Bad American

It has come to this.

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Risking impeachment, Ohio’s attorney general on Monday refused demands from the governor and other fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual harassment scandal in his office and an affair with a subordinate.

Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters that Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Attorney General Marc Dann right away. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday that his chamber - which takes the first step in any impeachment - was already reviewing the process.

Virtually every state-level Democratic officeholder urged Dann to resign in a letter late Sunday after Strickland tried twice during the day to persuade him to leave office.

A sexual harassment investigation uncovered an atmosphere in Dann’s office rife with inappropriate staff-subordinate relationships, heavy drinking and harassing and threatening behavior by a supervisor. On Friday, Dann admitted to an extramarital affair with a subordinate after the investigation threatened to reveal the relationship.

We needn’t go into the sordid details of what went on in Dann’s office - you can read the rest of the AP report and it’s been pretty well documented elsewhere. WKYC TV 3 news is featuring the women who brought the complaints against Dann on their news this evening.

And you can check with Jill’s site here about more news from her and other bloggers about the distancing that the ODP is doing from Dann including yanking him off their official website and considering him an independent.

With each hammer blow against Dann, the AG’s office suffers, the state of Ohio suffers, the Ohio Democratic Party suffers and basic trust in government, which we thought could go no lower after the shenanigans of the Taft era, also suffer new lows.

Dann should note the enthusiastic bi-partisan movement to impeach him. Ask yourself when is the last time you saw Democrats and Republicans come together so quickly and with so much enthusiasm on anything?

For the GOP, they needn’t let Dann twist in the win - the damage is already done. And to pile impeachment on top of everything will give them more than enough ammunition against Ohio dems in the next election.

For the Democrats, it’s all they can do to stem the bleeding - remove the cancer now and hope that some recovery can take place before the next election cycle.

For Dann, one has to marvel at the sheer arrogance of the man. He’s a dead man walking politically, yet, he’ll cling to his office until the bitter end.

With many politicians at every level, even dog catcher, there’s a certain segment of them that suffer from grandiose notions of their own entitlement. Many have indeed spent most of their adult lives to get in these positions of power and prestige. What happens on top of that is that, in their minds, the office they hold becomes indistinguishable from their personhood.

What I mean by that is that, for people like Dann, the office becomes who they are - it represents all that they identify with their lives. To lose it would be to suffer a death of their identity. And because of that they will cling, as if to the hull of a sinking ship, until the waves finally take them.

Quaint notions of public service being a public trust have no place in the psychology of people like Dann. But lest you think he’s a rare bird he’s not. There are many like him and they’re all over this state. Think Jimmy Dimora. Or Tim Hagan.

It’s all they know. It’s who they are.

I found this comment by Governor Strickland to be amusing, however:

Strickland said, as a congressman, he opposed former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. But he said the two situations are “dramatically different.” His request for Dann to resign is not based substantially on his extramarital affair, Strickland said.

“It goes well beyond that. It involves many, many factors that are much more complicated than that,” he said.

Oooookaayyy governor.

In the meantime, when teachers teach Ohio government, how do they handle student questions about what has transpired in Dann’s office.

And how that squares with what they are being taught about our system.

Busch NA. Approach with caution.

Just for fun and because I like beer.

Here’s Tampa Tribune contributor Joey Redner’s 10 Most Disgusting Beers:

10. Coors Aspen Edge If giving up carbs means giving up any semblance of body or flavor, as is the case with this “beer,” it is probably better to carry a few extra pounds.

9. Milwaukee’s Best I understand this is a sentimental favorite of many, as it takes them back to the old days. Well, human sacrifice harkens to a simpler time, too. If you want to kill your taste buds, try battery acid — it probably tastes better.

8. Sleeman Clear Lager Another low-carb entry, though here the delicate and nuanced notes of lighter fluid and Dumpster drippings on a blistering August day achieves heretofore unknown lows.

