America Used To Be Really Goddamn Awesome

I've been captivated by Ken Burns' The War this week and it struck me how awesome America used to be.

The prevailing attitude of the ladies and gentlemen featured in Burns' film, and by proxy all Americans of that era, was that if we had to fight a war, we had better do it right. Clearly and with little dissent, we had to fight that war, and without fail, Americans rallied together to do it really damn well.

People from every corner of the nation selflessly pooled their resources for the great cause of World War II, and I'm not sure about this one, but I don't think President Roosevelt ever once asked the country to sacrifice by going to the mall. And I'm pretty sure he didn't outsource the construction of tanks, Flying Fortresses, Hellcats and Thunderbolts to Mexico and China. That's a hell of a thing by today's standards, isn't it?

We've fallen so far from what we used to be, even as recently as thirty years ago when the comparatively liberal president Richard Nixon opened a dialogue with Red China, whilst Mao supplied arms to North Vietnam. One day long ago, it was okay to wish for an end to a war, without being accused of hating the soldiers who were fighting it. It was once a given that socialized public education, police, fire departments, roads, parks, national defense and the constitutionally mandated General Welfare & Domestic Tranquility were simply a part of the American way of life and would always be there.

And when our nation had to go to war, we would be there for her.

Conversely, when we crumble to the pressure of our reactionary and authoritarian elements, we get Japanese internment camps, the rise of the military industrial complex, and men turned away from service due to the color of their skin. Some of our greatest failures have been conceived when our irrationality, fear and lust for power overrule our traditional American ideals -- even during our finest hours as a nation.

And now, 50 years later, in our lives and times, we get President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney.

The Bush Years have been a monumental, cataclysmic failure on most fronts due to its inattention to what has, historically, made American great. The president and his thinning ranks of fawn-eyed Hannities don't understand this yet. They don't understand it mostly because they're too ignorant -- blinded by sloganeering -- to the very basic reality that Bush Republican style government, in practice, is about as successful and practical as a paper condom. It always has been.

Nowhere is this more apparent than when they compare the Bush Wars to World War II. It's a desperate notion, one that seeks to conflate our current president with greatness he doesn't deserve and an historical legacy he will never achieve. It's also meant to inflate our current "enemies" to Hitler status, and thus proving the case for war.

The comparison is pure horseshit. (Say nothing of the fact that it elevates Bin Laden or the late Saddam or the present Ahmadinejad to a level of villainy they also don't deserve. It's like saying a doofus villain like Solomon Grundy is the next Lex Luthor. I'm sure they appreciate being granted superpowers enough to take over the world, though.)

If it's so fucking important to stay in Iraq, and if it's so fucking important to invade Iran -- and if it's so fucking important to wiretap your phones and read your mail, and to shit all over your constitutional rights and the Geneva Conventions -- and all of it is part of a larger World War II style conflict, then why aren't the Bushies taking their metaphors seriously by demanding the sacrifices of World War II?

Did President Roosevelt cut taxes or ask veterans to pay higher deductibles? Did President Roosevelt outsource the army by hiring no-bid corporate mercenaries?

From the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan, automobile manufacturers stopped making cars in lieu of manufacturing hardware for the war effort. Can you imagine, among all of the scrap metal drives -- the rationing of everything from gasoline to frying pan fat -- if Roosevelt had allowed SUV drivers to receive tax breaks in which sheer vehicular tonnage was rewarded at the peril of even one American G.I.?

If the quintessential symbol of the American character in World War II was Rosie The Riveter, the poster for the Bush Wars has to be that of an SUV driver receiving a tax break while sucking down enough Saudi oil to drive to a mall where he's expected to buy lead-tainted crapola manufactured overseas -- a yellow ribbon hypocrite magnet dangling just above his exhaust pipe and several inches from a fading W04 sticker. The caption: "The Bush Patriot Says: 'I'm On It, Mr. President!'"

The Bushies can't possibly take their own World War II metaphor seriously because they don't truly believe in the comparison.

They know, as you and I do, that these wars have little to do with stopping a new Hitler. If we peel back the layers -- if you look at what truly drives little childish men like Hannity and Cheney and Kristol, you'll find that it has little to do with liberating nations from an occupying Nazi force and ending a brutal holocaust. Beneath the pasty white surface of a typical Bush Republican you'll find greed, fear, ignorance, anger and a basic lack of understanding of America's place on the world stage. They're traits that drive nations into unnecessary wars. They're also traits that often breed cowardice.

