Response to Tim's comment

I was going to respond to Tim (who I know through Dan Crall, one of the funniest and smartest guys I've had the pleasure of meeting) and his comment on my last entry on his blog, but my comment got way too long to be just a comment and subsequently (at least in my mind) worthy of posting here.
"What's going on with the ILWU? Seeing as I'm in landlocked Indiana, this isn't exactly their turf.

I don't know if I mentioned it in my entry, but dude...I saw through all the newscasts in June/July 2002 about Saddam. Smelled it from a mile away.

After "Mission Accomplished" was declared, I did a point/counterpoint in the school paper. My opponent called his "The Beginning Of The End" and mine was "The End Of The Beginning."

I wrote about how Iraq was bound to turn into Vietnam, where our soldiers don't know who they're fighting against and because of the insurgency are incapable of trusting any of the citizenry. I predicted the involvement of American corporations in the reconstruction, including corporations tied to members of the present administration. Also - I pointed out that scientifically, the chemical weapons WE GAVE to Saddam would be ineffective (shelf life, etc.) and that were he even to use them his best bet would be to throw rocks at his enemies.

The reaction? I had fellow students ridiculing me, one teacher took me aside and poked me in the chest while telling me I was a smart-ass punk, unpatriotic, Un-American, and that I didn't have any idea what I was talking about.

Oh yeah, and I mentioned we ought to be more concerned about Putin, North Korea, and China. In May 2003.

The lack of protest? It ties into there being no draft. That was what caused the mass disillusionment with Vietnam; nowadays people wouldn't entertain the thought of protesting - they might miss work or school or taking their kids to football practice in their Hummers. Taking action is just too damn inconvenient for the present generations...we're too fucking jaded.

I don't support the really radical 9/11 theories (the planes were really unmanned, bombs in the WTC, etc.), but it's on the record - courtesy of Richard Clarke and the Downing Street memo - that Bush was keen on spinning this to attack Iraq. The best comparison is Pearl Harbor: we knew it COULD happen but didn't take the threat seriously.

Also, to claim Bush engineered 9/11 is assuming a level of utter inhumanity that only a true sociopath could have, not to mention that's giving him (or anyone else in the Cabinet, Pentagon, or CIA) WAY too much credit in terms of intelligence."

Alex

PS - Also, if you haven't voted in my poll on the sidebar on the right, please do so! There's only four days left in this month!