Poor rickety Helen Thomas is out of a job. She’s just a couple months short of ninety, and she got fired. That front row seat at President’s and other news conferences will be occupied by someone else from now on. She made a hideous error. She asked Obama at his first news conference just a week or so ago, “What’s the excuse for being in Afghanistan, and how long will we be there?” Of course he won’t meet the reporters with a news conference, because someone may ask him about his college grades, or birth certificate. But he did take the chance, there was brazen Helen, asking him a very pertinent question. It was answered with gibberish. because the only answer which would be truthful would be, ’Bush started it, and I’m going to stop it right now and bring troops home pronto.’ If he did that, he might have a tiny chance of getting re-elected, but I hope not.
(Obama is a liberal, but liberals are now called ’progressives,’ and I’d like to know why. Male homosexuals are called ’gay,’ which is a slanderous use of that word. Who starts this misuse of the English language anyway?)
We’ve been in Afghanistan for over nine years now, and at a cost of more than a trillion paper dollars, with over a thousand American troops killed, and thousands and thousands probably injured for life. The huge cost in lives, artillery, vehicles, and humanity is incredible, plus the fact that by anyone’s admission, we’re not winning.
The Russians left Afghanistan with their tails between their legs, abandoning thousands of tons of military equipment. They couldn’t win, so we decided that we could win? The French left Vietnam with their heads lowered in defeat, and we decided we could win? We didn’t, and the Vietnam tragedy cost 59,000 American lives, hundreds of thousands of huge permanent health impairments, and over a trillion paper dollars, which were were worth at least three times what they are worth now, or in today’s dollars, over three trillion bucks. What for?
Did Korea, Harry Truman’s War, make any sense? Did LBJ’s Vietnam make any sense? Does Bush’s Afghanistan or Iraq make any sense? Of course not! Why then, did we waste American lives and prosperity fighting useless and pointless wars? Was it, and is it, to keep the Military-Industrial Complex alive and prosperous? That’s the one Eisenhower warned us about, if you are old enough to remember. Is it real prosperity to make guns, bullets, bombs and military aircraft and vehicles? Absolutely not, because all this stuff is paid with taxpayer dollars. Is it prosperity to lose loved ones in wars that coming home veterans almost 100% say was pointless?
For years upon years, and I mean many decades, I have been advocating strict neutrality for America, and I have been accused of all sorts of things, such as being ’un-American,’ or other nonsense. Is it ’un-American,’ wimpish, or being a weakling, to advocate minding our own business, and protecting our shores with the world’s best army, navy, and air force? Is it un-American, to stay home and not make people such as Muslims and Arabs hate us for invading their lands? Would there be any ’terrorism’ threats, if we had not gone to Iraq or Afghanistan?
Just imagine how valuable our dollars would be now, if we hadn’t printed trillions of them to fight pointless, expensive wars. Think of the jobs gone overseas that would still be here, if our dollars had any value. They have lost value because of other foolish spending, which created an underclass and millions of dependents on Uncle Sam, but without Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the buck would still be a lot more valuable, and we would still have more jobs left here.
After nine long years, and still not winning, isn’t it time to admit defeat and get out? We did it in Vietnam. Is Iraq better off now than under Saddam? No. Before we invaded Iraq, Baghdad and Iraq was beautiful, and under the strict rule of Saddam. Was he a brute? Yes, but it was none of our business. He’s dead now, and Iraq is a bombed out mess, with dozens every week being killed with car bombs, and other atrocious acts. The Iraq legislature and democracy are a standing joke, and where is the oil profits that were to pay for this? Another joke. We financed Saddam’s war on Iran, and that certainly was a great thing to do now, wasn’t it? Who cares if democracy spreads around the world? We don’t have it since the 17th Amendment was passed anyway, and as a result of that, we have nothing to show off to anyone.
Why can’t we seal our border with Mexico? Who’s profiting from that absurdity? Someone must be, or there would be a hundred foot high fence there, buried 25 feet deep. It all comes down to the Tea Party Movement, and tonight, we’ll see how strong it is when the primary results are known. Go Tea Partiers!
P.S. Happy 200th birthday to Robert Schumann, (June 8, 1810 – July 29, 1856), one of the great composers, whose wife Clara was one of history’s greatest pianists. He began studying piano when he was six, and immediately began writing music. Schumann met Clara when she was nine, and he 25. It was one of history’s greatest love affairs, which produced eight children. Robert Schumann composed hundreds of songs, piano concertos, and four magnificent symphonies.