Do Ask, Don't Tell

Two North Carolina surgeons
reprimanded for performing
C-section on woman not pregnant.

There seems to be a variation on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that politicians have been using for years. That is, encouraging people to ask questions but not telling them meaningful or intelligible answers. A classic example of this can be seen in President Obama’s press conference this morning. He encouraged Helen Thomas to ask her question, which she did, about why we are still in Afghanistan. He then gave a reply that was so evasive, so blatantly untrue, so ridiculously simple-minded and useless he might as well have just refused to answer. He said something to the effect that we were there because of al Quaida and the threat they posed to us. This is, of course, utter nonsense. First of all, al Quaida is not much of a threat when you consider they are a relatively small group of Muslim extremists who engage in terrorist activities rather than full-scale military attacks. They are, in effect, criminals rather than soldiers fighting a conventional war. Furthermore, there is now said to be perhaps no more than 100 or so in Afghanistan. There is no way to explain our billion dollar a month (or whatever it is) expense to fight al Quaida. And now we are supposedly fighting the Taliban who were never and are not now a threat to the U.S., wanting us merely to get out of their country. So whatever it is that is keeping the “war” going in Afghanistan cannot simply be because of al Quaida. I suppose if you want to know why we’re there you might want to follow the money. Who gains from our phony “war” halfway around the globe? The military/industrial/political complex no doubt gains the most. Additionally, it allows us to maintain our presence in the area and attempt to maintain control of the Middle East, that glorious land swimming in oil. I saw today on the web that the Afghans believe we may actually be funding the Taliban in order to keep the conflict going. A few years ago I would have dismissed an accusation like this as nonsense, but now I’m not at all certain it is not entirely possible. I suspect this is much the same reason we have never captured or killed bin Laden as we need him, along with the Taliban, to give us an excuse to continue our otherwise inexplicable continuation of this stupid “war.”

As far as the press conference went (sans Helen’s question) I thought Obama did as well as possible under the circumstances. After all, it’s not easy to explain and/or defend the idiocy of our government when it comes to their oversight of corporate behavior. They are, unhappily, not truly interested in what is good for the country or the citizens anymore, only in what their corporate masters require of them in return for their largesse. It is not surprising that people, especially Republicans, are trying to blame Obama for this disaster, they would blame him if the sun didn’t rise in the morning. Is it really Obama’s fault that the supposed regulators were literally in bed with and sharing drugs with the oil executives? Is it Obama’s fault that BP lied consistently about the spill? Is it Obama’s fault that the U.S. government does not have the technological know-how or the required machinery to deal with deep ocean oil drilling and thus is completely dependent upon BP and other oil giants for such equipment? The fact that this is so is shameful, short-sighted, and stupid beyond belief, but it clearly is not the fault of Obama who has, in fact, tried to clean up the mess he inherited from the previous Oil administration. It is not at all clear what more Obama could have done once the disaster occurred. Obama claims, and I have no reason to dispute him, that the many suggestions that were made were considered and either followed or rejected as being worthy or not, dredging giant berms, for example, or having fleets of tankers skimming the oil. James Carville, one of the loudest of the political whores, apparently wanted Obama to travel to the Gulf to scream out “I’m in charge, I’m in charge.” I guess he thinks this would have soothed people and made them feel better while the oil crept closer and closer to the marshes that can probably never be cleaned up and restored. There may well have been some bad decisions made but I don’t think it’s true that the Obama administration did not act quickly enough, and with a disaster the size of this one it cannot be surprising that mistakes may have been made. In my opinion, such as it is, the problem is that this deep sea drilling should never have been allowed in the first place when it is quite clear they did not know exactly what they were doing, and what they are doing now to stop the flow is basically still experimental. As far as future drilling in the deep ocean is concerned they should forget about it. It is time to break our addiction to oil once and for all. We should do it now, not a few years from now. Would it really hurt that much to make a serious effort to actually conserve energy? I don’t see much in the way of attempts to turn off some lights or begin effective public transportation or reign in the destructive waste of gas and oil in gas guzzling recreation vehicles, demolition derbies, and other wasteful activities. And think of all the energy that might be saved if we would admit that our ongoing “wars,” even our secret empire, have no real purpose other than wasting lives and resources, mainly in our insane demands for the control of more and more oil.

Some are already claiming that the only way we can overcome our massive national debt is to do away with social security and medicare. This strikes me as a bit disingenuous as these are no doubt the same people who have tried to do away with such programs from the very beginning. How is it that no one suggests we get out of debt by ending our stupid “wars,” and our obscenely bloated military budget. I repeat once again my neighbors comment, “Who knows what goes on in the mind of baboons?”

LKBIQ:
It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.
Laurence J. Peter

TILT:
The long-tongued female orchid bee pollinates the Brazil nut tree.