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2020-01-08 -Short Attention Span Theater-
Internet users who call for attacking other countries will now be enlisted in the military automatically
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Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-01-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ]  Top

#1 From our ongoing series of Mr. K's "'Erb Poems":

'Erb-Song of the Bandar-Log

Here 'e goes in a flung festoon,
Half-way up to the jealous moon!
Don't you envy 'is pranceful bands?
Don't you wish you had extra hands?
Wouldn't you like if your tails were -- so --
Curved in the shape of a Cupid's bow?
Now you're angry, but -- never mind,
'Erb, thy tail hangs down behind!

Here we sit in a branchy row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
All complete, in a minute or two --
Something noble and grand and good,
Won by merely wishing we could.
Now we're going to -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

All the talk we ever have heard
Uttered by bat or beast or bird --
Hide or fin or scale or feather --
Jabber it quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Let 's pretend we are... never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
This is the way of the Monkey-kind.

Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines,
That rocket by where, light and high, the wild-grape swings,
By the rubbish in our wake, and the noble noise we make,
Be sure, be sure, we're going to do some splendid things!

What of the hunting, hunter bold?
Brother, the watch was long and cold.
What of the quarry ye went to kill?
Brother, he crops in the jungle still.
Where is the power that made your pride?
Brother, it ebbs from my flank and side.
Where is the haste that ye hurry by?
Brother, I go to my lair -- to die.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-08 00:22||   2020-01-08 00:22|| Front Page Top

#2 *happy sigh* Kipling’s Jungle Book was one of my favourites when I was a girl.
Posted by trailing wife 2020-01-08 00:32||   2020-01-08 00:32|| Front Page Top

#3 Be funny were it so. I'm only 49 and had rheumatic fever which is why I was unable to complete ROTC. Got told won't take me no matter what. Course blue dress Bill was president and my friends graduating were also getting told thanks but no thanks. So yeah, if it means they have to waive the rules, NUKE IRAN!
Posted by Silentbrick 2020-01-08 01:46||   2020-01-08 01:46|| Front Page Top

#4 "Another step necessary in this fight to smash the war racket is the limited plebiscite to determine whether a war should be declared. A plebiscite not of all the voters but merely of those who would be called upon to do the fighting and dying. There wouldn't be very much sense in having a 76-year-old president of a munitions factory or the flat-footed head of an international banking firm or the cross-eyed manager of a uniform manufacturing plant – all of whom see visions of tremendous profits in the event of war – voting on whether the nation should go to war or not. They never would be called upon to shoulder arms – to sleep in a trench and to be shot. Only those who would be called upon to risk their lives for their country should have the privilege of voting to determine whether the nation should go to war."

-- "War is a Racket" by General Smedley Butler, the man who exposed the Bankers Plot to overthrow the US government in a coup
Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-01-08 01:57||   2020-01-08 01:57|| Front Page Top

#5 Unfortunately, Herb, ZOG will never allow such plebiscite. 😥
Posted by g(r)omgoru PB 2020-01-08 02:35||   2020-01-08 02:35|| Front Page Top

#6 I agree interventionism is ill-advised, but the Quds was actively targeting your interests, the IRGC harassing your navy, merchant vessels and bases. They were damaging and planning to damage your allies, winning morale points one after the other. It isn't wise to lie down and just take it, especially when being harassed by an islamic theocracy. It may be a light thing for you, but the whole world looks to America for being a beacon of strength and stability in the face of an islamic military surge.

Also, the psychological victory alone is a great plus. The human mind is wired to follow the most aggressive leaders, whatever their political leanings or ritalin and weed-addled minds may believe. It is the association of a demonstrated proclivity of a figure for dramatic actions, with the ability to effect changes to one's condition. They may say anything they want in public, but Trump has the liberals and the islamists cowed. I think you shall see a bigger victory in 2020 than you thought was coming.
Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-08 02:42||   2020-01-08 02:42|| Front Page Top

#7 "It isn't wise to lie down and just take it"

You know what's wise? Leaving the region entirely. We don't need the oil any more, so why are we there? No more needless wars. Not one more dead American soldier. Not one more trillion dollars spent with which we could have built better lives for Americans.

"the whole world looks to America for being a beacon of strength and stability in the face of an islamic military surge."

Hahahaha...oh. As much as I love my country, this simply isn't true. Poll after poll shows what they think of us, and it ain't pretty. Shall I pull them up, but I assume educated people are already familiar with them.

You know why they hate us so much? Because we make war on them and kill their relatives. Huh, weird, eh?

"Also, the psychological victory alone is a great plus."

We don't want a victory. What we want is a stop to these ceaseless, ruinously expensive wars in the Middle East, none of which benefit us at all.

Let the towelheads kill each other. It's none of our business.
Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-01-08 02:51||   2020-01-08 02:51|| Front Page Top

#8 Just because you say you'll leave someone alone doesn't mean they'll leave you alone.