7. Cave Creek Chili Beer This is the perfect beer for people who hate themselves and desire punishment. This unholy union of a whole chili pepper and a fiendishly nasty pale lager will get medieval on your tongue.

6. Winter Park Beer While Orlando Brewing makes many fine ales and lagers, they also make this vitamin-infused blasphemy. Generally, when people say things like, “Fruit doesn’t belong in beer,” I think of the many excellent fruit Lambics and disagree. But, vitamins? Vitamin flavor doesn’t belong in beer! Heck, it doesn’t even belong in vitamins — it’s just that the vitamin companies haven’t found a way to make vitamins palatable. And neither have the brewers of this beer.

5. Bootie U95 I thought with a name like Bootie, the makers of this brew were attempting to position it as a dance club beer. Turns out, it simply describes the aroma. Tallahassee Ratebeer.com member Aurelius sums up the Bootie this way: “The name sounds like some sort of nuclear isotope in a barium enema, and it delivers all the flavor the name suggests.”

4. Hurricane High Gravity Lager This malt liquor is to beer what Carlos Mencia is to comedy: crass and phony. The unfettered use of cheap ingredients, designed solely to supply alcohol on the cheap, imparts the aroma of acetone and chemical solvents. Yummy. Safety Harbor Ratebeer.com member Ibrew2or3 has this to say: “Should I be drinking something that smells like an auto shop?”

3. Chapeau Exotic This Lambic is proof that rare Belgian beers are capable of great suckitude. Writes Orlando Ratebeer.com member Boboski: “One sip leads to a joyful drain pour. I hope it doesn’t ruin my sink.”

2. Camo Genuine Ale The can has 5 X’s on it, but all are missing the little skulls that would inform people of what is really inside Camo cans. If lethal doses of corn sugar and nail polish are your thing, Camo is your beer.

1. Busch NA Non-alcoholic beers are bad by nature. Remove alcohol, remove flavor. But Busch NA seems to have gotten around the alcohol part of the beer by steeping corn husks in seltzer water to make a tea that Andrew Zimmern wouldn’t drink.

Here’s the Ratebeer.com site for you to look at. A great site with tons of funny and well-written reviews.

I don’t know who Andre Zimmern is but I wouldn’t drink Busch NA on a dare, nor Busch for that matter. Busch was the beer my father drank back in the 70s because he was too cheap to buy Michelob. That was back in the day before American craft brews were widely available.

So when dad let me finish the last few ounces of his beer so I would not grow up to follow in the family tradition of alcoholism (on both sides) my first tastes of beer were Busch and then Miller Lite, which dad switched to in the late 70s, largely due to their entertaining commercials.

By the way, I loved those old “great taste - less filling” commercials. I had an idea for one of them (I would have made a great ad man too, but I’d like to use my superpowers for good). It would be called “The Lite Flight” and in the script the usual guys would be flying back in coach and Mickey Spillane would ask “the doll” for a Lite Beer and she’d say “ooh, sorry Mickey, I’m all out - the guy in first class wanted them all.”

Well, of course, the guy in first class is RODNEY! (as in Dangerfield) and as he’s getting ganged up on, “Marvelous Marv” Throneberry, piloting the plane of course, wonders what all the ruckus is about.

It would have been great.

It took a student trip to Germany in 1980 for me to realize just how lame mass produced American beer was. We were able to sample beer all over Deutschland and my favorite was the Hacker-Pschorr I had in their own Munich beer hall.

It was the kind of beer they serve in Heaven, if Heaven exists.

Nowadays, even with no drinking age, I doubt American kids would be allowed to imbibe in Germany because of our overweening need to overprotect our kids from the demon alcohol. This is why so many of them drink themselves into crises the minute they get to college - they haven’t been properly trained to responsibly imbibe at home.

But I digress.

It’s a testament to American chutzpah that a beer so watery and awful could actually call itself “Milwaukee’s Best” with a straight face. But what DOES come out of that city any more that is actually worth drinking? Miller?

