…and please understand that I think *any* life wasted is a crime….

But why is it that we’re suddenly so very shocked at the bombs that have gone off today? After all, there were decades when bombs went off in London, which got barely a notice on our own local news. But then, that was the IRA, and it was England’s problem. Nothing to do with us.

Now that we’re in the “War on Terrorism” the press is having a field day.

This isn’t meant to belittle the people who lost loved ones, or the people who simply lost their lives, or those who were maimed. My outrage against our current system has nothing to do with them.

Why don’t we just give up now and rebuild the coliseums here. We can go get our own lions and toss the bad people to them. Or maybe we should make them transparent shark tanks. Think Emperor Bush would enjoy that?
For pity’s sake – the more the press responds to these actions, and the more comments they generate by analyzing the activities to death, the more the evil individuals who perpetrated the events get what they want – an inordinate amount of attention for their cause.

That goes for everyone – fair and balanced or not.

Current Mood: infuriated

Comments:

Date: July 7th, 2005 10:44 am (local)
From: SO-D

We have always been at war with Oceania…

Date: July 7th, 2005 11:04 am (local)
From: JTN

No no no… that’s Eurasia!

We’re Oceania (last I looked)!

Date: July 7th, 2005 11:12 am (local)
From: SO-D

Depends whom you’re listening to, methinks. Disinformation-R-Us might have it otherwise, though it might change. Regularly.

Date: July 7th, 2005 11:05 am (local)
From: AT

It’s news because, unlike those godforsaken Spaniards who kicked out their ailing Pro-Bush government right after the Madrid bombing, Tony Blair is still strong, still buddy-buddy with Bushboy and the two are in near-by Scotland.

(yeah, that first line bit is sarcasm)

Date: July 7th, 2005 11:14 am (local)
From: JTN

By wallpapering “Emperor Bush” with so much liberal rant, aren’t you commiting [sic] the exact same breach of ethics that you’re condemning the press with? Before you start up the mimeograph machine and issuing manifestos on how evil the United States is, why don’t you sit down and take a hard look at your own exagerated [sic] and misdirected hatred and thank God that Al Qaeda didn’t draw a big skull and crossbones over your public transportation system.

Date: July 7th, 2005 12:19 pm (local)
From: Cassandra Troy

No. I’m not.

The members and networks of the press (all of them) have catered to rumor-mongering and spin doctoring from all fronts for decades if not centuries. I object. To all of it.

And for your information, Bush’s administration was not voted for by me, and last time I checked I was entitled by the First Amendment to my personal opinion of his behavior, actions, and abilities. I have stopped short of accusing him publicly of the things which I firmly believe he has done to this country in the name of the “War on Terror.”

This is the only country in recent memory to have avoided large-scale conflict from other sources, largely because our borders are protected by two huge oceans and two friendly countries. That isn’t to say we haven’t suffered internally (see Oklahoma City or Gettysburg).

“Before you start up the mimeograph machine and issuing manifestos on how evil the United States is, why don’t you sit down and take a hard look at your own exaggerated and misdirected hatred and thank God that Al Qaeda didn’t draw a big skull and crossbones over your public transportation system.”

It isn’t the United States that’s evil. The United States is made up of billions of individuals who are just trying to survive in an increasingly hostile local environment. And before you suggest that Al Qaeda hasn’t targeted us, think back a few years. And recall that recent data has proved Iraq had nothing to do with that attack.

It’s my personal opinion that we’re headed for another attack of our own, on a similar scale, and that they’re just waiting to time it right.

You’re free to prove otherwise.

Date: July 7th, 2005 12:42 pm (local)
From: LM

Nice words.

But Sparky here isn’t about proof… Proof denies faith, and without faith, he’s nothing.
No wonder he clings to ridiculous unsupportable dogma.

It’s been said that Republicans and the Right Wing Apologists love this country like a 3 year old: “But Mommy is good. Mommy could NEVER do wrong!” (not during the Vietnam war, not during our torture of civilians, treason, or war profiteering). The other half of us love this country like grown ups – we realize that it supported slavery, bigotry, intolerance and epic criminal hubris, but are working to make it constantly better through the service and vigilance that are every good citizen’s responsibility.

You are SO very quick to condemn your “friends” while never for a moment offering any real alternatives no matter how directly you are asked for them. You sound ever more fundamentalist yourself, and in that you seem to be just another blowhard who has no principles himself that might be examined (by himself or anyone else).

