Sunday, November 30, 2008

Interesting conflicts














"I told you."

NaBloPoMoMrRoboto was a miserable failure thanks to a gruesome combination of home internets break it down hammer time! and the one thing I rate exceptionally at on a worldly scale, laziness, so instead of trying to come up with snark masquerading as insightful commentary on this --

Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are sometimes oblivious to possible conflicts of interest.
-- I'll just remove the tinfoil and say 'duh.'

So, who we rattling the sabre at next week? I've got a suggestion: the Browns.

11 comments:

susan said...

What's not to worry about this military, industrial, media complex? It's in their interest to keep people afraid, ignorant and entertained.

MRMacrum said...

It was this tyope of retirement my father entred when he left the Ait Firce. He was hired by a defiense contrator. Thinking he was there to use his executive abilities, he found out quickly they had no interest in anything more than his connections to the purse strings inside the pentagon. He quit in less than a year. And that was in the 1960s. It mustbe even worse now.

I am hoping the Browns kick the bejeesus out of the Colts. General principles and it also helps the Pats if the Browns win. Of course missing that last filed goal did not help.

Anonymous said...

The who? You mean the people who got all those hokey mortgages and ran the economy into the ditch?

KELSO'S NUTS said...

Yeah, no more South America for a while. Besides, Chimpy is kind of scary in a way. Chavez calls him "Mr Danger." Gaviria calls him "El Anti Cristo".

The Care Bear when he sabre-rattles it's like "Que va? Who the fuck is this guy? I never heard of him until a few months ago and half his country don't even like him...if there's an issue he's on all 18 sides of it...His wife should be the president. Then, we might listen."

You see any Russian ships or planes LEAVING Caracas? Do you have any idea how long Latinos have been wanting a crack at Colin Powell or Robert Gates for all the misery they brought down here?

Nah, we'll wait to see what fun develops in term 3 of the Bush Admin. If Michelle Obama can't talk some sense into the Care Bear, then I say, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Colin Powell and Robert Gates OVER!"

For now, I'm with Graves. If there's a Latino I'd like Chimpy to sabre-rattle at it's Omar Minaya the Mets GM. Tell him to get a bullpen and a 5th starter or ELSE!

Commander Zaius said...

Before I left the active service in 1990 with the Soviet Union in a deep coma you wouldn't believe the officers freaking over how they were scared over budgets cuts with no boogeyman hiding under the bed to get us.
The generals will do anything to keep the bucks rolling in on their pet projects. I'm less worried about the media though, most of the news readers haven't a clue about most of what they report.

Freida Bee said...

It's ok, Randal. It's your laziness we love. You see you are playing right into God's poker hand plan with the devil and will save us all in the end, or at least that what the Bible says.

Randal Graves said...

susan, well, as long as there's entertainment, I'm fine with it.

mrmacrum, now we have to manufacture our enemies. I mean, TERRORISM IS A GREATER THREAT THAN THOUSANDS OF ICBMs POINTED DIRECTLY AT US!

All we have to do is be less of a dick on the world stage and we'll foment less hatred of us. But that's a naive, hippie way of looking at the world, apparently.

Sorry we couldn't help with the Pats. What the hell happened to you guys in the second half?

dcup, goes to show just how much power the poor and minorities have in this country.

Direct your anger at them, Murka!

kelso, I don't remember the exact numbers, but over the last two seasons combined, if the game ended after the eighth, the Mets have one of the two or three best records in baseball. That has gotta hurt.

Always gotta have a boogeyman to funnel anger and insecurity towards. "You must love Putin and Chavez!" I don't love any world leader, I'm just sick of us acting like we ALWAYS have the moral high ground. And before anyone brings up Chimpy and Co., don't forget who enabled them for eight years. A hint: it wasn't Pat Buchanan.

BB, I believe it. And what's funny is that the military wasn't slashed all that much. Obviously, that's only the on-the-books stuff. And beyond the pet projects now, look at the paucity of top-flight equipment for these guys over there, the armor being just one. And then shit like this. Support the troops my ass.

FB, wait. So by being lazy, I will help save the world?

Anonymous said...

Hey yo... sorry I didn't get to this sooner. You know me... I'm as lazy about blogging as the next blogger, which by your admission, is you. Heh.

The link to the NYT article adds more to pile of proof that there is a symbiotic relationship between our wars since WW2 and the military industry. I especially liked how McCaffrey side-stepped the whole conflict-of-interest issue by pointing out his war record. I'll bet the initial draft of his statement started with the "but, but, buts" of person being busted.

Now get back to blogging you lazy piece of ....

Randal Graves said...

spartacus, after that smark remark I'm not sure I should reply in kind, which would also funnel into my lazy man ethos. Damn you, reality.

I'm sure the general's statements were lawyered up to sound perfectly benign. I'm also sure you're right about the symbiotic relationship.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

The Mets missed the playoffs by one win in each of the last two years. TOO SICKENING FOR WORDS.

I don't LOVE any world leader. I appreciate Chavez for his sense of humor, his economic savvy, and that he's a good neighbor to Panama. Putin, I don't care for particularly because he's been too ready to use law enforcement to fuck around with political and business opponents. Prime Minister Medvedev is a much mellower more reasonable guy.

I APPRECIATE how Russia and South America have unified for economic benenfit and to keep the US in check. I am GRATEFUL to Martin Torrijos for a progressive, well-run, growing country that was welcoming to me.

Randal Graves said...

kelso, if you don't stop making sense, then you'll be in troub - wait, you ain't in Murka anymore. Well played!

We don't seem to mind when we do something in our economic self-interest, no matter how distasteful it may be to others.