Chupacabra Report

News that Gets My Goat..

I’ve written here before about my congressman Pete Olson establishing a voting record barely distinguishable from that of the notorious “Dr. No,” Congressman Ron Paul. This week they split on an issue.

No, it wasn’t the vote to defund National Public Radio. Pete Olson’s handlers want him to squash ‘librul media.’ (NPR is not liberal, except in the sense of being tolerant, respectful of the ideas of others, and favoring democratic reform. Those guys want to hear some left wing media they ought to tune in to Pacifica and hear them some Noam Chomsky and Robert Jensen.) Ron Paul of course thinks radio ought to be provided by that nice Mr. Marconi.

No, the divergence came on House Resolution 28, a measure to bring the troops home from Afghanistan by December 31^st under the 1973 War Powers Act. This is a case of Ron Paul’s nuttiness ending at the water’s edge. Ron Paul understands that Congress has relinquished its Constitutional war-making powers for half a century, and opposes them rolling over for the gangsters and chicken hawks that keep the gravy caissons rolling all over the world.

Recently I went to look up something about Colonel David Hackworth, the most decorated American soldier since Audie Murphy. I found that in his last years, Hackworth and his wife, founded a 501 (c)-(3) organization, Stand for the Troops that lobbies to provide US troops with proper equipment, such as helmets and body armor that work, guns that don’t jam (for almost 50 years, US soldiers have been found dead with jammed M-16 rifles under them) and planes that don't crash (the VE-22 Osprey has been killing Marines in non-combat accidents for twenty years.)

A recent post on the SFTF site noted that the US is reducing its presence in the Pech Valley in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, setting for Sebastian Junger’s latest book “War.” They quote US officials saying “the valley consumed resources disproportionate with its importance; those forces could be deployed in other areas; and there are not enough troops to win decisively in the Pech Valley in any case.” The author adds; “Can’t the same be said for the entire war effort in Afghanistan?”