You seem to feel that the use of the magic words “liberal rant” instantly exempts you from having to think about what the writer is saying. And if you simply endeavor to crack wise and chastise them for having some perspective and a beating heart that loves this country, then they’ll give you the attention you apparently crave. Hell, it works for Rush (the aptly named addict), and for W. Simply don’t address problems, and blame others for your own piss-poor choices. And then claim victory. Again and again.

Or perhaps for you there ARE no alternatives. Maybe the namby-pamby days of peace and prosperity under a hated Bill Clinton were something to be borne, not loved. To quote Black Adder: “Baldrick, for you the Renaissance was something that happened only to other people, is that it?”

Until you decide to put your money where your mouth is and offer us a whole lot of reasons to respect your “Emperor”, then the reasons we list must be taken far more seriously than your faux Miss Manners apoligism. The bottom line seems to be that you simply can’t handle the truth and have such disdain for your “friends” that you must treat them condescendingly.

_______________________________________________________

As I wrote to [someone else] earlier:
So long as Britain and the US remain dead-set on killing, maiming and torturing a lot of people (including their own), then other “terrorists” will keep on keeping on. Every time the news heightens the level of unreasoning fear, then the fascist bastards on each side get to revel in their unchecked power. In short, the bad guys win every time.

And today the actions of a few people kept Global Warming, possible aid to Africa and Bush’s utter support for Texas war profiteering (FOURTEEN BILLION DOLLARS OF OUR TAX MONEY SO FAR!) out of people’s consciousnesses and out of the news. Really good timing for W. What a lucky little man he is. And the big Dick too. Just amazing that the Valerie Plame revelations were timed to coincide with the news-ignoring July 4th weekend. What lucky funny little men they are.

A good thing they weren’t having some sex though… cause THAT will get you impeached.

 

I put on my Tinfoil Hat this morning…..
Date: July 7th, 2005 04:11 pm (local)
From: MAB

Quoth the poster:
“And today the actions of a few people kept Global Warming, possible aid to Africa and Bush’s utter support for Texas war profiteering (FOURTEEN BILLION DOLLARS OF OUR TAX MONEY SO FAR!) out of people’s consciousnesses and out of the news. Really good timing for W. What a lucky little man he is. And the big Dick too. Just amazing that the Valerie Plame revelations were timed to coincide with the news-ignoring July 4th weekend. What lucky funny little men they are.”

The “Orbital Mind Control Lasers” alarm went off…
Not only was the whole Plame/Rove/Novaks thing shoveled out with the Friday news dump, London goes *foom* to ENSURE that those stories will not be spoken of again in the near future.

How conVEEEENNiant!

I guess the old saw is right, this administration will not fall unless Bush is caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy,

–MAB

Re: I put on my Tinfoil Hat this morning…..
Date: July 7th, 2005 04:32 pm (local)
From: LM

People dead and wounded. Panic in the streets of London (quoth the Smiths). And Dick and W. are high-fiving each other. “That was a helluva news day little buddy!” “You got that right Skipper!”

I wanted quote Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition sketch here (“Our two main weapons are fear and terrorism”) , and went to find it quoted online. I found it first here:

[DEAD LINK] http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/extra/archives/001101.html

It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad.

Re: I put on my Tinfoil Hat this morning…..
Date: July 8th, 2005 03:49 am (local)
From: MS

I want to read this whole thread later when I have more time, but just wanted to repeat something I said on IM to someone last night. I saw the news last night, including a 1 hour special on what happened in London. There really didn’t seem to be much panic. Even the clip someone took in a train – some people looked bored (maybe shock?). Now, I’m not saying that what happened wasn’t terrible – it was. But they are coping. They always have – this isn’t anything new. It’s the US press that is freaking people out.

Re: I put on my Tinfoil Hat this morning…..
Date: July 8th, 2005 05:45 am (local)
From: LM

You are right of course. I was being rhetorical about the the callousness and opportunism of our “leaders”. Full credit to the Brits – no insult intended to them.

Re: I put on my Tinfoil Hat this morning…..
Date: July 8th, 2005 05:54 am (local)
From: MS

I was agreeing with you!

Re: I put on my Tinfoil Hat this morning…..
Date: July 8th, 2005 05:58 am (local)
From: LM

Clarity is a good thing. 🙂
Especially amid rampant deceit.

Date: July 8th, 2005 02:58 am (local)
From: IT

Thank you for saying, so well, what I was having such trouble articulating.

Date: July 8th, 2005 05:43 am (local)
From: LM

Sadly, this is not my first encounter with yon right-wing idiot. He seems to believe that any number of war crimes are OK so long as you’re polite about it… And for all my well-reasoned arguments, he’ll just keep his fingers in his ears and his head up his ass.

