no supper tonight

And the winner is, of course, the War Party.

Isn’t Change wonderful?

Making my way, slowly,  through William Greider’s account of the Federal Reserve under Carter and Reagan (Secrets of the Temple) in a possibly futile attempt to begin to understand the full naure of this, umm, “stimulus” business, I came across this passage today:

The Cold War, it was said, threatened American survival, and, therefore, defense spending must take precedence. Or, conversely, it was argued that the Soviet threat was exagerrated, that military spending was excessive and that the government’s resoures should be directed to domestic development. But, in practical terms a political consensus was fashioned between them, an implicit understanding that endured for more than three decades, through conservative and liberal regimes, under Democrats and Republicans. The government would refuse to choose between war mobilization and peacetime spending. It would do both.

***
America was the new leader of the world, building the largest arsenal ever imagined, prepositioning American troops in dozens of foreign lands. For many years, it seemed, the United States could indeed afford both war and peace at the same time.
But, in time, the failure to choose between the two caught up with the economy and the government’s balance sheet. (102-104).

Which may have added emphasis to two articles that appear on the front page of The New York Times today, not that they needed any:

“Obama to Send 17,000 More Troops to Afghanistan”: President Obama will send an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer in the first major military move of his presidency, White House officials said on Tuesday…..The increase would come on top of 36,000 American troops already there, making for an increase of nearly 50 percent. (Oh, and from Reuters: “The new deployments are seen as the first stage in an expected build-up from the present force of 37,000 to about 60,000.” )

“Signing Stimulus, Obama Doesn’t Rule Out More”: President Obama has not ruled out a second stimulus package, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday, just before Mr. Obama signed his $787 billion recovery package into law with a statement that it would “set our economy on a firmer foundation.”

The government would refuse to choose between war mobilization and peacetime spending. Greider was writing in 1987 about the economic disaster of the late 1970s. We have learned, apparently … nothing.

As always, I’m left wondering how many of  Obama supporters are planning to head to Kabul, or to send their kids to Kabul. Or was the deal “my vote, but someone else’s blood?” And if they are … I’m wondering why, precisely, it’s so important to kill and die to protect the Karzai government Obama is going to sell out soon enough–just like Kennedy did Diem. Or is it  the splendid group of warlords who make such an attractive alternative to the Taliban that they’re smitten with?

Having received your vote–thanks, America!–all the war party and its pretty figurehead require in terms of your support are your tax dollars–and your silence.  They have your dollars–in deciding that his rules about hiring lobbyists, typical of the Obama BS that made for such great speechifying,  don’t apply to to defense contractors like Raytheon, thus allowing him to place William Lynne in the Defense deputy slot, Obama made sure that the industry will continue to bleed the country like the stuck pig it is–and, thanks to the so-called stimulus, they have your children’s children’s dollars, which they are merrily raining down on giddy bankers.

But you don’t have to give them your silence.  Or any more votes, for that matter.  Alternatives exist.  I mean, unless you’re liking this latest surge. These stimuli. These Cabinet and agency appointments.

And so in honor of this latest round of American colonialism imperialism stupidity heroism,  M.I.A.:

He got Colgate on his teeth
And Reebok classics on his feet
At a factory he does Nike
And then he helps the family