Where's the Outrage? - Gary Kamiya

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

A real antiwar movement would end our Iraq disaster. But the middle class doesn't care enough to protest, so the kids who go to community college will keep dying.

So now we wait for the end. The man who led America into the most disastrous war in its history has run out of tricks, out of troops and out of time. It is no longer a question of whether George W. Bush's presidency will officially die, but when -- and how many more Americans will have to die before it does.

We find ourselves, almost four years into the Iraq war, in a very strange situation. What do you do when it has become obvious that the leader of your country is -- there is no kinder way to put this -- a delusional fool? And that his weird fantasy war is hopelessly and irretrievably lost? Apparently, you just wait. The Democrats are raging and ranting, but they will not cut off funds. Still crippled by their fear of being labeled "soft on national security," the majority party will watch the end from a safe distance, like survivors who quickly paddle away from a doomed ship to avoid being pulled down in the suction when it goes down...

When America got rid of the draft, it also got rid of the ultimate check against presidents who lead the nation into foolish wars: people power. I am not advocating a return of the draft. But its absence is undeniably the single largest reason that there is no antiwar movement. People are capable of genuine concern for their fellow citizens, but self-interest is an exponentially more powerful driving force.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/01/16/antiwar/

[rodeodance]

1. love the 'fool'

[Kablooie]

2. The one thing Bushies are expert in is keeping the top on the kettle.

Somehow they seem in touch with how far they can go before things explode.
(And it's a lot farther than most would expect)

They never quite push it off the edge. I've got to give them credit
for this.

Even now with Bush's unbelievable decisions he seems to know that he can
get away with it and no one will stop him. And so far he's right. All I
hear is Congress writing up futile reports with no teeth. In a way it's
a kind of genius. An idiot-savant kind of genius.

If only they could have used this remarkable skill for good instead of evil.