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Gates: No "Exit Strategy" for Afghanistan

Mark Noonan

Are you listening, liberals?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it’s a mistake to set a deadline to end American military action, as some liberals have sought, and that a defeat would be disastrous for the U.S.

In a stern warning to critics of a continued troop presence in Afghanistan, Gates said the Islamic extremist Taliban and Al Qaeda would perceive an early pullout as a victory over the United States as similar to the Soviet Union’s humiliating withdrawal in 1989 after a 10-year war.

“The notion of timelines and exit strategies and so on, frankly, I think would all be a strategic mistake. The reality is, failure in Afghanistan would be a huge setback for the United States,” Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Hey, how ’bout that? Just like Iraq, huh?

Our problem is that the liberal meme about Afghanistan (ie, “Iraq bad, Afghanistan good”) was just a talking point. A convenient means of hammering President Bush and attacking John McCain in 2008 – none of them, from Obama on down, probably believed their own words. Perhaps they just hoped that Afghanistan would prove easy…it seemed to be as much, even going in to late 2008. But, as it turns out, the campaign in Afghanistan changed as the enemy grew bolder and now we’ve got a long, hard fight ahead of us.

Liberals don’t want to fight it.

I think what our liberals would prefer is some way to scuttle Afghanistan in time for it to be forgotten by 2012…much as Clinton’s pulling the plug early on Somalia made it a non-issue by 1996. Afghanistan is a much more difficult and much more dangerous campaign – in fact and in effect around the world – than Somalia ever was, but our liberals are always willing to look in to ways and means of surrendering, especially if they can then ignore the issue on the campaign trail. The trouble is, scuttling Afghanistan won’t be something like Somalia – that surrender did, of course, encourage bin Laden and led by stages to 9/11, but the most important thing (to liberals) is that it didn’t cause them to lose in 1996. To quit on Afghanistan means certain Taliban/al Qaeda victory in that nation, and perhaps in Pakistan, as well…and this in addition to the massive encouragement it would give for jihadists to attack us here, at home.

The hard task for us conservatives, then, is to some how stiffen Obama’s spine – to work diligently for American victory, even though this would work to Obama’s credit, in the long run. Now, if it becomes completely clear that we can’t push Obama to fight for victory, then we will have to re-think what is best for our troops and our nation…it’ll be a choice between continuing a bloodletting in the hopes that in 2013 we can get new, victorious policies in place, or agreeing to a withdrawal. Neither of those outcomes is good for America – we’ll be deciding which is least-worst. Better, then, to work to keep Obama up on the rails vis a vis the War on Terrorism and the Afghan Campaign.

A difficult task, but we must do it.

Mass Layoffs Surged in August

Mark Noonan

So much for all those green shoots:

Employers took 2,690 mass layoff actions in August that resulted in the separation of 259,307 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. The number of mass layoff events in August increased by 533 from the prior month…Over the year, the number of mass layoff events increased by 803…

So, gigantic increase from the previous month, gigantic increase from the same time a year prior. This is an economy which is getting worse, not better – and its like a ratchet. The more people laid off the lower the consumer spending – both by the unemployed and by people more fearful of losing their jobs (such as, for instance, me and my sudden desire to save as much as I can). And this, in turn, shuts down demand for goods – even for Chinese goods, for all those money men who are hyping up China as the savior of the economy.

Its going to get a lot worse before it gets any better – and this is in spite of government numbers which will come out in the next few quarters alleging that the recession is over. Buckle up tight and get ready to ride it out – the money men are in for the biggest and final crash, and then we’ll have done with them along with their enablers in Big Government.

Want to Avoid Buying Chinese Goods?

Mark Noonan

Here’s one place you can go – its a Catholic retailer and thus very, well, Catholic in its product line…but at least its a start. More groups need to pay heed to this:

We believe that by purchasing products from China we would be contributing to the things mentioned here. Because of this, we refuse to carry most statues and pretty much anything porcelain that’s made today. We have been able to find sources for products in other countries. They may cost a little more but we rest better at night knowing that our money isn’t helping to support forced abortions and the persecution of Christians in China.

