NP When war drums roll

[Doug Millison]

" [...]Indeed, but the New York Stock Exchange opened Monday morning, so I
have to get a grip on something solid. The Other Shoe is about to drop, and
it might be extremely heavy. The time has come to be strong. The fat is in
the fire. Who knows what will happen now?

Not me, buster. That's why I live out here in the mountains with a flag on
my porch and loud Wagner music blaring out of my speakers. I feel lucky,
and I have plenty of ammunition. That is God's will, they say, and that is
also why I shoot into the darkness at anything that moves. Sooner or later,
I will hit something Evil, and feel no Guilt. It might be Osama Bin Laden.
Who knows? And where is Adolf Hitler, now that we finally need him? It is
bad business to go into War without a target.

In times like these, when the War-drums roll and the bugles howl for blood,
I think of Vince Lombardi, and I wonder how he would handle it. ... Good
old Vince. He was a zealot for Victory at all costs, and his hunger for it
was pure -- or that's what he said and what his legend tells us, but it is
worth noting that he is not even in the top 20 in career victories.

We are At War now, according to President Bush, and I take him at his word.
He also says this War might last for "a very long time."

Generals and military scholars will tell you that eight or 10 years is
actually not such a long time in the span of human history -- which is no
doubt true -- but history also tells us that 10 years of martial law and a
war-time economy are going to feel like a Lifetime to people who are in
their twenties today. The poor bastards of what will forever be known as
Generation Z are doomed to be the first generation of Americans who will
grow up with a lower standard of living than their parents enjoyed.

That is extremely heavy news, and it will take a while for it to sink in.
The 22 babies born in New York City while the World Trade Center burned
will never know what they missed. The last half of the 20th century will
seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's coming now. The
party's over, folks. The time has come for loyal Americans to Sacrifice.
... Sacrifice. ... Sacrifice. That is the new buzz-word in Washington. But
what it means is not entirely clear.

Winston Churchill said "The first casualty of War is always Truth."
Churchill also said "In wartime, the Truth is so precious that it should
always be surrounded by a bodyguard of Lies."

That wisdom will not be much comfort to babies born last week. The first
news they get in this world will be News subjected to Military Censorship.
That is a given in wartime, along with massive campaigns of
deliberately-planted "Dis-information." That is routine behavior in Wartime
-- for all countries and all combatants -- and it makes life difficult for
people who value real news. Count on it. That is what Churchill meant when
he talked about Truth being the first casualty of War. [...]"
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/thompson/010918.html
When war drums roll
By Hunter S. Thompson



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