http://www.airamerica.com/listen/

On air right now:

Scott Horton http://harpers.org

Larisa Alexandrovna http://atlargely.com

and G.G.

Glenn - Been reading a while, first comment from me. And daaaaaaaaaamn! Good column today!

Sevearal threads back I asked the question,

"How does one reasonably respond to these folks?"

Hume's Ghost responded, Ruthless mockery.

"Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them" - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, July 30, 1816

Glenn's ruthless mockery is probably the only sane response. It may have other useful effects as well. You have lumped many ills into

It's this blithe attitude of "incidental losses" that I absolutely despise, as if people are simply check marks or pieces of meat (as Shiekh Al-Hilali has insisted kaffir women are) that can be racked up to balance "policing" accounts, or as victims of "garden-variety" threats like, I suppose, identity theft. Investment, reward. Disgusting.

thereby, missing that notion of distinct ideas.

When you're right, you're right! We must attack and destroy England immediately, pronto, forthwith, and right away!

The last episode has one of the characters threatening to open a new newspaper to report Hearst's view of history. Look at the view of the press expressed in Deadwood; it is hillariously true in a dark, sick way.

On Saturday I saw the NewsHours "debate" on the wiretapping bill. As someone who is/will be subject to wiretapping I have an interest in this subject. As someone who lives abroad I don't have the opportunity to often listen to US elected leaders very often. In my view you are omitting a very important aspect of the FISA debate.

I remember watching parts of the Sept. 11th comission with great interest. I remember quite clearly Tenant "running around with his hair on fire" trying to warn Condi and Bush about unknown plots. I remember agents describing the 21st hijacker as being in their cross hairs, but they didn't quite have a trail of facts against him. The point is we had alot of information on these guys but lacked the "smarts" to put it all together. In my view revamping FISA can't help us address those issues. Futhermore I think FISA won't help make us more secure.

And so we have a new "s"election in Pakistan. Wow. More "creative chaos" in middle-east etc. Just to keep all of us safe. Contrast that with an increase in funding of middle eastern studies programs so people could understand the intelligence they are collecting. But that understanding won't come because middle-eastern studies programs will be closed because of the uncomfortable truths some people will be forced to confront.

But FISA will make us safer. Or so the narrative will go. By way did you see the new smart bomb that the AirForce is contracting out. I's real precision and only kills bad guys. The test I saw hit a traffic come on top of a truck. But the bomb wasn't armed, so we were spared from seeing the real explosion and only saw the cab of the truck explode.

Our tax dollars hard at in the war on terror.

Do you have any citations, links or sources for these ominous statements you have posted here allegedly from Imam Zaid Shakir or the people at CAIR? Legitimate and reputable sources other than Jihad Watch or some place like that.

'War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning' by Chris Hedges

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1400034639?filterBy=addFiveStar

"Hedges argues that war is both a deadly addiction—a drug that offers an unmatchable intoxication, the thrill of being released from the moral strictures of everyday life—and a unifying force that provides a sense of meaning, purpose, and self-sacrifice that can wash away life’s trivial concerns. But the meaningfulness of combat, Hedges suggests, depends upon the myth of war. In reality, no matter what grand cause it is supposed to support, war is simply the basest form of aggression: “organized murder.” Once war begins, the moral universe collapses and every manner of atrocity can be justified in the eyes of those who wage it, because the cause is just, the enemy is inhuman, and only war can restore balance to the world. Hedges reveals the hollowness of such thinking and makes an impassioned plea for humility, love, and compassion as the human race’s only hope for survival. Only when a nation can accept its share of blame and see its enemy with compassion rather than hatred can war be averted and true peace prevail." (Random House)

This is one of the best books I have read on the subject. (at least the 4 times so far)

The sad fact is that it is not just the Republicans, or the Democrats, or the Authoritarians, or the chicken-hawks that are a real and deadly problem. It is most of humanity. Read Hedges book; it is a chronicle of men and women losing their humanity as they 'fight' the horrible enemy in the intoxicating madness that makes their sad little existence meaningful.

I would extend Hedges observations to the 'warriors' in the political realm as well; consider the hatred generated over how to administer this or that domestic program. I am surrounded by fools who think they can save the planet by forcing others to do their will.

A perfect milieu you have found

Your militancy to expound,

As bloated pompous words resound

And phrases like “boots on the ground”.

How macho posturing you sound,

And that they’re said without chagrin

Shows who you are, Armchairian.

And what about the wars you missed,

Not moved by honor to enlist?

You showed up with your anal cyst

Or wearing pants in which you pissed,

Your future too good to resist;

Let others go – it’s plebeian

They’re not like you, Armchairian.

And all the notion that you’ve got

Of George S. Patton’s George c. Scott.

For you the line that’s best forgot;

Assuring soldiers that they’ll not

Be shamed one day to say their lot

Was shov’ling shit in Lousian’

Of you he spoke, Armchairian.

All know the word but few the name;

One wounded sixteen times again.

The word now issued with disdain,

The man himself though not to blame;

His words and actions both the same.

That’s sixteen wounds for brave Chauvin

And none for you, Armchairian.

The icon loves to celebrate

Past deeds – a Generation Great.

But when it’s time to use his weight,

To hold up what they held so straight;

He keeps his seat and fills his plate:

Reflects the glory – takes no stand;

A variant Armchairian.