The vague concept of moral authority does not make you right.

I tried to steer away from politics in this journal for a long time but a recent opinion piece by Leonard Pitts got my blood up enough to have to comment.

First of all, I really like Leonard Pitts. He is one of the few columnists that I regularly disagree with yet enjoy reading. He is an award winning writer with good reason: he makes compelling arguments and he writes in a style that’s very comfortable to read. And that is why I was so disappointed in the tripe he recently published about Cindy Sheehan.

Now, I have to issue the standard disclaimer here: I feel bad for her as a mother who’s lost her son in combat. You’re not a human being if you cannot sympathize with that. Still though, it gets tiring when you hear leftists like Pitts claim that she has absolute moral authority and we can’t question the things she says. Things like “The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush!” Really Cindy? Bigger than the people that engineered the strikes against the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people in a single stroke? Bigger than those that packed bombs into Madrid rail stations? Bigger than those that detonated bombs in London and were planning to do so again? Bigger that those that stormed a Russian theater and created a hostage standoff that left over 100 people dead? Bigger than those that stormed a Russian school to take children hostage. A fucking elementary school!! That’s what the opposition does. What do we do? We organize flight plans that dictate out planes drop bombs from a certain direction so the bomb blast carried over from the plane’s momentum blows AWAY from civilian areas. We use precision munitions that can strike an area the size of a shoebox, again to minimize civilian casualties. Are mistakes made? Do civilians get killed sometimes? They absolutely do but what would al-Qaeda do given our same arsenal? Would they take the same precautions? The fact that the whole of Iraq isn’t a smoldering crater is a testament to our restraint. When have terrorists been known to show restraint?

Cindy is also demanding to meet with the President. Sorry again but you had your chance; you should have said what you wanted when you met him after Casey was killed. You can’t demand a meeting with the President of the United States like you might demand a meeting with the manager of the local McDonalds.

Then you have people like the leftist agitator Al Sharpton proclaiming that he would protest an unjust war regardless of the president’s political party. Funny – I don’t remember him making such a spectacle of himself when President Clinton ordered missile strikes against Afghanistan and Iraq. Or when he ordered a bombing campaign against Slobodan Milosovic’s killers. Or when he ordered the invasion of Haiti. What are the criteria Al?

The Cindy people keep telling us that we went to war for a lie. I remember all the Democrats in Congress getting all the same intel as the President and voting for the war. It was only after Howard Dean started moving up in the Democratic primaries that the anti-war movement in the Democrat party really gained steam.

Cindy tells us that President Bush would send his daughters to the fight if he really believed in the cause. He hasn’t, ergo he must not truly believe in the war. Well, let’s see where else that logic gets us:

• President Bush must not believe in law enforcement since he hasn’t sent his daughters to become police officers.
• President Bush must not believe in a regular trash pick up since he hasn’t sent his daughters to become garbagemen (or women, as the case may be…).
• President Bush must not believe in reading since he hasn’t sent his daughters off to be authors.
• President Bush must not believe in air travel since he hasn’t sent his daughters to become pilots.

So Jenna and Barbara aren’t serving overseas. What’s the point again?

Back to Pitt’s moral authority argument: not to diminish Cindy Sheehan’s grief but her loss doesn’t make her right. Say Wile E. Coyote had dropped an anvil on Casey’s head. Would she have come out against gravitational theory? Would the American left squat in a Texas ditch demanding we withdraw from gravity’s effects? Would gravity suddenly become “wrong?” Of course not. And yes, I realize what a ridiculous example that is but it merely serves to illustrate the fact that Sheehan’s grief does not make her infallible. It certainly does not give her any more moral authority than, say, Gary Qualls who lost his son Louis Wayne Qualls in Iraq. Louis' 16-year old little brother that is now planning on enlisting and his father supports the decision. They are part of a counter protest at “Fort Qualls” but how many have heard their story? You don’t think Cindy Sheehan is being manipulated by the American left for its own political agenda?

Fort Qualls supporters have called for a debate with the Camp Casey crowd but have been rebuffed. The Camp Casey folks are happy with the coverage they’re getting; demanding a meeting with the President that they know they’ll never get and never having to defend their positions. Especially not against other parents that have lost children in the war and still believe in it.

Perhaps the biggest offense that Cindy Sheehan has committed in my eyes is to absolutely shit on the memory of her dead son. Let us get one thing straight, as a matter of fact I’ll put it in its own line just so we’re clear on this:

The U.S. military is a volunteer force. President Bush didn’t send Casey anywhere – he volunteered.

