Watching the reverberations of our past wars and “police actions” in the debate over … it happens in every administration… possible American military strikes in Syria.  A few things hit me.  For the ongoing historical reference points.

Vietnam.  And here the obvious target comes to be John Kerry.  And his Vietnam Era activism.  And into the archives we have not only your classic “Last to die in a mistake line”, appropriated by Rand Paul, but — yes, here we go… Firing Line with William Buckley.

Things get more convoluted in quothing Kerry about this matter.  After all… he did back the War in Iraq.  (The … er… second one).  No matter what he says now.

Next, I do see some renewal of a kind of “Either go full blow or get out” idea… popular in Vietnam by various Republican hawks and by a conflicted public who wanted a win … which tended to die with animosity toward the peaceniks calling for “Get Out”.  (We see, for instance, Governor Reagan actually made the charge).  This massages the differences in the Republican Party between the isolationists and neo-cons.  But the bifurcation slides back to the early Cold War, at least, where Truman could no good, and was throwing too much money to build up quasi-socialist Europe (never mind this was how you stopped Communism in that sphere) and not going full bore to “roll back” Communism from Korea clear across China.

Your curious concerns, on Syria — “Humanitarian” and all that — it depends on how you define “success“, and the nay-sayers are guilty of cherry picking a definition…

I do have the thought with our intervention of Syria… which “if it were voted on in the House” would go down to defeat… which, if offered by — say — Bush —  …

On the Democrats, the split with Iraq was slightly more than 50 – 50 in the House and slightly less in the Senate — it’s a more gerry-mandered lot, so I suppose it’s hard to say what the political calculus comes to nowadays… at any rate, a Speaker Pelosi would be looking for a way to get the measure through…

… all to say.  If you’re political desire is to stop a military intervention.  You want a Democratic President.  And a Republican House.  Though, they might do well to not irk Democrats back to the “Supporting Obama” standing and heed…

House Republicans might boost those numbers if they skip the incoherent rants about Benghazi and opportunism-flaunting to ask earnest questions about America’s long-term interests and role in brutal protracted civil wars in the Middle East.

… in someone’s mind, the idea of striking Syria is about distracting public attention from Benghazi.  Makes no sense on several fronts.  Notwithstanding the final historical analogy, and one that runs back to a movie no less — the charge of “Wagging the Dog” — hits up against the fact that Impeaching the President was going fore-bore and Benghazi is trapped in the Conservative media cocoon… with this one…  well, Obama may think he’s doing the right thing, and public opinion wise this is not something that he needs.

Elizabeth Cheney, who stands against her sister getting married… at least if she were in Wyoming…

Liz Cheney said last week she is “not pro-gay marriage” and believes the issues of marriage should be left up to voters in their respective states, not to judges or legislators.
The statement, Cheney’s campaign said, was in response to reports of a “push poll” in Wyoming that was asking voters if they were aware Cheney “supports abortion and aggressively promotes gay marriage.”
“The people of Wyoming deserve an honest campaign,” Cheney said. “They should not be subject to the kind of dirty tricks this push poll represents.”

To be sure, Mike Enzi opposes Mary Cheney getting married in Wyoming too…

And on we go…

Cheney filled her 90-minute speech and question-and-answer session with red meat for the conservative crowd. She compared herself to Winston Churchill standing up to Adolf Hitler and suggested members of both parties in Congress are hiding information about Obamacare from the public. She wrote off the entire newspaper industry, but more specifically the Jackson Hole News&Guide.

You know.  It has to be tough to split the “objectivity” card when you’re the major newspaper outlet in a city or region, and a politician goes about trying to score political points by gratuitiously slamming you for reporting various news items about a candidate that… in this case it may be relatively slight, but it’s notable.

Three statements worth mocking.

“Nations go through moments where the people in those countries have to make a choice and have to make a decision,” she said.
Wyoming, she said, is “ground zero” for the president’s policies.
“I think it’s this election cycle — what we do will make all the difference,” and will determine whether the president’s agenda takes root or whether we experience “a rebirth of freedom,” she said.

