What’s Wrong with Iraq Again?

Call me stupid if you must and think you are able to defend it, but what is the problem with the Iraq war again? As far as I can see, Iraq is THE right war at THE right place and THE right time. All the criticisms I hear daily are hollow, oft-repeated lies and/or irrelevancies that gain traction with weak politicians incapable of fighting for principle any more and people stuck in the sixties. Live in the now, people.

Let’s review the criticisms one by one.

• Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction: So what? That wasn’t the basis for the attack. The basis for attacking was that the dictator who lost the first Gulf War that he started 12 years earlier ignored the terms of his surrender. Prior to being invaded, he led us, and the world, to believe that he would retaliate with WMDs in hopes of preventing the enforcement of 17 U.N. resolutions. Anyway, we know he had WMDs because he used them on the Kurds in the 1980s. Verdict: criticism is an irrelevant lie.
• Saddam was not in league with Al Qaeda: Again, so what? That wasn’t the basis for the attack either. Besides, who says that Al Qaeda is the only enemy we should attack? In any case, they follow the same philosophy of ruling the world through terror. It’s a little like the triple-Axis of WWII where if you pay too much attention to Germany, Japan would come after you. Yeah, we should have waited for that to happen (heavy sarcasm). Verdict – the criticism is irrelevant, but given past human history, would probably have become a lie given a few more years.
• We should be going after Al Qaeda; they are the ones who attacked us: You might want to wake up and see that Al Qaeda is who we are fighting in Iraq. Oh sure, there is the Iranian influence aiding and abetting Al Qaeda, but without Al Qaeda, the Iranian government is nothing. Verdict – the criticism is a denial of what we are already doing – a flat-out lie.
• Soldiers are dying in Iraq: That’s right. Soldiers die in wars. The only way to prevent soldiers from dieing in a war is to surrender. The real issue is whether the current engagement and risk of lost treasure is worth the cause. The cause is the survival of civilization since there is no civilization on earth that does not violate Islamic law as interpreted by Al Qaeda. Verdict – True, but irrelevant, fact based on all the other factors on this page and elsewhere.
• We are less safe now than on 9/11/2001 – 3,000 Americans died on 9/11/2001; 0 since then to-date. Verdict: A lie told to you by people who believe you are a retarded, cool-aid drinker. Don’t be.
• The world is less safe now than on 9/11/2001 – Since 9/11/2001 there have been a number of attacks around the globe by terrorists in Madrid, London, and elsewhere. Most of the socialist governments in Europe have lacked the balls to deal with internal threats and many have paid the price. If they haven’t had an attack yet, they will. Russia has seen the terrorist threat to the United States as an opportunity to attempt to revive the old Soviet Union, by making our task more difficult, blocking efforts at every turn. Vladimir Putin, like all socialists, is just not smart enough to realize that he also is a target of Al Qaeda. Verdict: This one is true, but not because of the Iraq war.
• World opinion is against us – Who gives a rat’s ass? Do we have the moral courage to stand up for what is right and, in the process, our own survival or not? The United States is the greatest country the world has ever known, and it did not get to be that way by following world opinion? We ought to be ignoring the U.N. like Saddam did. We, except for the liberal Democrat leadership, are unlikely to attack ourselves over U.N. resolutions, and nobody else has the resources or the guts. Verdict: irrelevant.
• If we stopped the aggression in Iraq, everything would be OK: Yeah, because that worked so well in the days leading up to 9/11/2001 (heavy sarcasm). Incidentally, what is going on in Iraq is not aggression; it is the enforcement of 17 UN resolutions. If you like the U.N., you should be happy that someone is giving it teeth. If you don’t, then let me hear you argue for U.N. dissolution. Verdict: doesn’t deserve a response, but here is one anyway. Try not to criticize while on hallucinogenic drugs from now on.

So I ask again, what is the problem with the Iraq war? It is none of the above for sure. The only real problem is that the Iraqi people have not yet won it. And if WE surrender, THEY never will win it and we all lose.

