Kurt Vonnegut & Joseph Heller War Experience: Battle of the Bulge, Bombing Raids, VE Day (1995)

"We just got here!" is the most notable quote here.  In every age there will come a mad man,  who will easily fool the young into thinking of war as a glorious and exciting thing. Few will notice that older people, people who have been to wars, will have very different take on the matter. The old know but can't speak,  the young don't know and can't think.  That's why we always forget the struggles that won the peace we enjoy,  and go back to repeating the mistakes of the past.

Pay close attention to what Joseph Heller says about war,  most especially towards the end.  What comes to mind immediately is; "What would he have had to say,  just a few years later with 911 and the Iraq war behind us?"   That question sort of proves his point in a way that no mere words could ever do.  If one might hope that the Bush adm.,  might be held to account,  that's not going to happen for reasons of national sovereignty and,  while we could do it internally,  that can't happen either because there are just too many interlocking issues and too much culpability spread around.  Such that finding a reasonable border line,  would be all but impossible,  that is,  unless one wishes to engage in some hundred year long debate.  Thus the answer becomes that,  since we don't know how to do this thing,  it's best left to the scholars,  bloggers and dust collecting library shelves.

On the bright side,  we do have a more modern government that prevented the kind of excesses that were available to pre-Bonapartian ruleers.  Where,  unlike most legacy government paradigms,  the powers of state are more widely distributed.  Even that homeless person,  sleeping under a bridge,  enjoys the protection of some government power,  at least in theory,  and can assert some statutory rights,  enforced by the powers of state.

If one steps back and looks at the problem from "the side of the board" it looks much different than it does to the players inside.  Which explains why many very good and sundry suggestions on government,  never make it into the codes of law,  we simply do not know how to make them practically workable.  How, for instance,  does one circumscribe executive immunity,  without effectively removing it,  to such an extent that the executive is hamstrung?   While we can speak of "stepping over the line",  in reality those "lines" are not lines at all,  but very wide, blurry,  grey areas.  While the "kibitzers view" is borne of hindsight,  which we know is 100%,  don't be persuaded by it,  instead try to turn it around and garner or fashion some guide of conduct that can be used for future events.  That is where hindsight and the "kibitzers view" fails.

Culture » January 27, 2003

Kurt Vonnegut vs. the !&#*!@

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GOP Donor Adelson Accused Of Organized Crime Ties

May 23, 2015 Alan
Posted with permission from Liberaland

 

 

A U.S. court will hear accusations that Sheldon Adelson, a major Republican donor, has ties to organized crime in China.

Las Vegas Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ruled that a hearing over the full case will take place in a Nevada courtroom, according to The Guardian, dealing a blow to Adelson, the owner of Las Vegas Sands and a major GOP political donor.
"This matter has been pending in Nevada courts for almost five years," Gonzalez said. "Judicial economy would be served by continuing his litigation in Nevada."

Ex-CIA briefer: Bush administration presented false 'intelligence' to the nation

In the much-needed pile-on lambasting the most recent round of Iraq War whitewashing, Ex-CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell appeared on the TV to say that yes, the Bush administration lied to the public about the intelligence presented to them. He was the one briefing the White House on that intelligence at the time, and so he is among the most very qualified people on earth to make that assertion. But he didn't pipe up with this at the time, you must understand, because that wasn't his job.

[CHRIS MATTHEWS]: You're the briefer for the president on intelligence, you're the top person to go in and tell him what's going on. You see Cheney make this charge he's got a nuclear bomb and then they make subsequent charges he knew how to deliver it…and nobody raised their hand and said, "No that's not what we told him." [...] MORELL: As the briefer, my job is to carry CIA's best information and best analysis to the president of the United States and make sure he understands it. My job is to not watch what they're saying on TV.

Given the magnitude of death and destruction unleashed as a result of those misrepresentations, you have to admire the man's devotion to his own job security. A true hero.

MATTHEWS: So you're briefing the president on the reasons for war, they're selling the war, using your stuff, saying you made that case when you didn't. So they're using your credibility to make the case for war dishonestly, as you just admitted. [...] MORELL: On some aspects. On some aspects.