I use to sing along to the old Miller jingle - “Millers made the American way; mass produced in the USA; just as bland as the people who are drinking it today; Millers made the American way.”

But yes, down at good old Ohio State, Eric’s dorm mates get cases of Old Milwaukee and other brands of American swill like (un)Natural Light delivered to their rooms every Friday.

How?

They found a Columbus beer store willing to pack suitcases with beer, which are wheeled right by the clueless RA’s every Friday night. The HARD part, from what he tells me, is disposing of the empties.

But I digress.

Another universally regarded (by beer snobs) awful beer we drank in college is Rolling Rock, which now suffers from the final indignity of not even being brewed in Latrobe, PA anymore. Why anyone would want to drink “green death” anymore is beyond my comprehension.

Western Pennsylvania is known for awful beers. Iron City is terrible and IC Light is practically indistinguishable from cat piss.

Almost all American light beers I consider to be “beer-flavored water.” That’s the best description I could give of them. Why people drink them I have no idea.

Life REALLY is too short to drink shitty beer. If you’re going to drink beer, and you’re on a budget, for Goddess’ sakes at least drink something Canadian (unless it’s a light beer - Canadians do those no better than we do).

Schaefer is another awful beer that richly deserved it’s awful reputation. I’ve always bastardized it’s slogan when dissing other cheap and awful beers - “it’s the beer to have if you’re having more than six”

But that’s the whole point with a lot of these cheap beers - they are generally torpedoed with the aim to get drunk fast and cheap.

BUT - you pay for that cheapness in the end. The cheapies give you the worst hangover for several reasons (I suspect some of them contain formaldehyde) not the least of which is cheap ingredients and preservatives. Smart kids knew that Michelob was still fairly cheap and a good beer to get smashed on - being rice based, the hangover was far less severe.

And of course, spending money will not always save you from the 7 a.m. pukes either. It’s the same as any alcohol - the darker the beer, the worst the hangover.

Let’s see, what else is bad?

ALL of the low carb beers should be banned by law. They are the worst tasting beers of all time and can really only be served ice cold and even then, they’re weak and awful.

ANY beer with lime already added into it. There’s a new one being marketed now. Forget it. Nothing wrong with lime in your Corona (a middlin’ quality beer I usually avoid), but put it in there yourself. You really don’t want to know how they get the lime tasting substance into the beer at the factory, do you? And then you want to INGEST that?

It DOES seem incredible to those of us old enough to remember when our beer choices were so limited to American macro beers. Hell, getting COORS (which is AWFUL, always WAS) east of the Mississippi was thought of as a major coup (hence the premise of “Smokey and the Bandit”).

Now we’re awash in choices in even the most modest grocery store. Hell, you can usually find at least one decent import at a Wal-Mart. We really should be grateful.

Here are the Rate Beer’s worst 50 in the world.

The worst 20:

1	Olde English 800 3.2	Miller Brewing Company (SABMiller)		0.82	39	Malt Liquor
	2	Busch NA	Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.		0.87	112	Low Alcohol
	3	General Generic Beer	Miller Brewing Company (SABMiller)		0.92	22	Pale Lager
	4	ODouls	Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.		0.95	314	Low Alcohol
	5	Pabst NA	Miller Brewing Company (SABMiller)		0.98	28	Low Alcohol
	6	B-40 Bull Max	Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo)		0.98	22	Malt Liquor
	7	Sleeman Clear	Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo)		0.99	96	Pale Lager
	8	Gluek Stite Light Lager	Cold Spring Brewery		0.99	53	Pale Lager
	9	Michelob Ultra	Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.		1.01	823	Pale Lager
	10	Natural Light	Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.		1.02	858	Pale Lager
	11	Natural Ice	Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.		1.02	608	Malt Liquor
	12	Milwaukees Best	Miller Brewing Company (SABMiller)		1.04	666	Pale Lager
	13	Camo Genuine Ale	City Brewery (Melanie Brewing Co)		1.04	38	Malt Liquor
	14	Black Label 11-11 Malt Liquor	Miller Brewing Company (SABMiller)		1.04	22	Malt Liquor
	15	Hurricane Ice	Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.		1.04	14	Malt Liquor
	16	Coors Non-Alcoholic	Coors Brewing Company (MolsonCoors)		1.05	96	Low Alcohol
	17	Tooheys Blue Ice	Tooheys (Lion Nathan Co.)		1.05	12	Low Alcohol
	18	Tuborg T-Beer	Carlsberg Brewery		1.06	47	Pale Lager
	19	PC 2.5 g Low Carb	Brick Brewing Company		1.06	16	Pale Lager
	20	Diamond White Cider	Matthew Clark Cider		1.07	30	Cider