To wit... Those of you demanding a war in Iran, I have one question for you. And no, I'm not going to employ the tired military service argument, but I must ask you this: what is the very minimum you're doing right now to prepare for your war? Are you refusing to support further tax cuts or pumping less "Islamofascist" oil into your SUV tank?

You're probably not doing anything because all you're expected to do is to say that you support the troops (what does that mean in practice?). And as long as you don't oppose the president as he dismantles the Constitution in favor of a corporate police state, then you've contributed to your president's war effort. That's the Bush Republican way. Oh, and to shop. You have go to Disneyland and buy shit you don't need at the mall (what the fuck is a Webkinz?).

How will the Ken Burns of the future portray the Bush Wars? I imagine that a large part of a future documentary about these times will detail what Rick Perlstein sublimely referred to this week as the destruction of America's character.

Whoever the future Ken Burns might be (hopefully, it'll be Ken Burns), he or she will have to dig deep into the destruction of our national character and detail the stories of torture and secret detention facilities; outsourced corporate thugs murdering foreign civilians; government scare tactics without substance -- it'll be a documentary in part about your non-military friends and family who supported this president's war but who sacrificed nothing in its execution.

So here we are in late 2007. The president believes that history will vindicate his efforts to destroy the American character and to bring about the ascendancy of neo-conservatism. After all, he fancies himself the new McKinley -- or is it George Washington? Is he Lincoln this week or Truman? Is he still fighting the Vietnam War or is it World War II? Korea or the Civil War? Goddamn him and his marble-mouthed horseshit. That's exactly why it has to be up to you and me to write the history -- the truth -- now. It won't be a proud endeavor because there has been little to be proud of, but we have to make sure that future Americans know exactly what happened in the Bush Years and in the Bush Wars.

The pendulum keeps swinging further to the right and seldom in our generation has it swung all the way back. When a president can look you in the eye and say he's going to veto healthcare for children, and his people are fine with that; and when the same sales pitch for Iraq is being employed for Iran -- and it's working, what else can you say about that fucking pendulum?

_______________
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Comments

[Florida08]

Thank you very much for this article.
What are we going to do about it other than blog?

[dadw5boys]

Americans are seeing the failure of the REGEAN PRIVATIZATION SCHEME.
People are finally realizing that in Economic's the Privatization only secures the wealthy or those who can pay the high fees. All over the world Privatization of Services is failing. Privatization ruined Argentina and even in Atlanta Privatization of the City Water System failed. For profit only supports those who are willing and able to pay double or triple the real price for a service.
Going Global was the most AGRESSIVE CAPITALIST statement ever made. Going AFTER all the NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. It is not just Oil they want to Privatize. Imagine like in Atlanta they Privatize your water and then supply only enough pump pressure to the high income neighborhoods and not even enough pressure for the Fire Department to fight fires.
All over the world Privatization is failing because, like the corporations in the USA, they are taking high salaries, large bonuses, and take too much of the profits out of business. This more important than making the business a sustainable for the long term which means long term debt, low salaries for the owners and no profit taking for many years.
Much like the Idea of Black Water a Private Army is not only a failure because of their own inability to control their overeager hired killers the cost of their services are 40 to 50% high than maintaining a standing army of 400,000 men plus the Reserves.

[CutAlongThisLine]

There have always been crooks, but youth has always stepped up to right that pendulum.
Where's the next Bob Dylan or Joan Baez? I blame the 20-something non-voters and their parents for the last presidential election and the one before. Hey Mom & Dad- at least show them where the polling station is, or better yet move them to the swing states and set up a registration drive.

[Jen326]

The blame should be placed where it belongs - on the Reagan/Bush/Clinton (yes, Clinton)/Bush Jr administrations and every person that served in their administrations.

I am 25 years old. I was born in 1982, one year after Reagan took office. While my parents were supporting his decisions to destroy the middle class that afforded us our lifestyle, I was either a fetus or in diapers. How dare you blame this mess on me? I wasn't even able to vote until 2000.

I'm so tired of baby boomers saying "Where's the young?" Where are you? Last I checked, Republican funding and support is coming from older people. Sean Hannity, Bill Kristol, Bush, Cheney, Condi (the list goes on) are all in your generation. Where's your blame?

