Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times

Where’s the “Mission Accomplished” banner, Mr. President?

The President addressed the cadets at West Point tonight taking a play out of his predecessor’s playbook: surround yourself with troops, and appeal (six times) to 9/11:

To address these important issues, it’s important to recall why America and our allies were compelled to fight a war in Afghanistan in the first place. We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of passengers onboard one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more.

He states himself that al Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan:

As we know, these men belonged to al Qaeda — a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world’s great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents. Al Qaeda’s base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Taliban — a ruthless, repressive and radical movement that seized control of that country after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war, and after the attention of America and our friends had turned elsewhere.

It’s also nice to be reminded just how horrible those Taliban are: “ruthless, repressive and radical.” Nice alteration, Mr. President. Excellent work on painting the enemy as less than human.

So the occupation that has lasted for the past eight years will continue for at least another 19 months. We’re barely two years shy of the total occupation that the Soviets managed (and that we condemned while we funded and armed the opposition) during the 80′s. But this shouldn’t be viewed as a new Vietnam:

First, there are those who suggest that Afghanistan is another Vietnam. They argue that it cannot be stabilized, and we’re better off cutting our losses and rapidly withdrawing. I believe this argument depends on a false reading of history. Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognizes the legitimacy of our action. Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan, and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border. To abandon this area now — and to rely only on efforts against al Qaeda from a distance — would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies.

The United States officially had soldiers in Vietnam from 1965-1975.  This is not like that at all.

Mr. President, on September 23, 2001 I stood in a pulpit and spoke to a people who were afraid and angry. I read Romans 12:20-21:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

What I said then is true today: We cannot defeat terror by being more terrifying. It was true for President Bush. It’s still true for President Obama. This increase of soldiers in Afghanistan is a horrifically bad idea.

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Geeky Beer Service

Recently I was forced, on two separate occasions, to consider and report on my favorite bible verse.  I’m not a real bible verse kind of guy.  I don’t find a verse particularly useful and rarely find them meaningful.

This is not a judgement on the entire bible, rather it is how I look at individual verses.  A verse, taken out of context not only from the words written around it but the culture and time it was written, can come to mean anything to anyone.  So I’m more of a bible story person rather than a bible verse person.

But a bible story didn’t fulfill the requirements, so I went in search of a verse.  And I found one.  One that I can embrace and claim as my favorite.

Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 8:15

This is where the oft quoted phrase of “Eat, drink and be Merry” comes from.  And I happen to be a fan of all three activities.  And to know that God commands me to do them is proof that he loves us, is it not?  Or as another great American put it:

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
- Ben Franklin

So, that got me to thinking.  What else have great people had to say about this topic.  And by this topic, I do mean beer.  Because, if Mr. Franklin is right, and I’m not going to tell him he’s wrong, then beer is the de facto proof of God’s existence.

Abraham Lincoln had a high opinion of Beer.  In fact, he believed that enough beer could save our nation!

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.
-Abraham Lincoln

But it is not national leaders alone that understand God’s love through beer.  The common man can appreciate beer too.

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza
- Dave Barry

And of course, our own president can appreciate the miraculous powers of common beer.

I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart.
- President Barak Obama
2009 Beer Summit

So if so many wise people can see that beer is good and godly, why is it so often looked down upon?  That is a mystery I’ve often contemplated, and I think I have some answers.

1. Beer tastes like horse piss.  It’s true, most American beer does.  Or worse, American light beer tastes like…  nothing.  Call me a beer snob, but I do not like the weak American style beers.  But attacking all beers based on the poor taste of a few is akin to attacking all religious people for the extra-bedroom activities of Ted Haggard.
2. Beer makes one silly.  But only if beer is drunk in excess.  Which should be measured by kegs, not cases, and by activity, not occasion.  I can’t help that pot bellied rednecks drink to much while watching football.  That neither lessens football or beer, both of which are Good.  Instead, it shows that rednecks really “get” the holy concept of “Eat, Drink and Be Merry.”  Instead of a negative, they should be held up as the example!
3. Beer is expensive.  But that’s just silly.  Beer is the single reason that mankind developed civilization.  Without beer, we’d all still be small clans of hunter-gatherers, or perhaps advanced to the point of quilting bees and scrapbooking.  But nothing civilized.

So let’s accept, shall we, that beer is holy.  And needs to, at times, be consumed.  For God did command it.

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