Around the blogs

A few posts on other blogs caught my eye, and my imagination, today.

Carteach0, writing at "Talking To Myself Again", has an interesting problem.

I often have political discussions with acquaintances. Well.... for a given value of 'often'.

During those discussions, there usually appears to be a disconnect. Since I'm the one writing this, I'll say that disconnect is on the other side of the discussion. The disconnect I speak of is the one between reality, reason, logic, and emotion.

. . .

In the interest of a better quality discussion, I'd like to have a short list of questions to pose. Concepts and ideas that can form the foundation of whats to follow. Towards that end, I'd like input from others... preferably folks more intelligent than I, which leaves a wide field to harvest from.

Offered as example....

• Do individuals have the inherent right to pursue their own path in life?
• Is there such thing as 'right' and 'wrong'?
  
• Is it ever 'right' for a group of people to do that which is 'wrong' for an individual to do?
  

I throw the floor open to all you bright people out there. Add to this list of questions... refine them... turn them into building blocks for the foundation of communication between people.

Why not click over to his blog and answer his question there? The collection of responses should make interesting reading.

Next, Daddy Bear responds to Senator McCain's concerns about perceived 'isolationism'. He asks:

• Did the loss of Rangers in Mogadishu do anything to promote stability in the Horn of Africa?
• Did the billions of dollars we poured into the Balkans gain us anything at all?
• Has Saudi Arabia become more democratic after we poured blood and treasure into their sand in the 1990's?
• Have the wars in Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arablia gained us any good will for promoting democracy in the Arab and/or Muslim world?
• Has decimating Al Qaeda and working to rebuild Afghanistan paid off after 10 years?
• Has Mexico become more democratic, stable, and prosperous since we started shipping our manufacturing jobs to Nogales and Tijuana?

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. For the most part, our support of despotic regimes in the the developing world has gained us nothing but grief. Either we get the knife in the front from the people these regimes oppress or we get the knife in the back from those regimes. It doesn't matter if it's from Karzai or Crown Prince Abdullah, building or supporting these regimes while smiling smile has gained us nothing but a kick to the teeth.

There's more at the link.

I'd respond even more simply, by asking just one question:

Is (this foreign commitment) sufficiently important to the interests of the United States that the President is prepared, in all honesty and good conscience, to kneel down before weeping children, who've just heard that their Daddy will never be coming home again, and assure them that their father's death was necessary for the good of this country?

If it's not worth the willing sacrifice of an American life, we shouldn't be there. Period.

Finally, Warren Meyer at Coyote Blog asks an unanswerable question about the banality of evil:

Why is it no one wants to address any of the paperwork hassles in starting construction or opening a restaurant or getting a liquor license or starting a taxi service or any number of other private enterprises, but the government jumps right on the task of streamlining the work it takes to spy on me?

I wish I knew, Mr. Meyer . . . I wish I knew.





Peter