the vanquished

The vanquished know war. They see through the empty jingoism of those who use the abstract words of glory, honor, and patriotism to mask the cries of the wounded, the senseless killing, war profiteering, and chest-pounding grief.

-Chris Hedges, journalist, author, and war correspondent (b. 1956)

The quote above was in my Word A Day e-mail this morning. It seemed a fitting nudge to post something on Squelch.

It will soon be a year since Barak Obama was inaugurated. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are still blazing, still meaning nothing. And I still don’t give a damn about the vanquished. Maybe it’s because I haven’t heard of anyone being vanquished. I’ve only ever heard of the dead and the innocent.

Fa la la la la

la la

la

la

Joe Lieberman

is an idiot; a self-actualized, home-grown idiot. He’s launching an investigation into Ft. Hood, and simultaneously announcing its ultimate conclusions. Results prior to investigation: can’t get much stupider than that.

every day

The truth is that every morning war is declared afresh. And the men who wish to continue it are as guilty as the men who began it, more guilty perhaps, for the latter perhaps did not foresee all its horrors.

- Marcel Proust

Is there any fool out there who does not see we have conjured a new world of perpetual war?

Indifference

Washington – Lack of adequate health care may have contributed to the deaths of some 17,000 US children over the past two decades, according to a study released by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. [Link]

The children of America need the public option. The poor and disenfranchised need the public option. The marginalized working class need it, the wealthy need it, the corporations need it. Even the insurance lobby needs it, though they’re too greedy to know – to myopic to see – that they need it.

Obviously, the capitalists and their paid-off legislators are too indifferent too the needs of the people and the good of the country to see that we get it, but we need it.

 

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.

The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.

And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

– Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize 1986

 

 

eight years

I was just reading an article about Marines trying to make headway in Afghanistan. It says, “The eight-year-old war is at its most intense, with more than 400 NATO troops dead this year. U.S. Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal has told President Barack Obama he needs 40,000 troops to push back a resurgent Taliban and convince the population insurgents will not win.”

Can that be right? Eight years already? Yep. Bush started shocking and awing in Afghanistan after 9/11, in 2001. So the war has already lasted twice as long as WWII, which lasted from 1941 to 1945. But don’t worry, Vietnam lasted longer. And if there’s anything we Americans can do, it’s get our asses stuck in a quagmire.

My nephew was born in 2001. He’s in the 3rd grade, he can read and write and he knows more about dinosaurs than I’ve forgotten. And for the entirety of his life so far, we have been at war in Afghanistan. And we’re doing this why? To save the people there from the Taliban? To win friends and influence people? To make a rhetorical point? What a waste of life and treasure. What a meaningless crock of shit.