I know you must be about as sick of this as I am...

And isn't this a distraction from health care? Not that there's anything anyone, even Obama, can do about it...

So YahooNews! tells me. This is an interesting development. Interesting--not panic-inducing. And it is probably the biggest clue we could garner that North Korea has a certain amount of confidence in their nuclear weapons programs--or else that Kim Jong Il is about to collapse and die.

I hear a lot of hand-wringing about the dangers of Iran's nuclear program, from the Cheneys as well as the Hillarys and the Obamas. From European heads of state as well as polls. From spooks as well as pundits.

I'm as sick of these idiocies as I ever have been. And I simply cannot get more than one or NO persons to engage in an intelligent conversation about this. I'm not sure why, but I think that most people are just a little too afraid to 'go there'.

But the bottom line is this: We have nearly nothing to fear from anyone possessing a nuclear device, except maybe outright insane atheists. And we faced them down for fifty years. And won. Or so the worshippers of St. Reagan tell me.

Why am I sick of the latter-day handwringing? Because it seems to me to have only one purpose: To strike fear into the hearts of Americans. To insure that we will always be a nuclear power (not that I have anything against that, but I do have something against DIS-honest manipulation of the populace, i.e. propaganda). To insure that we will continue to spend about half of the U.S. government's income/revenue on the military.

And ever since I first saw the T-shirt with the message about bombers and bake sales, I've had to come down on the side of spending LESS on the world's largest military, for many good reasons.

A nuclear weapon is a defensive weapon. It is not an offensive weapon. If used offensively, it will result in a counter-attack that will wipe out the offender's largest and/or capital city.

Go there with me. Just for now. What will happen if North Korea nukes South Korea? What will happen if North Korea nukes Alaska (and what are the frickin' odds of THAT succeeding in the first place? Not good)? What will happen?

Pyongyang disappears in a mushroom cloud, that's what happens. Kim Jong Il might be sick enough to make sure his nation dies with him--but I doubt his generals with the big funny hats are going to go along with him on that.

To paraphrase our President: This is a cause for concern, but not panic, and not fear. Not in any sense of the word. It is classic Sun Tzu: Kill one to terrorize ten thousand. Or, THREATEN to kill one. Even threats are enough to make neocons (and a substantial number of Americans) shiver.

Not me.

There will be five Catholics on the Supreme Court once Sotomayor is seated among them.

I just finished my daily perusal of the Internets Tubes. Sonia Sotomayor and the conservative outrage upon her was about 80% of what's lighting up the electrons today. They hate her. They hate women. They hate her cuisine preferences. They hate Obama. They have a lot of hate to go around, that's for sure.

But not one word about her religion. Plenty about how her vagina will skew her opinions and votes on cases. Plenty about how her marital status will skew same. Her 'empathy'. Her 'immigrant parents'. Her Latino messiness.

How about her religion? Will that help John Roberts and the rest of the Neocon Gang make abortion illegal again? Not one word. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Maybe it's like reverse psychology; maybe conservatives are hiding their SUPPORT for her while trumpeting their opposition? Or maybe it's more like Pavlovian psychology than anything else.

Thanks, Josh, for the belly laugh I got when I read this post.

Hey. What happened to the links to posts on the front page blog posts? Was that part of the latest big change? I'm not hip to that, man.

Like a charm, it voiks.

It's just a coincidence, right? But it's starting to amaze me whenever it happens. It would appear that even the Lords of Finance, the Wizards of Wall Street, the Day Trad-ah Play-ahs, all seem to approve of nearly every important Obama choice--whether it's political or business.

I will gore Obama's ox whenever I feel it appropriate. He is far from perfect. But I will revel in even the appearances of his good fortune and choices. Why not?

Please! Let them! Make them promise to filibuster! I want them to filibuster Obama's choice for the Supreme Court.

Because lately, when Republicans cry, Americans CHEER!

Of the dozens of my faithful readers, you all know what MY option is: Out. Now. Today.

But I hereby bring you my official alternate option: Stay. With certain strings attached.

1: Bring back the draft. Draft millions. Make it a World War II effort, President Obama--a REAL effort, not the fake political overture effort it has been so far, and continues to be. Overwhelm Afghanistan.

2: Bring back the Marshall Plan. Draft BILLIONS--in dollars. Make it a post-World War II effort, President Obama, not the watered-down spooks-in-the-field-calling-the-shots Vietnam-style effort. Overwhelm Afghanistan with prosperity--and make the other failed states ENVIOUS.

3: Declare victory and leave.

Whatever you do, don't forget that last part. It's the most important part of all.

On this Memorial Day, for the first time in eight long years, we have someone at Arlington Cemetery paying tribute to our fallen soldiers who is NOT a wartime deserter.

For the first time in eight long years, we have someone who is NOT lying directly to the faces of the military in his speeches today at Arlington (well--for the most part).

For the first time in eight long years, we have sanity in our military policies. Except for one important point:

It's time to bring home every one of our soldiers. It's time to bring them home, where they'll be safe. It's time to bring them home from Iraq and Afghanistan. It's time for an exit strategy.

What is the exit strategy, President Obama? What is success? What is winning when it comes to these wars?

Until you can answer, until those answers make real sense, the only answer I have is this: Bring them home. Now. Today. Pack it up. Declare victory, whatever.

But, like the aftermath of Vietnam, we have all had enough of useless soldiers' deaths to last us a generation. Time to turn the page, President Obama, and there isn't a single reason to do this slowly. Not one. Especially today, as we remember the last man to die for the U.S.'s last mistake, Vietnam.

Lots of good writing going on in the Internets Tubes today, but this one is good enough to share. Be sure to read the whole thing; its snark is deep, and is important context for this final sentence:

I guess this is how fascism/socialism (facialism?) works.

Facialism. Combines the idiocy of the right blogosphere with its indisputable links to the porn industry.

I like it. Very much!