Notice how many of them, um, are domestic. If you want to have fun, read the ratings from the brave souls who drank enough of these dogs to rate them.

Feel free to add your own dogs in the comments.

The main characters from the movie Ironman: War is a force that gives them meaning.

It’s almost impossible for me write a movie review of “Ironman” (rotten tomatoes reviews here) without getting into written hyperventilation that would have all but the most die hard readers of this blog rolling their eyes.

But I’m going to try anyway.

Yesterday I took my 17-year-old son (who is a high functioning young man with autism) to this movie because, and only because, he wanted to see it.

Let me say it right off the top: I hated this movie as I have hated no other movie in my life. I wanted to hurt this movie very badly.

And the reason, quite frankly, is that it is a 100 minute advertisement for the American military-industrial complex.

If you think I am wrong, by all means see the movie and make up your own mind.

The basic story line is that a brash ubercapitalist who makes weapons of mass destruction (Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr), is captured by a bunch of stereotyped Arab badmen and lands up freeing himself by conning the stupid Arabs into letting him manufacture a robo suit instead of one of his killer missiles.

Back in the good old USA (where Stark’s first request is for a “good old American cheeseburger” provided by Burger King) Stark has a fit of conscience (but not really as events will prove out) and decides to start making war weapons for the right reasons.

As if.

OK, no more spoilers. But let’s hit a few of the high points of propaganda that the movie lays on with a trowel.

First: the conceit that somehow there is a disconnect between the US military and the weapons manufacturers. That is, that honest people in the military can somehow check the nastier impulses of the war industry when, in fact, the movie’s introductory premise is the truth: both are joined at the hip.

Then there is the conceit that the US military is always a force for good in the world and that all it takes is a few good eggs within it to right the ship if something goes wrong. Also that the government’s security agents are always a force for good as well. In fact, the one ‘homeland security’ type looks like a heavy early on and lands up being a ‘hero’ at the end. We should pay homage to such people for keeping us ‘free.’

Also notes that Stark comes right from the birthing ground of the military-industrial complex - the US military-university complex. He gets his degree from MIT and then, naturally, takes that know how and puts it to work for the (always good) American empire.

Still, the movie does come perilously close to damaging some of the credibility of the American death merchant industry. That’s why, near the end of the flick, the movie’s producers make a saving throw: look near the end of the movie for the GIANT poster on the wall behind Tony Stark that says “America’s defense industries: the arsenal of freedom.” You CANNOT tell me that the size of the poster, the framing of it in the scene, nor the amount of time the camera lovingly lingers on it was an accident.

Oh, and the media are always enemies of the American state and deserve to be treated as such.

If General Dynamics, the Pentagon, Dick Cheney and Joseph Goebbels had collaborated on the script they could have not done a better job of using cinema as propaganda.

OK, that’s hyperventilating to be sure. But true. See it, but wait until you can rent it rather than add to the box office gross.

And can we PLEASE stop the lie that somehow Hollywood is some kind of liberal cabal? See this movie and see what I mean. If this is the product of a ‘liberal mindset’ than I’m Barry Goldwater.

