Opinions Of The Month: April, 1999

Take a minute to check out the issues I stand for, then VOTE FOR ME!

Bad move. NATO's response to criticism of their recent bombing of a television station in Yugoslavia: "They were spreading damaging propoganda." Wait a minute, let me get this straight, they were calling you names and telling lies about you, so you dropped a bomb on them? Does this sound like things are getting a bit out of hand to you? Stick with dismantling the infrastructure. If you don't like what they say, set up some powerful TV transmitters on the border and provide some counterpoint programming. It's called freedom of speech.

What could I honestly add to what's all over CNN and Fox News except to please ask the media to stop sensationalizing this tragedy. I heard the "The Trenchcoat Mafia" go from being "a group of social outcasts" to a "gang" to a "cult". They were misfits, and the nickname was obviously bestowed on them by ridiculing classmates. Please stop making a circus out of things like this.

Then again, how could I pass up a chance to focus on my views on guns...

I just did a quick search on ".yu" and came up with all kinds of email addresses to which I sent a message asking how they could serve under a president that is little more than a white haired Hitler. Everyone who feels strongly about Yugoslavia should do the same. It's easy, it's quick, and the Internet will give you one heck of a powerful microphone into which you can voice your opinions...

Update: most of the emails that contained responses at all were email bombs or had virus-carrying attachments. I got one response that was half way mature. I have a dialogue going with this individual, who, while pretty blinded by Yugoslavian nationalism in my humble opinion, is nonetheless educating me about that region's politics and history. I still think he's making excuses for the ethnic cleansing that was going on, but at least we're talking about it.

Did you guys know that, while we are putting American pilots and, possibly, American ground troops in harm's way, American oil companies are still shipping oil to Yugoslavia? How incredibly patriotic. I mean, it's funny in a way: we bomb their oil reserves and then sell them the replacement oil. But come on, how intelligent is it to allow ANY replacement supplies to flow into Yugoslavia? And for those supplies to come from America itself? Is that treasonous or just ludicrous? Although I have to give credit to the Slavs -- in looking around for Yu's to write emails to, I found that a lot of them are still carry banners to advertise American companies.

Nothing is more powerful than the almighty dollar, huh?

A quick update: HEY ARKAN!! I saw the latter half of your interview on U.S. news the other morning. You are so stupid! Is that the best you can do? Instead of refuting the charges against made you by the Hague in the Netherlands, instead of answering intelligently and intelligibly, you repeatedly call the prosecutor a bitch. The interview degraded quickly into a vulgarity-fest in which you displayed for the world your grasp of English profanity and your utter lack of ability to participate in a mature dialogue. I can't believe people would follow you out of a burning building, much less follow you into battle. What a blithering moron you are. Well, that's ok, someday you'll stand before that "bitch" and the court you kept shouting that you didn't recognize, and you'll answer for the horrors you've visited on the people of the world. And you know what? There will be no place to hide, because that court and the power it has been entrusted with certainly recognizes you, and they will find you no matter where you go.

Boy, Saddam Hussein must have Slobodan Milosevic at the top of his Christmas card list. Slo mass-murders thousands of his own countrymen singling them out on the basis of religious beliefs and heritage, spits at diplomatic efforts to curb his human rights violations, defies NATO bombing, and has even managed to do the one thing Saddam never did: he has taken U.S. hostages. It's taken a ton of heat off Saddam. Heck, when was the last time you heard anything about Iraq?

I'm divided on the whole thing:

1. First off, I'm convinced we're doing the right thing. Contrary to what the press keeps blathering about, I for one do understand why we're there, and the genocide has to stop. Someone has to stand up for people who are being wiped out. People say, "Why don't we stand up to China then?" I point to a lack of mass graves and the presence of nukes. Yes, Tibet is a tragedy, but that's a whole 'nother topic...

