Thursday, August 9, 2007

Watch for Weird Words: Election's Coming Up!

Given Vice President Cheney's statements in 2001 and 2004 that he would never run for president, this will probably be the first presidential election since 1928 without an incumbent running in the primaries for president, and the first since 1952 without an incumbent in the general election.

That may explain why so many ambitious politicos in both major parties are swarming around their party's nomination so early, and so excitedly.

I try to keep this blog as non-political as possible, but until the election is over, I'm likely to bring up issues that I believe are both important, and touch on the war on terror.

With so many passionately-held beliefs in play, odd things are likely to be said, and believed.

It's already happened. America was "going it alone" and being "unilateral" for quite a while, until someone bothered to see how many nations were involved in the coalition involved in Iraq as of August, 2006:
  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Australia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • El Salvador
  • Estonia
  • Fiji (though UNAMI)
  • Georgia
  • Hungary (through NATO or UNAMI, and may never have sent troops before 'withdrawing' them in 2004)
  • Iceland (through NATO, a training mission)
  • Japan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Macedonia
  • Moldova
  • Mongolia
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Singapore
  • Slovenia (through NATO, a training mission)
  • South Korea
  • Turkey (through NATO, a training mission)
  • the Ukraine
  • the United Kingdom
As more Americans became aware of how many nations were involved in America's "unilateral" action, the 'u-word' faded from use.

"Quagmire" was very, very popular a few years ago, and still is in occasional use I was waiting for some politico or pundit to cry out against so many draftees dying in the rice paddies of Iraq. I've used that crack before. Twice before, in fact. Better give it a rest.

I hope that people with think with their brain instead of their endocrine system, and will make decisions based on fact, not on catchwords.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Unique, innovative candles


Visit us online:
Spiral Light Candle  • Find a Retailer
• Spiral Light Candle Store

Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.