5 February 2013 I felt the earth move

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-israels-gatekeepers-raising-uncomfortable-issues/2013/02/04/c0b03dce-6ef8-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_story.html

Israel’s ‘Gatekeepers’ break their silence

By Richard Cohen, Published: February 4

“Imagine six former directors of the CIA talking with a distinguished filmmaker and confessing to the murder of two terrorism suspects, ordering the assassination of others, alleging a lack of real leadership by the president and stating to the camera and the entire world that the war in Afghanistan is an unconscionable botch — a bloody, daily slog without end or justification. This, of course, could never happen in the United States. It did, though, in Israel…”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-at-hill-hearing-wayne-lapierre-tries-to-manhandle-facts-and-logic/2013/01/30/e31a305e-6b2e-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story.html

Dana Milbank

Opinion Writer

At Hill hearing, Wayne LaPierre tries to manhandle facts and logic

“…From beginning to end, LaPierre’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee was a study in vainglory. The written testimony he submitted to Congress came with a biography describing him as a “Renaissance man,” a “skilled hunter,” and an “acclaimed speaker and political force of nature” as he preserved freedom. “There has been no better leader of this great cause than Wayne LaPierre!” the bio boasted…”

 

Cassi Creek:  The cartoon by Bok is highly appropriate and speaks directly to the point.  While women may not be eager to become combat arms soldiers, they have served effectively and bravely, if sometimes clandestinely, in combat situations as long as this nation has existed.  The nurses I served with in VietNam carried out their duties in an exemplary fashion.  Today’s armed forces have women assigned to flight duty including fighter aircraft and carrier based aircraft – some of the most difficult flight duty of all.  The recent changes by DOD will provide greater opportunity for those women who wish to serve in combat arms units, if they can handle the physical demands. 

Wayne LaPierre, shill for the arms industry, is has never worn his nation’s uniform or served in her armed forces.  His “well-regulated militia” would seem to consist of others like him who couldn’t be bothered to risk their lives for the nation they profess to love.   The chance of any local militia challenging and defeating a supposedly “tyrannical” U.S. government is zero.  The paranoid mutterings of the NRA executives and gun-obsessed idiots such as Ted Nugent are simply delusions fostered by an arms industry and a group of paranoids who have never grown up beyond playing soldier as children.