Cold weather and folly

Lord one cold day and people are acting like it’s the blessed ice age around here. I was walking home last night and one guy walking behind me was saying something about Florida. Lord have we become old ladies? (No insult to old ladies intended). I mean what if this current batch of New Yorkers ended up at Valley Forge.

“It’s too cold.”
“Let’s go to Miami”
“I wanna speak to the manger.”
“You call this a bagel?”

Started reading Barbara Tuchman’s The March of Folly – and had to put it down – she notes that unlike every other human endeavor the science and art of government hasn’t advanced much in 4,000 years. While we no longer have the divine right of kings we have people like Dick Cheney and the current Attorney General plugging something called “the Unitary executive” which makes the President an autocratic dictator while he is in office. So we haven’t gotten very far. And the tendency over and over and over again of Men in power to choose a destructive course and keep on that course even though it’s not working and ignoring the people that said it wouldn’t work and ending up undermining what every they were trying to strengthen. Look at us – Ignoring all to the contrary indeed demonizing their opponents, we invaded Iraq for shadowy and shifting reasons. Viewed objectively Iraq was no immediate threat to the United Sates, Saddam was contained and at 60 years of age all he wanted to do was to die in bed, there were inspectors on the ground looking for the illegal weapons but we would have none of that. We were going to establish a new American century and prove America’s place as the only superpower and as champions of liberty.

Years later – our army has been ground to a dull point, we are loathed, our image as beacons of liberty and champions of the Rule of law has been destroyed by Gitamo Bay and the torture in Iraq, we have overseas prisons were men and women are taken without charge al la Stalin, we have flabby discussions in the press about whether water boarding is really torture (Pol Pot seemed to think so). The Status of the US is in the dumpster, we are deeply in debt and china holds the notes. All of this was avoidable – every bit of it.

We haven’t seen all the fallout here but I suspect the next few Presidents’ freedom of action in foreign affairs is going to be rigidly limited – no more bombing just for the heck of it for example.

The ironic thing here is the damage to this country was caused by people who were absolutely convinced and indeed are still convinced that they are making America stronger and securing its position as a world super power. Had they been on the other side they couldn’t have done more harm.

Making this short - need to file things because I can’t find anything when I need it. Playing at the Waltz tonight – Spenser on the keyboards if he is comfortable man does this add to the songs – not all of them – but the dumb ballads oh my yes.

Okay – you’ve been good – Tomorrow report on the open mike – and for Thursday a review of the 1998 US Godzilla film – a movie I hate with the heat of the thousand suns.

American Idol starts soon – which I’ve never seen. I like trash but I do have limits.