Cultural War

Why are US soldiers dying in Iraq? Is there a palatable reason for killing and maiming young people? The Sans Fromage believes we are there because of a political theory and an attempt at revenge. The US seems to be avenging 911 on a culture rather than on culprits. The US cannot win this cultural war. Do the soldiers from Pennsylvania and Montana and Arkansas understand why they are being killed in a foreign country. The Sans Fromage no longer understands why the US is in Iraq. WMD? No. 911? No. That Saddam was a bad man? Maybe but other bad men exist and have existed and the US does nothing. Do the soldiers understand the vague reasons given for their sufferings? Do the soldiers understand the poor support given to them by the US government? Most, over 50%, of the country think it was a bad idea to go to war. Why do we continue? It has become commonplace to hear of more troops killed everyday. TV news regularly present stories of maimed people and how they are coping with their loss. These stories should be rare. The US should be forced into war. It should be a last resort and should be a national sacrifice where all aspects of society are affected. We shouldn't be told to go shopping while our press-ganged youth are slaughtered. This Iraqi war was preemptive. The Bush administration chose the time and how they would carry it out. They planned abysmally. Troops are lacking basic equipment for a war Bush CHOSE to start. Iraq is a horror. We are not bringing democracy to that country. We have worsened the quality of life for Iraqis. We have liberated them of electricity, clean water, safe streets, jobs and a decent foreseeable future.
On a related topic Rumsfeld must go. He has the arrogance of a McNamara and his lack of leadership is killing American soldiers needlessly. Bush's pride is keeping him in office. Bush's pride is more important than the life of soldiers.

Prayer for Prey

The Sans Fromage must applaud Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on his recent reply to the audacious soldier asking about getting decent equipment. Mr. Rumsfeld has finally made it clear that the U.S. government doesn’t give a shit about the soldiers in Iraq but only cares about the political uses of the conflict. The Sans Fromage is glad Mr. Rumsfeld has decided to not mince words and give a false sense of hope to our soldiers press-ganged into service in a war in a country we don’t care about. Tell it like it is Donald.
If the Bush administration can’t gain political power from the war it is of no use to them. This has been a common theme of the last four years and will most probably continue for 4 more years. Look at the accomplishments of the Bush administration and you will see they are all self serving for upper class rich Americans. Meanwhile the U.S. economy is horrible, the prestige of the U.S. is at an all time low, you hear NO news concerning the space shuttle or the space station, there is no news concerning preserving the environment, no news about civil rights, no news about upgrading our faltering health care system, no news about maintenance of our infrastructure, no good news about anything. We do hear about privatization of Social Security. We do hear about this plan that will allow people to gamble with their future retirement. We do hear about this plan to enrich Wall Street and investment firms, (who were large donors to Bush’s campaign). We do hear about this plan that will begin the government’s withdrawal from providing a safety net for retirees, a scant minimum of money so people won’t starve, too quickly. We do hear of continuing tax cuts for the wealthier Americans. Remember our fearless leader is a religious man and he will pray for you as you starve. He will pray for you as he preys upon you. The Sans Fromage believes Americans are fools.

Plan for Peace in Iraq

The Sans Fromage has a plan for getting the U.S. out of Iraq. It is essential that the elections in January take place. It doesn’t matter how corrupt or how unrepresentative the elections are but once the results are known the U.S. will announce that democracy has triumphed and the U.S. mission has been accomplished. The U.S. then pulls out all of the troops, declares victory and with heads firmly in the sand, ignoring any evidence to the contrary, the Bush administration will pat themselves on the back for another job well done. The elected government in Iraq, most probably headed by that well fed puppet Ghazi al-Yawar, will be embattled and eventually, in less than a year, be forced to flee into exile to Paris where the puppet will live a cozy existence, backed by a stipend paid by the US and by the Swiss account he set up of absconded US funds, with the puppet occasionally making noises in the press about returning to establish the legitimate government in Iraq while suffering gout and clogged arteries from all of that rich French food he dines on. Iraq will then be ruled by some theocracy that will force the country down to the level of Afghanistan. The U.S. will bemoan the failure of the Iraqi people to uphold the great democracy they established and will look down their noses at the crude, ignorant people. Eventually the heat of the theocracy will cool and some deal will be brokered, behind the scenes, with the U.S. buying oil from the corrupt leaders of the country, who will squirrel away the money into Swiss accounts for future Paris retirement.

Work

Why does the Sans Fromage hate work? After a week off from work I grew accustom to a simple, peaceful life of books, errands, food and movies interspersed with some chores. The Sans Fromage speculated what home life would be like if it was more like work. Consider making the bed. People would come and sit on the bed and say they booked the bed for this time months ago and it isn’t their problem if the bed was double booked. Other people would unmake the bed to show that they have more power than you. Your manager would tell you to remake the bed after others unmade it because it reflects poorly on him and his career. Others who didn’t make their bed would complain about the lack of bed making training and why should you be able to make your bed without training since you might be doing it wrong. Someone, when your back in turned, spills coffee on the bed. Someone else steals the pillow. A new hire, assigned to help make the bed, disappears for three days and reappears with a proposal to get rid of the bed and sleep on the floor. Your manager considers the proposal because the new hire is the off-spring of a higher-up manager. Your manager suggests you build a finite element model of the bed since the bed making is obvious a non-linear problem and he needs the model by tomorrow for a presentation to a department store having a white sale. The government shows up and measures the blanket and finds that it drapes 8.7” off the left side and 8.86” off the right side and that it doesn’t meet the spec that calls for 8.5” of blanket drape and wants a report written addressing the cost of excess drape. Your manager loves this because you have a cost-plus contract and he considers the report to be out of spec thus enabling him to charge the government for a new laptop and a laser drape measuring tool plus your time for writing the report. The government argues that it is in spec and wants to have a meeting in their offices which are three hours away so you have to drive there and back in one day and you get home at 9:00 PM with no decision, and your bed still isn’t made.

Moron Elect

The Sans Fromage stole this from William Gibson's blog:

"...the larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, the first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide...the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre... The presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people... On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a moron."--H.L. Mencken, writing in The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

Thanks Bill, love your books. http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/

The Sans Fromage agrees with this quote from George Will:
"The filibuster is an important defense of minority rights, enabling democratic government to measure and respect not merely numbers but also intensity in public controversies. Filibusters enable intense minorities to slow the governmental juggernaut. Conservatives, who do not think government is sufficiently inhibited, should cherish this blocking mechanism. And someone should puncture Republicans' current triumphalism by reminding them that someday they will again be in the minority."

The Sans Fromage does not like the bowtie.