Belief in the unbelievable.

The fact is that the two types of thought on any political issue are needed. Sound political philosophy assures us that both conservative and liberal inputs are needed for us to proceed in worthwhile directions. Both are required to preserve what is good and to go for what's needed. As usual, we are in dire straits and we need the input of both opinion areas.

But, just when we need the conservative intellectual expression, it has disappeared and the right wing has turned itself over to the ranters-and-ravers. The conservatives are not furthering the process of commonweal; they are providing intemperate, disorderly, rude contributions and actually promoting harmful conduct. Comparing President O'bama to Adolph Hitler, saying that the health package contains provision for death committees, saying that President O'bama has no strategy for Afghanistan because he doesn't send immediately the 40,000 troops requested by the military, encouraging people to act out their hatreds.

President O'bama was right, initially, to try to draw some of his program's intellectual adversaries into bi-partisan debate and support but there simply is no intellectual element there any more. The Doser's opinion is that The President realizes there is nothing there and he is now simply trying to get a few votes from the less turbulent ones.

The Doser notes that the long-in-the-tooth are fairly solidly supportive of this madness. Q: How can the elderly put any belief in a group that has the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Joe Wilson, Lou Dobbs, Frank Luntz and Bill O'Reilly as their spokespeople? A: They have come to believe that O'bama's program will cost them some of the program support upon which they have relied and they are so angst-ridden, they are persuaded to believe the unbelievable.

Nam Reprise

If we don't come up with a believable goal for our activity in Afghanistan, we'd better repair to the embassy roof and wait for the helicopters.

Another Viet Nam?

The area now known as Afghanistan has not been a settled,easy plot for many years. Its earliest European contact person was Alexander of Macedon. In its recent history, the Afghani government invited the Soviets to send in troops to bring an end to a civil war between the Afghani government and an insurgency called the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen were supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Soviet troops were sent, in December of 1979, and were finally withdrawn in defeat in February of 1989. In 1992, the rebel faction overthrew the government. In 1996, the Taliban assumed control of the Kabul area. By 1998, the Clinton government began efforts to seize Osama bin Ladin whom it believed to be a terrorist leader. A firing of US rockets into Afghani territory failed in its attempt to kill bin Ladin. Other efforts to neutralize Osama bin Ladin failed. The Afghanistan government did not effectively cooperate with these efforts. The US government decided that Osama bin Ladin was the instigator of several terrorist incidents and, finally, of the Twin Tower/Pentagon attacks on September 11, 2001. The US demanded that the Afghani government arrest Osama bin Ladin and turn him over. It did not do that. The US, with a world-wide coaltion of forty two nations, entered the country on October 7, 2001.

The Doser mentions this because the US appears to be at an historical turning point: whether to accept defeat and withdraw from Afghanistan or materially increase the military commitment there.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the US/UN commander in Afghanistan has announced that, without more troops being committed to the Afghanistan war, it will soon be impossible to win the war.

Yep, Some harbingers of success.

A Keizer, Oregon, resident (in The Oregonian, September 20, 2009) points to the "stratospheric meter costs, convoluted driver-biker rules and trains down virtually every street" and says that Portland has become "The City that Most Discourages Auto Use." The Doser says: "Yes, I hadn't heard that complimentary title yet but I hope we can live up to it."

Back at my post.

The Doser explains his temporary abandonment of your therapy on the grounds that he has been enacting a new personal rite of passage. He trusts previous dosages have so strengthened your systems that you have gotten through the period healthfully.

It is incomprehensible to The Doser that even an illiterate, incompetent nincompoop could believe that the President of the United States of America is going to promote his support of gay marriage and abortions rights in his address to the school children of the country.

Black pot; black kettle.

The Oregonian published two articles today that, to The Doser, seem related. The first, a front page blurb headlined: "Booming American business: arms sales." (Double entendre intended?) The US, it was reported, dominated the international arms bazaar by cornering 68.4% of the business in 2008. Its arms sales totaled $37.8 billion. The US for example provided 71% of the arms purchased by "developing countries." The second article was in a squib-collection column on page two under the heading: "Briefly." It reports that Jacques Monsieur, a fugitive arms merchant was arrested in New York. The crime alleged was seeking to buy fighter jet engines for Iran. M. Monsieur is said to be wanted by many countries for "....shipping military supplies to trouble spots around the world...." Putting those two reports together causes The Doser deep stirrings. Patriotism when reflecting on the US providing all those arms only to peace-loving, untroubled, nations. And indignation with regard to that Monsieur scoundrel who provides arms for "troubled" nations.

We must not despair.

Desperate people, as has so often happened, take desperate, unreasonable positions. There are, for example, many hate groups in the United States. They are organized around the fear and hatred of another group, or groups, of people. Familiar hatred objects are gay people, Jews, Catholics, emigres, black people, religionists of other persuasions, intellectuals and others. The trick is to survive the evil that these haters do and curb it if we can WITHOUT acting in illegal, unreasonable ways ourselves. That's what the Bush government did when it resorted to torture and denial of reasonable legal process. In their zeal, they turned their backs on our basic values. The point is that we must not despair and do what the haters do.

Sportsmanship

Omigosh! The hired football thug acted out in the University of Oregon vs. Boise State game. One of the most plaintive wails was: "How can we teach our children sportsmanship when this sort of debacle occurs?" The Doser says: You can teach them about sportsmanship by beginning to act like civilized adults at Little League games. Stop shrieking those vile epithets at the officials at your childrens' games. Tell your children about playing the game rather than about winning at all costs. Help them to throw the ball to their team-mates. Come on!