Sure Hope the Starter's No Good

For some time now, there have been claims that the U.S. military -- or the Army, at least -- is a "broken" force. Spread too thin, lots of people getting out, few (desirable) people joining up, equipment and supplies decimated, and so on and on.

I don't know if it's true or not, since I pretty much live a mushroom's existence at the output end of everyone's misinformation chute, subsisting on info-crap. But I kind of hope it's true ... true in a profound enough way that even the delusionists of the Bush regime can't ignore it.

Why would I hope for such a thing? That's like asking why a man would ever hope his car won't start. He might reasonably hope for that if his teenage son is out with the car, has just gotten staggering drunk, and is about to hop in and buzz the local preschool.

So, am I implying that the U.S. military forces are under the sketchy "control" of the equivalent of drunken teenagers? Yup:

The US has warned that it will back its allies with the full range of its military capability against any threat from North Korea.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said everyone should know that the US would act fully on its defence treaty obligations to Japan and South Korea.

She was speaking in Tokyo on the first leg of an Asian tour to rally support for enforcing the sanctions.

Pyongyang's test has raised concerns over an arms race in the region.

Ms Rice's hastily arranged trip to Japan, South Korea, China and Russia is aimed at rallying support to implement sanctions fully in line with the UN resolution passed last week.

South Korea, and to a greater extent China, are still thought to have concerns over some parts of the new UN sanctions.

So, Americans should be ready and willing to kill and die to further the policy decisions of the Japanese and South Koreans? Or to prevent an "arms race" in Asia? I don't think so.

The only restraint against BushCo's launching yet another Excellent Adventure is the possibility that the car won't start. This illustrates clearly just how far gone things are in our alleged constitutional republic.