ahem* Don't your paychecks come from the government? ;) > mundane needs satisfied by government. For example, I never have (and > never will) pay for medical expenses, education and the like, and I have > both a pension and a disability that come out of our tax dollars. But, > before you judge me by that, remember qualifying for those entitlements > entailed a bit more than hanging out at City Hall with an outstretched > palm! *shakes head* I won't judge you for it, but I will point out the rather obvious fact that your divorcement from the ordinary conditions of the balance of the people, just like those of the politicians you see around you during your daily routine, rather necessarily makes you a bit blind to the realities of life in the US without that golden parachute. There's a reason the call for universal health care keeps propping up; it's because what we DO have for health care absolutely sucks and noone in a position to do anything about it has a working knowledge of what it is that desperately needs to be fixed. Kudos for you for finding your way into the system on the heels of what sounds like a lot of effort. But I don't imagine there's enough room down that particular avenue of life for 300,000,000 other people to follow and also enjoy what you do. > As far as my personal statistics, in case you're interested, I'm 48 > years old (which you probably already guessed) and was born and raised *chuckle* Yeah, but only because I can't help it. I have what was loosely and probably erroneously diagnosed as an anxiety disorder last year that's more like an inability to stop absorbing and analyzing information. Makes loud, chaotic rooms very difficult places for me to be in; every sound, every motion, etc etc all end up hitting like an assault that takes hours to sort out afterwards. So little clues tend to be big clues to me, because they recycle themselves irrelevently in the background until reconciled. It's a royal PITA (and in this case, off a few years... I'd have guess 51 or so). > years old (which you probably already guessed) and was born and raised > in the Boston inner city as Number Seven in a typically large > Irish-Catholic family of 14 (most one year apart). With the exception Wow... Talk about being the middle child. lol And with the total number being even, you and Number Eight even had to share THAT designation. Okay. I'm the First of 4 (and the first of the generation, actually), but my mother's one of 8 and her siblings are close enough in age to me that I grew up with them more as siblings than aunts and uncles. Not quite inner-city, but comparable conditions for reasons I don't care to expand on, all (except my father) on both sides of a very huge extended family very devout Roman Catholic Italians 2 generations off the boat. > make it up to you next year, I promise). I have two wonderful children, > a 22 year-old daughter with her B.F.A. from the Maine College of Art, > and a 19 year-old son enrolled in the University of Maryland engineering > program. Well, my daughter's only 9 and my son 20 months, so you've covered considerably more ground there than I so far. Out of curiosity, though - where did the funding for their schooling come from? Were you able to pay for it yourself? > I live 25 miles due east of George Bush on a six-acre patch of > atypically peaceful urban woods (http://house.ourcorner.org). I smoke, Nice. Too bad about the neighborhood, but at least he won't live there forever. ;) > atypically peaceful urban woods (http://house.ourcorner.org). I smoke, > quaff an occasional lager and particularly enjoy a good dark rum. I did > inhale when growing up in the 60s and 70s, but found neither a need nor lol! See, I usually make that point by saying tongue-in-cheek "I didn't exhale". > inhale when growing up in the 60s and 70s, but found neither a need nor > the organizational tolerance for it after joining the military. I like Eh, I just found after a while that no matter what you're doing when you're stoned, you're still stoned and that pretty much takes over the rest of the experience you could otherwise be having. > rock-and-roll, from Tull to Tool, but can enjoy just about anything, Oh, no. Damn it. I can't square off condescendingly at will with another Jethro Tull fan; there aren't enough of us around anymore. Quick, tell me what a great musician he is so I can look down my nose at you. :P Tool, huh? That's kind of a shock, 'cause they're also to be found decently represented in my CD collection. Can't stand country, though, and can only take hip-hop in short spurts. Otherwise, I'm pretty open musically. > Chrysler 300. I don't subscriber to any newspapers, and I can't > remember the last time I read a book. I do read PC Magazine, Linux You wouldn't believe how many times I've cancelled the local newspaper. I haven't paid a cent for it in about 2 years, and am openly hostile to both the news office and the idiot kid that can never quite seem to find my porch as he delivers it to me every single day anyway, no matter how many times I tell both that if I WANT a newspaper, I'll stop and BUY one. I read books voraciously, though, and usually more than one at a time, pretty much regardless of genre (though you won't find a romance novel anywhere in my house and westerns are only represented in the Old Book collection upstairs that I almost never look through anymore). > Magazine and SysAdmin Magazine from cover-to-cover each month. I pretty > much detest television programming of all sorts, with the exception of > the Fox Sunday evening cartoon line-up and an occasional episode of CSI. > I love the English language for both its complexities and its > subtleties. Anything else you need to know, just ask. :) Yeah, I hear you on th English thing, but it can be quite a barrier to commmunication sometimes. My father treats it like a foreign language, for instance, which makes for some intensely frustrating arguments over things which we actually agree 100% about but he insist on using his particular version of broken-English to clumsily and very inaccurately describe his points of view. Anyway, far more disclosure than I'd asked for. Aside from the noted difference between who gets sanctified in the general heirarchy, an awful lot of similarities, really. But that's a pretty huge difference of fundamental political positions to have as starting points in these kinds of discussions I suppose. [daemon] In the shuffling madness... --- þ Synchronet þ Necropolis - necropolisbbs.darktech.org .