"The great fallacy of childhood is the belief that grownups must know what they are doing. There is no evidence for this in the historical record."

Fred On Everything:

"I have decided to become a drunk and live under a bench, maybe in a radiation suit. It only makes sense. The times are dire. Dark shapes twist in the international fog. The US, in the hands of puzzled children of low moral character, flaps about like a damp rag in a high wind. Anything could happen.

...There is much to cause worry. The strange little man in the White House is leering at Iran in his customary state of martial priapism. Not good. (Wild thought: Someone ought to give Iran nuclear weapons, so he won’t attack it.) Anyway, wee Bush, not having enough army for his current wars, wants to start a bigger and shinier one.

Somebody explain it to me. I have limited geostrategic grasp. Perhaps he believes that by spreading unwinnability over several wars, he will reduce it in each. Victory through distributed defeat.

...The president’s virtuous plan to spread democracy like bird flu goes apace. Ain’t nobody heah ceptin’ us missionaries. The rascal is imposing democracy right and left, though mostly left as it turns out.

It is working. Well, it is having an effect. In Venezuela democracy brought about Hugo Chavez, who hates the United States. In Bolivia it produced Evo Morales, who hates the United States. In Iran it empowered Ahmawhatsispelling, who hates the United States. So does the elected government in Iraq. In Palestine Mr. Bush’s righteousness elected Hamas, which hates the United States, perhaps as much as does the Muslim Brotherhood, which keeps getting more elected in Egypt.

There’s nothing like democracy, I say. There’s nothing like brains either, but they seem to be in short supply. I mean, if you force elections in countries where everybody hates you, after doing things that make sure that everyone hates you…?

...See, this whole mess is a splendid contest between a Titan and a pygmy, the pygmy being very well armed and the Titan being very smart. High drama and all. Made for television. The pygmy used New York as a pretext to conquer the Middle East and get the oil. Bin Laden used New York to sucker the pygmy into a losing war that would leave the United States defanged and broken. One of them has guessed wrong. We’ll know which before long.

I still don’t get it. Maybe psilocybin would help. It doesn’t make you understand anything, but makes everything else equally confusing so that nothing stands out. These days, it’s the best you can hope for."