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No Fortune Tellers in our government. We have equal rights for mistakes, sucesses, etc. |
No Fortune Tellers in our government. We have equal rights for mistakes, sucesses, etc. |
From the NYTIMES:
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Another election approaches. Al Gore, the candidate elected by the popular vote, but robbed of the election, wins a Nobel Peace prize. From the Washington Post:
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Today is Election Day in the USA. It's so eerie to read over the posts from two years ago . . . the power players who urged us to war, rushed us into such a mess, who lied and said it was necessary, said it would be quick, said it would be easy . . . it makes me wonder how long voters can delude themselves. *sigh*
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COUNTIN' ON A MIRACLE©
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Change The World
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All Your base??? |
Renie,
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October 27, 2005
The US has been at war, busy looking for WMD’s—oh, no wait, I mean, we are busy answering a call from pleading country, um that’s not it, we are busy . . . busy . . . doing I don’t know what. Do you?
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New York Times Editorial: September 1, 2005
Waiting for a Leader We will, of course, endure, and the city of New Orleans must come back. But looking at the pictures on television yesterday of a place abandoned to the forces of flood, fire and looting, it was hard not to wonder exactly how that is going to come to pass. Right now, hundreds of thousands of American refugees need our national concern and care. Thousands of people still need to be rescued from imminent peril. Public health threats must be controlled in New Orleans and throughout southern Mississippi. Drivers must be given confidence that gasoline will be available, and profiteering must be brought under control at a moment when television has been showing long lines at some pumps and spot prices approaching $4 a gallon have been reported. Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis. While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?
It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal. |
On PBS over the weekend, they were showing the Patty Hearst kidnapping from the early 70's with actual footage etc. After watching it I have come away with a better understanding of the issues etc. than I had in my early 20's as it was happening. Of course, we all have our own opinions, but after watching this, I think Patty was as guilty as the other terrorists with the exception that she had a very wealthy family and powerful attorneys to free her. She even received a pardon from President Carter. How do others feel about this issue?? If you havent seen it yet, please check out your Public Television Station for the listing. Fascinating footage and at one point, as the Police in L.A. shot and tear gassed the house that 5 members were in, it was said, this was probably the first broadcast of anything in its time that was coming to the people live as it was happening. |
In the UK Tony Blair wins a third term as Prime Minister, but observers say his support of the Iraq war lost his party as many as 33 seats. However, Labour is still expected to have a majority. |
Robin Williams in Iraq. And here's part 2. From the San Francisco Chronicle. |
Pam, here is your answer. And the reservists who are now serving had no idea they'd be pressed into wars like this. Americans, and supporters of real democracy everywhere had better wake up soon. |
I was sort of shocked to learn that boys when they turn 18, must sign up for the Selective Service while Seniors in High School. Ho long has this been going on for? I thought we got rid of this years ago.. |
As an alternative to the "State of the Union" address from the current U.S. President, here is Bill Moyers, whom I respect and revere for his level-headed and introspective analysis, and yes, optimism. Uh-oh. |
precedent--
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The view from the Bush White House.
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Sorry to disagree, but the truth sometimes hurts. Good old King George Bush just wanted revenge on Saddam and needed an excuse. Open your eyes and dont be blinded by him. Now he is attacking the social security system. In four more years, I hope we still have a country. People have become so blind with this man. The iraq war is just like Vietnam, a useless war used for someones political convictions. |
We all already knew?!?!? non-sense! How awful that all those people didn't know that there weren't any weapons of mass destruciton: the president, congress, house of reps, the military: army, navy, marines, air force, every soldier stationed anywhere, all the free countries, all the non-free countries, the relatives of each above, the pope, all the geography-chanllenged, etc. etc. after all...WE all already knew that there weren't any weapons of mass destruction...some people BELIEVE NOTHING BUT conspiracies! better to heed a warning than to do nothing! |
We all knew there were never any WMD's over in Iraq to begin with. It was just a way to get Saddam captured as George's father couldnt when he was President. Please send all the troops home. So many have died because of George's folly. If I had a son, I would advise him to go to Canada before going to Iraq. |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6814588/
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According to the news report of tonight, they are closing, in Salinas California the steinbeck library and also 3 others because of budget cuts. Imagine closing a library? The voters apparently wanted all the money to go towards the fire and police departments and not any for the library, which now has to shut its doors sometime in April 2005.