As I’ve said before, I used to be an ardent Free Trade advocate – but now I’m a proponent of Freedom Trade. This is the concept that we should have free and open economic activity with all the free peoples of the world, and absolutely zero traffic with the tyrants who enslave their own populations. If we are to buy cheap, consumer goods overseas, I’d rather we bought them from, say, the free people of India than the slaves of China’s corrupt oligarchy. And, yes, this means I also want to stop all imports of oil from Saudi Arabia, before anyone out there accuses me of inconsistency…if its an unfree nation, not one American cent should go there.

We who are free must stand together – and by standing together, we’ll bring closer the day when all men are free and able to pursue Truth, unfettered by tyrants. The cost of liberty might be high, but it is a price well worth paying.

Is it Just Me, or Does Everyone Kinda Fear Arrest These Days?

Mark Noonan

When you see stories like this:

…A West Michigan woman says the state is threatening her with fines and possibly jail time for babysitting her neighbors’ children.

Lisa Snyder of Middleville says her neighborhood school bus stop is right in front of her home. It arrives after her neighbors need to be at work, so she watches three of their children for 15-40 minutes until the bus comes.

The Department of Human Services received a complaint that Snyder was operating an illegal child care home. DHS contacted Snyder and told her to get licensed, stop watching her neighbors’ kids, or face the consequences.

“It’s ridiculous.” says Snyder. “We are friends helping friends!” She added that she accepts no money for babysitting.

Mindy Rose, who leaves her 5-year-old with Snyder, agrees. “She’s a friend… I trust her.”

To be sure, legislation is starting up to stop this bit of nonsense – but since when do the authorities even have a reason to look in to such matters? And where do we get people like the stoolie who called the cops? And how did a government agency get the right to issue fines and threats before a trial and conviction? For all our alleged efforts to ensure free choice and privacy, it sure seems to me that our area of liberty is shrinking.

In a free society, all is permitted unless there is a specific law against it. The mark of a tyrannical society is that nothing may happen unless the government permits it – right now, for this kind lady to watch the neighbor’s kids for a few minutes she’ll either have to get permission from the government, or wait to see if the government passes a law allowing normal, human interaction.

When I first read this story I was outraged – and I mean really outraged. I seriously desired, just for a moment, that everyone involved be flogged. 10 lashes with a cat o’nine tails for the stoolie, the government officials and whomever originally wrote a law which worked out as a ban on being human. I’ve calmed down since then – but I’m still enraged over this…and very concerned. Because it occurred to me as I pondered the issue that there are a myriad reasons for the authorities to arrest and/or harass us in our daily lives. To be sure, not in our sex lives – government has kindly resigned itself out of that (thanks, liberals…really good job there, boys and girls), but every other aspect of our lives is ever more under the thumb of government.

Which of us, stopped by the authorities, could really say we feel confident that justice will be done? Someone I know had a summary judgment placed against him in a civil suit – he had never been served; the plaintiff had put a notice in the newspaper, which this person never reads, and that was considered sufficient notice by a judge…and then it was in to efforts at wage garnishment. Someone could denounce any of us, anonymously, and the way things are working out, we’d have to prove our innocence. And that is only if we’re given the chance – there’s no indication in the linked story that the lady was charged with a crime and then convicted by a jury…nope, just an anonymous denunciation, a drum head investigation by bureaucrats, and then “watch it, slave, your masters are after you!”.

