Geodog

While I was gone (smörgåsbord)

Here is a thumbnail of a picture from a favorite site of mine, Cellar Image of the Day, that expresses how I feel about last week's football game. The Oakland Raiders were like football sucking Walruses.

Dubya's State of the Union speech didn't make me feel any better. I couldn't bring myself to watch it, but I read it. As so often happens, Robert took the words out of my mouth -- Cow f**king boy.

Robert Manne, via Jonathon Delacour, has one of the issues with the new Bush Doctrine nailed:

Does the US, as the world hegemon, alone possess the sovereign right to act unilaterally against a supposed threat to its security by prosecuting a preventive war, or does an identical right exist for other states?

If the right does not exist for others, the Bush doctrine amounts to an almost formal claim to US world hegemony. If, on the other hand, all states possess the same right, the Bush doctrine opens the way to the return of the jungle, where the powerful have the capacity to impose their will.

It is my sense that many of those of us who are wary of, or who oppose Bush's foreign policies, are people who think that America needs to tread a little more lightly on the world. As the dominant superpower and (formerly?) strongest economy, who consumes a disproportionate amount of the world's resources, it behooves us to show some self-restraint, and to work through multilateral institutions whenever possible. It is important not to be the greedy overbearing pigs our opponents make us out to be. Friends are important.

Many of the people who strongly support Bush's policies seem to be people who believe that the only thing that matters in international relations is force, and that America needs to show she is strong and can't be pushed around. If she shows weakness, it just invites attack. If we don't use our power, we will lose it.

It is amazing how much this replicates the dynamics and issues of elementary school recess, which we are currently working on at our house.