(I started writing this several days ago but didn’t have time to struggle with table formatting inside the blog software until now – so it’s a bit dated, but still relevant).
As Bill Maher pointed out not long ago. in a number of important ways the US has fallen behind any other nations in recent years. In best-to-worst rankings we’re well into the double digits on many health and education issues, freedom of the press, etc.
Well, this week there’s good news and bad news for those who would see our rankings improved. In a poll among British citizens, we came in at a solid number 2 in one category! The bad news is that Al Qaeda was the overall winner.
The category? Nations or organizations posing the greatest threat to world peace.
The results of this poll are clearly ludicrous. I mean, really, for all his faults – George Bush ranked between Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong Il as a threat to world peace? Preposterous. Let’s debunk this clearly biased paper’s flawed results.
Dictatorial Powers:
| Osama Bin Laden | Kim Jong Il | George Dub Ya |
|---|---|---|
| Can have people yanked off the street, held indefinitely without charges or trial, and tortured, with cheering support from fanatical followers in the streets of many third world nations. Has to get past law enforcement and military to get at potential victims. | Can have people yanked off the street, held indefinitely without charges or trial, and tortured, with cheering support from fanatical followers in Korea. Power limited outside his own country. | Can have people yanked off the street, held indefinitely without charges or trial, and tortured, with cheering support from fanatical followers, plus FOX news, countless neo-con think-tanks, Limbaugh-Hannity-Coulter types, etc., and a legal mandate granted by over half the members of the sitting legislative bodies. Worldwide reach. |
Winner: USA
Conventional Military
| Osama Bin Laden | Kim Jong Il | George Dub Ya | Bunch of guys with AK-47s, old US-issue stinger missiles given to them by some of the folks in the Bush administration, pipe bombs, box cutters, and molotov cocktails. Not capable of invading or holding foreign territory. | Moderate-sized, moderately-equipped army. For all the strutting and posturing, hasn’t attacked anyone recently. | Big, well-equipped, modern military and a demonstrated willingness to use it to further his own political goals. Launched poorly justified invasion and occupation of Iraq, now saber-rattling toward Iran. |
|---|
Winner: USA
Category: Nukes
| Osama Bin Laden | Kim Jong Il | George Dub Ya | Would be perfectly willing to use them if he had any. Fortunately doesn’t, but is still at large to be able to try to get one. | Can build bombs in small numbers. No long-range deployment capability. | ICBMs, missile subs, and nuclear-capable cruise missiles out the wazoo, with many of them approaching the “Best if used by” date stamped on the casing. |
|---|
Winner: USA
Category: Death Toll
| Osama Bin Laden | Kim Jong Il | George Dub Ya | Maybe 10,000 at worst, including all 9/11 victims, and making the sweeping generalization that all our troops killed in the middle-east were killed by Al Qaeda. | No idea. Lots, probably. | Esitmates range from “why should I trouble my beautiful mind with that” to 600,000+, and that’s just in Iraq in the last 4 years. |
|---|
CLEAR WINNER: USA! USA! USA! WE”RE NUMBER 1!
(Do I really think the US is as dangerous to the world as Kimsama bil Jongen? Of course not – not so long as our system of government still allows us to vote out the guys who are doing this damage to our nation.)