The Current Events/Issues Thread - Read the First Post

[justin]

The white house has done a u-turn over the 9/11 enquiry and Condoleezza Rice will testify to the enquiry.



The full story is at BBC news



However it was the last paragraph that really caught my attention

Quote:

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But our correspondent says that such a stipulation would be difficult to enforce and does not affect the current commission, which has, it seems, won this battle hands down.

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Given the purpose of the enquiry, to find out how 9/11 happened and how to prevent similar attacks in the future, isn't it odd that the commision should be fighting battles against the president.



This might be naive but surely the president should be helping the enquiry, not fighting against it.



So that raises one important question, what has he got to hide?

Postel's Prescription: Be generous in what you accept, rigorous in what you emit.

[cattwoman98111]

here is something of interest.



Apr 2, 7:35 AM EST



'Barbie Is a Lesbian' Shirt Case Settled





NEW YORK (AP) -- An openly gay teenager received a $30,000 settlement from the city over her suspension for wearing a "Barbie is a Lesbian" T-shirt to school, her attorney announced Thursday.



Natalie Young, now 15 and in high school, wore the shirt to middle school in April 2002, leading school officials to send her home for the day despite the absence of any official dress code.



The teen said the settlement should make life easier on other openly gay schoolchildren: "I think they should feel more comfortable about who they are."



Young was pulled from class by the school principal and ordered to sit in an office until she changed the shirt. When she refused, she was suspended for the day.



Young's lawyer, Ron Kuby, filed the federal suit last June, alleging the incident was part of a series of discriminatory incidents.



Resolving the suit without litigation was "the appropriate decision," city lawyer Donna M. Kasbohm said. The city Department of Education agreed to establish a policy on student dress as part of the deal.



Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere

Edited by: cattwoman98111 at: 4/2/04 6:42 am

[Gatito Grande]

Good on Natalie Young! (That settlement might cover her first year of college )



GG Though personally, I think Barbie is a Drag Queen! Out

[Ben Varkentine]

Read the following lead from a Yahoo! News/AP story and see if your eyes bug out the same place mine did.

Quote:

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Planned Bush-Cheney Appearance Criticized

(AP) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says it's baffling and embarrassing that President Bush is appearing before the Sept. 11 commission with Vice President Dick Cheney at his side instead of by himself. "I think it speaks to the lack of confidence that the administration has in the president going forth alone, period," Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday. "It's embarrassing to the president of the United States that they won't let him go in without holding the hand of the vice president of the United States."

---

Hand holding? That would be something, wouldn't it? I mean, we know Cheney's daughter is gay...maybe it is hereditary after all.



story.news.yahoo.com/fc?c...=Terrorism

Ben



"Never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that you'll not succeed. You have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love."

-- Doris 'Granny D' Haddock

[Gatito Grande]

Omigod! Today on the NPR comedy news-quiz program "Wait, Wait---Don't Tell Me", they were having a field day w/ this one. Said one wag "I wanna see Bush talk, and Cheney drink a glass of water at the same time!" (Which then prompted the question, would they need two seats? ) The story came up in the form of the question, "When appearing before the Sept. 11 Commission, what will President Bush be permitted to bring, to 'assist his memory'?" The answer: his very own life-size Vice President! (The sad fact is that this is All True )



I'm just sorry this will be behind closed doors, so no Classic Kerry Commercials can emerge from its footage.



GG OK, here's another Gay Marriage permutation: will the "loving couple" receive the privilege of not testifying against each other? Out

[Diebrock]

It seems the Iraqi resistance finally embraces genuine American values. See, showing by example how things are done in the civilized world works.

From aljazeera.net



Seriously though, you gotta respect keeping your sense of humour while your city is under siege and your family and neighbours are being massacred.

_________________

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

I've kissed her best friend. I've reached into her best friend's pocket and fished around for keys. And I gave her best friend my number. I must be doing something totally, totally wrong... - TBSOL by Dreams

[Kieli]

UMass Grad Student: Tillman's Not A Hero I can't tell if this student is trying to get his butt kicked or if he's really trying to make a valid point. It was interesting to note the reactions.

Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.

[maudmac]

I think he's trying to make a valid point, which also happens to be one likely to get his butt kicked. I have to say, I commend his bravery, because in this climate, it's rare for even anti-war people to be critical of the troops themselves or an individual soldier.