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According to the news report of tonight, they are closing, in Salinas California the steinbeck library and also 3 others because of budget cuts. Imagine closing a library? The voters apparently wanted all the money to go towards the fire and police departments and not any for the library, which now has to shut its doors sometime in April 2005.
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Hi everyone. Thanks for making this page so interesting and informative with your opinions. I really love coming here and reading it all. Happy New Year and hopefully the world will be better in 2005. |
Apologies for the spelling errors.. it happens when I'm at the cross-roads of the making an impassioned statement, and rushing breakneck to say what I want to before I chicken out and not bother because I don't want to raise the hackles of those I consider friends who happen to be on the conservative side of things. The following was posted on the AR GB in response to the John Cleese and letter of response:
Re: John Cleese's letter.. let's at least remember some of it was tongue in cheek... I'll concede that there was something of the fustian in it.. but judging from some of the response to it.. we have a bit of a chip on our shoulders as well. But similarly remember that we can't go around touting ourselves (we in the US) as some bastion of freedom, et al... when we're allowing ourselves to be lead down a path that will rob of us everything this nation has prided itself on.. Sincerely people.. and I'm not engaging in partisanship either.. but when we turn a blind eye to violations of our constitutionally protected rights and freedoms.. deluding ourselves into believing that it won't rear up and bite us on our high and mighty behinds... well, that's plain foolishness. I love my country, and do not want to see it reduced to third world status.. that's what Bush's game is. Americans who believe that their immune from the pain from our economic problems.. think twice. When you cut out the underpinnings that support this nation.. the domino effect will be massive. You think the stock market crash in the '30s was bad.. what we have coming will be utterly devastating. Historically it has no precedent.. but there are lessons from history that we could learn from if we want to avoid what Bush is trying to bring on all the same. Addressing Cleese's letter.. he's correct. GW Bush has been a failure at every business venture he's ever involved himself in.. he has managed though to wrest a profit for himself and some of his partners though. Always at the public's expense. Whether in the oil business, his manageing to turn a 2 percent interest in the Rangers to a more than 50 percent interest based on his influence peddling and getting the taxpayer to pay the bill. That said.. while Bush isn't the brightest bulb in the packet.. it's foolishness itself to paint him the boob. His corruption, his complete lack of patriotism in willingly exploiting the office to rack up huge profits for his friends in the Carlyle Group.. he's ransacking the country.. and throwing away the lives of brave young men and women on top of it. More than 17,000 US troops have been maimed.. yet we're not getting that reported to us nightly by our news media outlets.. who by no co-incidence are owned by Bush supporters. I'm only surprised Cleese didn't role out the ultimate chestnut.. the fact that the Shrub.. old wannabe "king" Georgy Bush is a nut off the family tree of the king we celebrate freeing ourselves from every July 4th. Since the Reagan/Bush I days, we've allowed ourselves to be distracted from important issues by right wing divisiveness. There is very little left of our "free press", and as to free speech.. it's being whittled away to nothing-ness before our very eyes. The US isn't perfect, but we've contributed something that others around the world hold in esteem.. we shouldn't go off half cocked when they try to use humor to remind us of what we're in danger of doing. That said, I'm going off for a few days of duck and cover.. |
Best Wishes to you Claire! Zzzzz - Thursday, December 23rd 2004 - 06:28:57 PM |
Hello, everyone. Many years ago, someone said that we were in the Vietnam War to protect our oil interests. Most people I tell this to find it funny. But... What will we do without oil??? many people would die. We have to figure out how to leave a world where future generations have a chance at living a good life. I believe we are at the absolute peak of civilization in terms of what we have in modern conveniences. Compared to how people lived just a couple hundred years ago, we are rich! And so terribly oil-dependent. So, how do we replace oil? Possession of oil is so alarmingly powerful! it's a survival issue if you look at it closely. |
Rice apparently feeds the sort of man Bush believes he is--this story about the note passed by Rice to Bush during a NATO meeting, reveals something about why she's up for Secretary of State, now that Colin Powell is out.