2. Obviously we should already have ground troops in there. We should have bombed without pause for 3 days, hitting all strategic targets with a blitzkrieg-style bombing, then had ground troops dropping into Kosovo constantly until the majority language was American English. Just like Desert Storm, we'd have scared the crap out of the troops and they'd have been peeing their pants at the sight of us coming over that ridge. That didn't happen, and now the people of Yugoslavia don't have the fear of NATO, oh no; in response to a slow, wearing style of attack, they've rallied around their leader, sick as that may seem. Very Nazi-Germany. Cute target signs on their backs, by the way. We would have lost some troops. I understand that. But if we go in now, with the entire nation of Yugoslavia fired up about kicking NATO butt, we will lose far more. At this point we are teetering on the edge of a scenario everyone fears most: a replay of Viet Nam.

3. Since we didn't do it right at the outset, what now? Well, Slo isn't going to let the refugees back in. Why should he? He has started down a path that cannot be reversed. Over a half a million people have been misplaced, tens of thousands have been executed in the streets. This has directly affected each and every Kosovar. Why do you think his paramilitary troops have been instructed to kill every able-bodied young Kosovar man? Because those men would join the KLA (Kosovar Liberation Army)

4. To all the people that demonstrate, calling Clinton a criminal and murderer in connection with the bombings: get educated. There's a certain class of people that run out with a picket sign anytime a bomb is dropped. If they want to demonstrate against something worth fighting for, let's give them a one hour class on what crimes Slo has committed, then ship them over to Belgrade. And while we're at it, let's describe to them the alternatives to dropping "smart" bombs. We could still be "carpet bombing" instead...

Ok, that about sums up my random thoughts. So what do we do now? Well, at this point I feel we have no choice. Keep bombing. No ground troops. Kosovo is just about empty, so there's no one to defend. The men that are left are being shot, the women that are left are being raped and sometimes killed, the living are being driven out. We gave Slo way too much time. He's achieved his goals, and his troops are in position to defend the burned out villages and piles of dead Kosovar bodies that is Kosovo. Right now we need to keep harrassing Slo's paramilitary criminals long enough for the Kosovars that are trying to get can safely do so. Then we're at the punishment phase. Keep bombing Yugoslavia weapons, weapons facilities, armies, and infrastructure, and keep up the economic sanctions. Yugoslavia is now another Iraq, minus the weapons of mass destruction. The goal: Slo must step down. It really doesn't matter who comes up as the new leader. Slo Must Go.

Now here's a totally separate line of thought: What if we hadn't gone in? What if we had gotten NATO together, called a meeting, passed a resolution that something needed to be done, then just stood up and publicly, explicitly, turned our backs and ignored the whole thing?

Here's what I think would have happened:

1. We would have sent a concrete message, and that is, "The U.S. is tired of being the policeman for the world. If you want something done, pitch in." As part of the move to do nothing, we could have sited the absence of all the major world governments that do not participate as part of NATO. We could have called on them to do something about it. We could have listed what arms and troops would be required from each based on a percentage of the arms and general population of that country. Then the Kosovars would have been slowly murdered at the pre-bombing pace until they were extinct while the world's politicians bickered and procrastinated on whether or not to join NATO, when to join, how to join, where to join, who should be there when they join, etc., etc.

2. The demonstrators would have been picketing Clinton to do something to save the Kosovars, calling him a criminal for ignoring their plight and demanding his immediate resignation.

Someone brought this up the other day. Why don't we just arm the Kosovo refugees and send them back in? I think this is a Bad Idea. If we arm new recruits for the KLA, we would also need to train them. And then, unless we provide them with tanks and aircraft, all for free, mind you, we send them in badly underprepared. Yugoslavia, despite its poor choice of a leader, is not a third world nation. We've crippled much of their military, and yet they have more than enough equipment and men to make NATO decide not to risk ground troops. And on top of that, if we arm the KLA, you can bet Russia will arm Yugoslavia. Then it degrades into two major countries pouring a lot of money into a gladiatorial display that no one can win.

