"Life is good", as my buddy Gary would say. Gary's been there and done that. He used to ride shotgun with 40 cal.'s in Viet Nam. He used to watch the Shell tankers within firing range of the enemy never get fired on. He knows about wars for money. Money controls both sides .
Gary's life is good. His life, like most of yours', is damn good by 'World Standards'. Gary has earned his good life, like most of you have, with work and perserverance .
"My life is good", is what Gary called to tell me. Not as good as his (he didn't mention that), but good enough, and he didn't want me to forget that large fact in my rantings about 'Bama and the boys... give the guy a chance. He's still better than Bush and Cheney. Except... if the Obama administration continues the same Imperialistic policies of the Bush administration, which I might remind you are based on lies and a Zeitgeist, then he is just another puppet, and one puppet is the same as another, no better.
Thirty thousand more troops in Afghanistan... for what? Finish the Job.
What job? Catch Osama? ...No, the job is to clear the TAPI* pipeline route. Nobody's looking for Osama. Money wants to start the project in 2010.
Troops might be clearing poppy fields, but I have the feeling their efforts are a drop in the bucket. I mean, why is Heroin as cheap as a six pack of beer in the Northeast USA?
Our troops might be fighting bad guys but for what? There are bad guys all over the world and not everybody thinks we're the good guys, so why are we losing lives, taking lives, and destroying worlds we have no business even being in ...except for profit? Profits from Oil, War, and control of the Opium market. I can't agree with a war for these profits. I damn sure wouldn't want my sons risking their lives for these objectives. I don't want other American sons lost for profit either.
I don't think continuing to give the people of Afghanistan a deal they can't refuse is necessary for American Safety or the American Standard of Living. Our good standard of living. But do I really care? Do you?
What the hell do you care if you can have whatever you want for lunch? Everyday. Every American good day. In every American good life. Especially mine.
How can we relate to people living on grass soup in Afghanistan, when we can't decide to take advantage of cash for clunkers and buy a new jeep? They live in a different world. Their everyday life is like watching an episode of 'Survivorman'. Americans relate better to the world of Star Wars.
If a Supreme being was to appear from the heavens, see me in my New Jeep Wrangler Rubicon chewing on fast food chicken with ranch style dressing and Pepsi to wash it down, and was to judge me, would the supreme being judge me strong and good, a survivor at the top of the top of the food chain? Rr would judgement be of my compassion? My world citizenship? Is it- God helps those whom help themselves, or be thy brother's keeper?
I can have what I want for lunch. Everyday. I could cut back to two meals a day, too, if I wanted. I don't own a Ferrari, a boat, a vacation home. I'm still buying the property I Iive on. I don't own anything I haven't earned through my own laborious life. I don't begrudge others what they have earned either, but I think it's time the average man came to the conclusion that those with the most could live on a lot less if it meant the end of wars for profit.
My personal belief is mankind is nothing more than algae in the pond, and the only real signifigance of life is life, or the miracle thereof. Therefore, it seems to me a great crime to deny others their life so that we might have a better one. As a nation it works the same. That doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy our good life. No, we should celebrate every lucky moment. What we shouldn't do is force the consequences of our lifestyle on others.
I do not agree with the Imperialistic ideal that profit and progress gives the modern world eminent domain over those who don't agree with a deal they can't refuse.
Now, I can't see what the harm is in the TAPI pipeline. It's progress American style, for a profit, and seemingly benefits the countries involved. There might be great benefits to the Afghanistan people too, but it is not my country, it is theirs, and they don't seem to want us there any more than they did the Russians (whom we helped them fight). How fast the pendelum of righteousness swings, huh?
So the question is... if it makes US more comfortable (as the top of the top of the food chain) do we care about those who stand in the way of our Comforts? Our Oil, Our Blood Diamonds. Our Seal Skin Fur coats, our Ivory Tusk piano keys, our Whales? Our profits?
Bring the Troops Home Now! It is not their job to deliver deals the world can't refuse, and that is all the world has seen from America in the last eight years.
Bradman
*The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAP or TAPI) is a proposed natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank. The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. Proponents of the project see it as a modern continuation of the Silk Road. The Afghan government is expected to receive 8% of the project's revenue.
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