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Why can't the news be about Damien Rice instead of Condi Rice . . . this is widely seen as Bush weeding out all dissenting voices and opinions. |
In *three* . . .
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Okay, it's in *two* pieces . . .
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GML, thanks. I only wish you could be congratulating America for turning out these hate-mongerers. We in the US "will be witnesses" (as Hans says), as well as victims of this folly. And folly it is, folks. It really does make one want to just "tune out", redecorate, overeat, and take a long aimless drive in a military style oversized gas-gazzlin' light truck disguised as a "sport utility vehicle" which rolls over at high velocity speeds of 25-35 mph. Don't it, just?
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Oh, and Renie, no, nobody will find the WMDs in a cupboard in my flat: there wouldn't be room for them *and* me. D'you know what a house /rent costs here in the south of the UK? I don't *have* cupboards, I *live* in one!:) - And about the Trafalgar Square event in London last Tuesday, it was an evening of politicians / actors / artists / Iraqi people / human rights reps etc reading the names of thousands of people killed in this war. Iraqi forces, coalition soldiers, innocent civilians, hostages, etc. It started at 5pm and finished... late - after I had to leave. I was looking forward to seeing Harold Pinter, who is not afraid of making politically-incorrect comments, but I missed him, either he read his list before I got there or after since I have since read that he *was* there. The Mayor of London was there, also George Galloway, the anti-war MP, Human rights representatives, Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist (his assistant read the names, he said his voice synthesizer was not designed for Arab pronunciation) etc... Some just read the names, some gave the circumstances of death and family details, which had the effect of turning names into humans. Juliet read a statement from a group of American relatives of victims of 9/11 against the war who sent a message of support, and then read names. The 'celebs' were in a tent under the statue, and the speakers were shown on a giant screen as well. I saw her later on outside the tent talking to somebody in the crowd (and chewing gum, if you want the details;). It was all dignified and I was pleased I could make it for a while... These people must not be forgotten too quickly. They are the reason this war is wrong, whatever happens next. |
Hi,
Sadly, it appears that the majority (if a small one) of Americans voted as uninformed people do. And I am rather worried that the same thing will happen here in the UK next year. After all, the majority of voters don't give a sh*t for the Iraqi people or anything not likely to affect them immediately and personally - and are too poorly informed or untrained in reasoning skills to realize that what is in the interest of poor people in the Middle-East is in their own interest too (fed and happy people -even evil brown-skinned foreigners- don't go blowing themselves up in a crowd). Of course what is in the interest of the poor guy in the Middle-East is not in the interest of the corporations that rule us... or our puppet leaders. Or theirs:
France opposed the war in Iraq because it had every -oil- interest in doing so (as well as realizing how stupid and doomed to failure a course of action it was) -not for 'good' reasons. In all times, the 'rich' nations have lived first off their own people, then off other peoples. It's not different now. The native Indians and the black slaves made the West rich. Now the Middle-Eastern people do. The poor (India) Indians do etc. There simply is not enough for everybody on this planet, there are too many of us. There is only one way of sustaining the gross over-consumption we (not me: no car, no luxuries, don't want them;) are addicted to, and that's to take the goods from somebody else and sustaining starvation somewhere... *else*... |
MM, let me guess...you predicted 9-11, but no one would listen to you? |
"Soul about to implode. Right? Not so fast . . ." |
"Dear Friends,
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People weren't running joyfully> to vote for a different President...I think they were anxious about issues and so many people decided to be conservative. I don't think worrisome times encourage people to make changes, IMHO. |
just fuck. |
Ever think the tape is a fake to accomplish exactly that end?