America exists as a beacon of what's possible outside islam. That's the main reason it was attacked. American prosperity destroys the jihadis faith that following the koran makes a utopia when it obviously does not.
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2020-01-08 03:16||   2020-01-08 03:16|| Front Page Top

#9  we make war on them and kill their relatives. Huh, weird, eh?

Maybe you will have to live among these people to understand their mindset and that of 'their relatives'. Your problem is one of perception of your own State. You think of it as an edifice of governance that has become a tool of corporate-military interests, an erroneous theory preached in many institutions like Harvard. Much as you'd like it to be a socialist paradise that caters to its own people, way up the food chain t care - America has to contend with others to survive. Some of these others it has foolishly made stronger due to vested interests and neroses of your own politicians. Some people choose responsibility they cannot take, like Vietnam. But then some people have responsibility thrust on them, by hostile entities out for revenge, malice, theology, whatever...

You can say conveniently that 'we should never have messed with Iran in Mosaddegh's time', 'we should never have helped Pak and the taliban';and you'll be right. But that's in the past, and there's no way to put the paste into the tube. They cannot stop hating you, no matter what you tell them. You think America should step back, introspect and apologize for past actions ? That's daft. A country is not one administration. It does wrong things, another guy comes along, corrects the wrongs or reverses things. Yet another may intensify the wrongs. Sensible nations and societies understand this and charitably assume the next administration will be better and more amicable. Here you are dealing with a people religiously disposed to your destruction as a race. Your extinction is their salvation.

Admit that the predecessors of Trump created a mess, that the experiment in weaponization of sasquatches for commercial imperialism or projection of reach has snowballed into a catastrophe, and help clean the fucking thing up even if takes culling a vast majority of muslims. And even if you don't, there is a Gawd who will make you. It is your Karma.
Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-08 03:31||   2020-01-08 03:31|| Front Page Top

#10 Ref #9: ....and help clean the fucking thing up even if takes culling a vast majority of muslims.

Sadly, this is not likely to happen. When it comes to the issue of radical Islam, our political will to deal with the virus runs parallel to that of the Anti-Vaxer.
Posted by Besoeker 2020-01-08 03:40||   2020-01-08 03:40|| Front Page Top

#11 It's coming Besoeker. Not because of political will, but because of frackers - the current rise of Islam is based on petrodollars a lot more than on liberal delusions.
Posted by g(r)omgoru PB 2020-01-08 04:06||   2020-01-08 04:06|| Front Page Top

#12 Now Dron66046 is making shit up about me that I didn't say.

Is it maybe something about the font that Rantburg uses? What is it that makes people hallucinate things I never said?

"Much as you'd like it to be a socialist paradise"

WTF I am not a socialist. I have been a staunch anti-communist ever since Ronald Reagan and have never wavered.

"America has to contend with others to survive"

This is false. America is going to be just fine. We've got everything we need right here. Food, energy, land, people, navigable waterways, you name it. We're the best spot on the planet. It's the rest of the world that needs us, not the other way around.

"You think America should step back, introspect and apologize for past actions?"

WTF when did I say apologize? I said withdraw from the Middle East because the entire reason we're there - oil - is now irrelevant. The US now produces more oil than Saudi Arabia. Moreover petroleum is only going to become more useless as other sources of energy come online.

"religiously disposed to your destruction as a race"

American isn't a race. How do you write such things without cognitive dissonance?

"there is a Gawd who will make you. It is your Karma."

God is a Christian concept. Karma is from Hinduism. How do you get things mixed up like this? Moreover there is no "make you" there in either concept. God gives us free will, while Karma only affects you in the next life.

"and help clean the fucking thing up even if takes culling a vast majority of muslims."

And here it is folks. Do all the work. Do the dying for us so we don't have to. Spend your money, not ours. Let me think about it: Nah. If it's so important to you, go pick up a rifle. Don't you dare tell our teenagers to do it for you. They have better things to do with their lives. They joined to serve their country, and they can't go to college after the service IF THEY'RE DEAD FIGHTING IN A WAR THAT WILL NEVER BENEFIT US.

Oh and it's a call for genocide. Go commit your own genocide, we're not doing it for you. I'm not typically one to throw ad hominmens out there, but in this case I'll make an exception. Begone and go dust your family's collection of human skin lampshades.
Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-01-08 04:39||   2020-01-08 04:39|| Front Page Top

#13 tl;dr
Posted by Frank G 2020-01-08 04:46||   2020-01-08 04:46|| Front Page Top

#14 Herb is outraged?
Posted by g(r)omgoru PB 2020-01-08 05:15||   2020-01-08 05:15|| Front Page Top

#15 ^ He's walking all up and down his own pyramid of shame.

#12 I would show you your own multicolored 'discourse aid' about now.

