Getting squirrely.

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I did eat yesterday evening. Not much but some. I slept today, pretty much all day. I woke for periods of time but could not keep it going. I am drinking more water, then again I am out of everything else. Whatever. If I can pull it together I will take a shower, get dressed, and go into town for a meal. I might even get enough to bring home to try and kickstart tomorrow. The good side? I am still relatively conscious. Clarity of mind is still here, memory is good enough, and I am able to keep the cats fed and their litter boxes clean. By the way, two litter boxes are exponentially easier to manage than a single litter box... somehow.

I was watching the documentary on the killing of Escobar, Pablo. If you are a youngen', you probably do not remember him. He was a major Colombian drug dealer and narco-terrorist. His "methods" of control are pretty much along the lines of what al-qaeda and others use, though his efforts were to control the drug trade alone. Watching the thing, again, was more remembering than learning. Some of the things he would do is bribe police, judges, politicians, and any one else who he felt was needed. The choice was literally an offer they could not refuse. To walk away from the bribe was a death sentence. He used car bombs, assassinations, kidnappings, and pretty much anything he though might work, to include many bombings large enough to take down a full city block. Being so ingrained in the political, military, and police, he stayed one step ahead of capture near the end.

To deal with the problem, the government agreed to allowing the military and other forces to go after him. That did not work, so they brought in U.S. Delta Force operatives to train those forces. Of course, with so many holes in intelligence, this was never going to work. Finally a force appeared and began using the same tactics as his drug cartel. Killing and destroying property of those involved with Escobar. Neither this para-military group nor the official military/police group alone was able to take him out, but the combination finally did the job. That war was as dirty as any war I have ever witnessed in such a small region. Civilians, police, military, and all branches of the government were targets of both sides to varying degrees. Unlike Vegas, what was done in that war did not stay in that war... it was buried in it.

The reason the government could do nothing was because it had given up having a say in things. The corruption was so profound, listening to their president, you could tell the man wanted nothing to do with any part of it and walked a razor edge. He was in a popularity contest, not a war. He simply wanted to stay alive, get richer, and avoid taking sides but without making enemies. To be honest, it sounds like many politicians to this point. I do not think our politicians fear death. They fear losing their seats, their power, and their access to better returns on investments than those who have an inside track due to their jobs! Is that all politicians are about? It is starting to look like it. As for Supreme Court Judges, I have to think it is more a social fear. Limousine liberals, the ones many of these folks wish to consider themselves party to, do not tolerate... common thinking, objectivity, or such. Though I have some wonder how much blackmail goes on. This political war is not costing lives, but it is just as real. Power, money, and even fame seem to be the playing cards. In this way, it is a very dirty war.

The bad thing about it is, when front people of either side get heavily armored up, and both sides are, they do by necessity become above the law. Even if they start out with the correct direction, with that much power comes temptation. Along with the obvious fallibility of men, the outcome is sure. Neither side can be trusted all on their own, but when they fall as they most surely will, they become hand puppets to those who know and "protect" them. Who is protecting your chosen politician, judge, or such? Actually, I think the left is far worse at this. They research endlessly against opponents and even their own, if mild forms of blackmail do not work then exposure is next. They create the situations by which they can blackmail people in power. Further, their ability to protect their own through legal methods or through social disconnect is profound. Think Ted Kennedy (any Kennedy actually), Gerry Studds, MLK, jr., Clinton, and others.

This war is filthy, if in a different way. To be honest, most "conservative" politicians remind me more of the president of Colombia during Escobar than of anything else. I hope they are not it for our defense, but I do think that is about it. It is not just power, or the economy either. Our enemies are not trying to simply control or pick a better way, they are trying and succeeding at destroying us. This is going to be a long two years... tracking down our own Escobars. Do we have the gullet for a coup de gras when we get to that point? By the way, FARC and NLA have replaced Escobar, but the military and the former Los Pepes (now the UAC) continued the war until a (weak) truce was signed. The truth is, the war is still on, just not as hot.