Sean Gonsalves’ take here. Note the allusion to the original “Ironman” coming from the early Vietnam years:

Iron Man works best when it snarks at Stark and his technology fetish — the sequence dealing with Stark’s first shaky attempts at flight with his hand and foot repulsors, while an oversolicitous robot stands by waiting to douse him with a fire extinguisher, is reliably crowd-pleasing. But this hero’s origin has its roots in grim current events (much like the initial Iron Man outing in 1963, wherein Stark’s armor was forged in Vietnam). At the start, Stark is in Afghanistan, blithely showing off his new Jericho missile to the assembled American military. He gets captured by the usual gang of swarthy mountain-dwelling guerrillas, and he gets videotaped in a scene carrying unwelcome reminders of Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg. With the help of a sympathetic co-captive, Stark builds a rudimentary Iron Man suit and blasts and burns his way free.

Upon his return, a changed Stark exclaims “I saw Americans die.” He doesn’t say anything about the men who died at his hands — being forced to use his own destructive technology, being forced to become a killer and to see the dead close-up, is not something the movie has time to explore. (that wasn’t the movie’s intent anyway Sean - ed.) Iron Man is as thoughtless as it is weightless. Director Jon Favreau (who brings no particular style or vision to the party) and his four credited writers are too wowed by the high-tech bang to question the morality of making and selling weapons (again, that is by design Sean - ed.)— the problem is that they wind up in the wrong hands because of corrupt businessmen, and if you drop those businessmen through a roof from several thousand feet up, that problem’s solved. I

All of this is inherent in the original Cold War-era material, of course, but why drag it into 2008? Because Iron Man is “cool”? The bullying fanboy idea of “cool” is growing wearisome and is threatening to kill movies (agreed - ed.). And it’s a very strange time politically to insist on the triumphalism of full metal American righteousness. Iron man pumps itself up by exploiting real, ongoing misery without even pretending to deal with it. It’s a tricky balancing act, and Favreau isn’t up to it (sigh, again I think you’re missing the point here Sean - that is what they WANTED to portray - ed.). War, Inc., John Cusack’s satire on the munitions industry, is getting a limited release later this month (opposite Indiana Jones, yet) on its way to DVD (I’ve seen some scenes from it and can’t wait - ed.). Iron Man is getting the ninth widest release in box-office history. Tell me again how liberal Hollywood is.

Indeed. Cusack has to make a real anti-war movie ON HIS OWN because no one in the industry would ever green light such a project.

In fact, I was watching CNN this morning and they were exploring that same point. Most of the anti-war Iraqi War movies like “Grace is Gone” (also Cusack) barely got any exposure. Americans seem most emphatically not willing to confront what the nation has done in their name, either on screen or not. In fact, CNN reported that a few Iraqi war movies have been completed and remain ‘in the can’ waiting for “American attitudes to change.”

Good luck with that.

By the way, read some of the Rotten Tomatoes.com reviews that actually think the movie is anti-corporate. It amazes me that so many otherwise intelligent people who get to review movies miss the point by a country mile.

And yes, I actually used to get paid to review movies for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. One of my reviews, of Ashton Kutcher’s movie “The Butterfly Effect” was used as a textbook example of how to do things right by this book: Reviewing the Arts.

Not that anyone would offer me a job now, of course.

I’d be seen as too ‘political.’

This article in CommonDreams by Stacy Bannerman started me thinking, especially in light of the comments that followed the article.

It starts with the admission by McCain (admitted by Bush previously in so many words) that the invasion of Iraq was all about the oil:

“I will have an energy policy …which will eliminate our dependency on oil from the Middle East that will then prevent us… from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

As Bannerman notes, only the most brain-addled right winger could dispute the truth behind that statement.

The Senator subsequently attempted to cover up his Freudian slip (or “senior moment”) by claiming that he was referring to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, not the current conflict. Sorry, Senator, but that cat’s just not going back.

What sort of mental and moral gymnastics does McCain perform in order to justify his ongoing support for a war he claims to want to prevent in the future? Is it the same floor routine that he uses when refusing to endorse various bills, such as the G.I. Bill and equal dwell time, which would benefit veterans and military families, while professing his patriotism and support for the troops?