And besides, (although I could keep this argument going) we don't have time to play the blame game. All of us, young and old, need to come together and decide on a goal and make it happen. I personally believe the goal should be impeachment, because as we all know, as long as Bush and his co-conspirators are in office, we will have 2 or 3 wars, crappy healthcare, and the possibility of martial law.

The bickering amongst us Americans needs to stop. Let's rally around each other and throw these criminals out of office.

Who's with me?

[amazedandoutraged]

I'm with you, Jen; as a young, vibrant 65 year old. I think the complaint is more a wish that more young people would pay attention to what is happening to this country and get out and vote. It's more their future than ours, the elders. It is a known statistic that the old folks vote in much larger proportion than do the young. I know we don't have all the distractions that the young do, but damnit--know the draft is coming, and an active police state, if these maniacs aren't stopped. I'm not really directing this at you, personally; I'm just trying to get out the vote.

ps. I would welcome impeachment, as well. I've sent my e-mails, made my calls. We are being ignored.

Nothing would be more exciting to me than to see the youth stand up and fight this criminal regime!

[krissymax]

Clinton can takes some responsibility, but I am sick of people blaming them for GWB's war and his outrageous conduct. At least during the Clinton years there was relative peace and prosperity. George W. Bush's plan is perpetual war to line the pockets of Blackwater, Haliburton, etc. He is a shameless war-monger that behaves like an idiot. When I watched his press conference on September 20, 2007, I commented out load that observing him talk and discuss issues makes you believe that he is either drunk, on drugs, or completely insane! Thank goodness there are young people like you, but you a rare.

[Mack20]

Ive said it more than once folks - TERM LIMITS!

[CarmanK]

In our school system, every student is registered to vote on their 18th birthday. Every member of my family is registered to vote, and votes. If they don't vote, they don't participate in political conversations - actions speak louder than words. In our family, it matters.

[nancytheragingliberal]

Nicely written. Agreed. When I looked at "W" 's leering face, and here he was running for office, I shuddered. I said to myself, "Americans will not recognize this country when this madman is done." How unfortunate that I was correct. Millions of dead and maimed people and the carnage continues full steam ahead. Dem's? Ha, what a joke. The party of frightened, cowering children. Boy, do we have a lot to look forward to, right Americans?

[TadAllagash]

Here here, Bob!

What a great post.

I have been saying for a while, the number one issue that we on the Left HAVE to address isn't Iraq, or the environment, or Health Care or anything other than Media Consolidation.

Because it is this corporate Media (and their tendency to marginalize real debate and anything that will embarass the Republican heads of commerce) that prevent us from making REAL progress on ANY of the leading issues of the day, and the serious issues we face.

Want to change the world. Take back your media and don't let four or five conservative white men control everything you see and hear.

Fight Media Consolidation.

[CarmanK]

Vote Democratic and restore the integrity of the FCC and the SEC. Perhaps, media moguls like Murdoch etc.. won't have enough money to buy the US air waves.

[NewZone]

The problem is the people are too beholden to the MSM, now thanks to the internet that is going to neverland. Who watches CNN/ABC and the rest of the crap, I can't even bring myself to go to cnn.com
Heres a story you won't catch on CNN:
A mysterious Missourian and Rudy Giuliani backer once found guilty of biting a woman on the butt is behind a scheme to chew off a chunk of California for Republicans in 2008.

Charles Hurth, a Union, Mo., lawyer, is the only registered agent of Take Initiative America, a corporation formed to change how California's 55 electoral college votes are apportioned.

All that's known about Hurth is that jurors made him pay $27,500 in 1990 to a woman he bit on the buttocks, and he gave the former mayor's campaign $2,000 in March. He did not return calls from the Daily News.

[CarmanK]

I like CNN especially Lou Dobbs and Anderson Cooper. Jack Cafferty ain't bad either.

[Texashogfan]

Michael Ware should be added to your list-- whenever CNN is brave enough to air his comments. I'd love to have CNN International in the US. Anyone know who we can lobby to get it here? Beyond the one hour/day?

[whomung]

well said.....

[StillAmused]

Powerful piece.

Many of us 'boomers', old enough to have grown up in the immediate afterglow of the era so effectively depicted by Burns, now stand in slack-jawed disbelief... disbelief at how 60-plus years of prosperity and conspicuous consumption have dulled the fine American edge honed by the cataclysmic challenge of World War II.

