War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
“[The Iraq war] broke his heart. … It wasn’t until the Iraq war and the end of his life that he became sincerely gloomy.” — Mark Vonnegut, introduction to “Armageddon in Retrospect,” by Kurt Vonnegut (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008) All Vonnegut people know he was a POW in Dresden, spinning experience into “Slaughterhouse Five,” a…
This afternoon, reports surfaced of a little dust-up between US-led forces and Pakistani troops. Although there’s been no US confirmation, supposedly US and Afghan GIs exchanged fire with Pakistani guards near/on/at the border between the two countries. From antiwar.com: NATO has issued a statement today saying that Pakistan troops opened fire on two helicopters near…
Amazing how much is going on right now — a mother of a financial meltdown, a most-bizarre presidential election inundated with so much rhetorical, nonsensical bullshit, oil prices acting bi-polar, even global warming is apparently worse than just this past weekend. Global warming could rapidly accelerate as millions of tons of methane escape from beneath…
UPDATE: This now Tuesday evening and it might appear the story posted below might/might-not be bogus. Interesting tale to it. Link to counterpunch.org listed below has been broken. The story now can be found here. The story seems true to me — fits Jackboot John’s real-life profile of nasty-mouth asshole that’s been published in the…
In the wake of the bombing of Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel — killing from 53 to 60 people, depending on the news outlet — the crisis in making war in Afghanistan comes under a deeper blanket of loss, a war that in the end will be un-winnable. Today, US helicopters were fired on again — the…
Just when it was thought to be safe to venture over to a relative’s house in Afghanistan: An Afghan district governor and two of his bodyguards have been killed by mistake in a Nato raid on a house in Uruzgan province, police say. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, expressed sorrow over the killing, which he…
As the nation seemingly ponders the application of lipstick on various barnyard animals and the financial IED on Wall Street, long-simmering Afghanistan has finally boiled over onto Pakistan. Near seven years ago, this little conflict was indeed a “slam dunk” win — the original Taliban routed, Osama and a few of his boys corralled in…
As the absolute horror of Jackboot John McCain sitting in the Oval office becomes much-more intense with each passing white-collar lipstick smear the real repugnance lies in death and killing and suffering from the Tigris and Euphrates to the south Texas coastline. And what about his Number One? Earmark Sarah Palin will be worse than…
A wonderful, ‘The Office’ cut of politics tempered with song. See one of the best and most-different of a Obama video here. Politics can be so BAD!
As I drove my oldest daughter to work Monday, Sept. 10, 2001, we discussed her upcoming marriage to a guy then in the Navy stationed in Virginia. She was concerned about his safety being in the military service. Even after seven years, I remember the reply: “He’ll be okay, he’ll be fine — unless there’s…