Rachel Maddow has a new book coming out this week entitled “Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power.” Dust jacket excerpt:
Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow’s Drift argues that we’ve drifted away from America’s original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails…. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the priorities of the national security state to overpower our political discourse.
Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seriously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a “loud and jangly” political debate about how, when, and where to apply America’s strength and power – and who gets to make those decisions.
Whether or not this book will, in fact, “reinvigorate” a debate about the appropriate use of military force, you get the idea. And, because we are super-special, we have a copy, signed by the author, to give away.
The book will go to the BMGer who, in the comments to this post, offers the best standard format (five line), usual rhyme scheme limerick that is at least somewhat related to the subject matter of Maddow’s book. Bonus points for humor, as always. Comments will be closed Friday at midnight.
jconway says
Andrew Bacevich’s the man of the hour
For critiquing American power
He’s a military jock
So his critics can’t mock
That he is a child of flower
sabutai says
“Freedom!” the cry in Boston, spilling blood from the men of far Hesse,
“Freedom!” echoed the Declaration, listing its grievances to address
But the decades turned those ideals to mist,
Hope suffocated within the complex’s fist.
“Freedom!” now the cry of Afghans, while we seek escape from this mess.
Sorry, my humor store is a bit low at the moment…
whosmindingdemint says
The End and the Beginning
After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won’t
straighten themselves up, after all.
Someone has to push the rubble
to the sides of the road,
so the corpse-laden wagons
can pass.
Someone has to get mired
in scum and ashes,
sofa springs,
splintered glass,
and bloody rags.
Someone must drag in a girder
to prop up a wall.
Someone must glaze a window,
rehang a door.
Photogenic it’s not,
and takes years.
All the cameras have left
for another war.
Again we’ll need bridges
and new railway stations.
Sleeves will go ragged
from rolling them up.
Someone, broom in hand,
still recalls how it was.
Someone listens
and nods with unsevered head.
Yet others milling about
already find it dull.
From behind the bush
sometimes someone still unearths
rust-eaten arguments
and carries them to the garbage pile.
Those who knew
what was going on here
must give way to
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.
In the grass which has overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out,
blade of grass in his mouth,
gazing at the clouds.
tedf says
We once were a country that knew
How to keep safe but be peaceful, too.
Then the Saudis struck oil
So now the troops toil
Overseas, keeping gas safe for you.
tedf says
Oof! Last line should be
“Overseas, keeping gas cheap for you.”
dcsohl says
Our nation was once in Iraq
And wondered just why we’d attacked.
We withdrew last year,
Having paid a price dear,
But the GOP keeps talking smack!
E’en after Afghanistan
And seeing how well Iraq ran,
Those on the right
Keep wanting to fight
And so, next stop is Iran!
whosmindingdemint says
Perpetual war is a Godsend
To an empire nearing its wits end
While our legions deploy
To distract and destroy
We work, shop and live for the weekend.
Oooh! I hope I win!
AmberPaw says
As Smedley D. Butler declared
War is a rackett; we’re snared
So the Barons of greed
Pretend that there’s reason
And that objections are treason
While all along profit’s their goal.
ramuel-m-raagas says
just like The Boss’ Wrecking Ball.
Mr. Lynne says
Perpetual war’s the new normal
Our national sin is now mortal
Our beligerant conduct
is our Gross National Product
Our indifferance has become quite amoral
hoopgreen says
Rachel, whom we all adore,
has written a book, DRIFT, related to war.
But our attention spans short,
who the hell know’s who we’ve fought,
More pressing, what time’s “Jersey Shore”?
bean says
The American military casts a long shadow
Is the argument of a new book by Maddow.
In the pages of Drift,
She details the rift
Between leading with ideals or with ammo.