The Week of Being Honest

by Ed Rosenthal

There were certain advantages to having Bush as President, which we just don’t get with Obama. When Bush gave a speech, we knew it was all lies and bull, you could sit back and dismiss everything that the great prevaricator had to say. Sometimes, you could even get a good laugh.

It’s a little more difficult with the current president. He doesn’t lie, he just doesn't tell the whole truth. We are going to close Guantanamo, but we will hold prisoners indefinitely awaiting trial elsewhere. We are going to take all our combat troops out of Iraq but we will still keep troops there for another ten years. We are going to investigate the bankers that set our economy in a downward spiral- although we have already immunized them against prosecution. We are going to climb out of this depression but we really have no idea how we will do it without further expanding the national debt.

Obama's first State of the Union speech was a concession, Osama beat Obama.

Sometime after Bush declared total victory in Iraq, Osama said “If you leave you have lost and if you stay we bleed you,” Bush fell for the bait, got burned, and Obama is trying to pick up the pieces- and now we are in a bigger mess than we have ever been in.

There is a solution in Osama’s statement. Declare victory in Iraq and Afghanistan and march our troops out of their under heavy guard and helicopter cover—let’s get the hell out of there, if we aren’t there who are they gonna fight? It’s the war of the Iraqis and Afghanis, without our interference they have a better chance of settling it.

As a civilian without security clearance – just like you- I have no idea of how much the United States actually spends for war- what we do know is that one-half to two-thirds of our budget is spent on the military. There are secret military black budgets, bases in 80 countries, aside from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we have taken sides in wars on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Just think how many more brownie points we would have earned had we spent $1 billion on Haiti—or even New Orleans—rather than bombing countries into oblivion using “depleted” uranium which is still very radioactive. Nice playthings for kids to pick up and put on their mouths and suck on.

The next war is not going to really be fought with the war machines that you see in apocalyptic movies. Wars have always fostered science so that technology and strategy can trump strength. Our next war- which has already begun- is not a war to be fought by the military; it is a combination of trade and technology. Remember, a few weeks ago, the Chinese starting hacking Google. The small embattled country of Georgia suffered a total breakdown when Russians hacked its internet infrastructure. OK, more scary news! At the end of World War II the United States accounted for 50% of all world trade, we are down to 21% and falling. Chinese and middle eastern countries are our creditors, these are the real wars. We need to stop fighting unwinnable, unpopular, wars in countries that 90% of us can’t even place on a map. Mr. Obama, we need a total change in policies, get out of your Marijuana Deficiency Syndrome (MDS) rut! Smoke a joint and due a total 180. Close down our military! Who is going to attack us? No one, they just have to pay our debt.