Funny, the things one remembers... for me, one was the ease with which the word, "kill", dripped from the lips of this mockery of a president and his collaborators when the ugly opportunity of 9/11 enabled the demons they'd been harboring in their warped psyches.

Odd, isn't it? Having lived through Korea and Vietnam, it still stunned me how easily, even cavalierly, the word was spoken... and how casually its invocation came to be reported by a dispassionate, stenographic press.

It's all been downhill since.

[WolfLarsen]

Warfare has not ceased since we learned to walk upright and use a tool. From that day forward we have used a obscene amount of resources to refine the art of killing one another. We glorify it to the point it becomes a religion. Can you imagine what our world would look like if we had found a way to live with one another instead of plotting to destroy ourselves?

World War II was the last justifiable war because it was a war we tried to avoid and couldn't. The wars since than have been wars we sought out. Now the wars today are purely for the benefit of American corporations. We allow it. We glorify the obscene and denigrate the peaceful. We are animals that have not risen far from the fight or flight responses ingrained within all of us so many generations ago. The major differences between what we are now and what we were 50,000 years ago are we are more efficient at killing one another. We should be. All other human endeavors pale in relation to the effort we have put into our own demise.

War is written into the history of every country on Earth and the fact that new chapters are being written on a daily basis is heartbreaking. It will be a great day when the history of human conflict will have only a blank page to pass on for posterity. A great day indeed.

[DemandTruth]

The only thing that rivals our inventiveness at finding ways to kill each other is our inventiveness at finding ways to kill our planet. The ONE thing we all have in common -- the place where we all live.

[HBeachbum]

When did Germany attack us again?

[Annette]

Read your history. We declared war on Germany and Italy after they declared war on us in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Even though as part of the Tripartite pact Germany was not required to declare war on the US they did so on December 11,1941 along with Italy. We then declared war on them in return.

[CarmanK]

Jimmy Carter tried to make peace, and he got clobbered. The illusion of the American cowboy, in the person of the great Bush pretender, is still alive and well. One can only hope that we will recognize that it takes more courage to make peace than war.

[WheelofVoter]

The pendulum is stuck because we are blogging and not taking it to the white house steps. America's "dedicated complacency" is difficult to undo. The mass addiction to the internet, cable, porn has everyone fat and happy enough to stay uninvolved as long as they don't have to do anything. The GOP has tapped that "escapism" need. They made this war so easy on us that it was hard to complain. Nevermind that the GOP has been wrong on almost EVERY SINGLE ISSUE. The facts never support their positions. Fixing the voting machines is the only solution. Most people are moderate and will vote their conscience, they just won't do any fucking more than that. Webkinz are stuffed animals you buy and then register online and take of/adobt. They are another virtual distraction for our children. While I have bought about 30 of them, I also tell my children Bush is evil, the War is wrong, the voting machines are rigged and Exxon is running the country. We are all waiting for the next election to win this thing back fair and square. Sledge-hammering touch-screen voting machines is a major step back to sanity. Stop pounding your head on the wall. Conspiracy is a live and well. Corporations are the conspirators and we are minstrels.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

You couldn't be more frightfully right WheelofVoter. It will be the machines that decide the next election... or whoever makes them.

[urbangreen]

I was struck by the scene in the WWII documentary when the pilot tells how they tried to put a price on their services saying what they would charge before flying each mission. As time went on, the surviving pilots realized it was impossible to pay for the service they were rendering as volunteers.

Today we pay merceneries to fight our wars of aggression and occupy the countries we smash.

[CintiBlue]

I caught that too, urbangreen!

It was such a quiet rememberance, I wondered if it jumped out at anyone.

[JoeKoz451]

"... iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses. ..."
(Juvenal, Satire 10.77-81)

("... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man,
the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time
handed out military command, high civil office, legions - everything, now
restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things:
bread and circuses.")

[racetoinfinity]

People don't want to believe the corpo-fascist structure being jammed into what should be the most progressed country on the planet....so they don't look. Greed and fear prevail.

Darkness, darkness....

We need people in the light to protest en masse, no war in Iran, restore our Constitution and all our liberties, as they are in Myanmar.

But we sink to bread and circuses.

Falling, falling....

[Mack20]

Bob, you never cease to amaze me. I guess you feel you cant make a passionate point without swearing like a sailor. Hold on, most swearing sailors have enough sense and class not to swear so LOUDLY in public.