Our troops sign their names on the dotted line knowing full well the risks that they are getting into. As blogger Scott Randolph put it:

“Guess what folks….they signed up to join the Army, not the boy scouts. Anytime your orientation to a new job involves an automatic weapon, you should be smart enough to figure out there’s danger involved. I actually read some people’s comments about many of the soldiers over there being naive….they weren’t expecting to go to war, so, they should be allowed to go home. Wow.

Soldiers know, when they enlist, that it is entirely possible they will be shipped out and never come home. It’s part of the job. The fact that people still walk in to recruiters’ offices and sign that piece of paper make them heroes. To imply that they are simple kids who didn’t know what they were getting into, or even worse, that they died for no reason, or an immoral reason, does a horrible thing. It strips their sacrifice of the honor that it deserves. Even though those folks sitting out there in the Texas fields claim to honor and support the soldiers, they obviously have been blinded by their own selfishness as to the real way to support them.”

Bravo Scott. How does a full withdrawal from Iraq honor the sacrifices of the men and women that have died? It takes their death and throws into the toilet. They will have died for nothing – absolutely nothing – if we leave without stabilizing Iraq, regardless of what got us into the conflict in the first place.

Leonard Pitts writes:

“…Sheehan’s protest has galvanized opponents of the war, given face and voice to their gnawing anger over a costly conflict whose resemblance to Vietnam is becoming inescapable.”

So the left is bringing Vietnam into the equation now. Why? Because we left without finishing the job; without accomplishing the objective. This must be a proud comparison for the left. It speaks volumes about a political party and a political ideology that stands to benefit only when the United States is defeated.

While there may be similarities to Vietnam, perhaps a more appropriate comparison would be to the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the “Black Hawk Down” book and movie. In both cases we were faced with an insurgency populated by those that did not wear uniforms, those that would kill our soldiers and drag their mutilated bodies through the streets. In Somalia, it was because we were there to *gasp* FEED THE FUCKING PEOPLE and keep the warlord Aidid from taking our food shipments so he could use hunger as his weapon. In Iraq, it’s because we are simply there. It doesn’t matter to the terrorists that we want to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and leave it with a representative democracy. What monsters we must be. It doesn’t matter that the Iraqi populace has turned against the insurgents and that they are only viewed favorably by a small Sunni minority.

Once we had our noses bloodied in the Mogadishu battle, the popular sentiment was to withdraw our troops immediately, identical to the current wishes of the American left. And we did. How did the troops react? With elation right? Read for yourself.

“Had any of us had our way, we would have stayed there. We would have stayed there and turned around and gone in the very next day with reinforcements and just leveled the city until nothing was standing except for freakin’ Aidid, hiding under a table with no city around him. ‘We gotcha. We accomplished our mission.’ But we weren’t allowed to do that.”
- Keni Thomas, battle survivor (Ranger)

“A lot of people who have talked to me about this battle have asked me if the American soldiers who fought in it are bitter and they’re not bitter about having been there or about the mission or about their commanders. They’re bitter about the fact that the day after this battle, their mission was called off.”
- Mark Bowden, Author of “Black Hawk Down”

“Now don’t get me wrong, we were all happy to go home. Somalia is a… there’s a reason there are no timeshares in Somalia, you know? It’s an awful place. But you’re talking about a lot of very highly trained, type-A personalities who had a job to do and were prevented from doing it. And if you’re gonna do that, then why send us in in the first place? Why lose those lives if you’re not serious about it?”
- Lee Van Arsdale, battle survivor (Delta Force)

“We stopped. We ceased all operations and turned what was a hard fought, brutal victory into an absolute defeat by handing over the advantage to the Somalis and giving them the very victory that we had fought all day for. As the Commander in Chief and leader of this country, which is always the same person, you absolutely have the obligation to be as strong as the people you send out to die.”
- Dan Schilling, battle survivor (Air Force Combat Controller)

So there you have it Cindy, Al, Leonard and anyone else who shares the cut-and-run strategy. The reaction of people who fought and watched their comrades die for nothing, which is exactly what you are asking of the soldiers in Iraq now. To this day, Somalia has no government, no stability and its people are still suffering. This is what an immediate withdrawal from Iraq would result in. So what should our exit strategy be anyway? Simply put: a free and stable democracy in Iraq.

Our exit strategy is victory.

