Tristero

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Next Update: March 1  

Between jury duty and a serious computer crash, I have begun to resemble the absent-minded butcher who backed into a meat grinder and got a little behind in his work. So, the next update will be March 1. Meanwhile, chew on this remarkable article by George Packer in the New Yorker in which Joe Biden blames the American casualties of the Bush/Iraq war on...I kid you not... Paul Wellstone and the anti-war senators:

Biden met with half a dozen leading Democrats who were opposed to any war resolution at all. “They said, ‘It’s not right, you’re not principled, asking us to do this,’” Biden recalled. “I said, ‘Wait, wait, wait. Please spare me the lecture. I thought our job was to do as much as we could to prevent this President from going off to war half-cocked. Does anybody in here believe that we’re going to get any resolution remotely approaching the constraints this resolution has?’” Biden warned his colleagues, “Guess what? Your principle is going to kill a lot of Americans.” But the antiwar Democrats were intractable. At the end of the meeting, Senator Paul Wellstone, of Minnesota, and Senator Barbara Boxer, of California, left the room arm in arm, chuckling.

Two days later, with no alternative making its way through the Senate, Gephardt appeared at Bush’s side in the Rose Garden and announced his support for the Administration’s war resolution. Nine days later, both houses of Congress approved it, and the President had all the authority he needed to invade Iraq.

Both Biden and Packer conveniently forget and miscontrue recent history.

In the spring of '02, the Bush administration released a legal finding saying that the war resolutions passed during the Bush I years gave them all the Congressional authority they required. The only possible strategy that had a chance at preventing a war was for Democrats to have called Bush's bluff and refused to pass any war resolution at all in the fall of '02. At that time, however, Democrats had not yet to receive a spine infusion from Howard Dean, and were afraid of being branded "traitors" by the unscrupulous right wing.

Furthermore, in the fall of '02, there was an extensive grass roots lobbying campaign against the war. Democrats in Congress were swamped with letters, petitions, faxes, phone calls, and emails imploring them to vote against the war. These initiatives were ignored by the mainstream press which meant that they had little impact in helping Democrats stand up to Bush.

No, it was not Wellstone that caused the Iraq disaster. It was Bush, aided and abetted by Democrats too cowardly to confront him. Had Bush tried that stunt now, he never would get away with it. Democrats have found their voice again and the press appears to be waking up from its slumber.

But that's only the beginning of the serious problems with Packer's article. Somehow, Packer equates a foreign policy based on prudence with isolationism. Somehow, Clinton's moderately positive foreign policy initiatives is worse than Bush's miserable failure because the latter is a real "doctrine." Somehow, Clinton's success at thwarting the millenium attacks by bin Laden represents a failure to deal with terrorism while Bush's failure to prevent 9/11 is deemed clear-headed moral clarity. And somehow, Packer believes that the US can impose democracy by force. It can't.

Someone with standing needs to challenge Packer's assertions and facts about liberalism, democracy, foreign policy, and Bush's politics.

See you in March.
posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 7:12 AM

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Seraphiel's Daily Cartoon Roundup  

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posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 8:54 AM

Monday, February 09, 2004

American Airlines Pilot Calls Non-Christians 'Crazy'  

One more jaw to the floor moment:

An American Airlines pilot asked Christians on board a flight to New York to identify themselves and suggested that the non-Christians discuss the faith with them, an airline spokesman said yesterday.

Flight 34 was headed from Los Angeles to Kennedy Airport on Friday afternoon, said the spokesman, Tim Wagner. The pilot, whose identity was not released, had been making flight announcements and then asked that the Christians on board raise their hands, Mr. Wagner said.

The pilot told the airline that he then suggested that the other passengers use the flight time to talk to the identified Christians about their faith.

The pilot later told passengers he would be available at the end of the flight to talk about his first announcement. Mr. Wagner said the airline was investigating the incident.

You can write American Airlines to politely suggest this buffoon be fired immediately here. The flight info:

American Airlines Flight 34 Los Angeles to New York 2/6/04

via Tom Tomorrow

[UPDATE:]The header for this post was changed when I found some more details:

The pilot, whose name was not released, asked Christians on Friday's flight to raise their hands.

He then suggested non-Christians talk to the Christians about their faith.

He went on to say that "everyone who doesn't have their hand raised is crazy", passenger Amanda Nelligan told CBS news.

"He continued to say, 'Well, you have a choice: you can make this trip worthwhile, or you can sit back, read a book and watch the movie'," she said.

The pilot also told passengers he would be available for discussion at the end of the flight.

'Bizarre'

Ms Nelligan said passengers had thought the pilot's behaviour was "bizarre" and wondered whether his comments were a threat.

Flight attendants notified ground control.

posted by tristero permanent link to this entry 8:42 AM