Text 17204, 111 rader
Skriven 2011-04-21 10:48:13 av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 17202 av WAYNE CHIRNSIDE (1:123/140)
Ärende: Haliburton (was: Taxes)
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 WC> None of this ten years in as with Afganistan supporting
 WC> corrupt leadership and mucking about with no clear goal or how
 WC> to achieve it in sight as yet.

   And this is where we can clearly see who in here has served in the military
and who has not. Those of us with military education -- be it in USA, Canada,
Belgium, the Netherlands or Sweden -- all know that one of the most important
things to get straight before you go to war, is to have a clear exit strategy.

   None of the wars (or is it still called Police Actions?) the US has been
involved in the last half century or so has had this exit strategy. The only
strategy involved seems to be to give the military industrial complex as much
tax dollars as possible.

 WC> A five year old girl is not a combatant and she aint pretty either
 WC> when one leg and one arm is blown off and half of her face is
 WC> incinerated by a predator missile.
 WC> This picture remains with me to this day.

   Another one is of course the now famous "Napalm Girl" from 1972. Yes, it is
always disturbing to see innocent civilians suffer from bad decisions made by
incompetent commanders. And especially so, when children -- our future --
suffer, because they are truly innocent.

   That's why it makes me really angry when the 6yo Kentucky girl was frisked
by TSA, and some here have the audacity to start attacking the messenger rather
than the system that causes this appalling abuse of power.

 WC> I was attacked and dismissed.

   Well, as I said, it's easier to shoot the messenger than to try to
comprehend the message. Like the three monkeys: Hear nothing, See nothing, Say
nothing.

 WC> Well here it is.
 WC> It's going to get a lot worse too.

   Sad but true. Just today, the dollar reached an 18 month low against the
euro, and it's been on a constant down-sloop since day one of King Bush's Holy
War started. And we'll all suffer -- except of course for the filthy rich who
will have ample time to get their fortunes relocated to safer currencies.

 WC> Beleive it or not there was a time the working man had a shot at
 WC> the American dream, that time is not now.

   Working men from all over the world. After all, the USA wasn't born from
nothing, it was created by immigrants from all over the world. Immigrants who
were given the opportunity to, with hard work, make the dreams, that they were
denied at home by power greedy emperors and clergymen, come true.

   Then came the parasites, those who wanted not to work hard, but rather
exploit those who did. History repeated itself on the new continent...

 WC> There is a chance to earn back that dream but it means moving off
 WC> of the war based economy that enriches the tiny obscenely wealthy minority
 WC> and returning education, research and development and manufacturing to the
 WC> United States.

   I actually think so too. The US brand mark is still so strong in the world,
it might recuperate given enough back-stepping. The question is, are there
enough intelligent and strong citizens left in the US to actually manage to
turn the clock back, or are the majority, like Ross and Robert in here, so
blinded by patriotism that they do not even see the problem, and therefore of
course can not see the need for a solution?

 WC> Who says we can't compete due to the costs of labor?

   Good question. The answer is of course that we should leave the low tech
jobs that needs only a lot of elbow grease, to those who today are where we
were a century ago, and focus on what we do best: the high tech jobs where we
can exploit our education advantage. But we'd better hurry up before the entire
western educational system is sacrificed on the military expenditure altar. We
can never afford both...

 WC> These would be good paying skilled jobs that would make for a robust
 WC> economy.

   Hey! Didn't I just say that? :)

 WC> Education, R and D, good manufacturing jobs in green technology
 WC> and green energy.

   Absolutely! Why compete with e.g. the Chinese car workers when we can focus
on what *we* do best -- for the time being...

 WC> I never have understood the blind loyalty all you faux patriots
 WC> have for a bunch of greedy faux patriot arms, energy and munitions
 WC> merchants.

   One thing that I'm curious about is where the loyalty of the typical US
citizen lays. Is it on the federal or the state level? Do e.g. the people of
Seattle feel more solidarity with the people of Boston some 4000 km away than
to the people of Canadian Vancouver less than 200 km away?

 WC> Give me a break, who in their right mind would attack us?

  LOL! Yes indeed. And it's called the Department of Defence, isn't it?

 WC> In and out, gather intelligence, strike, withdraw, repeat as necessary.
 WC> Take asymmetrical warfare to them rather than give them the home
 WC> field advantage.

   Sounds like a sound strategy, one that takes real advantage of the
superiority of e.g. the Navy Seals, now that Spetsnaz no longer exists probably
the best troops in the world.

   And it would probably even cost less than what the Halliburton and
subsidiary bosses make in salary alone.

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