Some Thoughts

The morning's news is replete with stories that beg for comment about the state of our nation and here I am too lazy to want to get into it all. But still...

The brouhaha about John McCain's "inappropriate relationship" with a young female lobbyist misses the mark entirely. The NYT article that broke the story suggests some sort of intimate relationship. Good for them, if that makes them happy. What John McCain does in private with his own or other's body parts is his own affair. I'd rather not think about it at all, if you don't mind. What John McCain does in his role as public official behind closed doors is every bit my business and here is where I find an inappropriate relationship. McCain is a "special interest whore" and has been since he came to Arizona and linked up with Charles Keating. Any questions about that are clearly answered in today's Washington Post. McCain is surrounded by special interests even as he claims he does them no favors. Right. I've got a hardly used bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.

Pivoting from my friend John to one of his favorite causes--military strength--the United States stepped up the arms race in space by several notches with its satellite kill this week. The race has been on for some time but it's been more or less restrained since no nation wants be too far ahead of introducing man's violence into a whole new realm. Now that the US has demonstrated what it can do, other nations will be quickly looking for the same capability or effective countermeasures. Once again, as so often in the past 60 years, the United States--my fucking country using my fucking tax dollars--is the main promoter of arms escalation.

Although Germany started the nuclear arms race, America actually used nuclear weapons after Germany's defeat. American developed and deployed the first hydrogen bomb, long range bomber, intercontinental ballistic missile, multiply independent re-entry vehicle (multiple warheads on a single missile). Each action was intended to provide a qualitative advantage over the Soviet Union but the advantage lasted only until our adversary came up with an effective strategy. Same with the anti-satellite warfare. No other nation, especially emerging nations with wealth and resources, such as Russia and China will accept a US strategic advantage any longer than they have to. Hell, the arms race has been going on ever since the first hominid learned to sharpen a stick and make a spear. You'd think by now we'd learn that no advantage ever lasts.

Oh, wait. We're America. We always win. Right?

[editor's note: As I said at the beginning, I'm too damn lazy to post links to all my assertions. This is a rant. If you have any questions about my statements, leave a comment and I'll consider it.]

Update later that very same day: Since the hawks are claiming the satellite kill as validation for the Missile Defense System, Needlenose carefully denotes the full extent of that success.