Has it not become clear to everyone that we are not fighting for democracy or freedom?

I was watching the news on TV tonight - CBC, I think - when I heard a statement that was so ordinary, it almost blew by me. It was propaganda delivered as news. And I'm sure it was not deliberate. I'm sure it was just an example of how our perceptions get in the way of understanding what it really going on.

Eight months ago, it was close to blasphemy in these threads to suggest that Obama might not be the great hope for the future. One reads daily of spreading disillusionment of the constant watering down of his health care proposal - and the probability that even that will not pass. An American army of 130,000 is still in Iraq with little sign of leaving. The war in Afghanistan goes on, with troop figures increased, with the war spreading to Pakistan, and no end in sight. The American economy shows no sign of recovering. The use of detention camps has not ceased.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and am looking for a few other ideas about this whole scenario.

The recent Kingston canal murders of four women of colour are still under investigation, but formal charges have been laid against the father, mother, and brother of three of the victims (with the fourth suspected of being a first wife of the father).

time for a little humour.

a school has disontinued the opening ceremony of singing O Canada. The principal explained that two parents complained, not wanting their children to participate.

Supporters of the war in Afghanistan are furious, claiming that we must support our troops with every breath in our bodies.

If you have any sympathy with either side in this idiocy, please explain it to all of us.

graeme

This is a bit tangled, so bear with me.

British and French commanders in the field as well as diplomats and intelligence experts have long concluded that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won, that the government we have propped up cannot be sustained, and that the Taliban must be invited back into the tent. And all of that should have been obvious when this started. 

There are a hundred Canadian dead in Afghanistan. Nobody gives enough of a damn to count the number of dead Afghanis.