Wake up and defend your world while you still have one to defend.

The Politically Correct Alphabet

It’s not going to be long now before we face a threat more threatening to civilization than global warming. We’re going to run out of alphabet due to political correctness. In the beginning, there was the “N-word” – OK. As we have “progressed” through the PC evolution, we have unspeakable words for most of our letters. We have a few particularly naughty letters for which we have multiple words, the most notorious of which is “C.” When someone refers to the “C” word, I sometimes think about it for a minute or two just for kicks and then guess which “C-word” they were referring to rather than waste even more of my life continuing a counterproductive mini-quest.

In the past few weeks we have, thanks to Don Imus and Al Sharpton, added a new wrinkle to the politically correct alphabet - another “N” word – “nappy”, another “H” word – “Ho”, and 2 “N” phrases “nappy-headed” and “nappy-headed ho.” I assume a word or phrase has been added whenever someone loses a job over the word or phrase.

So let’s see how much of the alphabet we have left for use. A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, and T are taken. So far as I know we still have E, I, K, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z available. I can actually think of a word or two for some of those remaining letters, but they haven’t been mainstreamed by actual news stories, documented offenses, or firings yet, but they will – never fear.

Although, PC-ness has always been a pain in the A--, at its beginning, it had a noble purpose – to keep from unnecessarily and unfairly offending people. It has, of course, like all noble endeavors, been turned over to the lunatic fringe to take too far. How can you possibly take a noble endeavor too far?

For one thing, you can decide that you don’t want to offend the lunatic fringe, who will take over given the slightest opportunity. Let’s get one thing straight – the lunatic fringe deserves to be offended. Why? - Because they are lunatics. I really shouldn’t have needed to explain that. However, if that’s not enough of a reason, the nature of the lunatic fringe is to make absolutely certain that their interests are served – fully and to the exclusion of all others’ interests – much like radical Islamic terrorists. That will, by definition offend all moderates at some point and “PC” will become a “PITA”, and it has. It has also become a tool for hiding truth and logic as well as delaying or blocking the addressing of real issues – like a doctor who prescribes cough medicine for lung cancer.

For example, it is unacceptable to say the actual “N” word, but it is acceptable to say “the ‘N’ word.” It means the same thing, except that saying “the ‘N’ word” conveys the message that you yourself are offended by the actual “N” word, which is usually BS. So PC-ness has, in a very real sense, created a lie and forced you to tell it. You have not really addressed the issue, which should have been to accept and value people for their uniqueness, including those differences that are not under their control and don’t matter in anything other than a Darwinian evolutionary context. In many instances it has exacerbated the problem by delaying a real solution; problems not addressed, get worse.

For another, PC-ness assumes that people are less tolerant than they otherwise would be. When you lower expectations of tolerance, some people in every offend-able group will live down to your expectations as well as demanding that you lower your expectations even more. If you do, you will offend moderates who you will never, ever lower you expectation of tolerance for. If you don’t, you will offend those demanding that you do. Either way, “PC” will (and has) become a “PITA.”

So in closing, let me say that I JCHFS with my OL and HAB, and if you spend more than a microsecond trying to figure that one out you’re an F’ing Idiot, or should I say FI. Oops, there went another letter. We certainly don’t want to offend idiots.

Translation: I just came home from shopping with my old lady and had a blast. I’m pretty certain that will offend somebody, somewhere.

Lies – The Price of Discrimination

On 3/14/07, I published an article titled “Why Did America lie to my generation.” I promised more and I am promising more yet. It’s important and is yet another issue our politicians should be paying attention to but are not because they are too busy trying keep themselves in office.

This article outlines some of the costs of discrimination of various kinds. Knowledge of the cost forces us to ask ourselves if maintaining prejudice is worth the cost. You may think this is a no-brainer in 2007 and if so, good for you. Unfortunately, that is not everyone’s reality as some discrimination is still widespread despite its lack of affordability and stress level increase.