Sixty Five years ago (not 50), the average American had a pretty straight moral compass. Most of our values came from our families, our church and our communities. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited everyday in school.

I think we can blame you and your liberal ilk for the decline of the American culture.
Over the last several years your politicians have created a dependent society with the welfare state. Why help poor minorities succeed when you can create dependant voters that feel like victims and are sure to reelect their democratic benefactors. Violence and crime skyrocketed in the sixties with the inception of The Great Society. The Black family nucleus began to breakdown when marriage was a penalty for welfare and basic family values were discarded.

How about public education? You leftists have had control of all levels for decades. Meanwhile, our kids are fat, dumb and clueless. PE and recess have declined. Geography, math and science are minimized while sex education, liberal interpreted history, and world tolerance is preached. Al Gores stupid global warming movie is the most shown in todays classroom. Competition has been eliminated in many public systems. Not a very good way to prepare our youth for the real world. No need to get into higher education. All we need to say about that is TENURE.

Remember a guy named Neville Chamberlain? In case you forgot he an was anti-war, liberal peace nick, that believed every word Hitler spoke. Remember the Munich Accord? Peace in our time. Remember that? British, French and American liberals of the time were so hypnotized by the fascists, they were paralyzed when the Nazis invaded Poland. I could spend pages and pages giving you a history lesson and how it relates to todays climate. But Ms. H. has a word limit and I better call it quits for now.

[charon]

Mack, what universe do you live in? 65 years ago America's moral compass was straight? You been smokin' da good stuff?

Before WWII gangsters ran rampant in our cities, killing competitors and those they just disliked, and dealing dope, booze, running brothels, gambling houses and numbers and protection rackets. Men with names like Capone and Pendergast.

The Pledge Of Allegiance was written in 1892 by a Christian Socialist, Frances Bellamy. It was not recited every day in school until after the US Congress recognized it as the national pledge on 12/28/45.

And as for blame for the decline of American culture, the real blame lies on the capitalists who, following WWII, set their sights on exploiting cheap labor markets and cheap foreign sources of raw materials, by use of American military power. They exported jobs out of America in an end run around unions and big city minorities in order to pocket a higher % of the profit for themselves, while letting the inner cities rot. This led to the rising crime of the inner cities, which preceded the Great Society program.

And by the way, Chamberlain was an upper class conservative, not a liberal except perhaps in Hoover's sense of the word. And it was right wingers like Henry Ford who supported Hitler as an antidote to Stalin, while the liberals hated him and Naziism as well as Italian fascism and moved to mobilize America against them and Japan.

Your shoddy historical knowledge is pathetic. You should go to college someday and study history, so you might learn something. Until then, quit wasting our time with your ignorance.

[racetoinfinity]

But he echoes what a LOT of the right believes - that the sixties and liberals are the problem - we are livingin a counter-reaction to that that has gotten out of control, in a way.

[Annette]

Under God wasn't added till we fought the great cold war in the 1950s.

[charon]

Also, your use of ideas popularized in that right-wing tome of pseudo-social science, The Bell Curve, shows you lack any critical ability to evaluate claims. Charles Murray is a sham social scientist and makes repeated false and unfounded conclusions not even backed up by his own cherry picked data. He repeatedly commits logical fallacies that could only be ignored by the faithful or the gullible. I suspect you haven't even read the book, but are regurgitating arguments you got from Limbaugh or some other right wing demagogue's interpretation of it.

While it is true that many Americans were willing to suffer to win the war, many of these same people turned a blind eye to discrimination. Many hated blacks, jews and Catholics and benefitted from WASP preference. But even the oppressed minorities were willing to suffer for America, since even if it could be more just, it was not completely unjust.

Bob is absolutely right about how many people nowadays just pay lip service to supporting the troops. Slapping a yellow magnet on your bumper and putting a flag on your car really shows contempt for the sacrifice of the troops in Iraq; it does nothing to help them.

[charon]

Correction: I meant a different, if equally specious, Murray tome, "Losing Ground," not "The Bell Curve."