I’m glad it worked for you though.
Feel free to reuse or quote any part of it at will.
Refuting these go-along get-along white middle-class dunderheads is a never-ending battle…

Cheers to you.

Date: July 7th, 2005 02:14 pm (local)
From: AT

Underground opposition political groups don’t use mimeo, they use hectograph. All you need is a cookie sheet, some gelatin and a few ditto master sheets.

Get a grip. It’s possible to be dissatisfied with the current administration without hating America. After all, it was possible to hate the last administration without hating America…

Date: July 7th, 2005 08:29 pm (local)
From: JTN

But mimeograph machines make that comfortable “whirr-chunk whirr-chunk whirr-chunk” sound that assures you you’re actually doing something constructive, instead of venting conspiracy theories and rage.

And hey, I’m not the one dreaming up new and garish entertainments for “Emperor Bush”, or preparing to vent her outrage against “our current system”, as if the entire Constitution has been invalidated by George Bush and his “evil mind control powers.”

It does sound like someone needs to get a grip here, but I don’t think its me, Cowboy.

Thanks, God
Date: July 7th, 2005 04:45 pm (local)
From: MC

For all the people you’ve killed this year instead of me.

love,
MC

Re: Thanks, God
Date: July 7th, 2005 07:18 pm (local)
From: JTN

Last I looked, it was God’s errant and disobedient children slaughtering each other by the millions, not God himself. Why, George Bush alone is personally responsible for over 100,000 lives (if you subscribe to the extremist views of LM) and who can forget Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda terrorists who are routinely killing American soldiers and innocent Iraqi men women and children.

Not much evidence of an immortal hand or eye in that carnage. Smells more like biped hu-mans to me.

Re: Thanks, God
Date: July 8th, 2005 01:50 am (local)
From: MC

hmmm. Well, He knew it was going to happen (omniscient), and He didn’t stop it, although He could have (omnipotent). He went ahead and made evil, right alongside good. If you want to be so literal, he planted the tree, and the serpent as well. So why not give Him all the glory?

Re: Thanks, God
Date: July 8th, 2005 02:21 am (local)
From: Cassandra Troy

Ok, so are you now saying here that Saint George W. is in the right of all this? Even in the face of all the things we’ve heard that he’s done to make his own personal war with Saddam come to fruition?

And you accuse me of losing my grip on reality?

Buddy, if that’s your idea of reality, I much prefer mine.

In the interest of being sure of my quotes, I just did a little research on the web. Found this fascinating site: http://www.religioustolerance.org/

That a set of stories may be blamed for so much of what has been done by humans over the centuries, based on the literal interpretations of the contents of that book (which was written based on hearsay), simply boggles my mind. It often amazes me that we have lasted this long upon the earth.

I don’t often agree with the literal Christian translations of the Ten Commandments, but at their heart, they are a common-sense method for guiding human behavior.

I just wish to GOD that some of the Christians who beat that same book would sit down and read it from COVER TO COVER once in a while, and not simply point to it as the excuse for all the atrocities in the world.

Same goes for the Talmud, the Qur’an, and any other written text that gives people the rights to slaughter other people. Period.

Date: July 8th, 2005 06:30 am (local)
From: PB

There are countless responses I could submit to the colorful comments here, and this is the one I shall choose:

What is everyone’s aim here? Discussion? Or a Battle of the Rants? And yes, my personal preference should be evident in the question I posed.

Don’t get me wrong. Cassandra has every right to say whatever she wishes here. Others have every right to comment on what she says, so long as she doesn’t choose to lock the post. And she has the right to then delete comments at her discretion. These are the rules, and they are well established and well known.

What I would object to, rather, is the productivity of the whole thing. Will all these words accomplish what is desired? That depends on what is desired, doesn’t it? If we just want to blow off steam and vent, that seems fine and useful to me. If friends see it, though, either there’s a spiral of hot air from everyone echoing everyone else’s sentiments if everyone agrees, or a head-to-head if some disagree. I’m seeing both here.

What I am not seeing here are insights. Well, that’s not entirely true. There are a few insights here and there if I dig for them and brush off the layer of rant. This exacts a mental and emotional toll that wearies me, and distracts me from the nugget(s) within.

So this is what I would like to see: what everyone thinks about things, and perhaps less of what everyone feels about things. That’s a personal preference, and one, again, no one should feel any obligation to provide. That is, of course, unless they wish to change anyone’s mind.

If the intent is to record feelings, again, that’s fine and useful. I shall personally choose treat them as a necessary thing that are otherwise not intended for my eyes.