Stacy asks a great question here because it doesn’t just apply to McCain but many millions of Americans. First of all, McCain believes he has political and personal cover because of his time in uniform and as a POW. Of course that only works if you are a right-winger, not Max Cleland.

Because most right wingers in this country live behind a fortress of lies fueled by hatred of ‘the other’ and greed. McCain, like most people of his ilk, simply believes he is in a special class of people that are above most others. Whether God supposedly anointed them as such is a matter of personal interpretation, but when you’re in this kind of ‘ruling class’ the ability to maneuver freely in areas that constrict others is merely assumed as a natural right.

McCain is beyond having to justify himself as a member of this ruling class, the same as Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld and all the rest. He doesn’t have to explain why he called his wife a cunt in public. People who believe in the sanctity of rapacious predatory capitalism and are primary benefactors of that system do not need to explain themselves and the media will not make them since the media is staffed by acolytes and managed by people in the same class.

Now wars are things that benefit this class of people and their friends and they are fought by the servile class in America. That is a concrete fact for these people. Cheney unashamedly said he “had other priorities” during the Vietnam War. That is true as far as it goes. But the whole truth is that people in Dick Cheney’s class were not put on this this earth in this country to have to risk their lives in the empire’s wars.

They really do believe this. They are in a caste so far above ours that they cannot relate to us any more than you or I could relate to ants on the pavement.

Expecting John McCain to actually acknowledge this realization in public is an exercise in futility. He is protected from that by an army of SS goons and other flunkies who intimidate anyone who might actually ask them a truly embarrassing question, as happened in Iowa the other week. The question DID get asked (about McCain calling his wife a cunt) but because of the publicity made of how the questioner was threatened and intimidated, it becomes a teachable moment for others who would dare emulate Marty Parrish.

You MUST understand that to McCain’s class, people who serve in the Armed Forces (below the rank of Brigadier General) are EXPENDABLE. In capitalist America, precious government dollars do better flowing to and through defense contractors than being funneled down the Veterans Administration rat hole. It’s simply not good business. And besides, thanks to the worsening economic situation in this country, there will be more desperate cannon fodder coming along to take their place. It’s just good business and the war business is now America’s only REAL business.

When you understand that dynamic that animates the thinking of McCain and those in his class, you then can understand how he can say the following with a straight face:

The Senator said that he “regret[s] sincerely the additional sacrifices imposed on the brave Americans who defend us…But let us honor them by doing all we can to ensure their sacrifices were not made in vain.” (April 11, 2007)

If, as the Senator insinuated, the war in Iraq is a war for oil, which he purports he would “prevent” with the fuzzy energy policy of his hoped-for Presidency, yet he continues to support the current war for oil, it begs the question: If not then, why now?

Bannerman misses the point but then again so do many Americans who keep believing that somewhere in this evil system there are men of honor or at least have some honor left that might be piqued if only the right magic words were said to trigger their conscience. This is a popular conceit that comes from a whole host of official propaganda of which the movie “Ironman” is merely the latest example. People believe that the ’system’ will correct itself for the good of all Americans - we just need to find the right person to make it magically happen.

Like Barack Obama.

No one wants to face the fact that McCain is merely another face of evil, as is Hillary Clinton. It’s not that they were born bad - they simply were gradually inculcated into a system of thinking and believing that offers untold riches and power and the only thing it asks is for people to cashier any sense of human consciousness and honor.

It’s a Faustian bargain that Americans form an endless double line to willingly take - but the bargain is only offered to a select few; the rest fight for the crumbs as acolytes.

Bannerman, because she is married to the issue in more ways than one, ultimately understands the human dimension of the problem here at ground level where the rest of us live:

The rinse and redeploy cycle that keeps sending our loved ones to fight and die in a war for oil does not honor the sacrifice of the fallen. It is an unconscionable violation of the legitimate purposes and constitutional laws governing the use of the military. Every additional deployment adds moral insult to psychic injury and bodily harm. Each day that the war continues perpetuates the blatant disregard for the bravery and commitment of our troops and reduces the cost of their lives to mere pennies.