Wyoming is Ground Zero for Jack Squat.

In a series of questions and answers, Cheney took on the local press after a question about the News&Guide editorial staff’s “left-leaning” bias.
“We have media outlets in the valley that are not fair and balanced,” she said.
She blamed the newspaper’s editor. “His name is Angus,” Cheney said. Editor Angus Thuermer Jr. wrote an article last week about Cheney posting a $220 bond for the “high misdemeanor” of swearing a false oath to obtain a Wyoming resident fishing license.
“Newspapers are dying, and that’s not a bad thing,” she said. “We’re not depending on the Jackson Hole News&Guide to get the news out. We’re depending on ourselves. We’re going to go over their heads.”
Cheney urged supporters to talk to 10 of their friends about her, rather than reading the newspaper. A member of the crowd singled out where a News&Guide reporter was sitting.
After Cheney’s remarks, three attendees declined to be interviewed for this story.

Yes, the notoriously left wing Jackson Hole News and Guide.  We don’t need them to report the news.  We can make it up ourselves!

As Wyoming Republicans debate … something or other?… Virginia Democrats debate their gubernatorial candidate…

Point:  Terry MacAuliffe is the ultimate soulless corporate machine Democrat who fulfills all the negative stereotypes about the party. He’s about as appealing as a used paper towel.

Counterpoint:  sorry, but you are wrong about Terry  he is very far from soulless –  he may not be your cup of tea on some issues but he is pro-marriage equality, pro-voting rights, pro-choice, fairly pro-environmental he is more corporate friendly than am I we have disagreements on education, but I have found him willing to listen and dialog with people with a different opinion but soulless is certainly not applicable

Hm.  The one thing I would add is Terry MacAuliffe is an extension of the Clinton Administration — to knock him is to knock the Clintons.  Also the great thing about Virginia gubernatorial elections — the candidate’s limited to a single term… if Terry MacAullife is something like the current Republican Governor (and former “Savior of the Republican Party from the crazies”), and a financial scandal waiting to explode, well — it can be turned over next time.

Yes, I’m familiar with this line of reasoning, and pop culture is — in the end — that which tells us what we are and were…  But here’s the question…

At the RightOnline Conference in Orlando on Saturday, Whittle singled out the TV show Family Guy with particular disdain.

“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country because Superman is about the best America we can be, and when Superman was all over the pop culture we were a nation that loved this country,” he remarked. “Now, 20 years after the peak of Superman‘s popularity along comes Gilligan’s Island. That’s pretty neutral in terms of politics. Really about the only message you can get from Gilligan’s Island is if you want to get off the island all you have to do is kill Gilligan.”

“But if you’re a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is.”

Doesn’t it seems arbitrary to select those three examples to define the culture at these three particular moments?

I suppose we drift from Superman to Westerns, which reinforce the same message… The apolitical commentary about Gilligan’s Island reminds me of the “Political Situation of Super Mario Bros” that was going around a while back — a definite message inherent in Super Mario Bros, which is that this is a dangerous world and we need to arm ourselves to the teeth against the Tyrannies of the World, and be prepared for Vigilante Justice…

There surely has to be a similar article on Gilligan’s Island.  The closest I see with a quick google search is … something from Mental Floss that touches upon the whole “Stranded on a Desert Island” concept.    BUT:

It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26, 1964, to September 4, 1967

Okay.  1964 through 1967… Just for the Hell of it, if we shift through the pop culture debris of this period… urm… you know, there was a Batman show on the air at the time, which shed the dark “Vigilante” nature of Batman, and though it hearkened to a winks and nods with its Pop Art “Camp” aesthetic… that maybe could be seen as an attack on the hallmarks of the earlier Superman ethos —

As for Family Guy… no, I don’t like the show either.  Though, yes, there was  this spot on parody… and probably others that shift out of its malaise of pop culture referencing… but.  Hm.  Is he not going to go with South Park, out of an embrace of that old libertarian “South Park Republican” concept from a decade ago?

