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May 17, 2007
"Blow All Ballast Tanks . . . Dive, Dive"
I've caught some flack about my choice in a recent post to use the word "ballast" ironically in describing Dick Cheney's threats to Iran from the deck of the U.S.S. John C. Stennis. Ballast, aside from its nautical usage, is sometimes understood to mean something that lends moral stability.
I noted parenthetically that I intended "ballast" to be understood as "load." I tried to be polite and not say "load of bullshit." I noted in an update that "ballast" also means roughage -- a particularly apt definition for my initial, ironical use because roughage is a great ingredient for bullshit.
Dick Cheney may be on the correct side of many issues. He may have been right that changing the Middle East dynamic is critical to our long term security. He may have been correct that for too long -- starting with Reagan and through Clinton -- the U.S. was too timid in responding to terror attacks, so we needed to make a show of force in the Mid-East.
He may also be a perfectly charming dinner guest.
That said, I have -- after his years as VP -- come to find nothing politically redeeming about Dick Cheney's cavalier attitudes about leveling with the American people, his views on using torture, his disdain for the Bill of Rights, his indifference to America's relationships abroad, and -- most definitely -- his role in running the Office of the President as an enterprise above and beyond the rule of law. [His fingerprints would seem to all over the car in which Gonzales and Card drove to the hospital three years ago to get John Ashcroft to approve the administration's illegal domestic wire-tapping.]
I intended an ironic use of ballast because Dick Cheney lends nothing morally stable to our government or our country. What he said then, and often, is a cow's end-product of chewed and digested roughage.
Posted by shertaugh at May 17, 2007 12:32 PM
Comments
He also makes one helluva hunting partner!
As things continue to spiral out of control in Iraq, I think it is important that we; as concerned Americans remember those who are still in support of this debacle. The reason I say this is because every soldier that is sent to Iraq and every life that is lost from here on out is the responsibility of those supporting our continued presence there.
It is one thing to not know and believe. It is a far different thing to know and not care. Even though it is early in this new “surge” strategy, it is obvious it will work no better than the previous “surges”. What the supporters fail to understand is that the biggest issue facing Iraq is not going to be solved militarily. As soon as Saddam Hussein was toppled it was no longer a military operation. At that point it became political for the US as well as the Iraqi’s. It was at that moment that we lost the peace and the confidence of the Iraqi people. The mistakes made in those first days sealed the fate of this operation and we have never been able to be overcome them. We had great plans for the invasion and no plans for the peace. There were glimpses of opportunities to overcome the initial failings, but even those were not taken advantage of.
I hate to be the one to acknowledge what any reasonable person should be able to see, this thing is beyond our repair. I did not say that it is beyond repair, just beyond our ability to repair it. We no longer have the leverage or the political will to do what needs to be done. We should withdraw our troops to the perimeter border of Iraq; we should allow the process of reconciliation to be headed by the UN and the regional powers, and finally we should accept that freedom cannot be planned. If it were then it would no longer be freedom. This would defy the very definition of freedom. Iraq should show us that when you make an offer of freedom to a people you cannot control the outcome.
Those who refuse to acknowledge these facts and want to continue to send our young men and women into the meat grinder that Iraq is becoming, must and should be held accountable. We have become like the compulsive gambler that wants to continue spending “good money” after “bad”, hoping for that one big score to make everything right again. This administration is like the drug addict that believes against all evidence to the contrary that just one more pill, just one more hit will cure what ails him. We need to cut our losses and wait for the smoke to clear. At some point in the future we may be able to offer the Iraqis some reconstruction support, but this is not the time. Just as we had to decide the character of our nation during our civil war, the Iraqis must also do the same. We have opened this “Pandora’s Box” and there is no closing it. We must let those who want to continue to push this failed policy know that there is a cost. You cannot continue to knowingly maim and kill our kids. We must rise up and say enough is enough. Have you had enough?
Posted by: Forgiven at May 18, 2007 2:13 PM
Actually, in one definition, ballast is "material which will:
(a) Transmit and distribute the load of the track and railroad rolling equipment to the subgrade;
(b) Restrain the track laterally, longitudinally, and vertically under dynamic loads imposed by railroad rolling equipment and thermal stress exerted by the rails;
(c) Provide adequate drainage for the track; and
(d) Maintain proper track crosslevel, surface, and alinement."
Federal Railroad Administration rules, 49 C.F.R. 213.103.
So you're very correct: Dick Cheney adds nothing to the stability of the track that carries the train of state. No word yet on whether he provides adequate drainage.
Posted by: MNObserver at May 18, 2007 5:58 PM
In retrospect, perhaps ballast wasn't the best word to choose. One of my Dad's favorite sayings was, "Why is there always enough time to do over (or re-post) what there wasn't time to do right in the first place?" ;-)
Posted by: Dave S. at May 21, 2007 10:52 AM
"Blow all ballast tanks, dive, dive"? That's actually backwards; you flood ballast tanks to make the boat less buoyant. It's a nice bit of unintended irony to garnish your post with.
Posted by: Bill at May 23, 2007 9:49 AM