It’s Okay in Small Town America

The picture in the United States isn’t all that encouraging right now.

We have elevated unemployment, trillions of dollars in debt, and a political establishment that seems more concerned with petty and moronic election year politics than actually doing anything to help the American people. 

Add in a scorching heat wave that has turned crops to dust and made the air conditioner a twenty four hour accessory and one is tempted to conclude that things suck in America right now.

I went to a 4^th of July celebration last night in Kirkland IL. Amid the carnival rides and carny food trailers there were people, laughing, smiling, and having a great time of it.

Now, either all of those people are real good at plastering on smiles or just maybe things aren’t quite as bad as the media portray them.

 Based on what I saw last night, small town America, may be hurt, but they are not defeated. It is in these small town celebrations that I find the greatest hope for America’s future because as America’s shallow corporate culture quakes with uncertainty, small town American values never flinch.

It is by rediscovering our values as a people and a country that we will ultimately weather this storm. Not through fancy bailout packages and political rhetoric.

Al Qaeda Plane Theory

Despite recent losses in key leadership positions, Al Qaeda is still said to be consumed with the notion of using an airplane to attack the United States.

 Looking at things from the Al Qaeda perspective, they achieved their greatest operational success on September 11^th 2001, more than 3,000 people were killed and the United States sense of invulnerability was shattered forever.

This one action compelled the United States into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that appeared to turn Al Qaeda’s rhetoric about America being a crusader bent on conquering the Islamic world into prophecy. Why wouldn’t you want to repeat that success?

Al Qaeda has had some near misses with the underwear bomber and the printer bomb, showing us that they will continue to invent new ways to attack the United States.

 We are not going to have every answer for everything that terrorists can possibly throw at us. We’ve been blessed with some incredible good fortune and the ineptitude of terrorists.

 I think as Americans, we need to remember just how close Al Qaeda has come to attacking us before we dismiss their ambitions.

Al Qaeda Goes Norwegian

Anti-terror officials are warning citizens to be vigilant in the face of the latest potential Al Qaeda plot.

Al Qaeda has apparently recruited and trained a Norwegian citizen to carry out an attack on an airliner.

Al Qaeda leaders understand that counter-terrorism officials have a stereotype of the typical Al Qaeda member: Middle Eastern male between the ages of twenty and thirty with a lower to middle class background.

That Al Qaeda has sought to break the mold is not surprising, and is merely part of the human chess match that occurs between terrorists and counter-terrorism officials.

I worry that there isn’t so much an imminent attack, as it is Al Qaeda sending out some chatter just to see how the international security establishment will react.

By changing the type of person that security officials are looking for, Al Qaeda has planted the seed of doubt because we now have two types of terrorist to look for.

Maybe Al Qaeda is hoping to provoke an overreaction by the security establishment that will potentially land Al Qaeda more recruits from the Scandinavian region.

When Suicide Eclipses Combat Deaths

Suicides among American troops are averaging nearly one a day this year. 154 active-duty soldiers have committed suicide in the first 155 days of 2012.

This reflects an 18% increase from the same time period last year and a 25% increase from 2010. Military suicides have even eclipsed combat deaths in Afghanistan during the same period.

The reasons for this increase are uncertain though the increased stress placed on troops subjected to repeated tours of duty could play a role, coupled with the stigma attached with seeking mental health treatment among members of the military.

I am very much afraid that the United States may win the combat portion of the war, while being woefully unprepared for the aftermath of war.

War does not end with the last bullet fired, or the last convey out of town.

Thousands of soldiers may find themselves unable to leave the war behind. Incidence of PTSD and suicidal veterans threaten to overwhelm the mental healthcare system that is already overburdened in many states.

If America is unequipped for the consequences of war, we need to reconsider the conduct of war.

Julian Assange Seeks Asylum in Ecuador

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has decided to seek political asylum in Ecuador in an effort to avoid being extradited to Sweden for questioning in a sexual misconduct case.

Assange has published classified diplomatic cables as being in the interests of the publics right to know. Yet, is seeking refuge in a country with one of the worst freedom of press records in Latin America.

Since taking office five years ago, Rafael Correa has engaged in a coordinated and calculated campaign to restrict freedom of the press.

Correa has sued journalists and clamped down on the media with new laws, while expanding state media outlets. Correa claims that he is merely demanding fairness from a sensational industry.

Of course, a crackdown on media outlets benefits President Correa because the media has been one of Correa’s harshest critics.

Though the erosion of press freedom in Ecuador is distressing, this decision to seek asylum in Ecuador may tell us something revealing about Julian Assange.

Despite all his rhetoric about the publics right to know and freedom of expression, Assange has proven himself to be just another hypocrite, more interested in saving his own behind.

A sad day for Assange supporters indeed.

Stolen Valor: There’s a Difference between Legal and Moral

While much of the national media focusses on the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, the Supreme Court handed down another ruling that angered many Veterans.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court declared that the “Stolen Valor Act”, which made it illegal to wear or claim to have won military ribbons or medals that were not earned, violated the First Amendment’s free speech clause—in essence, the right to lie.

In many judgments, the justices criticized the broad nature of the law and not addressing those who reap material benefit from lying about their military service.

The Supreme Court has a lengthy history of airing on the side of free speech during First Amendment cases. As a general statement, one has to prove that some grave physical or psychological injury has occurred as a result of a speech act.

The Court made waves last year in Snyder v. Phelps when it ruled that controversial Kansas pastor Fred Phelps could picket the funerals of fallen service members with anti-abortion and anti-gay signs that may be deemed offensive.

The rationale was essentially that we cannot restrict freedom of speech simply because the majority find it distasteful. Such behavior could amount to censorship of unpopular minority opinions, the justices reasoned.

The case of the Stolen Valor law follows similar principles.

With that said, just because the Supreme Court declared that lying about military service and/or honors received is legal, does not make it morally acceptable.

Thousands of men and women have come back from war with physical and psychological injuries. Thousands more are resting in graveyards throughout this country, forever alive in the memories they left behind.

 Lying about military service because it makes you a big shot is morally reprehensible and spits in the face of the thousands of soldiers who have served and died, just so pieces of crap like you can have the privilege of lying about it. Just doesn’t seem right.

The Chicago-Afghanistan Paradox

There’s an old axiom in television news that says “If it bleeds, it leads.” Apparently this notion is limited to blood spilled in warzones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A recent article that appeared in the Huffington Post seems to argue that Americans stand a better chance of being killed in Chicago Illinois than Afghanistan.

At the time the article was published, 228 people in Chicago had been killed compared to 144 in Afghanistan this year.

You stand a better chance of being killed in Chicago than Afghanistan—a warzone.

Yet, many Americans outside of Chicago have heard little about the urban war that is going on in Chicago. I think if people were dying at a rate of 2-3 a day in a major American city, I’d like to know about it.

I think it’s great that we make a point of honoring the sacrifices of men and women who fight and die in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what makes the 144+ soldiers who died in Afghanistan this year any more important than the moms, dads, and children that were killed within their own neighborhoods?

Where’s the national outrage over the 5,000 Chicagoans killed since 2001 versus the 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan? Does death somehow mean more, if your soldier?