Support the troops. Really.

The hits just keep on coming for the War Party. Fukuyama's flown. Buckley's bailed. Babbin blames Bush. All the fattest rats are backstroking like hell away from their obviously sinking ship -- and now, even the Yellow Ribbon Caucus looks set to go wobbly on Bush's foreign policy project:

A poll of U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq -- reportedly the first of its kind -- shows that 72% advocate a U.S. pullout within a year, with only 23% for staying as long "as necessary," reports Nicholas Kristof in his New York Times column today. Some 29% urge withdrawal "immediately."

[Hat tip to Steve Gordon at Hammer of Truth for a flash on the Times article -- I'm quoting the Editor & Publisher take, so you don't have to fork over money to read the whole thing]

This isn't just blue-sky guesstimating -- it's Zogby, based on a 944-person sample. Thats pretty large given the target population of 130,000; statewide polls and even nationwide presidential surveys in the US routinely boast proportionally far smaller samples.

Nor was the poll conducted only among rear-echelon National Guard typists, or right after last week's explosion of "sectarian" violence:

A check of the poll's methodology finds that it was conducted from mid-January to mid-February. Three quarters of the troops had served multiple tours. Those in the reserves and National Guard are strongest in favor of withdrawal, but 58% of Marines also back a pullout in the coming year.

So now we know what kind of support the troops really want: A ticket on the Freedom Bird. A ride back to the World. Not just for themselves, but for the guys around them and preparing to follow in their footsteps ("within the year" translates to "I'm willing to serve out my tour ... but it's time to put a fork in this thing and admit it's done").

What comes next? At the Beltway level, it's predictable:

- The War Party diehards will publicly stomp on their own cranks as they usually do, but this time really hard. Look for them to blame the troops and start whining about how Patton wouldn't have given up and how all the boys and girls in uniform are just a bunch of disloyal wusses if they can't or won't make William Kristol's wet dreams come true and buy him a pony as well.

- The Bush administration will blame the media -- and DoD will probably ban further polling of members of the armed forces in Iraq.

- Republicans in Congress will lean hard on the White House to have troops visibly returning home in large numbers by the height of campaign season.

- Many, if not most, Democrats will desperately try to take credit for the withdrawal and run like hell from their records of support for the war.

But what of the Yellow Ribbon Caucus? This is sure to push the honest among them in one of two directions. Some of them will continue to "support the troops" by joining the call for an end to this three-year circle jerk. Others will quietly remove the ribbons from their bumpers, try to wipe away the outlines, and continue to follow The Leader.

And, of course, some small hypocritical remnant will try to have it both ways, "supporting" the troops by ignoring their clearly stated opinions. They'll spend the next 30 years crying in their beer with their neocon friends about how it was just that there Evil Liberal Media Conspiracy what kept them from turning Baghdad into a suburb of Peoria complete with Rotary Club and The Disney Store.

This war isn't over, folks -- but most people can no longer get around the fact that it's irretrievably lost, and that's the first big step in getting it over.

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Technorati Tags: Politics, War, Iraq
IceRocket Tags: Politics, War, Iraq

Meme of fours

I've been tagged (actually, several days ago -- just catching up).

Four Jobs I've Had
1. Marine
2. Boat builder
3. Ice cream truck driver
4. Ghost writer

Four Movies I can watch over and over
1. The Matrix
2. John Carpenter's Vampires
3. Full Metal Jacket
4. Reds

Four Places I've lived
1. Lebanon, Missouri
2. Springfield, Missouri
3. Saudi Arabia
4. St. Louis, Missouri

Four TV shows I love
1. Seinfeld
2: Sealab 2021
3. What's My Line?
4. Futurama

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows I haven't seen (much of)
1. 24
2. Third Watch
3. Dharma and Greg
4. That Geena Davis woman-as-president thing

Four places I've vacationed
1. Las Vegas, NV
2. Washington, DC
3. Beaufort, SC
4. Memphis, TN/Tunica, MS

Four of my favorite dishes
1. Prime rib
2. General Tso's Chicken
3. Steak fajitas
4. Pizza

Four sites I visit daily
1. Rational Review News Digest
2. AntiWar.Com
3. Salon
4. LewRockwell.Com

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Dublin, Ireland
2. Manila, Philippines
3. Tel Aviv, Israel
4. Hot Springs, AR

Four new bloggers I'm tagging:
1. Brad Spangler
2. The Curbstone Critic
3. Mr. X
4. Kirsten from Enjoy Every Sandwich

Saturday roundup

A bunch of BLL

After a round of eliminating sites without the required ring code, Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left includes 35 web sites. While those sites comprise a wide range of opinions, I think that we're at or approaching the point of "critical mass," where we can actually be effective when and if we want to pick a topic and press it. 35 blogs posting on the same topic or advocating the same action in concert should make a blip on the blogosphere radar. Of course, like I said, there's diversity of opinion. Some of the sites are anti-political, some of them partyarchist, etc. But it's still cool and I think we'll make our mark sooner rather than later -- the ring itself has already delivered in excess of 20,000 hits to its member sites (more than that, actually, as I'm not counting traffic to the sites which have been eliminated).

