7.19.2006

THANKS FOR NOTHING: What the heck is Lou Dobb's point? How hard is it to be a hand-wringer? What does he suggest we do? Here's a newsflash: The Middle East is one giant sandy Gray Area. There is no path without conflict. And blaming the U.S. or its citizens, or...whoever he's blaming...is not worth a hill of beans. Phooey on Louie.

3 comments:

isaacjosephson said...

It really does read like a very stupid column. Dobbs seems to be making two points: (1) We should give more money to Palestinians and Lebanese, and less to Israel; (2)Why oh why is no one coming to the rescue of those poor Iraqi civilians who are dying in much greater numbers than the Lebanese?

Both points convey a staggering lack of context. And given that most American readers already suffer from that malady, he's not doing anyone any good.

Anonymous said...

The article is disjointed and rambling. It sounds like he can't quite say what he wants.

Maybe he is just exasperated about the entire region and is trying to say we are foolish to continue to keep on doing what we've done for the last 60 years.

Welcome back, Camel!

Steve

Scott Hess said...

Thanks, Ike. It's fun to agreed with every now and again!

I have a hard time with the argument, which I hear often, that we ought to give more money to misbehaving countries. I like giving money to countries whose interests align with ours, and whose behavior warrants aid. It's basically my parenting strategy: No treats for bad boys. Seems to work. Just last night after C.J. nearly bit Mikey, he started to cry. "Why are you crying?" I asked. "Because I don't get any ice cream," he said. This morning he told my wife, "I'm not going to bite anymore." "Why," she asked. "Consequences," he replied.

It's pretty cute to hear a four-year-old say "consequences."

Unfortunately Hizbollah lacks the maturity of my four-year-old, in my estimation. And parties that call for us to offer more aid to their sponsors are bad parents...