A scorecard and an extra-large beer, please, vendor
I admit I was only half paying attention the first time I heard it, and I thought Khoresan was a commercial for yet another drug. ("Side effects may include drowsiness, nausea, dry mouth, and if you're John McCain, an erection lasting right through the Sunday talk shows.") Then President Obama went to the UN to announce that the Axis of Evil has been re-named the Network of Death, so apparently our foreign policy is still being branded by Marvel Comics. This is not encouraging, or enlightening.
The New York Times, sensing my confusion, stepped up with a sort of chart describing the current permutations of the Death Network, so now I know that the Nusra Front operates in Syria, Shabab is Somalian, and Qaedat al Jihad can be found in and around Pakistan, while ISIS or ISIL (nobody seems quite sure) is all over Iraq like a rash. Not to forget Boko Haram of Nigeria and its perverted production of "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers," or our old friends Hamas and Hezbollah. And really, don't they seem like old friends at this point? Familiar faces like Joe McCarthy and Barry Goldwater, from the good old days of the GOP? All I remember about Khoresan is a really angry-looking beardy guy who appears ready to blow up everything twice. He may in fact be dead now. This is why I need the scorecard.
None of this is funny -- some poor French tourist lost his head today, preceded by the usual vile rhetoric. ("The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter."-- Samuel Spade) When this happens, I admit to wishing someone would napalm these ISILs from the inside out, but this is a passing visceral response and not the basis for a national policy. Luckily, I don't have to formulate one. That task has fallen to the President because the Constitution fails to spell out what happens when the House of Representatives is controlled by resentful idiots whose consensus seems to be "Don't ask, don't tell, do whatever you want and we'll back you up and then impeach you. And climate change is a myth. Derp." The Senate has not been much more helpful.
Tasked with fighting a war without Americans in actual combat, John Kerry has logged thousands of air miles lining up another Coalition of the Reluctantly Willing. It's an impressive list, but thunderingly absent is our plucky little ally Israel. The recipient of so much American money and weaponry apparently isn't answering the phone these days. Which is odd, because they certainly seem to have a table down front and a large stake in the outcome, so you might expect them at least to match the token contribution promised by, say, Bulgaria. If ISIL gains control of Iraq or Syria, or both, it won't be Bulgaria they target next.
As always, this is The Most Important Thing In the World, and it isn't. Bad weather and misbehaving athletes get equal time on the nightly "news". Terrorists are at work here -- one of them shot two state troopers in Pennsylvania, while another started a massive wildfire in northern California. What? No, these are white men. Not terrorists? My mistake. Where's that scorecard, son? Make it two beers.
The New York Times, sensing my confusion, stepped up with a sort of chart describing the current permutations of the Death Network, so now I know that the Nusra Front operates in Syria, Shabab is Somalian, and Qaedat al Jihad can be found in and around Pakistan, while ISIS or ISIL (nobody seems quite sure) is all over Iraq like a rash. Not to forget Boko Haram of Nigeria and its perverted production of "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers," or our old friends Hamas and Hezbollah. And really, don't they seem like old friends at this point? Familiar faces like Joe McCarthy and Barry Goldwater, from the good old days of the GOP? All I remember about Khoresan is a really angry-looking beardy guy who appears ready to blow up everything twice. He may in fact be dead now. This is why I need the scorecard.
None of this is funny -- some poor French tourist lost his head today, preceded by the usual vile rhetoric. ("The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter."-- Samuel Spade) When this happens, I admit to wishing someone would napalm these ISILs from the inside out, but this is a passing visceral response and not the basis for a national policy. Luckily, I don't have to formulate one. That task has fallen to the President because the Constitution fails to spell out what happens when the House of Representatives is controlled by resentful idiots whose consensus seems to be "Don't ask, don't tell, do whatever you want and we'll back you up and then impeach you. And climate change is a myth. Derp." The Senate has not been much more helpful.
Tasked with fighting a war without Americans in actual combat, John Kerry has logged thousands of air miles lining up another Coalition of the Reluctantly Willing. It's an impressive list, but thunderingly absent is our plucky little ally Israel. The recipient of so much American money and weaponry apparently isn't answering the phone these days. Which is odd, because they certainly seem to have a table down front and a large stake in the outcome, so you might expect them at least to match the token contribution promised by, say, Bulgaria. If ISIL gains control of Iraq or Syria, or both, it won't be Bulgaria they target next.
As always, this is The Most Important Thing In the World, and it isn't. Bad weather and misbehaving athletes get equal time on the nightly "news". Terrorists are at work here -- one of them shot two state troopers in Pennsylvania, while another started a massive wildfire in northern California. What? No, these are white men. Not terrorists? My mistake. Where's that scorecard, son? Make it two beers.
Labels: politics
posted by Buttermilk Sky at 10:16 PM
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