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Oh, sh**! Bin Laden has just given the greatest possible assistance to Bush. The guy does not seem to understand that threatening the U.S. helps the guy in the White House with most of the electorate. Now I really fear that Bush can't lose. I happen to think that what MMoore says is right, but Kerry doesn't need Bin Laden as a supporter. The pro-Bush 30-second ads will be out tomorrow. |
A Quick Read - Will They Ever Trust Us Again? Letters from the War Zone by Michael Moore. It's a collection of letters written to Mr. Moore by American G.I.s in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moore said, "I'm proud to give voice to the troops who have written to me."
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Somewhere someone said in effect that some presidents make great peace time presidents and some make great war time presidents; are we at war, are we living in peace? clear-cut choices seem to be getting blurry. Whoever becomes president had better be strong in adaptability. |
Somewhere someone said in effect that some presidents make great peace time presidents and some make great war time presidents; are we at war, are we living in peace? clear-cut choices seem to be getting blurry. Whoever becomes president had better be strong in adaptability. |
Seen on a protester's T-shirt outside of Haliburton during a demonstration:
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THE BELIEVER
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THE BELIEVER
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From the New Yorker Magazine:
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There's one huge piece of information all of us here do not have in order to really know what is going on in Iraq in order to give our own personal opinion about it...we are not inside Iraq, we are not in that situation. I recall someone saying in effect that a fish who has never been hooked has no idea what the hooked fish is going through. |
But another crucial question, informed by the entire modern history of the Middle east, was also insufficiently considered. This is whether by invading, occupying and imposing a new regime in Iraq, the United States may be stepping, intentionally or not, into the boots of the old Western colonial powers, and even worse, may be doing so in a region that within living memory concluded a lengthy struggle to expel those hated occupations. This question suggests other related ones: What are the peoples of the Middle East likely to think of when they see foriegn troops on their soil without their consent? What memories are triggered for them by foreign invasion, and what are their reactions to it likely to be? How have they reacted to foreign occupation and control, direct and indirect, in the recent past? How have outside powers helped or hindered the countries of this region in their evolution toward democracy and constitutionalism? What has been their experience over the past century as far as control of their valuable oil resources is concerned, and what historical sensitivities do they have on this score?"
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But the threats posed by the Iraqi regime to the United States, its allies, and its interests, whether they were in fact as serious as was affirmed or not (Not a threat, as there were NO weapons, we have since learned--R), were apparently not enough to convince Americans to support the war unreservedly and in massive numbers, forcing the president and his supporters to marshall other justifications. Some argued that these were in fact the truest, deepest moral justifications for such a war of choice, and were the ones that made war necessary. The most important of them was the argument that inaction was morally unacceptable in the face of what was described as the absolute, indeed Hitlerian, evil represented by the Iraqi regime and its demonic dictator, whose cruelties were detailed by supporters of war inside and outside the government. The American people were told by the Bush administration, echoed by a chorus of voices in the pliant punditocracy and the many right-wing think tanks, that it was imperative that the United States intervene militarily to overthrow the Iraqi government and impose a new one--to engage in "regime change," to use the sanitized term initially favored by the influential proponets of this apporach. This blunt (but honest) terminology was later discarded, perhaps because it was seen as insufficiently idealistic to galvanize Americans to support an unprovked war of choice, in favor of a call to "liberate" and "democratize" Iraq.
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In their attempts to garner support for this first venture based on this new doctrine, what has been called the "War Party," the group of advisors that closely surrounds President Bush, adduced several main reasons for the unprecedented step of an unprovoked invasion of Iraq. Among them were the dangers supposedly posed to the United States and its allies of Iraq's possible (certain, according to these proponents of war) possession of a range of nonconventional weapons--"weapons of mass destruction," in the lurid and not particularly accurate term employed by the administration and parroted by the media (often then boiled down to the acronym WMD, thereby conflating banned battlefield armaments like gas with nuclear weapons, designed originally for use against civilian populatoin centers, and so used in 1945). these dangers took on added meance in view of Iraq's aggression against two of its neighbors, Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990, and its intensive use of poison gas against Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq War.
