Perpetual war. Nothing new there. The Cold War lasted more than 50 years until Ronnie tore down the Berlin Wall barehandedly, or so they say(*). The Hundred Years War (actually 116) fit in the category. The War On Drugs, The War On Poverty, The War On Cancer -- we got 'em all. And now, the GWOT. The military might of the U.S. playing whack-the-mole with a group of 'Bubba's' (scary, scary article -- www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/02/15/air_war/).

But the scary, scary thing here is these folks (the ones Glenn is pickin' on) and a lot of other folks on all sides of the political spectrum, who actually believe that it is America's right to intervene in world affairs. You know, the shining city on the hill, exporting democracy, defending freedom (usually ours & protecting America's interests (#) (even scarier than the previous article -- http://www.heritage.org/research/features/mandate/2005/topic.cfm?topic=28).

That's why Mr. Bush is now in Africa with his dog & pony show (actually stick & carrot) -- too bad he's too late -- the Chinese are in there and they're in there good -- memo to myself -- China -- next bad guys on our list.

The GWOT's premise and the way it is being (mis)handled is taken directly from the pages of 1984: "The state of Oceania is involved in an eternal war with an unclear, ever-shifting enemy. The government leads the public to believe that they are always in danger, when in fact much, if not all, of the war is fabricated. One day the enemy is Eurasia, and the next day the government announces that the enemy is Eastasia and has always been Eastasia. The people swallow the lies and digest them as truths without raising a single question. The real purpose of war is to control opposition of the government and maintain total authority by cultivating fear and hatred."

So, as I say, nothing new here. We're always going to have war-lovers and big "P" patriots . . .

As Lou Reed said, "They say: "Candy is dandy but liquor makes quipsters and I don't like mixers, or sippers or sob sisters,

You know, you have to be real careful where you sit down

in a bar these days . . ."

(*)Actually, what Mr. Reagan (in a rare moment of lucidity) said was: "We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" [Wikipedia]. If only someone would say the same to Mr. Olmert . . .

(#)American Exceptionalism: "American exceptionalism is popular among people within the US but its validity and its consequences are disputed. Miller argues that U.S. citizens fall within three schools of thought about the question whether the United States is imperialistic:

①Overly self-critical Americans tend to exaggerate the nation’s flaws, failing to place them in historical or worldwide contexts.

②In the middle are Americans who assert that "Imperialism was an aberration."

③At the other end of the scale, the tendency of highly patriotic Americans is to deny such abuses and even assert that they could never exist in their country. As a Monthly Review editorial describes the phenomenon, "in Britain, empire was justified as a benevolent 'white man’s burden'. And in the United States, empire does not even exist; 'we' are merely protecting the causes of freedom, democracy, and justice worldwide."　（Wikipedia )

Apropos of nothing really, is Mark Noonan related to Peggy Noonan? Anyone know?

"Every one deserves a chance ." ;D (Apologies to the kids)

Maybe we should send 'em all an X-Box, paintball pellets , and some seed catalogs . Celery-o , you have any spares ?

( Wormwood huh? Which one ? & the goats can even eat that? Careful, you might have the Revenoo-ers coming down to sell ya' stamps for your milk and cheese)

Maybe a new hobby could change their outlook, and take up some of their scaremonger time? (See Stephen Jay Gould's essay on search patterns ) Kinda like chocolate-covered broccoli . So good, they won't notice it's good for 'em .

Recently, some gene-splicing types came out with a study suggesting that there's genetic basis , maybe even "need" for the "Us vs Them" / tribal behavior . Perhaps some, as with allergies, or taste in food, are more prone to it than others .That would correlate with the gray vs black/white findings . Would be an interesting thing to test. Has anyone ever desconstructed the language of paranoia to it's universal basics ? (Or figure if that exists ?) I think some of the psycho-sexual analysis here, on this topic is a bit of a stretch .

On a sort of related topic, saw "Letters From Iwo Jima" last night. What were O'Reilly & Co. bitchin' about , when it first came out ? The humanization of THE ENEMY?

LWM , if you're still reading , check out The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) . http://memri.org/index.html

It translates ME media to English. Might find what you're looking for there . If not , you'll find something to make the trip worthwhile .

Kasmira , "FauxMica"? =))))

Good Celery , "pink baby muffins with peanuts"? ;D Was once mistakenly served a peanut butter/ sardine sandwich . ( in Horseheads, NY)

If he didn’t like the idea of personal responsibility then he should have stayed with the Texas Rangers Baseball Club

From what I've read, he couldn't do that one right, either

You can not talk about civilization wars these days without mentioning Victor Davis Hanson. He is a professor in Classic Studies Program at California State University Fresno (or Fresno State). He is also said to be an advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. So I visited his website today (http://www.victorhanson.com/). I was reading his latest rants about the superiority of everything Western and the existential threat of Islamofascism. You have to read some of his articles to truly appreciate what a deprived human being he really is. (I don’t know what his site is. It’s called “VDH’s private papers” but it’s available to everyone on the worldwide web. It’s not so private. It’s not a blog either. You can’t post anything there. He picks a few letters every year and lectures the writer on where he’s missing the point).

Today, I noticed something new. There’s a new writer on his site, a Bruce S. Thornton. What’s interesting is that Bruce teaches at the same department in the same university (I recommend reading his review of Norman Podhoretz’ latest book. Bruce thinks Norm is taking the high road when it comes to Islamofascism). Interesting University department.

Then I noticed something else: McClatchy family members, who bought Knight-Ridder newspapers in 2006, are one of the biggest, If not the only, supporters of this department at Fresno State; a University department that has put out TWO- not ONE, but TWO demagogues pushing for civilization wars.

What gives?