Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s "General Petraeus’ Anticlimax” [Sept. 6-12] was very informative. But I would like to add my views as a paleoconservative. Paleocons were against the invasion of Iraq from the start.First, it is our government, not America or the American people, that is seeking military bases throughout the world. How much would the average family donate voluntarily for that?Second, it is doubtful Chomsky‘s articles would have had an impact on those Americans still supporting the occupation of Iraq. Occupation supporters are mostly Jewish and Christian Zionists. They see this conflict as a war, a Holy War. They choose to believe only who they want to believe. Third, the real false premise about the invasion of Iraq is that the Middle East could be remade or reconstructed by any foreign government, let alone our incompetent one. It would be social engineering on a grand scale. Americans were told, by neoconservatives and liberals alike, that since remaking Germany and Japan after WWII was a breeze, the Muslim Middle East would be the same. But that was a ridiculous analogy.Finally, like Vince McMahon to Hulk Hogan, Bush will hand General "Puff" Petraeus the script. But this half-ass occupation will never succeed, unless our government goes "Stalin" on the people. (No people, no problem.) Despite what the zealots here want, we are not doing that. Remember, it is not who holds Ramadi five months or even five years from now. It is who will be there 50 years from now. Are you moving your families out there to live?
Armed Education
The opposition to arming APS officers full time has been illuminating, to say the least. You have to wonder how they can stand behind such a poor position. If unarmed officers are better, then we should have the city cops, county deputies, state troopers and federal agents lock their guns up during business hours so we can all be as safe as our kids in school.I can’t guarantee armed officers will prevent a school shooting. I can guarantee unarmed officers will make any school shooting worse than it would have been. The Columbine shooters only needed seven minutes to kill 13 kids: from 11:29 to 11:36. Less time than it would take to get permission to arm, get the weapon and get back to where the officer needed to be.At a high school in California, a kid started shooting. One of the first victims was an unarmed school officer. Others were people who attempted to reason with him. He was stopped by an armed officer who just happened to be on campus registering his daughter as a new student. When confronted with kind words he kept shooting. When confronted with kind words and a gun he surrendered.Linking arming 24/7 with the formation of a police force and millions in new expenses is an attempt to torpedo the issue and give opponents cover for a bad decision. It bears repeating it is not necessary for APS to have its own police force to arm its officers 24/7; they can do that now with a simple policy change.Use some common sense and do it now !
God Bless Amerikka
[RE: Blog, “The Daily Word 8.31.07”] Bumper record poppy crop in Afghanistan expected this year. No doubt encouraged and protected by the CIA and its like to appease the warlords. Taliban had practically eradicated crop … But, HEY, that’s OK … It protects me against Saudi-bred terrorists that fly planes into buildings. But Osama is a Saudi whose family has ties to Kuwait, which is funded by the U.S. and supports a repressive kingdom … He never was in Iraq … “WMDs?" … Saddam supported by U.S. with billions while fighting Iran, Yellow alerts, "feelings" from Homeland Security, "Mission Accomplished," $3 gas, panic in Boston over cartoon figures, no "habeas corpus" guarantee, torture, secret prisons, "I don’t recall,” red-light cameras, crackdowns, shoes inspected at airports, $52 baloney sandwich and chips meal for the soldiers provided by Haliburton with Cheney connections, old GOP guys in bathroom stalls, 650,000 Iraqi dead, 12 million left to a dog, New Orleans still wrecked, 1 TRILLION dumped toward Iraq, Gitmo … Holy Moly, I don’t smoke the herb but I sure could use it when I watch the news with tears in my eyes.
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