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Far from being able to threaten the greatest superpower in world history, Iraq was apparently considered to be so little of a threat by its immediate neighbors that most of them were reluctant to support an unprovoked war on it, in spite of intense American pressure to do so. (Most of the same countries had willingly participated in the 1991 war, which Iraq when it was much stronger, had clearly provoked.) In consequence, as an acute observer noted, President Bush's much touted "coalition of the willing" was more like "a coalition of the coerced, the cowed and the co-opted." This was thus neither a war to protect the United States not one to defend its regional allies. In fact, as some of the proponents waging war on Iraq have openly stated, the 2003 campaign was meant to be the first in a new category of warrs they advocated the United States hould launch on its own in the 21st century. (My emphasis added-R) There were to be wars waged to assure American values prevailed--as President Bush stated in Spetember 2002, "these values . . . are right and true for every person, in every society"--or as others perceived it, to guarantee the United States' continued hegemony. The president added that "as a matter of common sense, America will act against . . . emerging threats before they are fully formed," since "in the new world we have entered, the only path to peace and security is the path of action." This approach was dubbed "a distinctly American internationalism" by the Bush administration.''
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As far as likening the US war in Iraq to previous US military actions, I'd like to offer some portions from "Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East", written by Rashid Khalidi, a professor at Columbia University. (He appeared on Charlie Rose a while back.) From Chapter One: |
Rich from Illinois, you said, "When you pose a question, you better be right when you answer it." I could not disagree more with the views you expressed in your post.
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Why would you be surprised that we are discussing the Bush/Kerry thing? If the topic is good enough for the front page of the New York Times, I think that it is current and relevant enough for this board.
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I'm surprised that the discussions are centered on the Bush-Kerry thing: the Iraq war, Weapons of Mass Distruction,
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I'm surprised that the discussions are centered on the Bush-Kerry thing: the Iraq war, Weapons of Mass Distruction,
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Cat, thanks for your post. I admire the work you do as a teacher. Amy, thanks for your thoughts.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "The U.S. budget gap expanded to $412.55 billion in fiscal 2004, marking the Bush administration's second-straight record deficit, the Treasury Department said on Thursday."
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Who's getting the extra dollars in their greedy little hands? Not me, that's for sure. Americans were financially better off during the Clinton administration, and the unemployment rate was phenomenal. What really gripes me about this administration is that they can intact complicated laws that choke school districts in red tape; yet refuse to properly fund their initiatives.
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If you elect that Cowboy Killer again, with or without the Electoral College, you won't really be able to say "they" did it will ya?
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If you elect that Cowboy Killer again, with or without the Electoral College, you won't really be able to say "they" did it will ya?
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To assume that the majority of Americans voted the Bush administration into office is a misnomer. If you will recall, the popular vote was won by Al Gore. Unfortunatly, American politics still rely on the complicated electoral college system. Few Americans intirely understand this system at all and were dismayed to learn the popular vote did not put their choice in office.
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Not all of us agree with this administration's politics. In fact, our entire household thinks he's the biggest crook since Richard Nixon.
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Not all of us agree with this administration's politics. In fact, our entire household thinks he's the biggest crook since Richard Nixon.
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It's a shame that so many of you Americans will vote for a party (the Republicans) that will include farmers and blue collar workers who will literally vote themselves into extinction by voting for a party (the Republican's) that has as it's base... the HAVES and the HAVE MORES.
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For those Americans who are undecided about whom to vote for, maybe the words of the Vice President (just realized how apt that title really is) himself say it best:
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After 16 months of search and review, the latest findings are that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and no evidence that they were under development. Development had stopped in 1991. The nuclear threat had diminished, and was further diminishing when the United States used it as an excuse to launch a "pre-emptive" war the neo-conservatives have long planned. Learn more about the TheCharles Duelfer report. And watch as Bush & Co. continue, doggedly, to make a case for war instead of peace. |
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