Afghan War Silence & The Embarassment to our Democracy

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Monday March 07, 2011 · 3:30 AM PST

2011/03/07 · 03:30

This October 7th will mark a full ten years of United States involvement in Afghanistan. Already beaten is the previous record for longest modern involvement in Afghanistan held by the Soviet Union (9 years, 50 days), and at present the conflict continues to look like one with no discernible end in sight. With the cost of 2,269 coalition soldier lives (1,413 American), as many as 34,000 Afghan civilians, and more than 383 billion dollars later the war still has no discernible goal, end, or organized plan to get troops out of harm’s way.

While starting two years before the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the Afghanistan campaign found itself relegated to the back-burner for most of the last decade, mainly because the Afghanistan war was seen as the “just war” – we actually had reason to be there instead of Iraq. Most of the anti-war movements and protests throughout the 2000′s centered around this idea – choosing to target Iraq first and Afghanistan second.

Drawdowns to U.S. involvement in Iraq would eventually come, and that combined with a change in leadership in the White House seemed to satisfy a large portion of the anti-war movement – or at least the parts of the movement that did all the fund raising, organizing, and managed to get the media attention (however scarce and mocking, at times). The general feeling with the start of the Obama administration in 2009 was "Iraq is winding down. Let’s finish up this whole Afghan thing, get out, and be on with our day."

The anti-war movement fell silent, and bodies kept coming home in coffins.

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Partisan bickering for us, 21st century infrastructure for the rest of the industrialized world

aerojad

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Thursday February 17, 2011 · 3:41 AM PST

2011/02/17 · 03:41

( cross-posted on my own blog )

Not that this should come as that much of an extreme shock to the brave souls who still follow American politics while being able to hang on to their affinity for actual logic, but the mood of 2011 when it comes to investment to the state & national infrastructure is currently being responded to with a resounding cut the budget! Cut it now, cut it all, cut it forever!

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BBC: US attacks Syrian outpost; Update: US "Taking matters into our own hands"

aerojad

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Sunday October 26, 2008 · 2:38 PM PDT

2008/10/26 · 14:38

From the "oh now what!?" files, via the BBC...

US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including a woman, Syrian authorities say.

The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria.

It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night.

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday August 03, 2008 · 10:55 AM PDT

2008/08/03 · 10:55

For those just tuning in here, I live in the state of Michigan. As such, I am surrounded on two sides by Canada. While I haven't gone recently (a few years) due to a lack of funds, earlier on this decade I would go to Canada when I had the chance - especially when I spent a couple of years in northern Michigan in the tiny city of Sault Sainte Marie, MI, which is a stone's throw from its twin city of the same name in Canada. The border crossing process had usually been rather simple for me, with the most that I got asked is "Where'd you go? How long were you there? Bringing back lots of money? Alright have a good one." I suppose it was a bit naive of me to think that things would go south in the couple of years since I've been to Canada, especially in lieu of revelations that Homeland Security can take your laptop at the border if they feel like it.

Like most things in life you stay naive of it, happily nested in a world of "it can't/won't happen to me" until - sure enough - it does.

aerojad

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Monday July 21, 2008 · 5:26 PM PDT

2008/07/21 · 17:26

It's quite sad how little attention this is getting outside the corners of the internet where tech-savvy people gather, but perhaps the media thinks those are the only people who would understand it. The overriding theme, the sound bite, the message, it's loud and clear and it can't be argued against:

Internet Service Provider X shuts down access to deep dark portion of the Internet where only pedophiles hang out. Your children are safer now!

You have carte blanche to do whatever you want in this country if you can somehow, in some vague way - with connections basic enough so Joe-casual-news-reader can understand - tie it into protecting the children. If the appearance of the children being protected looks good enough, it doesn't matter what reality actually is.

Besides, a good portion of people out there probably have no idea what Usenet is.

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 13, 2008 · 11:30 AM PDT

2008/07/13 · 11:30

Meta: this post can be considered the sequel (until there's a third) to the epic Your Economy is in Trouble When The Dollar In Your Hand Loses Value by the Day (dKos version) epic.

When we last left off with economic worries, the utmost concern at the time was the seemingly endless water torture trickle of the U.S. Dollar. A few months later and we're still relatively in the same spot - sideways trading becoming the norm since about March of this year. The housing market bubble is not done claiming victims just yet...

...in some ways we've only just begun.

aerojad

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Thursday May 15, 2008 · 12:14 PM PDT

2008/05/15 · 12:14

I was there and it was beautiful. Follow the jump for some more.

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 01, 2008 · 2:03 PM PDT

2008/05/01 · 14:03

Hey, non candidate diary!

Unless I fail at searching (in which case I'll pull the diary), there seems to be hardly a mention here on Kos about the following story:

Thousands of dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, took the day off work today in what their union called a protest of the war in Iraq, effectively shutting down operations at the busy complexes.

...

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 14, 2008 · 9:04 AM PDT

2008/03/14 · 09:04

meta: I in no way pretend to be as good as bonddad or Jerome a Paris at breaking down economic things here, but I've been reading their blogs for quite a bit and this economy issue has become more and more important to me - especially since as a resident of the Detroit area I'm in one of the epicenters of the worst this economy has to offer. I know I'll say what they've said, but amidst the siege of candidate diaries, some important issues are getting buried, and I believe this is one of the more important ones that really needs attention. So, sorry if it sounds like a broken record to some.

(Cross-posted @ SecondPageMedia.)

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 19, 2006 · 8:11 PM PST

2006/12/19 · 20:11

(cross-posted @ SecondPageMedia)

It was a day that will be seared into the collective American conscience for generations to come – October 11, 2005 – the day that made it abundantly clear that America was at war, and there was no turning back. It was on that day that for only the third time in world history a nuclear weapon was used for offensive purposes against an enemy. The exact story of how the weapon made it to American shores and so deep into the country before anyone took notice will be one of the great mysteries of our time, but what followed is nothing short of set in stone.

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 03, 2006 · 8:33 AM PDT

2006/05/03 · 08:33

The billionaire Republican running for the job of running the state of Michigan has taken to some interesting methods of promoting himself - like trying to avoid who he is, and what party he represents. Read More

Politicians say the dumbest things: Hillary Clinton

aerojad

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday January 19, 2006 · 6:24 AM PST

2006/01/19 · 06:24

With a headline like that, you might think I'm a conservative. Here's hoping that this doesn't become a normal segment in this blog. Read More

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