And Then What?

My man Sowell, talking about the question that needs to be asked of the "pull out now" crowd:

And Then What?

says:

Should American troops stay in Iraq indefinitely?

Nobody has ever wanted that. Our whole history shows that American troops have repeatedly pulled out of countries around the world when wars ended and enough order was restored to turn the country over to its own people.

The political conflict today is between people who think that pulling out should depend on conditions in Iraq, as those conditions unfold, rather than on arbitrary timetables created by politicians with no military experience, and with a time horizon that extends no further than the 2008 elections.

Extends no further than the 2008 elections is the key phrase here. It means, we want to be able to use the unpopularity of the war against our political enemies, but we don't actually have a solution to the problem. We prefer it get neatly wrapped up with this administration so that 1) it will be the fall guy for all the pre-war, war, and post-war problems, and 2) we won't have to address these important problems at all.

And this crowd is gaining a few Republican members, too. Sad.

Remember when Hillary outright complained about the possibility of inheriting the war?

"I think it's the height of irresponsibility and I really resent it." [..] "This was his decision to go to war, he went with an ill-conceived plan, an incompetently executed strategy and we should expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office."

No mention of what the implications for Iraq and America and the rest of the West for that matter -- would be. It's like "If we pull out, it's like a do-over. Like it never happened." except we get to say "bad! bad Bush!"

And never mind the constant encouragement she and hers give the enemy by telling them "just wait, America will prove you right and leave. We have no stomach for a fight." Just like Bin Laden has said over and over and predicted for Iraq.

This isn't about what is the best thing to do. This is about what I think will get me in to office.

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Chalk one up to the "A" Team.

Things I Know #13

#13 You don't get to decide when a war is over until you decide to lose it.

Al Queda understands this. The "insurgents" understand this.

Do we?

Taking America for Granted

I wanted to come up with a stirring July 4 post. I did not. I spent July 4 with family, and lots of it. Which is the way it should be, in the end.

I did, in honor of the occasion, buy a new gun - asserting my right to keep and bear arms.

However, Thomas Sowell -- who I point you guys to a lot (sorry, but he's good) -- did come up with a stirring July 4 post, which I encourage you to read.

>> Taking America for Granted <<

Live Earth

This whole event did nothing to erode my opionion that most activists are in this to feel good about themselves, and have no clue what they are talking about. They really don't care as long as they can portray themselves as morally superior on their stage which all the world makes up.

Madonna, on Saturday:

"If you want to save the planet, I want you to start jumping up and down. Come on, mother-[@*#%ers!] If you want to save the planet, let me see you jump!"

Yes, jump indeed. Jump to save the planet. Jump passionately. Make sure the cameras get a good shot of your jumpage. I wonder if anyone in the crowd thought to shout back "how high?"

Yes, Massah Madonna. (carbon footprint 92 times your average person's).

In Germany [...] newspapers were more upbeat about Saturday’s gigs designed to pressure leaders to sign a new treaty by 2009 that would cut global warming pollution by 90 percent in rich nations and more than half worldwide by 2050.

Let me clue these folks in on something. Treaties don't cut "global warming pollution". People do. And to do it, the energy that runs your computer games and your little iPods that play your Madonna songs and warms and cools your houses and lights your rooms and gets you from point A to point B will go away. From you.

They're going to pressure world governments into signing treaties that have as much chance of having any effect than your average U.N. resolution on Iraq. Then, in 2050 when the cuts have fallen far short of this ridiculously ambitious goal dispite the ink on the various papers -- they can complain "We jumped! What did you do?"

Actually the whole thing reminds me of Officer Shrift in "The Phantom Tollbooth". He was very interested in sentencing people, but the acutal carrying out of the sentence was irrelevant. When Milo, after being sentenced to 1,000 years, gets out of the very open jail the next day at the urging of the Which who tells him how to get out, Shrift sees him on the street and says "my, my, has it been 1,000 years already?" and walks on.

We jumped for Mother Gaia. It's up to somebody else to do something about it. And frankly, we don't care how hard that is. For you. That's not our problem. And you'd better not make it our problem, either. [turns up iPod and goes back to typing anti-Bush tirades on her computer, making a note on her calendar not to miss her appointment at the tanning salon]

I saw some chick in a news story several days ago telling us we can all cut global warming by using re-usable canvas shopping bags instead of paper or plastic disposable ones. Now I'm all for reasonable efforts to reduce pollution and sustaining our forest resources, frankly. I've got no problem with canvas bags. But cutting global warming by using them?

No. Clue.

An Announcement

Thatisall

Quote of the Day

This one from Michael Ledeen in "Stupid Terrorist"

No terrorist leader has ever blown himself up. No way, that’s not their job. Their job is to get other people to blow themselves up. The leader sends them to die, and pays off the family, having done whatever it takes to convince the martyr-to-be to go through with it.