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So killing with drones is now a most ethical form of killing; Mr. Rogan argues that drone targeting refinements have so minimized collateral damage that we can now call our war tactics "humanitarian." And I guess Mr. Rogan knows this because our Washingtonian government, like Washington himself, could never tell a lie. Mr. Rogan essentially suggests that the collateral damage victims should be happy that US drones obliterate lives without warning, because ground forces would cause much more damage. [He fails to mention that in our history, communities tend to welcome the liberation brought by American ground forces.]I rather think Mr. Rogan declares collateral victims of drones as essentially valueless in the prism of American interests. Apparently, the more serious terror threats of nukes in Iran and nukes in North Korea get a pass on drone strikes -- those communities of conspiracy have status the Pakistanis and Yemenis don't enjoy. Perhaps we bully-drone Pakistan and Yemen because it allows us to showcase our killing technology -- not because they are the greatest of threats.I wonder if Mr. Rogan's hawkish perspective would evolve if his local law enforcement began deployment of drones to blast cars and homes of suspects. Surely he will be gratified by the humanitarian focus that allows his family to live after a surgical strike on a neighbor (unless of course, his neighbor was wrongly identified). Surely there will be no lingering damage to his innocent family's sense of peace and security, no night terrors, no panic attacks, no PTS disorder. And no doubt, Mr. Rogan will be as proud then as he is now, of American forces using these tactics all over the world to eliminate whomever they consider a threat.Meanwhile, those not as beholding to the myth of a faultless America, rightly revile the sudden terrors dropping on foreign villages due to American wealth, American surgical killing technology, and a callous American arrogance to deploy same.
You replied to Lizzie
We'll never run out of reasons for distrusting the left, and it's a waste of time to proclaim such complaints because they make us less appealing to independents. Fox had a story yesterday about a family that buys high deductible health insurance from Humana and was paying about $350 a month. Obamacare has so many mandated coverages, and has so tilted scales on pre-existing conditions, that that same Humana customer is looking at $950/mo for next year. Defunding the federal exchanges DOES NOT HELP this Humana customer. The entire Obamacare law needs to be repealed, and that won't happen before 2017 (unless 2/3 GOP majorities arrive from the midterms -- good luck with that). It's just counterproductive for Cruz to raise expectations that meaningful Obamacare reversals can be implemented in 2013.You left a comment
This fear of action is the spawn of Newt. Newt fearlessly challenged President Clinton with reasonable but conservative spending resolutions. Clinton VETOED the spending, CLINTON SHUT DOWN the Government (and partied with Monica, the shutdown intern) and the faithful Press BLAMED IT ALL ON NEWT. The rational fear of GOP senators is that truth has nothing to do with who gets blamed for being on the brink. I hate it, but understand it. McConnell sees the safe bet as justing let there be more and more malaise -- and letting it be Obama's fault with zero intervention by the GOP.You left a comment
Let Russia fix this. With this administration in command, intervening in Syria is like sending the Cleveland Cavaliers to represent us in the Olympics. Syria will have to wait, America needs to work on its own regime change.You left a comment
Prof. Singer, thank you for your excellent, fact-based reporting. I wonder if the whole CO2 scare gambit was modeled on the 1980's hype that CFCs were destroying the Ozone layer. NASA [http://science.nasa.gov/scienc...] reports that CFC levels stopped growing after the 1990 treaty to ban them, but the South Pole ozone hole persists due to cold, to "planetary waves," and to CFCs still in the atmosphere. Perhaps concern over CFCs was justified, but those Henny Penny/sky is falling tactics were just warm-ups for socialists in earth science serving up CO2 as the new world-ending evil. Studying the growth in CO2 is sound, fudging the science is not. It seems to me that the smartest response is planting a lot more CO2 scrubbers -- i.e. trees.You left a comment
Events of today are so thick with contrived posturing that it is difficult to glean the truth of them -- and it is so incredibly easy to be disproportionately critical of these events. I suppose King himself postured to some extent -- but his voice was one born out of true terror for his own life and that of his family, and he was called to go beyond the fear to an eloquence embraced by people of good will from all colors and by both democrats and republicans.At least Andrew Boyle at http://www.americanthinker.com... was thoughtful enough to trumpet Charleton Heston's allegiance with the dream. I think Clarice has taken the lesser path to grouse about the motives of the anniversary's organizers. As I look through conservative blogs these days, the reading menu serves up grouse for breakfast, grouse for lunch and grouse for dinner.If we really are the party of smaller government and empowered individuals, then on this anniversary let's begin by honoring the 1963 gathering of free citizens. Next, let's re-focus on how free people can solve problems and improve their communities without federal overlords, because our pessimism is far thicker than the posturing we complain about.You left a comment
OK Noah. I'm quite sure that we cease embracing Christianity if your article stirs us into desires for deadly force reprisals. Perhaps you or a commenter can suggest a link or two on ways for us to aid our Christian brethren in the Middle East.
You replied to Gavirio Vicuta
The author misspeaks. Allende was a marxist and was democratically elected; he rapidly fell out of favor with many factions of Chile. It was the brutal and lawless coup leader, Pinochet, who made leftists and perceived opponents regularly disappear.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Other Musings via Disqus
You can keep your filibuster, if you want it.
[from Nuclear Option Watch (Update – BOOM!)]
Mark30339 | November 21, 2013 at 3:12 pm
So as we approach the anniversary of the public murder of an American President by a lover of the Soviet state, the Left publicly murders legislative comity, while their incompetent POTUS comedy plays on. Iron-fisted, single-party rule is being thrust upon us. The triumph of defeating soviet totalitarianism has morphed into American totalitarianism.
There is no silver lining, this is a devastatingly low point. While there has been precious little reaching across the aisle for many years, the memory and tradition of such comity was always present. Say good-bye to middle-ground and to common ground and to steady governance. The political pendulum will swing ever more widely and ever more rapidly — with Republicans and Democrats in perpetual savaging of each other.
The Left has given us this wasteland. General Sherman said that the South chose the remedy of war, and it was incumbent upon him to give it to them abundantly. The Left has released the Kraken of all-out acrimony, and I do not know how the Right can avoid responding in kind. The essential fabric of self-governance and acceptance of elected authorities has been torn apart this day. What will thrive next are factions of relentless INSURRECTION on both the Left and the Right. We can no longer hope in a cooperation for the common good. Government imposed order with increasing levels of brutality will fill the coming days. And the manipulation of elections with government resources will become so profound that no one will believe fair elections are even possible. Ben Franklin said the country had a republic, if they could keep it. If he is looking down on us now, he will more likely say: “Venezuela says hello!”
There is no silver lining, this is a devastatingly low point. While there has been precious little reaching across the aisle for many years, the memory and tradition of such comity was always present. Say good-bye to middle-ground and to common ground and to steady governance. The political pendulum will swing ever more widely and ever more rapidly — with Republicans and Democrats in perpetual savaging of each other.
The Left has given us this wasteland. General Sherman said that the South chose the remedy of war, and it was incumbent upon him to give it to them abundantly. The Left has released the Kraken of all-out acrimony, and I do not know how the Right can avoid responding in kind. The essential fabric of self-governance and acceptance of elected authorities has been torn apart this day. What will thrive next are factions of relentless INSURRECTION on both the Left and the Right. We can no longer hope in a cooperation for the common good. Government imposed order with increasing levels of brutality will fill the coming days. And the manipulation of elections with government resources will become so profound that no one will believe fair elections are even possible. Ben Franklin said the country had a republic, if they could keep it. If he is looking down on us now, he will more likely say: “Venezuela says hello!”
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