Is your site part of the Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left? If not, why not change that?

Some recent ring site highlights: Kenneth R. Gregg on Proudhon; Brad Spangler announces the launch of Agorism.info (visit the new site for a new booklet by BLL member Wally Conger, foreward by Brad); freeman, libertarian critter on the Olympics v. individualism; Wally Conger on the LP's Rothbard Caucus and Rothbard's strategic insights (and another piece on the lost/secret memo; James Leroy Wilson on "Neocons, Dershowitz and the value of predictions;" and that's just five of the ring's 35 sites (I'm going to start occasionally picking five to flog until I've promoted them all, then start all over again).


Any port in a storm

On the one hand, when left and right agree, I get suspicious and tend to assume that they're both on the wrong side. On the other hand, when leftists and rightists start citing me, they're obviously frolicking at the trailhead of the One True Path. I'm pleased and flattered to find myself approvingly referred to by both the Louisiana Conservative and Battlepanda on the Dubai Ports World issue. It's going to be interesting to see how this one plays out, but it's nice to know that there's still room to make an argument and have it considered.


Computer capers

As I mentioned a few days ago, I had a complete computer meltdown last weekend. I'm pretty much fully back up now, and I'd like to hand out the roses and razzes involved.

Hardware: I got my new Microtel PC because my older (given me by a friend) CompUSA job was running like a snail with a stomach-ache, because I was hesitant to tear into the box (better a slow computer than no computer), and because I was asked to do a job that the computer seemed like a good fee-in-kind for. I went cheap because I didn't want to rip the client off. And, frankly, I think Microtel ripped me off. The machine never recognized its internal modem (I strapped on an external). It was obviously thrown together cheaply. I could deal with those things, but not with it laying down and dying after a month. I'm still convinced that the problem was in the switch or power supply, but it doesn't really matter ... it wouldn't be worth shipping the damn thing back and forth to get it fixed, I'm not convinced that it would arrive back from being fixed in operating condition, and I'm not convinced it would be more than another month before something else went wrong. In short, I won't be dealing with Microtel any more. On the other hand, the parts I cannibalized (I naturally removed the floppy, hard drive, CD-RW/DVD combo, modem, RAM and Intel 2.8GHz processor before throwing away the case) will probably come in handy; maybe the sum of the parts was worth more than the whole.

In any case, I threw a salvaged hard drive (and shortly after, a salvaged CD-ROM) into the old CompUSA rig, and it perked right up. It has a slower chip speed (650MHz) and less RAM (128Mb instead of 256Mb) than the Microtel (I wasn't able to get it to recognize the Microtel PC's RAM, but may try some other things), but it runs okay.

Software: I started by trying to install VectorLinux SOHO 5.x; no go (I think it was due to scratches on the install CD, but I went ahead and replaced the CD-ROM anyway, and still no go). I like Vector, but I wasn't too worried about it. I couldn't get Xandros to install, but I can't remember if that was before or after the CD replacement -- more below). I had Mandrake Linux 9.0 install CDs, but didn't want to fall back that far. Finally, I settled on Knoppix 3.02, a "boot directly from CD" fork of Debian Linux. Worked okay, but still an older version. After installing it to the hard drive, it worked fine for awhile, then had problems with the modem, even though it still worked fine on a CD boot. And then I accidentally erased the hard drive install while futzing with it. So, I tried Xandros again, and ...

I have nothing but good things to say about Xandros SurfSide Linux. It runs about $50, but I got mine OEM with the Microtel PC, and so far as I can tell I'm entitled to continue running one copy -- the machine that it came on is dead. On the second attempt, it went like a breeze -- quick install, flawless operation. Xandros is another riff on Debian, but it comes with lots of extras, including "Xandros Networks," which makes downloading and installing applications (something I've always found problematic in Linux) a snap. It's just a damn good operating system. It only runs noticeably more slowly on half the RAM when I really load up a bunch of apps or windows. An allure of most Linux distros is that they're "free," but if I'd paid (directly) for Xandros, I'd have felt like I was getting my money's worth from the extras, the well-put-togetheredness of it all, etc.. I paid twice as much for Windows 95 in 1995, and Xandros is, even in the context of a decade of change, a better OS.

So: Roses to Xandros, razzes to Microtel.

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Technorati Tags: Politics, Libertarian, Anarchist, Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left, Movement of the Libertarian Left, Xandros, Microtel
IceRocket Tags: Politics, Libertarian, Anarchist, Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left, Movement of the Libertarian Left, Xandros, Microtel