I really do hate to Diary. I prefer to make comments in my witty and yet effervescent (yes, I think of myself as bubbly) way.
So here, I have two things to discuss and can't seem to find a way to discuss them without a diary. And yes, I am a terrible, terrible person, they are topics completely isolated from one another. You'd think I could find a way to relate them, but alas, I couldn't
I'll begin by saying I write manuals. Write, write, write...I have beaurocrat down to an art form. Every now and then I pick up a paper or a friend sends me an article (e-mail of course) that gets me thinking.
Today, Lady Chatterly sent me 2 things. One was from the Christian Science Monitor. And the other, The Hill.
Now, normally, the CSM stuff just makes me laugh at the implausible right wing stuff I find. Today, the writer made a comment about Vietnam not being a good analogy for Iraq. I agree, it isn't. But I was pressed to find a better analogy. Perhaps the USSR in Afghanistan, but since we're now in Afghanistan, that seems poorly devised. But France in Algeria, now that is a more similar issue. There is one glaring difference, France was the colonial power and there wasn't a coalition that went in to overthrow a dictator (Oh wait, there wasn't one this time either, oops, my bad). But all in all, a good article and rather interesting for CSM (http://weblogs.csmonitor.com/my_american_experience/2004/04/)
Then there is The Hill...and I recall all the times we've been discussing mercenaries and private armies. As I recall, the history of private armies hasn't been a good one. Private Armies usually signal the end of a civilization. A culture unable to get its warriors to fight for the culture's way of life is doomed.
So, I worry about the extent of mercenaries that we have fighting for us now. And apparently so does Blackwater, after all, they hired a PR firm to help them create a better image and to traverse the muddied waters of regulatory authority (http://www.hillnews.com/news/041404/blackwater.aspx).
The scariest thing about the article to me is this passage: "After the task of crisis management subsides, Bertelli said, his company would help Blackwater provide input into proposed regulations circulating in the Pentagon that would establish rules of engagement for private security contractors." Mercenaries writing the rules on how they participate in armed conflict? Isn't that like oil companies writing EPA regulations or Wal-Mart writing overtime rules, or Pharmaceutical companies writing Medicare or VA regulations?
Apparently, this administration believes that the American people deserve to have rules and regulations written by companies benefitting from the regulations instead of by public servants whose jobs are to serve the public interest.
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As for my other topic.
I'm helping with a Democracy for America March for Women's Lives Delegation. We even have a website now, courtesy of DC for Democracy (thank you for this assistance) www.dfamarchdelegation.org.
Today Gov. Dean and Planned Parenthood's Gloria Feldt will host an on-line chat at 2pm EST TODAY!!. www.SaveROE.com