The news today is not happy; my mother, who's been in a nursing home and in and out of the hospital these past years, has started to refuse to eat. Anyone who knows the course of life should understand that this is the beginning of the end. And since she's let it be known they are to take all measures to continue her life, well, she's going to be in for a long, unpleasant time while the doctors use her to milk Medicaid for as much money as they can.
May the lord and creator grant her release.
Some dried-up old hag is about to kick the bucket.
If it's nothing special, then nothing we do is special.
We either are nothing but animals, or our ability to think and feel and express those feelings to others makes us something more.
An attitude of "tough luck" is as useless to the species' survival as an attitude of "no one at all ever must be hurt by anything nope nope nope".
I happen to be very much in favor of the latter... AS AN IDEAL.
I realize it ain't gonna happen.
If this fucking war of choice had been actually justified in any way, rather than something we were blatantly and conspicuously lied into... if Saddam had actually been the threat they said he was, the threat he hadn't ever really been, certainly not the threat he was before the end of the first Gulf War... if the shitheels and asshats and ratbastards currently (and possibly illegally, see 2000/2004 election results) occupying the White House actually had anything resembling a plan besides perpetual maintenance of their own power and money and that of their fellows and henchmen... I might have the slightest sympathy with the notion of "tough luck" in this case.
I don't. Because they didn't.
Sgt. Ramos was sent to die for as many wrong reasons as possible. That's not "tough luck". That's a fuckin' war crime.
First: I should say, my mother being on her last legs is distressing. As were the deaths of my grandfathers and grandmothers. But, that's the way life goes: you live, and you die. if people did not die, then it would get mighty crowded mighty quick, but, still, it is painful when someone you know dies.
Second: Someone I know dying is bad. someone I don't, less so, although, frankly, I can empathize.
Third: War is hell. Whether the war is good, bad or indifferent, whether it makes sense, or is a boondoggle started to protect someone's investment, it doesn't matter - once it starts, it's our war. We can't take a war, where the congress voted to allow combat operations, the U.N. voted to muster an international force, and the people started out very gung-ho to be sidetracked because, oh, look, we didn't find the documents for nearly four years which proved that Iraq did have nascent nuclear capability. We didn't find the concentration camps in WWII until AFTER Germany was soundly defeated, over 3 years into that war.
Fourth: When you volunteer for armed service, you make a commitment to be shot at. Sometimes, people who make that commitment get shot and die. It happens, Sgt. Ramos signed up for it. I signed up for it in my time, but they told me to wait a while, and I never went back after the while was up. I was willing to be there. I knew the score, even though things were peaceful when I signed up.
First: Then accept that other people might feel distress differently than you... or the same as you.
Second: Didn't sound like it. See above.
Third: OH YES WE CAN. That argument, made by every goddamn right-wing nutcase on the planet, basically says that once you've taken the first step down a mistaken road you can never ever ever turn around, can't even check the map, can't question the driver, can't call for help. The argument about finding the concentration camps is spurious at best and specious at worst; we had to fight our way into the most fortified country on the planet, as opposed to Iraq, which militarily we took down in short order, and which had been pretty damn thoroughly searched by the weapons inspectors before the invasion.
Fourth: Thank you for your service. But do you not agree that, when you volunteer for armed service, you presume that the people who run the armed service will not send you for, oh, let's be polite, flawed reasons? Let alone that they will not send you for an evil lie? Let alone that they will give you the equipment you need, enough people to do the job, clear objectives, and the economic aid, health care, and family support they promised when they signed you up?
You say you knew the score, but these motherfuckers changed the game.
I signed up for it in my time, but they told me to wait a while, and I never went back after the while was up.
So THAT'S what this is all about...
Your fully-erect dick had to be THIS LONG; <-----------------> To be allowed onto the "Uncle Dubya's Royal Fuckup" ride at Cheneyworld, And you came up juuuuuuust under the limit. Poor baby!
So now you have to make up for your shattered sense of security in your own manhood by trolling for opportunities to spout a bunch of jingoistic rhetoric despite the fact that it's been repeatedly disproven by anyone with Marshall Applewhite's sense of rationale for no other reason that it gives you some sense of "going against the crowd", which for some reason you now respect despite your repeated derogatory accusations of the same directed towards those of us who were against the war from the beginning.
What you didn't count on was the possibility that your latest exercise in antagonism would bring you to a virtual community frequented by someone who is not only more apt at being an asshole than you could ever aspire to, but has raised it to an art form. Namely me.
Go back to the (pardon the pun) bush-leagues, kid. You've got about as much chance of out-assholing me than Richard Jeni on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.
Oh, and for the record, I can't blame the old bag. If I had you for a son, I'd try to starve myself to death, too.
Yeah, it's tough that he trusted the President to know what he was doing.
It's tough that GWB didn't know that the US military had failed to meet recruiting targets in 1999, and that the military didn't have the people to fight in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
It's tough that GWB thought he could bring a stick to a gunfight small force to handle a job that needed a large one.
The courage it takes to volunteer to get shot at may not be a rare commodity. Personally, I think it is, and I don't want to throw it away cheaply. I like to think I'd use the armed forces where it was necessary, but using them to make matters worse isn't what I consider a good reason to send in the Army, or worse, the National Guard.
Incomptence of this caliber in the White House, especially from the Republicans, who have always trumpted their skills in foreign affairs, is something special.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-20 12:41 am (UTC)Tough luck, but nothing special.