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

HAHAHA!!! The decline of the country is happening NOW and has done so under the Bushes... who can't spell their way out of a paper bag, dodge going to war altogether and rape and pillage the US treasury as you take the time to poke your republican head out of the sand... just enough to chastise everyone else and say its not Bush's fault.... and continue to be in denial as to who the real culprit in the destuction of our society is. Soooo, so republican. You may stick your head back in the sand now and keep it there.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

.....oh, and another thing, as Bush makes people poorer.... he makes it IMPOSSIBLE for them to afford higher education.... impossible... so that more future republican droans are born.. while silverspooners like him take the high road and pass their pathetic ways and lifestyles to their spawn.... because there is no time like the present for a happy wedding at the white house. You make me sick Mack.... and people like you continue to ruin this country.

[dawlishgal]

Oddly enough, nowadays the governments of ALL civilized countries in which citizens still take pride in their national identity do have a sense of responsibility for their own people.

Our national pride is deservedly in the toilet. Here in the Bushdom-- to the delight of our military-industrial complex-- our taxes pay to arm OTHER countries that can and do afford to take care of the healthcare of their own, WHILE here our people are told that we can't afford it. And the rest of our tax money goes to giving tax breaks to the richest of the rich and to pay for wars against civilian populations whose countries did nothing to harm us. Forget medical research, healthcare, decent schooling for our children...we are told we can't afford any of this stuff.

And our government, rather than helping our citizens, is dedicated to the big ripoff that is creating the biggest gap between the rich and everybody else that we have ever seen.

One would have expected that our government might encourage big pharm to give AMERICANS the SAME benefits that the industry willingly (and presumably profitably) gives to other countries, but, instead, OUR GOVERNMENT prohibits bulk-price-bargaining for prescriptions, with the result that we pay two to ten times more than Canadians and Europeans for the SAME medicines.

(More to come)

[dawlishgal]

(the rest)

We import untold millions of illegal workers who depress the wages of those who have lived here (and paid taxes) all of their working lives. Then, the same greedy mewling psychopaths--the ones who force state and local governments to pay the cost of educating the non-English-speaking children of these immigrants-- these jerks have the utter gall to come to places like this and complain about the results of the overloaded education system that their greed helped to create, but their selfishness won't permit them to do anything to support. Teachers here must teach already- too-big classes in two languages, and these clowns blame the problems on TENURE.

Here we elect moronic clowns with lifetime records of ripping off people in crooked business deals, people whose main claim to power is their utter greed and total irresponsibility...drunken drivers, military deserters, corporate thieves. Yet the claims of these anti-social neer-do-wells that THEY are the "family values" people, the CHRISTIANS,go unchallenged (with the help of the corporate-controlled mass media), and people have become so numb with fears and anxieties that they actually vote keep these psychopaths in power.

It took well over 200 years before a political party came to have leadership this deceptive, this evil and this self-serving. It seems that enough Americans sold out to the denizens of the slimy underbellies of the country, to the racists, the homophobes, the religious crackpots who would blow up the world and cast everybody but themselves into the fiery furnace (while they wait for spaceships to take them to heaven) and the war-mongering chickenhawks, to put a political party into power that values the votes of racists above common decency to the extent that it is willing to condone sliming of CHILDREN

John Dean described the hard-wired personality-damaged authoritarians that have turned this country over to corporate thugs and the bullies that accept their bribes.

When are the American people going to start to stand up to these jerks?

[dogman44]

It ain't just the cons that don't serve. Libs don't go for the same reason. Got better things to do said six deferment cheneyshit. Oh did I say cheneyshit? I meant chickenshit,as in
chickenhawk.
The reason we have such a large mercenary force
in Iraq is that we don't have enough "volunteers" to fulfill the needs of the army. Instead of citizen soldiers, loyal to
America and her people, citizen soldiers who may be averse to shooting at their own people
are being replaced with mercenaries who will kill anybody for a high enough profit and exemption from any accountablity. Is it any wonder that Blackwater is a major con contribu-tor?

[dawlishgal]

Of course, the army wouldn't have so many "needs" to "fulfill" if we didn't have a loose-cannon, crony-rewarding psychopath as commander-in-chief.

[GenXLiberal]

One thing we need to make clear is that the people who enabled this administration to take office are just as responsible as the republicons who set forth these decietful and anti-american legislation the last 6 years. These people are traitors. They failed to exercise a single thought about what they were voting for. They believed talking heads paid for by the RNC, without raising any objectionable thought. They should pay off this debt. They should serve. They sicken me with thier self righteous behavior, and their elitism. They are the greatest threat to this country's future!