I like this response to this headline from the Alan Colmes blog…  “Those Who Supported Bush/Cheney Wars Have No Business Demanding Syria ‘Exit Strategy’ From Obama”…

Erm… yes they do.

The ones I don’t want to hear from are those that supported Bush/ Cheney and are now urging something more hawkish from Obama… see… Max Boot, et al.  (And is there a more appropriate name for someone than “Max Boot”?  But Slammer was already taken.)

To be fair, from what I see the “exit strategy” is… urm… we bomb some chemical weapons locations to “set Assad back” and “send a message”… and then… we stop.  There’s your Exit Strategy.

But, you know.  If Mary Matilan doesn’t have the credibility … howzabout… Jimmy Carter?

I mean… Jimmy carter is a Noble Peace Prize winner.

Granted, his peace prize was mostly just a political slap in the face of the Bush Administration, but nonetheless…

I’ll take a step back and allow you time to digest the meaning of that joke.

Curious comment here:
What would a day in Portland be like if there were no protest for or against something?
Weirdly dismissive.  Like, they’re protesting guppy furs or something, and not military action abroad.

Also.

Paul Waldman at The American Prospect points out that nearly every American president eventually bombs something. And on average, we’ve bombed another nation at least once every 40 months since 1963. “If you’re wondering why people all over the world view the United States as an arrogant bully, reserving for itself the right to rain down death from above on anyone it pleases whenever it pleases, well there you go.” [via MoJo]

Interesting to note that the National Review has a cover story honoring the Presidency of Dwight D Eisenhower.  Interesting because the magazine, and the “Conservative Movement” it spear-headed, was set up to define the term “conservative” as something other than Dwight D Eisenhower.   It’s possible they realized that Eisenhower was big on “Regime Change” after all.
Interesting too as a few years ago, the magazine had a cover feature honoring one Ayn Rand… interesting, because this violated a different part of their policing of boundaries, as the magazine always wanted to define Ayn Rand and the John Birch Society as outside the pale.

So…?

Behold!  Kids.  Complaining about having to eat their broccoli.  Politicized.  Because Michele Obama’s involved in it.

Other gripes involved the new bread, which students don’t want to eat because it’s brown wheat bread, and the new milk, which is skim or one percent fat, not two percent or whole. The cafeteria’s chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk offerings are now nonfat.

What?  They really want white wonderbread?  Crust taken off of them?

Students can only have one serving of meat or other protein. However, rich kids can buy a second portion each day on their own dime.

It’s like … the free enterprise system pokes its way into this somewhere.

And into the comments section for one line of this after another…

“welcome to the USSR”
This is verifiably true. Obama is indeed a Marxist of the Pan Leninist variety; proof of this is staring everyone in the face if they choose to see it. This school lunch program is simply a part of the strategy to garner 100% control over the hearts, minds, and souls of the middle class.
And hold on a second…

If only someone remembered what the Tenth Amendment says, and why Madison & Co. put it there.

Because James Madison was upset that kids are being given skim milk instead of whole milk?

In other Pubic Education news… where you might have reason to poke James Madison into the discussion.
The Glendale Unified School District has hired a Hermosa Beach company to monitor public social media posts made by its students to find out when teens are in trouble or causing it.
Superintendent Richard Sheehan said Geo Listening is analyzing the posts of 13,000 students at eight Glendale middle and high schools.
The goal is to give school administrators critical information as soon as possible.
“The whole purpose is student safety,” said Sheehan. “Basically, it just monitors for keywords where if a student is considering harming themselves, harming someone else.”
He added, “We do monitor on and off campus, but we do pay attention during school hours. We do pay more attention to the school computers.”

Kids need to get used to the surveillance State.  They also need to learn their facebook pages ain’t private.  Also we may as well put “Requires Constant Supervision” as the default setting.