Day: March 16, 2004

Grave and gathering stupidity

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

I am getting so fed up with the hawks’ tireless insistence that Dubya & Co. never claimed that Iraq presented an “imminent threat.”

Let’s assume for a moment that it’s true that they didn’t in so many words — or so many others — use that line of argument. To me the natural follow-up question is this: Should U.S. foreign policy post-9/11 be putting the overwhelming majority of its intellectual, human, physical and financial resources into fighting a threat that is not imminent?

You can say a lot of things about 9/11, but it sure as hell showed that Al Qaeda was not just an imminent threat, but a proven threat. Why was it wise to drain resources from that effort?

Might the folks who died in the Bali, Istanbul, Riyadh and Madrid attacks be alive today if Dubya & Co. just stuck to the game plan? It’s impossible to know. But if they’re to get credit for Iraq, they should get some portion of the blame for those tragic events.

A reason to vote

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

 tribvote

The above image is from the Chicago Tribune’s home page today and unintentionally says a great deal about what’s wrong with politics in America today … but that’s not what this post is about.

As usual, Illinois will play the crucial presidential primary role of being completely irrelevant, so even if I were a Democrat I’d have little reason to vote today, except to choose between a bunch of subpar U.S. senatorial candidates.

And yet, a glimmer of hope pierces the darkness of this election day — I have the opportunity use my vote as an ironic gesture.

You see, there’s a Nimrod running for office. “Aren’t they all?” you rightly ask.

Yes, they are, but this time there’s an actual Nimrod running for office: Timothy D. Nimrod is running for a judgeship in the Cook County Circuit Court’s 9th Judicial Subcircuit Court.

Vote Nimrod, nimrod

Here’s a guy whose rulings will get overturned a lot. What appellate court’s going to be skittish about overturning a Judge Nimrod decision? But hey, Lodge #7 of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police endorsed him! So he must be all right.

Should I walk the 20 feet to my polling place to register my ironic support for Candidate Nimrod? I think I’d be a nimrod not to.