Relax, I didn't accuse you of socialism. In fact the word socialist itself is not as negative as it sounds today. America is socialist enough as it is.

Karma or God. The point was, you won't have a choice soon, whether to war or not to war. It was decided the moment the Democrat deepState ventured into their brand of profiteering from wars in the desert. I agree with you on the reason for the snafu in fact.

No, America is not obliged to fight others' wars, least of all India. That is something I've always said because I'm in the unique position to feel a responsibility to both countries. We will fight our own wars, always have - often against US diplomatic interests, thank you.

You will have to slay the sasquatch, because he'll come for you. But no need to have a coronary over it now. You're winning ! Smile, for fuck's sake.
Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-08 05:20||   2020-01-08 05:20|| Front Page Top

#16 How about those citizens who are attacked by those in their own population (See - Antifa, et al), are immediately enrolled in the embodied militia and issued the basic arms issued to the active Army and National Guard.
Posted by Procopius2k 2020-01-08 07:33||   2020-01-08 07:33|| Front Page Top

#17 Herb, Pearl Harbor?
Posted by Woodrow 2020-01-08 09:12||   2020-01-08 09:12|| Front Page Top

#18 By the way Herb, the Bankers Plot to overthrow the US government in a coup, is a freaking myth.

Geeze boy, why pull a rotted rabbit out of your arse.

NYT CREDULITY UNLIMITED
Posted by Woodrow 2020-01-08 09:23||   2020-01-08 09:23|| Front Page Top

#19 He's walking all up and down his own pyramid of shame. mother's basement steps. Ranting, ad nauseam.
Posted by Skidmark 2020-01-08 10:04||   2020-01-08 10:04|| Front Page Top

#20 Quoting the NYT as a bastion of fact. LOL. As if. They're doing what they always do, cover for the powerful. Go listen to General Butler's words yourself.

Smedley Butler was twice awarded the Medal of Honor. And you're going to try to trash his reputation and call him a liar. Nice one. That's the kind of attitude that got people to spit on our troops coming home from Vietnam, too.

"It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.

I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."

-- General Smedley Butler
Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-01-08 10:14||   2020-01-08 10:14|| Front Page Top

#21 100+ years ago? Uh huh.
Posted by Frank G 2020-01-08 10:28||   2020-01-08 10:28|| Front Page Top

#22 Being a military stud doesn't necessarily make your politics correct.
Posted by rjschwarz 2020-01-08 15:01||   2020-01-08 15:01|| Front Page Top

#23 We have been at war with Iran since the fall of the Shaw. We like to fight short win/lose wars, they fight to keep fighting. Time is not in their decision process. They are responsible for over 600 deaths of US soldiers, and countless maimed- in the last few years not counting Beirut and other acts. I was praying for Trump to hit them with B52 all across Tehran and at every military and infrastructure grid point. I don't care about the average Iranian, they voted the mullahs into power, they had a western society, they-the people decided to go to the theocracy. This is their creation, they get to suffer the consequences of their bad decisions. So this old soldier has zero empathy for their babies, kids, and adults. Which is more than their elected government has for ours. How many American families have suffered at the Iranian hands,??? Thousands. They are responsible for the war in Kenya, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, with the UAE, the Saudis', and on and on. When you look at nearly every conflict in the middle east, Africa and into South America you will find Cuds. I'm tired of the 40 years of, "The people love the West don't bomb them" They chose the leaders of their country, let them die for it.

So now we will back off, they will proclaim victory, the shadow war against the west will continue, AMERICANS will die, nothing will get resolved, and it will happen again and again. For those that think we should go soft on their people, who voted for this, please send your sons and daughters to the military so they can be the next victim of weak decision making in Washington DC as I for one am tired of the nightly flights into Dover and the lines of the maimed in the VA...
Posted by 49 Pan 2020-01-08 15:53||   2020-01-08 15:53|| Front Page Top

#24 Herb must have a soft spot for Chelsea Manning and his/her deeds.
Posted by bbrewer126  2020-01-08 16:26||   2020-01-08 16:26|| Front Page Top

#25 What 49 Pan said. Suleimani' killing should be the beginning of many. Keep striking down these f---ers -- the leadership, that is. As EC wisely said, No mullahs, no problem.

52 Pick Up.
Posted by Lex 2020-01-08 17:22||   2020-01-08 17:22|| Front Page Top

22:26 Woodrow
21:04 Alaska Paul
20:19 Sherry
19:50 anymouse
19:44 anymouse
19:42 Frank G
19:39 anymouse
19:29 lord garth
19:26 Lex
19:26 Chris
19:25 Lex
19:25 Lex
19:22 Lex
19:21 Chris
18:55 charger
18:46 charger
18:30 Bobby
18:28 Lex
18:00 Vernal Hatrick
17:56  jvalentour
17:32 Besoeker
17:26 Lex
17:25 Lex
17:22 Lex









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