Add this to the pile, then. There were many, many Americans that knew at the time that the intelligence being presented to justify the Iraq War was weak or simply fraudulent; the case being made against the war at the time relied on U.N. weapons inspectors, nuclear experts, foreign policy experts and others who regularly piped up to say that assertions about "aluminum tubes" or "yellowcake uranium" or an "Al-Qaeda connection" were simply false.  READ MORE

‘Prosperity Gospel’ Pastor Is Asking His Church To Buy Him A $65 Million Jet

As Jesus once said, “Blessed are rich pastors, for they deserve a private jet.”

Wait, no he didn’t. But that’s essentially the message Creflo Dollar, a prominent mega-pastor in College Park, Georgia, wants his congregants to believe.

In March, the website for World Changers Church International, Dollar’s church, launched Project G650, a campaign to purchase the 53-year-old pastor a Gulfstream G-650 luxury jet valued at roughly $65 million dollars. Dollar (yes, that’s his actual name) reportedly already owned a private plane, but encouraged members of his church — which claims around 30,000 congregants, not including thousands of online followers — to buy him a new one.

“The mission of Project G650 is to acquire a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and Taffi [his wife] and World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace,” the website read, according to the Christian Post. “We are believing for 200,000 people to give contributions of 300 US dollars or more to turn this dream into a reality — and allow us to retire the aircraft that served us well for many years.” READ MORE

The Family Research Council’s Strange Statement On Josh Duggar’s Child Molestation Confession

Josh Duggar speaking in 2014 on behalf of FRC
Action against same-sex marriage in Arkansas.

For the past few years, Josh Duggar, eldest son of the 19 in the Duggar clan, has been the face of the Family Research Council (FRC) at rallies against LGBT equality across the country. As executive director of FRC Action, the organization’s political arm, he helped fundraise for the organization, hobnob with Republican presidential contenders, and promote its anti-LGBT talking points, including claiming that his lesbian aunt “chooses” her “lifestyle” and that LGBT people are a threat to children.
But Duggar just resigned from FRC after admitting to allegations that he molested several young girls as a teenager, including some of his sisters. Details of the police report, only filed by patriarch Jim Bob Duggar more than a year after the molestation took place, first came to light through reporting from In Touch magazine and later confirmed by TMZ. In a statement to People magazine, Josh Duggar publicly confessed to his behavior and the Duggar family also acknowledged his past mistakes on Facebook. But FRC’s official response, via President Tony Perkins, was incredibly muted.  READ MORE

9 Times Josh Duggar Lectured People On Family Values Before He Admitted He Was A Child Molester

Josh Duggar, a reality TV star on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting and the oldest child of the Duggar clan, admitted that he sexually molested several young girls as a teenager. Duggar only owned up to his conduct after records of a police investigation were obtained by In Touch Magazine. He was never prosecuted because, by the time he was reported to the authorities, the statute of limitations had expired.

Prior to his admission on Thursday night, Duggar spent years crisscrossing the country as a spokesman for “traditional values.” Duggar took a job as executive director of the Family Research Council’s political arm in 2013. In that role, which he resigned on Thursday, Duggar argued that marriage equality and abortion rights — among other things — were destroying the values that he and his family embodied.

Here are nine of Duggar’s most sanctimonious moments:

1. When Josh Duggar argued that an LGBT nondiscrimination measure in Arkansas jeopardized the safety of children: 
READ MORE

Let George Do It

Just in case you haven’t heard: May 28 is the date that George Pataki will announce whether he’s running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Yes! George Pataki. Of New York. How can you not remember? He was governor for 12 years, for heaven’s sake.

Actually, I can understand how it slipped your mind. In 1999, when Pataki was still in office and much more famous than he is today, he went to New Hampshire to feel out his presidential prospects, and I remember having an argument with a cabdriver in Manchester who was sure that the governor of New York was Rudy Giuliani.

This is the season when America grows its crop of presidential candidates, and even if the names are improbable, attention must be paid.

While the Democratic side has not been particularly fertile, the Republican contenders are multiplying like gerbils. Six hats are already in the ring. On May 27, Rick (Remember Me?) Santorum will tell us where his metaphorical headwear is going. A coy tweet from Texas reveals that Mr. and Mrs. Rick Perry “have been discussing the future of this great country and how our family can play a role,” and promises “a special announcement” on June 4.

Donald Trump claims he’ll have some exciting news in June, too. It’s been a hard couple of weeks for Republicans, but the future is filled with cheer. No reason worrying about Jeb Bush cratering when you have Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Donald Trump and George Pataki to look forward to.  READ MORE