Today G. W. Bush announced America's new strike-first military foreign policy ([pdf] linked from the white house home page. Apparently these guys aren't too big on HTML.)

Ending a long-time defensive posture, the mandate of the armed forces now is to stop people who are perceived to be enemies of the United States, before they get the capability to strike.

It amazes me that we can have a government so xenophobic as to have a 'do unto you before you can do unto me' military policy, and still be anti-gun-control within our own borders.

More and more I've been thinking about how the US world power is resembling that of the Roman Empire, for better or worse.

On a slightly related note, in October of 1945, President Truman altered the Seal of the President so that the eagle's head faced the olive branch, not the arrows (incidentally, the eagle has always faced the olive branch on the Seal of the United States, and on the one dollar bill). Truman said the office of the presidency should be devoted to the practice of peace.

Visiting Truman a few months later, Winston Churchill quipped that perhaps the eagle's head should be mounted on a swivel. (thanks snopes)