Random thoughts while watching MLS

First of all, this has been a very entertaining game so far. After a full slate of soccer games today (Villareal v. Everton and Barcelona v. Juventus), tonight’s San Jose v. Los Angeles was the one of was least looking forward to. As the first half comes to a close, it’s actually been the most fun to watch by far. Why? The pace is face and there’s a palpable tension in the air. Landon Donovan left San Jose to play in Germany, then his girlfriend started pissing and moaning for him to come back stateside and his vagina was already hurt from not being a starter in Leverkusen (though in all fairness to him he’s surely got more going for him than Robson Ponte) so he returned to the MLS. For the L.A. Galaxy, not San Jose. Well, since tonight’s game is being played in San Jose, Donovan is getting it from the crowd and the interaction between the players is more heated than usual. It certainly makes for a fun game to watch. The highlight for me so far was the Donovan goal to tie the game at 1-1. Though I’m actually rooting for the Earthquakes, Donovan was on the receiving end of a pretty chicken-shit shove from Danny Califf that probably should have earned Califf a yellow card. A motivated Landon Donovan is a dangerous Landon Donovan. After scoring a pretty sweet goal, he put his fingers to lips to shush the San Jose crowd and then tapped the Galaxy logo on his chest. It was funny enough to make me laugh out loud. Nicely done Landon. Now if he can remember the piece of crap Mexican player that told him he would find Donovan’s mother and kill her and use that as motivation to do some damage to that shithole of a country next Saturday, I’ll be a happy man.

Something else that brings a smile to my face during MLS broadcasts is hearing Brandi Chastain’s commentary. She is so god awful that I can’t help it. While it’s nice that she has credibility as an ex-player, one might think that having even the most basic grasp of the English language would be a prerequisite for a broadcast position. Apparently that’s not the case. I remember an English teacher I had at the U of A. He was Chinese. And had only been in the United States nine days prior to the start of classes. I personally thought that the university could have sprung for a more qualified instructor but it seems Brandi thought well enough of his credentials to hire him as her tutor.

Last thought: at what point does advertising become counter-productive? I mean, when do your advertising efforts start to hurt your products sales? Sierra Mist is an MLS sponsor and of course they want to plug their beverage. The problem is that soccer is a non-stop game which leaves no time for official commercial breaks. So in order to get their supporter’s money’s worth, MLS has created a side-by-side advertising system where the game’s soundtrack is muted and the game itself is put in a separate window and minimized while a Sierra Mist commercial interrupts and takes precedence. Radio Shack and Budweiser are also perpetrators of this advertising terror.

While Sierra Mist has succeeding in raising my awareness of their product, they have also turned me steadfastly against their beverage. The side-by-side commercial is so obnoxious and intrusive that I am staging a one man boycott. Budweiser isn’t affected as much because Bud is shit anyway and I’ll only buy it if I’m broke and desperate for beer anyway. Radio Shack is also given a bit of a pass because I buy my electronics at Best Buy and rarely at that. But Sierra Mist is something I might have been tempted to try if not for the advertising war they are waging against MLS fans. Pepsi (their parent company) may get my money from other sources but never from Sierra Mist. You suck Sierra Mist!

France invaded by frogs!!

French countryside has been hit by a massive invasion of frogs. France is expected to surrender to the foreign invaders.

Damn you feds!

I recently received a summons for federal jury service. I have to call next weekend to get my instructions but the notice was very clear in stating that my presence may be required for the entire month of September. That’s all well and good except for one thing: I’m flying back to Germany at the end of the month. I filled out the requisite paper work and under the “Hardships” part I noted that I would be unable to serve at the end of the month. Sneaky me! If I may be needed for the entire month, maybe they would excuse me from the jury pool altogether right? Too much to ask for? Of course, dammit!

I received this notice not too long ago:

“Dear Sivlitz,

You are excused from jury service for the following dates: Sep 28 through Sep 30, 2005. You are still on call for the rest of September but are excused for the date(s) listed above.

Thank You”

No, thank YOU Ms. Candee Gordon, Jury Administrator.

To add insult to injury, the feds are taking one third of my performance bonus in taxes. One third! Son of a …

New Mexico's not that cool...

Ricky got accepted to the Border Patrol academy recently, hooray for him. This will be his second time after his previous try was cut short by a knee injury. Anyhow, he left Wednesday on a government charted bus. What does this have to do with me? I, along with my brother Stevie, was to deliver his car to him Saturday so he can get around fabulous Artesia for the duration of his stay.

The plan was for me to drive my car up there, followed by Stevie in Rick’s car. We would drive up, deliver the car and then Stevie and I would both head back in my car. Frankly, I can imagine better ways to spend a Saturday but whatever – it would be an adventure.

We left Tucson at 08:30 and after a couple of hours we were in NM. It wasn’t too long before I realized a simple fact: New Mexico pretty much sucks. We didn’t pass through Albuquerque or Santa Fe so I’ll have to withhold final judgment on the state as a whole but Las Cruces and Alamogordo made Wickenburg and Kingman, AZ look cosmopolitan. As a matter of fact, I made it my business to improve the smell and level of class in Las Cruces by dropping a deuce there.