From wizwom's LJ...
Date: 2007-03-20 02:14 am (UTC)May the lord and creator grant her release.
Some dried-up old hag is about to kick the bucket.
Tough luck, but nothing special.
Re: From wizwom's LJ...
Date: 2007-03-20 03:23 am (UTC)Excuse Me, But I've Gotta Fuckin' Rant
Date: 2007-03-20 03:32 am (UTC)We either are nothing but animals, or our ability to think and feel and express those feelings to others makes us something more.
An attitude of "tough luck" is as useless to the species' survival as an attitude of "no one at all ever must be hurt by anything nope nope nope".
I happen to be very much in favor of the latter... AS AN IDEAL.
I realize it ain't gonna happen.
If this fucking war of choice had been actually justified in any way, rather than something we were blatantly and conspicuously lied into... if Saddam had actually been the threat they said he was, the threat he hadn't ever really been, certainly not the threat he was before the end of the first Gulf War... if the shitheels and asshats and ratbastards currently (and possibly illegally, see 2000/2004 election results) occupying the White House actually had anything resembling a plan besides perpetual maintenance of their own power and money and that of their fellows and henchmen... I might have the slightest sympathy with the notion of "tough luck" in this case.
I don't. Because they didn't.
Sgt. Ramos was sent to die for as many wrong reasons as possible. That's not "tough luck". That's a fuckin' war crime.
Re: Excuse Me, But I've Gotta Fuckin' Rant
Date: 2007-03-20 04:43 am (UTC)Second: Someone I know dying is bad. someone I don't, less so, although, frankly, I can empathize.
Third: War is hell. Whether the war is good, bad or indifferent, whether it makes sense, or is a boondoggle started to protect someone's investment, it doesn't matter - once it starts, it's our war. We can't take a war, where the congress voted to allow combat operations, the U.N. voted to muster an international force, and the people started out very gung-ho to be sidetracked because, oh, look, we didn't find the documents for nearly four years which proved that Iraq did have nascent nuclear capability. We didn't find the concentration camps in WWII until AFTER Germany was soundly defeated, over 3 years into that war.
Fourth: When you volunteer for armed service, you make a commitment to be shot at. Sometimes, people who make that commitment get shot and die. It happens, Sgt. Ramos signed up for it. I signed up for it in my time, but they told me to wait a while, and I never went back after the while was up. I was willing to be there. I knew the score, even though things were peaceful when I signed up.
Re: Excuse Me, But I've Gotta Fuckin' Rant
Date: 2007-03-20 04:55 am (UTC)Second: Didn't sound like it. See above.
Third: OH YES WE CAN. That argument, made by every goddamn right-wing nutcase on the planet, basically says that once you've taken the first step down a mistaken road you can never ever ever turn around, can't even check the map, can't question the driver, can't call for help. The argument about finding the concentration camps is spurious at best and specious at worst; we had to fight our way into the most fortified country on the planet, as opposed to Iraq, which militarily we took down in short order, and which had been pretty damn thoroughly searched by the weapons inspectors before the invasion.
Fourth: Thank you for your service. But do you not agree that, when you volunteer for armed service, you presume that the people who run the armed service will not send you for, oh, let's be polite, flawed reasons? Let alone that they will not send you for an evil lie? Let alone that they will give you the equipment you need, enough people to do the job, clear objectives, and the economic aid, health care, and family support they promised when they signed you up?
You say you knew the score, but these motherfuckers changed the game.
Re: Excuse Me, But I've Gotta Fuckin' Rant
Date: 2007-03-20 07:06 am (UTC)So THAT'S what this is all about...
Your fully-erect dick had to be THIS LONG;
<----------------->
To be allowed onto the "Uncle Dubya's Royal Fuckup" ride at Cheneyworld,
And you came up juuuuuuust under the limit. Poor baby!
So now you have to make up for your shattered sense of security in your own manhood by trolling for opportunities to spout a bunch of jingoistic rhetoric despite the fact that it's been repeatedly disproven by anyone with Marshall Applewhite's sense of rationale for no other reason that it gives you some sense of "going against the crowd", which for some reason you now respect despite your repeated derogatory accusations of the same directed towards those of us who were against the war from the beginning.
What you didn't count on was the possibility that your latest exercise in antagonism would bring you to a virtual community frequented by someone who is not only more apt at being an asshole than you could ever aspire to, but has raised it to an art form. Namely me.
Go back to the (pardon the pun) bush-leagues, kid. You've got about as much chance of out-assholing me than Richard Jeni on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.
Oh, and for the record, I can't blame the old bag. If I had you for a son, I'd try to starve myself to death, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-20 08:06 pm (UTC)It's tough that GWB didn't know that the US military had failed to meet recruiting targets in 1999, and that the military didn't have the people to fight in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
It's tough that GWB thought he could bring a
stick to a gunfightsmall force to handle a job that needed a large one.The courage it takes to volunteer to get shot at may not be a rare commodity. Personally, I think it is, and I don't want to throw it away cheaply. I like to think I'd use the armed forces where it was necessary, but using them to make matters worse isn't what I consider a good reason to send in the Army, or worse, the National Guard.
Incomptence of this caliber in the White House, especially from the Republicans, who have always trumpted their skills in foreign affairs, is something special.