The price of discrimination is that you lose the unique contribution of the class of people that you discriminate against. The price of lying about discrimination is that you lose the contribution of the class of people you are pretending not to discriminate against, plus you further alienate them, plus you will eventually have to eliminate discrimination for real, resulting in at least a double-billing of the investment required to accomplish real non-discrimination.

Sometimes the price can be counted in dollars. Sometimes the price is that we just feel like crap because we know we did the wrong thing. That is a valid cost because that’s what dollars do for us too. Dollars make us feel better because we can bask in the financial security they provide. Either way we, as humans, need to feel good regardless of the feel-good dimension or cause.

Race – we instinctively know it’s wrong to discriminate on the basis of race (at least most of us do). In terms of dollars, we are deprived of the perspective and ideas as well as the maximized economic and tax contribution of about 13% of the U.S. population. We also deprive ourselves and our children of the fruits of our labor as we pour tax money into a welfare system doomed to failure from the beginning, hated by both those who fund it and its recipients.

Gender – Again, we know this type of discrimination is wrong. Discrimination against 50%+ of the population is no longer discrimination; it’s civil war. We also know it’s futile because women will have their revenge no matter what. They always have; they always will. They also see things differently than men, which makes them invaluable in businesses where reaching out to women is essential, which includes every business worth mentioning.

Disabled persons – We are inspired by seeing the disabled being productive in much the same way that we are inspired by putting a human on the moon. There are, obviously potential downsides, hence the word “disabled.” However, these are the people who point out the mistakes we make in taking people and things for granted – the things we never thought about before we allowed them to contribute – ramp access on sidewalks replacing curbs, for example.

Sexual orientation – About the only way to understand anyone who discriminates on this basis any more is that we all know that it’s annoying to have homosexuality thrown in your face, just as it is to have anything thrown it your face. I am not suggesting a “don’t ask, don’t tell” scenario. I am suggesting an “I don’t care, don’t bother me with it” scenario. This is almost totally within the control of the affected class. Having said that, we welcome the creativity and other contributions brought to the table by these community members and miss them when they are absent.

Veteran Status – It doesn’t seem right to be discriminated against because you defended your country. It is currently popular to give war veterans a break. Well, I’m one of them and I don’t remember any breaks, mainly because my war was very unpopular. In fact, I remember some pretty crappy treatment courtesy of Jane Fonda and Jane Fonda wannabes. They are currently at it again, so beware active veterans. The tide can turn on you quickly. For what it’s worth, you’ll always have me. From a dollar perspective, there is the potential for a substantial loss of experience – and not just any experience. We throw away the dogged determination, thorough-training, and crisis-seasoned experience that we need in the business world of 2007 and beyond.

Religion & National Origin – Let’s face it. The problems we face in today’s world – the important problems, the issues of survival – are foisted upon us through the vehicle of religion, and implemented through the tools of state (nationalism). It is time we resurrected a basic truth. Your freedom ends where my space begins. That having been said, no serious person in America believes in this type of discrimination. Profiling is a different matter. That being said, it is the members of these classes who, by attempting to protect the few bad seeds or by rubbing our noses in a known dimension of danger (like the Minnesota Imams did), make the rest of us wary of them all. The vast majority of us want to give you opportunity and benefit from your unique culture. Help us.

Age – We don’t want to go quietly into our golden years. We weren’t raised in quiet times; we didn’t grow up in quiet times; we didn’t foster quiet times; we don’t see quiet times ahead; we aren’t ready for quiet times. We also don’t relish the idea of draining the Social Security system and depriving our children of this valuable resource. This is the dollar cost of age discrimination. If the Social Security is depleted, it will be through the discriminatory actions of those who put us out to pasture.

The common thread through all these elements of discrimination is expressed in a very old, very good book – the best-selling book of all time, in fact.

“…for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)