BS

Ninety-one year old widow
lives with the corpses of her
husband and twin sister.

I like to think there is a point where BS doesn’t work anymore. And I also like to think we may be rapidly approaching that point. General Petraeus has returned to Afghanistan vowing that we are going to “win.” This has to be BS of the very highest order. It has been widely conceded by many in the “know” that we are not going to win in Afghanistan. At least we are not going to win militarily. Of course it depends upon what one means by win, and so far no one, including Petraeus, has ever specified what winning would mean in Afghanistan. As near as I can tell winning in Afghanistan means something like not losing. That is, if we get some kind of stalemate we can declare we won and maybe actually withdraw from that unfortunate country that is not really a country anyway. The world’s greatest and only superpower cannot ever admit it lost a “war” to a bunch of ragtag Afghans armed with small arms even if it did. There has never been the slightest doubt we would “lose” in Afghanistan, the “graveyard of empires” for hundreds of years. It is understandable, I think, why Bush/Cheney started this “war” as they wished to engage in permanent hostilities everywhere for as long as possible (have to feed t he military/industrial/political machine after all), but I will never understand why Obama insisted on accelerating it rather than giving it up (can’t admit defeat, I guess). Anyway, you can rest assured that anything you hear about Afghanistan is BS, pure and simple.

The BS we hear about Afghanistan is relatively benign compared to what came out of the White House today. President Obama met with Benjamin Netanayu and at the end of their meeting said there was no rift between Washington and Israel, that Netanyahu was interested in peace, and that progress was being made. I don’t know what actually transpired at this meeting but I certainly recognize BS when I see it. Netanyahu has made it quite clear for years that he is not interested in peace, does not want to see a Palestinian state, and prefers the status quo where the Palestinians are broken up into small groups with no chance of ever having a viable state. He has also made it clear that from his point of view the question of Jerusalem is non-negotiable, it belongs in its entirety to Israel, which makes the possibility of a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians is impossible to begin with. And even as talks continue the Israelis continue to build more and more illegal houses and settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank. You might as well try negotiating with a Gaboon Viper as with Netanyahu. This story is BS at such an exalted level as to leave one gasping for breath.

Of course everything we hear about the Oil disaster in the Gulf is BS, and has been from the very beginning. It is quite clear that BP has lied repeatedly and continues to lie, and there is little doubt that the Obama administration has done the same. First it was a mere 1000 barrels a day, then 5000, then 15,000, and then, and then, and then, we don’t even know now how much is leaking or if it will ever stop. Don’t even bet that the drilling of new lines is going to work, it may leak until there is no more oil left to leak and the Gulf will be so contaminated it will never recover. But not to worry, as soon as we figure out what went wrong we’ll start drilling again. This is BS as an art form.

Once again there is a claim that Obama was not born in the U.S. This is said to be true because of
who said it (I know not who) and because he/she has absolute proof there is no real birth certificate for Obama. I don’t have any idea what this is all about, who is behind it, or what it is they are hoping to gain by it, but I can tell you for certain it is going to turn out to be, once again, BS of the highest order. These morons pursue Obama like he is a runaway slave, too stupid to admit they are simply baying at the moon. This too will pass.

I love the Rachel Maddow show. I think she is the best thing on television and the only one with the nerve to confront lies head on. But I’m not terribly pleased with her showboating in Afghanistan. I see little reason for her to be there, squired around here and there for little reason other than to show she is there. There is, after all, only one thing to say about the “war” in Afghanistan, it is absolutely stupid, pointless, unnecessary, and ridiculous, and we should get out as soon as possible, or even sooner. Anything else you hear about it is BS. If there is any reason for continuing this farce it is being kept a closely guarded secret. It’s probably very simple, President Obama does not want to be, indeed, cannot be, the only President to admit to losing a “war” (the U.S. simply does not lose). What are a few more lives when it comes to Presidential and national pride. But “Pride goes before a fall,” as we have been told since childhood. Too bad we were all hiding in caves when wisdom was passed out.

LKBIQ:
There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.
Robertson Davies

TILT:
Badger dens are called setts, badger colonies are called clans.