While you were sleeping, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were busy: Monday, 23 July 2007 Three Iraqis freed, their captors detained Monday, 23 July 2007 Iraqis take lead in island clearing operation Monday, 23 July 2007 Allons Soldiers render medical aid to Ir…

Geras is probably one of the last of the anti-communist socialists left. In the late 40’s after the war, the socialists in Europe helped create NATO and welcomed the Marshall plan.

Not too many of them left now. They’ve been replaced by people perfectly at home with communism. A shame.

…The lessons have evidently still not been learned of earlier, sometimes calamitous, misjudgements – which produced the Third Period of the Comintern, when social democracy, not Nazism, was said to be the main enemy; and which landed the world communist movement, along with much fellow-travelling liberal opinion, in denial and excuse towards the criminality of Stalinism despite a flood of evidence about this; and which have led, time and again, to a complaisant attitude towards terror and murder for alleged purposes of liberation, so putting in question the claim of those with that attitude to represent a movement for democratic, egalitarian and humane objectives. There is no reason intrinsic to the central values and principles of socialism for these misjudgements or their continuation. But there are clearly, as always and everywhere, simplifying tendencies of thought – in the present case, seeing in imperialism, not merely a crucial feature of the world, but the answer to every question. A thing held too close to the eye obstructs the vision.

To read the Essay in its entirety, go here:http://mail.bris.ac.uk/~plcdib/imprints/normangerasinterview.html

Geras is not easy for me to read, I’m old and never got to college, but I have tried all my life to learn and have created my own philosophy. However, those of us who care so much, need to do our homework so that we do not waste our time with such a MikeB. The Socialist of old would turn over in their graves if they heard what the American, nay the world Left is spewing forth!

On July 23rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm, georgej said:

Well said, and thank you. You’re a better source of opinions from military families than the Pew Dork Slimes. How many of the families that are said to have “turned” against the war are really expressing dissatisfaction that the military they support isn’t being allowed to kick enough tail by restrictive rules of engagement?

What percentage of the poll numbers that say “against the war” are of the belief that the war was necessary but isn’t being prosecuted aggressively enough? I think that these get conflated together to increase the “against” number for the headline through intentionally vague questions in the poll.

How about this for a poll question:

Do you believe that the U.S. military should lose in Iraq, to prevent America from future military adventurism and prevent another Republican Commander in Chief from taking office?

Is political success for the opposition to the executive branch worth a loss on America?

What would be the effect of an American retreat from Iraq on all the people around the world who depend on the United States for their security, especially those inside Iraq who have risked their lives to help their country be free?

DailyKos is worthy of derision for so many of the political points of view expressed there, but instead, O’Reilly prattles on about ‘hate speech’.

There surely is plenty ‘unhinged’ in the blogosphere wherever comments are enabled, and some sites are worse than others. I’d find it plausible that DailyKos is of an order of magnitude worse than others, and even the worst of all of them.

Nevertheless, I find O’Reilly’s blurring of responsibility among those who control a site like DailyKos (and their core group), on the one hand, and any old random person who utilizes comments or ‘diaries’, on the other, bespeaks technological ignorance.

With both you and Mary Katherine Ham now on tap for O’Reilly, I’d urge you to educate him on these questions. And, again, to turn the criticism of DailyKos to the policy positions advocated there. That is where the sin of association by the field of major Democratic Party politicians and candidates is the most severe.

I’m the head of a military family too. My wife and I are both former Navy, and our son is serving now. And he is of the same mindset as your son. He wants us to finish the job and leave no chance that American soil will ever be violated again by these scumbags.

From a proud then and proud now former Marine … well said …

I’ll start again.

I *am* head of a military family.

My son is a US Marine. Members of his unit are deployed in Iraq and Djibouti. He happens to be stateside for now. I took an informal, off the record, email poll of some of the families.

To a family, 100% want their son, daughter, father, mother, etc., HOME.

To a family, 100% understand what is at stake in the war on terror.

To a family, they all understand the mission and the goals of Marines being deployed to the middle east and eastern Africa.

Contrary to the claims made by MikeB, the families I’ve exchanged emails with have not lost faith.

Are there families who want the war to end? Absodamnlutely. Every one of them.

But their support of their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, etc., is unwavering.

And every one of them is upset at the topic of this thread — that some so-called “Americans” who stylize themselves as “patriots” are rekindling the Vietnam-era “baby-killer” mantra. That you can take to the bank, MikeB. They despise the DKOS/DU/Huffpo posters that are slandering their sons and daughters, and vow to now allow them to get away with it this time around.

My son’s unit command asks for and gets volunteers to go to the Sandbox and the Horn. This, in spite of being shot at, mortared, IED’d, etc., when they get to Iraq. Or walking patrol and living off the land the God forgot with the French Foreign legion in the Horn (BTW, the Marines admire and learn from the French who have been in the Horn for decades). And absolute proof that your comments that the troops are losing faith is pure, unadulterated BULLSH*T.

To a man and woman, THEY DO NOT WANT THE LEAVE THE JOB UNDONE, even though they all want to come home. Re-enlistment levels throughout the Corps is extremely high, higher than peacetime according to some “old-salts” I’ve talked to. Yes, this is anecdotal, but the record shows the Marines and Marine Reserves have exceeded every recruiting/retention goal for every quarter since 2001, with only one quarter as an exception.

More proof that everything MikeB has been saying is bullsh*t.

MikeB attempted to deceive us into thinking he was an “ex-marine.” He now waves his hand and say, no, he was only QUOTING an “ex-marine.” At *best* he is being disingenuous, but more likely he’s simply a liar.

He’s accused a whole bunch of people of being “chickenhawks” including the owner of this blog in this and in other thread.

Well, as HE is not “eligible” under HIS own criteria to comment on the war, then perhaps he should STFU.

Here is what he MikeB is: He is a TROLL.

From Wikipedia:

In Internet terminology, a troll is someone who intentionally posts messages about sensitive topics constructed to cause controversy in an online community such as an online discussion forum or USENET groups in order to bait users into responding.[1] They may also plant images and data on networks that others may find disturbing in order to cause confrontation.

He calls conservatives names. He insults our hostess (that shows he has no manners or “breeding”). He is argumentative, and not in the way principled debaters are. He hijacks threads. He fits the profile, therefore.

Whatever his purpose is, his effect is to engage us in argument for no purpose.

After reading many of what his posts, I’ve come to the conclusion that my initial impression of him is correct.

The proper way to deal with him is to not feed him by “debating” him. You are not going to “reach” him. He is here to disrupt us through preaching using BDS/Liberal Democrat talking points. He is a propagandist whose goal is to marginalize us and demoralize us.

PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLL.

Of course, some of you may disagree with my assessment. That’s your privilege. In this blog (unlike DKOS/DU, and Huffpo) you’re entitled to your opinion and to express it.

On July 23rd, 2007 at 8:26 pm, huggybear said:
Jeez, who would have thought a post titled “KILLITARY” would set off such a rumble?

MikeB knew, that’s why he posted so much nonsense.