WW IV

WW IV smoldered to life in the mid 1980's during WW III (the cold war). Like a forest fire that lingers under the pine needles and sod, it was invisible. It flared up from time to time but did not seem to pose too much of a threat.

Since September 11th we are all much more alarmed. Our stupid reactions and completely inadequate responses to this conflagration have only allowed it to spread. With no containment strategy it is crackling out from hot spots and is much more of a threat now.

To a large extent Bush and his failed policies has been responsible for the severity of WW IV. The situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran, in Darfur and now Turkey, is totally going the wrong way. Make no mistake, this is a HOT war. The lives of hundreds of millions hang in the balance. And I fear that we have stumbled so badly in its beginning that by the time it is over many of the millions of lives will be lost. Each great war starts differently.

We need brilliance in positions of leadership. I see NONE in the current crop of Presidential candidates. They fail to appreciate the magnitude of the war the world is in. The war we helped get going by decades of stupid decisions. Bush is bad since his solutions are simplistic and not based on reality. Yet the next President will be in the same situation as Bush. He or she will be faced with a massive problem, Iraq being only one part, that they cannot ignore. There is no negotiating with this enemy. No councils or ceasefires.

I have no clue how this war will end. I do think that keeping canned food in the car and having an exit strategy on how to get out of town is not a bad idea. WW IV is hotter than the cold WW III. Yet we still have all the nukes. Nobody should be so naive as to think the use of nuclear weapons, by the US or other nations, or entities, is beyond consideration.

I have read the Candidates positions, such as they are, and none of them, Democrat of Republican really seems to have a clue as to what to do about anything. They are so busy beating up on each other, trying to appease one core constituency or another that they seem stuck in sloganeering and broad generalities so milky, and opaque as to be useless. How can American voters know who to vote for? Judging by the candidates, their misinformation, lies, and insane positions, I would have to say put all the names in a hat and pick one. Then vote for that person.

Having said all this I would argue that a Democratic President, based on what is coming out of the mouths of all candidates, will be slightly less pathetic than a Republican President. It is not that the Republican candidates are really bad, it is just that the groups that they have to appease are basically just this side of the mentally ill (no offense meant to those who are mentally ill.)