What's happening is very familiar to anyone who's played a strategy game like Starcraft. One team has lots of cheap units and equipment - we'll call them the Terrorists (or the Chinese, looking to future wars here). Another team has very expensive yet powerful units - that's us. Which team wins depends on the leaders and by controlling resources. Sure, we can kind of win against a backwater country like Iraq but look at the cost to us - over $100 billion. What would happen if we went up against China? We'd be bankrupt within a year. Going against something as nebulous as terrorism may not be much better.

With his tax cuts, Bush is taking money from somewhere in order to boost up Defense. Let's see: Education, Infrastructure, Social Security - it'll all have to make sacrifices for Defense. Simple math.

Our military is falling into a trap of producing expensive and inexpendable units. Umpteen millions for next generation fighter plane that gets dropped by a cheap missile or a malfunction. That's a major loss. That's a lot of taxpayer dollars just gone, not to mention the human loss. We need a cheaper way.

Suggestions: expand the unmanned military, which will reduce the need for supplies. Use simple, cheap, armed drones instead of multi-million dollar uberJets. Make Allies instead of going it alone. (This is where Bush fails - Ol' Bubba gotta do it himself).

Or, better still, how about we focus on our own country for a bit. By cooling the rampant Americanism removes what the Terrorists screech about. Because what Bush is doing now is exactly what fuels the Terrorists, which means he's aiding them and hurting us. Tone it down, Bubba, and you might make us safer for real.

The Warrior
The GOP is portraying Bush as The Warrior. I though he said he was the Peace President?!? OK, he flipped. Bush says we'll win the War on Terror but I thought he said earlier it couldn't be won?!? He flopped.

Portraying Bush as a Warrior is, well, sad. He's not a real warrior; he's not out there fighting or leading the troops in battle. He's a desktop warrior, safely surrounded by his security personnel. It's not the same. He's no Patton. He's more Put-on.

And what war? He's blowing - or has blown - the War on Terrorism by reducing the search for bin Laden (known terrorist) to go after Hussein (known dictator). $100 billion to remove a dictator who's terrorist actions were minimal and certainly not on the scale or effectiveness of al Qaeda. $100 BILLION for an unnecessary war to remove a despot. Will we spend another $100 billion to remove the North Korean despot Il Jung or Castro? $100 billion to reduce Iraq to rubble - ohhh, tough war, tough leader.

Bush is playing soldier with American lives and resources. His focus away from terrorism demonstrates his lack of fitness to continue as President. He has not made the world safer - ask the 1000 soldiers killed in Iraq or the numerous decapitated hostages. Al Qaeda is not down and out. Every Bush move and epithet serves as a rallying cry for their movement. Terrorist actions are increasing around the world.

Done!
I finished Outlaws Of The Marsh (AKA Water Margin), started on June 10th. Great, great book and as enjoyable as Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I'm going to miss Song Jiang, Li Kui, Sagacious Lu, and the gang.

No Shit!

Conservatives Take Back Seat at Republican Convention

By Alan Elsner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican Party is presenting a moderate image at its national convention but conservatives who dominate the party say they are happy to stay in the background, confident that President Bush will take care of their interests if he wins the election.

He sure will even if it's not good for the rest of the U.S. - the buds will be kept happy. Yee-haw!!!