Two pieces of evidence from The Guardian:

1. There will be a race war in America if Obama is elected.
2. Obama is the anti-Christ.

I think educated non-Americans around the world are scratching their heads, wondering how a country filled with this kind of thinking could have risen to such heights…

“We have lost the ability to [accept] any short term pain for long term gain. [...] We have become fat, and dumb, and happy, and arrogant. [...] Just as this world is opening up, we are closing down.”

Why do we fight? Has your answer changed?

Thoughts?

To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level
must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent — ominously, dreadfully silent.

There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.

We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. (Source)

The failure of the Congress to debate the issue is stunning.

Segment IX also discusses the impact of being perceived to be against a strong defense can have on one’s career as a journalist, an “expert”, and of course a politician.

What would it take to get back to a place where individuals in the public sector didn’t constantly take into account the impact their views on the defense industry might have on their careers? Is it even possible to return to such a state?

Part VIII starts getting to the real heart of the issue.

Did the media perform its role adequately in the months before the war?

Hussein was a textbook example of blowback.

Part VII also introduces the concept of a fourth element of the military-industrial complex:

1. The military
2. The defense industry
3. Congress
4. Think tanks

Kwiatkowski summarizes the problems of think tanks perfectly: People making policy who have zero accountability to the public. She then goes on to give a devastating insider view of the lead up to the war in Iraq.

Think tanks — good, bad, or neither?

Segment VI also introduces William Solomon, a New Yorker who enlists as a career move and looks at recruiting methods.

Quotes of the segment:

• “We appeal to people’s self-interest[ in recruiting for the military], and then put them in a situation that’s based on self-sacrifice.”
• Wilton Sekzer, on answering your country’s call in the past: “There was no such thing as, ‘Well, I wonder if my country is right.’ Is anybody lying to me about this?’ You don’t grow up thinking that. You grow up saying, ‘If the bugle calls, you go.’”

Was Sekzer’s earlier line of thinking too dangerous for the 21st century? Can we ever have that kind of trust in our leadership? Was it misplaced trust even 60 years ago?

In short, part V shows the depth of the problem. And how worthy of impeachment Cheney is.

What do you think of Cheney and his career path?