The average American adult male human body contains approximately 1.5 gallons of blood. In 2004, when Cindy’s son, Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq, the price of a gallon of gas was $1.85, and crude oil accounted for 47% of the cost, according to the Energy Information Administration. Casey’s blood, traded for a gallon and a half of gasoline, retailed for $2.78, the cost of the crude oil - 47% - was valued at $1.31.
Given that, it’s not surprising that Cindy sat down in a ditch in Crawford, Texas, waiting for President Bush to tell her what her son’s sacrifice had been for. What’s surprising is that Ms. Sheehan ever got up again.

What is appalling is that Senator McCain and Congress is considering a package deal supplemental to ensure that our troops remain engaged in a war for oil while Americans complain about the price they’re paying at the pump. Crude doesn’t begin to describe it.

I think there’s an implicit understanding that most Americans are coming around to. Deep down inside they understand what this war is really being fought for. What they don’t like is that fuel prices are HIGH. With Iraq under our thumb the least we should have seen for all of our trouble is $1.50 a gallon gas.

But many if not most Americans will acknowledge the simple truth that the primary (but by no means only) reason this was was fought was for control of the country holding the second largest proven oil reserves in the world. They won’t ever say it publicly for being tarred as ‘unAmerican’ but inside, most people know.

Have you ever wondered why no polling company has conducted a poll asking the simple question of ordinary Americans - what do you think was the primary reason we invaded Iraq?

This is the closest I’ve found to anything asking this question in a major nationwide poll. That poll was only asking serving troops and that was in 2006.

Doesn’t it strike anyone as odd that no polling company has asked that simple question?

Maybe certain people don’t want to have that question asked of the American people.

I also think that many Americans say they are against the war and want our troops brought home but really don’t mean it or wouldn’t vote for it if they had the opportunity. Again, the reason, I believe, is if there is any hope of getting that oil mother lode back to the USA (or deny it to the Indians, Russians or Chinese), they want the servile class to continue fighting and dying in Iraq.

It’s just not something you would say out loud.

And that’s a primary reason that why, although polls seem to indicate people hate Bush and the Republicans and the war, that McCain’s poll numbers are roughly even with Obama and Clinton nationally.

As long, of course, as someone else does the fighting and dying, which ties into Bannerman’s point.

In the comments that follow the story, someone asks the central question that Ronald Reagan did long ago: “where do we get such men,” or, more specifically, why would anyone with half a brain volunteer to join the US Armed Forces?

The answers are also disquieting to most Americans who are not quite living paycheck to paycheck - yet.

Cindy Sheehan popped in to answer:

1. cindysheehan May 4th, 2008 1:26 pm

   Men and Women volunteer for a variety of reasons. for Casey it was college money. College is so prohibitively expensive that only children of the elite can afford it. There are no good jobs in our communities; really no jobs that don’t involve selling “super-sizes.” Casey joined in May, 2000…I don’t think at this point he would join. I hope not.

   Now, some people here on Common Dreams are very strident against our military, and that’s okay, I am VERY against anyone joining the US military or going to Iraq once they are in. But, what do we do? Do we offer a college education to these people? Do we offer to pay their ways to Canada (which I have done.)? We can’t just tell our young people notM to not join and not give them an alternative.

   Some people say we should have a draft and that would get people out in the streets: that’s true, it would and these illegal occupations would end—that’s why there will never be a draft, my friends.

