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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Is the United States Winning in Iraq?
"Winning or losing is not the issue for 'we,' in my view, in the traditional conventional context of using the word winning and losing and of war."
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Yes, he actually said that, and he said that in response to the simple question: "Is the United States winning in Iraq?"
See: they're just words. Words can mean whatever you want them to mean, you know? Whatever you define them to be.
(Has anyone sicced Cardinal Ratzinger on this guy? Cause he's sounding more and more like a relativist to me.)
Anyway, if Don Rumsfeld can play games with the meanings of words, so can I.
So if you define "the United States" to mean "the current administration in Washington";
and if you define "in Iraq" to mean "about the war in Iraq or its planning and execution";
and if you define "winning" to mean "lying";
...then YES! The United States is winning in Iraq!
Makes me proud to be an American.
0 comments
"Winning or losing is not the issue for 'we,' in my view, in the traditional conventional context of using the word winning and losing and of war."
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Yes, he actually said that, and he said that in response to the simple question: "Is the United States winning in Iraq?"
See: they're just words. Words can mean whatever you want them to mean, you know? Whatever you define them to be.
(Has anyone sicced Cardinal Ratzinger on this guy? Cause he's sounding more and more like a relativist to me.)
Anyway, if Don Rumsfeld can play games with the meanings of words, so can I.
So if you define "the United States" to mean "the current administration in Washington";
and if you define "in Iraq" to mean "about the war in Iraq or its planning and execution";
and if you define "winning" to mean "lying";
...then YES! The United States is winning in Iraq!
Makes me proud to be an American.