We need a genuine civil rights movement – probably an armed one, in to the bargain. We need to curb the government and the busy-bodies who set government upon us. First off, we should end the use of anonymous denunciations – I know, the cops like them: all the more reason to ban them. If a person is not willing to put themselves out on the line with their accusation, then it simply should not be used. Secondly, we should ensure that no government entity can take any adverse action against a person absent a confession in open court, or conviction by a jury. Third, anyone accused of any crime should not have their name and particulars released to the public by the authorities until after a conviction is obtained – true, the MSM will dig out a lot of such names, but only in prominent cases…we certainly don’t want our government covering us in muck, especially if we turn out to be innocent of the charges. Fourth, impose severe penalties for false accusations and for prosecutorial/bureaucratic misconduct.

Our freedom is at stake here – we’ve allowed our liberty to erode for too long. Time to take it all back.

Sunday Open Thread

Mark Noonan

As we all wait in expectation of the Charges rising to 2-1 and for the season, perhaps we can all discuss the importance – to our nation – of having the Chargers win the Super Bowl this year. Or, perhaps we can discuss something else?

Have at it, boys and girls.

Phrase of the Day

Mark Noonan

Appropriate for our times:

Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.

Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,

your gold and silver have corroded,

and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;

it will devour your flesh like a fire.

You have stored up treasure for the last days.

Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers

who harvested your fields are crying aloud;

and the cries of the harvesters

have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;

you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.

You have condemned;

you have murdered the righteous one;

he offers you no resistance. – James 5:1-6

Everyone who has been granted great wealth has also been granted great responsibility – and don’t anyone out there (liberals, we’re looking at you) think that you can discharge such responsibility by advocating for higher income taxes and more welfare spending. A billionaire who has hidden his money in tax shelters and then proceeds to yammer on about how we all have to pay more to government is a man who has fattened his heart for the day of slaughter.

To have wealth is to have an obligation to use it wisely – and in this matter I plead guilty: I, too, have not used the vast wealth which has passed through my hands over the years to the best service of my fellow man. I have, like all too many, thought only of myself. It might be that God doesn’t necessarily want us to earn 8% returns on our financial investments…but would very much like us to do for the poor ourselves, rather than farming out the work to government bureaucrats.

The lesson, for me, over the past few years is that it is time we started acting like adults – time we started looking for our problems in the mirror…and then started saying, each day, “what can I do, today, to help out?”

Obama: Its all About Me

Mark Noonan

And it is getting tiresome:

…Some major presidential speeches deserve to be remembered, quoted and celebrated. Some deserve to be forgotten. A few deserve to be remembered and criticized, because they dishonor the history of presidential rhetoric.

Obama’s rhetorical method in international contexts — given supreme expression at the United Nations this week — is a moral dialectic. The thesis: pre-Obama America is a nation of many flaws and failures. The antithesis: The world responds with understandable but misguided prejudice. The synthesis: Me. Me, at all costs; me, in spite of all terrors; me, however long and hard the road may be. How great a world we all should see, if only all were more like…me.

Truth be told, most people who seek the office of the Presidency have a healthy ego. Outside of the genuinely humble – who would accept the burden in meek acceptance of God’s will in their lives – most people have to be a bit arrogant to assume that out of 300 million people, they are the best man for the job. So, to have a President who is rather stuck on himself is not unusual – but Obama’s self absorption is rather astounding.

It was on display when he moved his DNC acceptance speech to a stadium, complete with a Greek style stage set. It was further in evidence at the absurd set up for his victory speech on election day – we’ve got a man in the White House who really thinks he’s special…and the risk is that he won’t listen to contrary advice. Obama needs to take himself down a peg or two and realize that while getting elected President is a great achievement, most people who have done so turned out to be mediocrities….and some abject failures. Only a half dozen really mastered the job – and there’s zero indication that Obama is going to be one of the greats.

Arrogance matched to incompetence is a grave risk – especially to a Great Power. It is to be hoped that Obama will learn a bit of the humility a Christian is supposed to have.

UPDATE: President Pantywaist? Seems that the concept of foreign love for Obama has its limits.

Weekly Recap (2009-09-26)

Matt Margolis