Y'know, for the first time in history the U.S. government had a surplus after the budget was signed and ratified, and where is it going? That's right: Yugoslavia. Well, just like some city municipalities are doing nowadays, I think the police should hand the criminal the bill for putting him in line. We should force Yugoslavia to repay the price of this war. The border should be placed under military guard and a heavy tax should be placed on all imports and exports until the price of policing Yugoslavia is repaid.

And this should be a central theme in all our relations with other nations from this point on. If NATO tells you to back off and you don't, you'll not only get the crap stomped out of you, but you'll have to pay for our efforts to stomp the crap out of you.

In case you don't live in California, here's the latest update on gas prices: Californians are being raped. Gas is over US$2 a gallon here. Gas companies are in collusion, fixing prices using the following excuses.

First, that OPEC has reduced production by 2 barrels a day. Oh Yeah, that took a huge toll. Uh, huh.

Second, that two refineries have been closed down. This is the gas companies' way of punishing California for being so rude as to meddle in the gas companies' business. Let's take a look at that. The Tosco Refinery is a beautiful example of what happens when money takes precedence over the safety of workers and neighboring communities. They've had one environmental accident after another that had adjacent communities scrambling to get out of the way of some toxic cloud of gas or an imminent explosion or fire, numerous safety violations and incidents, and finally a major explosion that killed 4 workers. The county that is home to the refinery finally said enough is enough and closed it down pending safety and environmental adjustments. Did they *want* to do that? No! That refinery represented a boat load of tax dollars annually, and you can bet that closing it down was painful, but the voters in that county finally got decent representation.

So now the gas companies are going to make us all pay. States all around California can get gas for half the price we pay. Is this right? Should we be punished for protecting our people? Hell no! It's time for state regulation of gas prices and gas refineries in California. If they don't want to be regulated then they'd better improve safety and environmental controls on their refineries and stop jacking up the prices in California.

I hate awards shows. They're usually skewed and I find them terribly boring. But this once I have to speak up. I think the World War II epic "Saving Private Ryan" got robbed. Perhaps it's because it got released too early in the season. Whatever. I was stunned by that movie in a way I haven't been moved by any other movie I've ever seen. Tom Hanks was incredible. The cinematography was incredible. The sets were amazing. The acting was fantastic. The direction was without peer. The script was great. The editing was perfect. What more can you say? It was so unlike any other war movie I've ever seen because it seemed REAL. At no point do you say to yourself, "Aw, that's not what it was like." It was a 30 foot tall, 50 foot wide, no-holds-barred history lesson. It did not show the Americans as pure and heroic titans. It did not show the Germans as evil, skinny morons. It showed soldiers doing their jobs and the horrific drama that plays out when soldiers do their jobs. It rips away any nostalgic conceptions you may have about war. Words fail me. The movie was historic. If you haven't seen it, see it on the big screen if at all possible. No other medium can do it justice.

It ain't "Saving Private Ryan", but what is? Still, this is a fantastic movie. I watched it last night. This is a movie for married couples with children. It will rip your heart out. Repeatedly. In a new and excruciating way each time. Wrap your arms around your honey and have a LARGE box of tissues handy. And at the end, turn to your love and say, "I would do that for you." You'll see what I mean.

Where the heck did that thing come from? And her nose -- where did it go? Cher seems to be getting caught up in a Michael-Jackson-esque search for a face that doesn't -- and shouldn't -- exist. Her upper lip looks like a very large bee stung her there repeatedly, and her nose is turning up and disappearing into the valley between her massive cheekbones. Before this latest spate of surgery, I would have said that Cher had a classic kind of beauty. Now? I'd say her plastic surgeon is getting off easy for committing a grievous crime against a national treasure.

I'm for it. Condoms should be available for free provided that students have completed a sex education class that covers in detail pregnancy, STDs, and celibacy. I want teenagers to consider the consequences and alternatives when making their choices. Then I want them to have free access to protection.

Back to Todd's Opinion Page (if you found this through a search engine)

Previous OOTM