Dr. Rumsfeld -

Baghdad, Iraq. The American University of Iraq. Former Secretary of Defense Donald H. "Rummy" Rumsfeld was awarded two honorary PhDs today. One in quantum mechanics, and theoretical physics and the other in Poetry here at the American University in Iraq.

In one of his explanations of why we were winning the unnecessary war we started against a small 3rd world country (with a poorly trained and poorly armed military) which is to say why we were winning a war we could logically be expected to be winning, Rumsfeld postulated the existence of three universes -

The Known Known,
The Known Unknown, and
The Unknown Unknown.

His work also postulated by corollary the existence of a fourth universe, the Unknown Known universe.
The first two are universes everybody knows (or doesn't know) about.

1 the known universe that we know about - that's the known known.

2 the unknown universe we know we don't know about - that's the known unknown.

But remember, Rummy was part of the non-reality based administration. This unreality based administration, also known as the surreal administration, some even say the unConstitutional Administration. For him there is also

3) the unknown universe we don't know about - the unknown unknown.

And this work also postulates the existence of a fourth universe - the known universe we don't know about - the unknown known. You might think this is related to the unknown universe we know about. And you might be right.

Who knew?

As noted, the war in Iraq is a war we could logically expect to be winning - except when you factor in facts on the ground, i.e, "factors" such as humanity, discipline, pride and passion on the part of "the enemy" that planners don't like to factor in. The enemy, you see, isn't supposed to love freedom unless it's freedom to sell us their oil and be occupied by us. And the fact that our armed forces were less than they would have needed to be to completely occupy the country and suppress resistance, and our army wasn't as well equipped at it should have been either, but as Rumsfeld once said, "You go to war with the army you have." (And as Bush and Cheney once might have said "You don't go to war if you can get out of it.")

<http://www.slate.com/id/2081042/>

The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld

From Slate - Donald Rumsfeld, the Poet. Who knew?

The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

—Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing

NPR Interviews Republicans On Obama - They Like What They See

National Public Radio, NPR, interviewed Steve Leich, who voted for Obama, and Reeves Brown who did not (click here). They like what they say and say "Obama is Presidential." I agree with the Republicans on one fundamental point: I also see Barack as "Presidential," meaning strong, decisive, focused, disciplined, tough, well educated and very, very smart. In these last two qualities, well educated and very, very smart, I see Obama as towering over his predecessor.

As a liberal, I hope to see the President invest tax revenues in rebuilding the country: the physical infrastructure of the roads, hospitals, factories, schools and parks; the intellectual infrastructure of an educated citizenry; and the philosophical basis of America - the rule of law of the Constitution.

I disagree with Brown and Leitch where they believe Obama's economic policies will create debts for their children. I hope and believe that the economy will grow under President Obama and that I will climb out of debt, build wealth and help my children. As far as I can see, Bush's domestic policies were as big a disaster as his defense and foreign policies. The Republican sacred cows of deregulation and neoconservative unilateralism, and the Bush dogma of absolute power in time of war, which was previously considered unconstitutional, have led to the unmitigated disasters in FEMA's response to Katrina, warrantless wiretaps, the war in Iraq, and the ghost towns of Wall St., Main St., American factories and towns.

President Kennedy said "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" and asked us to send a manned mission to the moon and back, safely, in 10 years. Obama must echo Kennedy's call to move from selfish greed to altruistic service. Rather than a ship to the moon we must rebuild the ship of state and spaceship Earth and sail on to the future.