The only interesting areas that we passed through were the White Sands Missile Range and Holloman AFB. White Sands is where the first atomic device was detonated and it was honestly kinda cool to drive through the range. After a while though, I found myself thinking that it was appropriate that they would choose to nuke this crappy state. Holloman was noteworthy because it’s the home of the F-117 stealth fighter. And the German Air Force’s Tactical Training Center. Say what? Over 300 German Air Force members are permanently assigned to the base. Germany’s been very critical of the US’ application of force in other parts of the world but apparently they aren’t outraged enough to stop using our military facilities…

We continued through to Artesia and words cannot adequately describe how shitty that place is. Why on earth would the US Border Patrol choose to put their academy there? I thought it unnecessary that Ricky would need a car because there’s nothing to see or do there. But I figure his vehicle will come in handy for escaping that rat hole on weekends or whenever else the chance presents itself.

We were treated to a brief tour of the academy grounds and then got back in the car and repeated the 7-hour journey. Stevie and I spent 16 hours on the road that day, including brief stops for gas and food, etc. I’m in no hurry to go back to NM. Ricky, you still owe me. Bastard.

Vegas Reprise

I was ill last Wednesday but still made it out to wander the strip. Roman, Danny and I stopped at the La Salsa in Luxor and started with a yard of margarita before wandering over to the New York, New York again. We found Jon and continued on down the strip and eventually walked to Caesars. After checking out the Forum shops and whatnot we crossed to the other side of the strip and eventually settled at the Barbary Coast. Our ears were treated to the sounds of 70s funk performed by an ALL ASIAN BAND. I reckon the reggae playing Eskimos were booked at the Aladdin…

In any event, some two dollar Captain and cokes were about enough to get me feeling right again. While waiting for my drinks, I noticed a guy practically molesting some poor blonde. The blonde was clearly hammered and was probably going to bunk down with SOMEONE that night but it clearly wasn’t this fellow. He was rubbing her shoulders, holding her in an intimate way – never noticing (or at least never caring about) the look of disgust on her face every time he’d touch her. Nothing she tried shook him off. Not even the time she ate the face of the guy sitting next to her at the bar. Nope – he just patiently waited until she was finished making out with the random and resumed rubbing her shoulders. That is persistence. Or desperation, I’m not really sure…

Thursday was a pretty mellow night compared to the others. We spent most of the night in the Mandalay Bay Island Lounge listening to the house band play their covers. When they took a break we could hear music coming from the House of Blues so Roman and I headed over to investigate. Some 80s cover band was playing in there. We watched them for a bit and when they took a break we headed back to the Island Lounge to catch the first band again. I bring this up because both bands had solid guitar players. The lounge band’s guy played super clean – never fretted anything poorly and hit his bends spot on, etc. The 80s cover guy was also decent; nailing the rhythm parts and solos from many a well-known song/guitar hero. I got to thinking how hard it actually is to score a record deal and become a known commodity. It was pretty obvious that these guys had ability. Granted, I haven’t heard any of their original stuff so maybe they just eat balls as song writers but still… Given the state of modern rock today, I wondered how many people with an artistic voice and actual talent are laboring away as unknowns while asshats like Good Charlotte and their ilk are scoring recording contracts. Then I got drunk and lost more money.

Have you no shame woman?

Apparently the Black Eyed Peas recently played a set where they all showed up blitzed. At some point, it seems Fergie wandered out of the spotlight, squatted down and pissed right through her pants and onto the stage. Classy.

She played the rest of the show in pissed-on pants and wiggled and twisted around as if nothing had happened.

I considered her attractive, even considering the fact that her face appears to have been dipped in acid and cleaned up with broken glass. I'm finding her a lot less attractive now. Seriously, what the f?

Back from Vegas

Vegas was a great time as usual. Monday was spent wandering around the strip telling Japanese tourists that we were rock stars. Japanese tourists are gullible. I don't sanction this activity but I was actually unaware that this was happening (I found out from Danny later). We started off at the New York, New York where we watched a rhythmless wench try to dance on the bar at the Coyote Ugly. Whatever - I was just there for the booze. After acquiring drinks we hit the strip and wandered around a bit. I ended up with a condom shaped beanie on my head. Seemed funny at the time...

The next night was spent at the Hofbräuhaus drinking liters of fine Bavarian beer. After that we wondered over to the Hard Rock where Nikki proceeded to strip us of our money and dignity. We probably wouldn't have stayed so long at her table if it weren't so damn close to the bar.

We also experienced a suicidal Bulgarian cab driver who conjured up a menu for the Chicken Ranch. I thought it was funny that he produced the thing in the first place but I thought it was hilarious that a brothel actually published an honest to god menu. "I'll have the doggy-style with a side of blowjob please!"