Two Wrongs Make Another Fiasco – Frank Rich, NYT

In today’s New York Times, Frank Rich has written a blistering, scathing Op-Ed piece on the continuing insistence of Amerika’s architects of both the Iraq and Afghanistan fiascos that we need to pursue our military misadventures in western Asia with full vigor. 

I wish I had written this piece.  It says it all. And best of all, it names names.  The piece is here.  Don’t miss this.  You won’t forget it.  And best of all, you will be able to identify the true Amerikan heroes who are responsible for this glory.  This is a must read.

 In this article we learn that a formerly vanquished foe of ours in the Taliban of Afghanistan is back in full force and causing problems for us and NATO forces in Afghanistan.  Here is an excerpt from that article:

"…Mullah Omar leads an insurgency that has gained steady ground in much of Afghanistan against much better equipped American and NATO forces. Far from a historical footnote, he represents a vexing security challenge for the Obama administration, one that has consumed the president’s advisers, divided Democrats and left many Americans frustrated."

Why is that?  Let me tell you a secret.  I come from a family long involved in the troubles in Ireland for well over a hundred and fifty years.  Unless you understand the tribal nature of human groups you just cannot grasp this truth.

"We" will never be "them". 

And "they" will never see us as anything other than occupiers. 

We can have all the good intentions in the world and all kinds of plans to "bring them up" out of their poverty and ignorance.  They don’t care. They do not want what we have to offer.  It is really that simple.  And unless one has roots in this kind of socio-economic and ongoing cultural warfare between two groups with heavy religious motivators for violence, you just cannot grasp how primal this struggle actually is.

We will never convince "them" that "our" way is better.  They do not want to be convinced.  It is really no more complicated than that.  Why cannot Amerika grasp that? We are out of our league here.  These people have been warring in various tribal and religious squabbles since the Seventh Century.  We have no dog in this fight.  Can we finally get that?

In two other articles that seem to have nothing to do with veterans’ concerns, there is continuing huge evidence that in Amerika, the "powers that be" take care of each other, not Americans.  We veterans have known this for generations, simply take a look at the systems that exist to "take care of us".

But this is different. 

Now typical Americans are beginning to feel the bite of being hungry on the outside looking in at the fat cats eating dinner.  Americans are now starting to feel the way disabled veterans always feel and in a big way. 

Americans are being left behind by the super elites. And they are being left behind deliberately, with full understanding of the pain being caused and for reasons that have to do with the price of doing the right thing.  Taking care of Americans is just too expensive for the Amerikans to take seriously.

You have to be a member of the in-crowd, a member of the annointed, one of the "initiated" to matter to Amerikans, the ones who run things and their sycophants down here in the kamps, living among us.  The in-crowd is shrinking and they are taking their money with them.  And their moles and spies and supporters here in Kamp Amerika are more than willing to let them do it.

I have never understood how a man or a woman with absolutely nothing to their name can defend Amerika’s ‘Prinzen und Adel’ with their last and dying breath.

In this article by David Kirkpatrick of the Times, we see that practically all serious proposals by the Obamites to curb health care costs have now fallen to the wayside because Amerika’s incredibly powerful and organized anti-health care legistlative armies have won the day.  Health care reform under Obama is essentially dead and Americans will continue to pay for that death dearly with continued uneven coverage and high costs.  That assumes an American can get coverage at all. The Reich Wing has essentially won this fight. Again.

Let me ask my Reich Wing friends a question.

Aren’t you proud to be an Amerikan?  You won!  Now the poor still won’t get coverage!  And you have probably saved $150 dollars a year in tax money that would have went to universal coverage out of your personal tax bill.  Don’t you feel proud?  Look what you have accomplished!

What a grand Amerikan you are!

In this article by Eric Dash we learn that the federal government has saved the big banks, the ones that matter, the ones where Amerika banks.  But the small banks, the one in the center of town near where you live, are crumbling like old cake.  They are deemed too small to save.  We just marked the closing of the 100th bank in the USA for 2009.  Amerika has all the money it needs to survive anything but America can just go screw itself. 

So, what do you think of that?  Are typical Americans starting to get a taste of the disabled veteran experience? It is not very digestable is it?

And here is a wonderful piece of Americana.  Americans can no longer afford to bury their dead.  The article is here.  It seems that the mythology of the Amerikans holding that we can all take care of our own interests and no one needs communal help has now degenerated to the point where the dead cannot be buried properly.  Americans have no money for that.  Here is an excerpt from that article:

"Coroners and medical examiners across the country are reporting spikes in the number of unclaimed bodies and indigent burials, with states, counties and private funeral homes having to foot the bill when families cannot."

Let me be very clear on this point.  When we have degenerated as a society to the point where there is not enough money to bury our dead, we have lost our souls.

But we have money for expanding wars in western Asia don’t we?

Amerika is insane.  And Amerikans seem to like that just fine.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)