WW2 comparisons became less relevant today
Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 11:01:53 AM PDT
Today is VE-Day, the day Germany surrendered.
Republicans like to draw comparisons between the war in Iraq and World War 2, particularly when it comes to attacking those who they deride as wanting to "cut-and-run."
The United States has been involved in Iraq for 1249 days from March 20, 2003, first bombs fell in Baghdad in a failed attempt to kill Saddam.
1249 days into U.S. involvement in World War 2, Germany surrendered.
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Iraq and World War 2: A Timeline
Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 07:25:59 PM PDT
I got to thinking recently about the inevitable comparisons Republicans like to trot out about Iraq and World War 2, and their assertions that if we were to pull out now, it would be like giving up in the Second World War when things were looking bad. Being kind of familiar with the timeline of World War 2, this got me thinking.
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Why I Did What I Did: Former Enron Employee
Thu May 25, 2006 at 02:57:11 PM PDT
I worked at Enron from late 1999 until being laid off at bankruptcy.
I also, however, contacted the SEC, Rep. Henry Waxman's office, and members of the press regarding my belief that reserves may have been mis-used, possible illicit trading of Enron's stock by the company, possible shredding occurring within the building, and several other issues I was aware of or had information on to varying degrees. In the beginning of 2002, I met with the FBI and provided them with all the information and leads I had.
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I didn't like John Tierney's NYTimes editorial
Sat Jul 16, 2005 at 11:25:36 AM PDT
So I re-wrote it for him, to make it more reflective of reality and far less vomit-inducing.
Tierney is in some ways your typical "just smart enough" contrarian troll who thrives on throwing out quickly-written essays replete with errors, assumptions, and truth gaps, and then chuckles in contempt as people try to argue facts against opinions he's too stupid to actually be informed about enough to know whether he truly believes in them.
One example, which he proudly cites in his biography is his opinion piece entitled Recycling Is Garbage.
For his latest offense against truth and the proper citation of facts and use of supporting arguments, see Where's The Newt?. Or, if you'd prefer, read my revision of it below, but understand that a pot's only as good as the clay from which it was made, so this is parody (which also sadly involves true events):
Many people mistake the brilliance...
Fri Jul 15, 2005 at 10:10:03 AM PDT
of their imagination with the brilliance of an organization or a person they don't know or understand.
Imagination simply has no (or few) boundaries.
One of the core tenets of conspiracy theories is to over-rate "them" because they're unknowable, a black box.
Many of the fears that have been fanned lately have dealt with either possible plots associated with the CIA, MI5, Mossad - or the genius of Karl Rove, who in an omniscient manner manipulates everyone on his chess board.
It's all very reminiscent of the way we once misunderstood the Soviet Union, creating a "missile gap" where none had existed. Or more recently, thinking Iraq was either bristling with WMDs or at least might have at least a few still squirreled away, depending on one's point of view.
Apparently common sense is "liberal"
Fri Jun 24, 2005 at 06:13:09 AM PDT
I was thinking this morning about "wars" and particularly the unwinnable kind - which seem to be the ones Bush and Reagan tried to sell with some success to a good portion of the population which can't seem to exercise common sense (which they somehow view as "liberal").
For instance, we never won Reagan's "war." "The Cold War?" shocked folks will ask, self-righteously, "Of course we won it!" Well, I wasn't talking about that one, but now that we're on the subject, it's kind of like how we defeated the Axis Powers in WWII but we didn't stamp out fascism - which remained alive and well in Spain. As I understand the state of things, and I admit that I could be completely wrong on this assumption, Cuba is still hanging in there, Bush is planning a visit to Communist Vietnam, China still remains the most populous Communist state in the world and according to an international poll this week, China is better regarded in the majority of the world than the democracy-promoting United States - except for our allies Turkey and Poland (you forgot Poland! No, I didn't.).
Brave Americans captured the Reichstag flag in WWII, right under Soviet noses?
Mon May 30, 2005 at 09:55:00 PM PDT
Perhaps my WWII history is a tad rusty. According to this stirring Memorial Day story in the Houston Chronicle, not only did some good old American boys capture the Nazi flag flying over the Reichstag, they did so under sniper fire on May 28, 1945 - 21 days after the unconditional surrender of Germany and 28 days after the Soviets had already captured the Reichstag and famously raised their own flag in a famous picture.
There's also the whole widely-debated issue of Eisenhower ordering American forces to halt at the Elbe 70 miles from Berlin and to allow the Soviets to capture Berlin (which they had encircled by late April with the intent to keep American forces from sharing in the glory).
I sent the writer a kindly-worded e-mail that I thought perhaps the details in the history books didn't quite connect to the version of events in his story. Unless I'm wrong, and in which case I'll happily admit it if someone can point me to U.S. troops fighting around the Reichstag (whether on May 28, 1945, or any day earlier).
Bill Hicks - better than Nostradamus on Bush/Iraq
Mon Nov 22, 2004 at 06:50:19 PM PDT
This is from a routine the late, great Texas comedian Bill Hicks did in London. I have "corrected" any bad words. He had a real beef with Bush Sr. and Iraq. Eerily, what he was saying 10 years ago could just as well have been today:
Every time I'm here (in London) something weird happens. This time Bush lost. Cool.
People ask me where I stood politically you know. It's not that I disagree with Bush's economic policy or his foreign policy. But that I believe he was a child of Satan here to destroy the planet Earth. Yeah, I'm a little a little to the left there, I was. I was leaning that way.
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