   Love
   Cindy
   (Great piece, Stacy)

On what Sheehan says we could do:

Offer a college education (free or nearly free): what, do you think you live in Denmark? This, of course, will never happen. If we won’t spend our tax money on national health care, don’t expect us to spend it on providing a free public university education. What WOULD Halliburton, General Dymanics, et. al. and all their shareholders DO without all the tax dollars we pump into inventing new and cool ways to kill a lot of people in faraway countries of which we know nothing? You’d have to crush America’s predatory military-industrial complex and it’s rapacious capitalist underpinnings to do that. And there are shadowy figures waiting to kill anyone who would try, don’t kid yourself.

So college is out - only the ‘deserving’ winners of the game get a decent college education now. And, the dirty little secret is that a decent college education is becoming harder to get for a reason - the ruling class needs to clamp down on the number of people who will graduate with degrees and no realistic job prospects other than the ’super-sizing’ that Sheehan writes of. The ruling class are just trying to forestall serious social upheaval for as long as possible and having millions of degreed people running around without any serious job prospects is a sure formula for that. If you want to understand what happens to a country in such a case, look no further than Nigeria. Who do you think generates all those Internet scams from that country and why?

Pay their way to Canada: not really an option anymore. Canada is more and more becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Uncle Sam’s military-industrial empire. Canadian business and government are being strangled by American influence and power. Now that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have at least a workable hold on power, don’t expect Canada to be much of a haven for US military escapees either now or in the future. In fact, Canadian courts have been denying asylum to US war escapees for some time now and unless the NDP suddenly, miraculously, forms a national government, don’t expect change any time soon. The only way it would work is for escapees to be harbored by friendly Canadians who would have them work and live much the way illegals work and live in our country today. Not a happy prospect.

So Sheehan’s question remains unanswered. Here’s another illuminating comment:

1. jlover May 4th, 2008 1:48 pm

   BIG MONEY…..said “or make even more people feel like a military career is the only likely way to feed their families ” BIG MONEY ….i agree with you 150%….you struck a nerve…..i remember when my brother joined the navy back in 1986….he was 26 and i was 20……i sat next to him and watched my brother cry (sobbed) after he told our mom and dad,that he did not want to be a burden on them anymore….and that they should be helping me go to college….I CRIED THAT DAY TOO……but it took me over 5 years to really understand why he cried….he cried because joining the military was the only way he could make a freash strart and get out on his own as a 26 year old man…he was tired of being broke and struggling….i’ll never forget that day….(sorry guys for the said story)

And another one:

1. OREZ_ENO May 4th, 2008 7:42 pm

   I joined the military 40 years ago because I was part of dysfunctional family where I wasn’t welcome, and because I could not find any work that would allow me to live independently on my own. But I was lucky. I survived with my life. And after serving, companies were willing to hire me. It’s as if serving in the military was a rite of passage for me to have a normal place or purpose in this country. But then eventually all the jobs were shipped overseas and once again I am unable to live independently on my own. Only this time I’m too old to join the military. Thank you America for all your lies.

But then there are those who still don’t quite get it:

cindysheehan May 4th, 2008 1:26 pm

Great comment Cindy. I don’t agree with your positions sometimes as I don’t with those here who are so strident against the military or equate military service to war crimes or service in Iraq to Nazi service to their shame. The military is an absolute need for any country that wants to remain free. Thats reality.

No, that’s bullshit. Do you REALLY want to know what ultimately keeps America ‘free?’ Go out to North Dakota and take a look at a Minuteman missile silo. THAT’S what will forever keep anyone from ever invading this country. That, and if you want to consider having to occupy a country with 400 million small arms floating around and millions of people trained and itching to use them.

If you REALLY want to know why this country REQUIRES a military that is funded more than the next several closest countries COMBINED funds theirs then by all means read General Smedley Butler’s salient piece “War is a Racket.” This piece by a REAL American hero should be required reading in ALL American schools but sadly, the ruling elite and the yahoos in Texas who control textbooks will never allow that!

The US Military PRIMARILY exists for the expansion of American CAPITALISM NOT AMERICAN ‘FREEDOM’ and ‘DEMOCRACY.”

I’m sorry, but I’ll keep right on telling this truth until they come to take me to the camps.