I agree with the author - Pat Tillman was not protecting me. I'm sure sorry he died, but I'm equally sorry for a random Iraqi civilian who will never have a plaza around a new stadium named after her or him, whose name we will, in fact, never even know, and who did not choose to engage in something with such horrifying risks as this war.

---

everybody here is outta sight   /   they don't bark and they don't bite

[justin]

I agree that Pat Tillman isn't a hero and it's wrong to elvate him above all the other soldiers, in all countries, and civilians who have died as a result of warfare.



That said I have a lot of problems with this article. How does the writer know what motivated Tillman? Or that he was at all Rambo like, acting out a fantasy? He seems to be judging, and condemning Tillman purely on the basis of a picture of him on CNN.



There are some valid points buried in amongst the rubbish but IMHO on the whole this piece if nothing but flame bait.

There's more than one way to do it. - The Perl mantra

Edited by: justin at: 4/30/04 6:21 am

[Diebrock]

If we need heros so urgently how about the soldier who reported the US tortures including photo evidence. That guy deserves a medal; and a dozen bodyguards because he now has made enemies of some very sadistic bastards.

US military in torture scandal

Abuse Of Iraqi Prisoners Probed

_________________

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

I've kissed her best friend. I've reached into her best friend's pocket and fished around for keys. And I gave her best friend my number. I must be doing something totally, totally wrong... - TBSOL by Dreams

Edited by: Diebrock at: 4/30/04 1:00 pm

[justin]

I'd agree whole heartedly that the person who brought these attrocities to light is a hero.



Reading the Guardian article I was struck by a sense of "The more things change the more they stay the same."



It seems the one thing we accomplished through the invasion of Iraq is now instead of being tortured by Saddam Husaeins soldiers, Iraqi's are now being tortured by American soldiers.

There's more than one way to do it. - The Perl mantra

[Gatito Grande]

Disgusting. You know what these pictures remind me of? Those old black-n-white (ahem) photos of lynchings in the South: a couple of black guys strung up in the tree, while for the white people below, it's party time.



Don't know what it means that there are so many women soldiers involved (inc. the commanding general). I suspect that, given the overall level of sexism in the military (and in Iraq in particular), women soldiers must deal w/ a lot of displaced aggression (just venting it on prisoners is absolutely the wrong place).



One more thing:

Quote:

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Frederick, a reservist, said he was proud to serve in Iraq. He seemed particularly well-suited for the job at Abu Ghraib. He’s a corrections officer at a Virginia prison, whose warden described Frederick to us as “one of the best.”

---

Having been a Prison Visitor before (in Pennsylvania), in my experience a state corrections officer charged w/ torturing Iraqi prisoners may say more about U.S. prisons, than that this one guy was a bad apple. Obviously there are good, professional (and even compassionate) prison guards. However, in general they are grossly underpaid and undertrained, drawn from populations that have virtually nothing in common w/ the average prisoner (local, rural whites guards vs. urban prisoners of color), and only took the job because---poorly educated, in depressed rural economies---they couldn't get anything else. It's a recipe for abuse, and abuse happens constantly.



GG "April 2004: the month the chickens came home to roost in Iraq" Out

[Jimmi Magnus]

Can anyone explain to me why it appears these people are not going to be tried in Iraq, under Iraqi law, for felonies committed in Iraq?

Branded sexist, labelled racist.

Want it clearer? Check the mirror.

[Diebrock]

Someone who heard it on NPR wrote on another message board that Bremer has exempted contractors from Iraqi law. I even think I remember something like that from the fall of last year; I only thought that covered real business ventures (bad enough) and not criminal behaviour of persons.

And as we all know the mercenaries are "civilian contractors".

_________________

Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.

I've kissed her best friend. I've reached into her best friend's pocket and fished around for keys. And I gave her best friend my number. I must be doing something totally, totally wrong... - TBSOL by Dreams

[Gatito Grande]

And it also reflects the GOP approach to international law: U.S. citizens (soldiers, "civilian contractors," etc.) are to be exempted.



GG "When oh when is the rest of the world just going recognize Americans' innate special-ness? Get it? We're better than you!" Out

[3peanuts]

I'm not that surprised: this is one of the main reasons I hate war. Apart from all political and humanitarian considerations, war makes human being express the worst of themselves.



It's strange to see how some people need to involve the whole world when they express their animal part. And animals aren't so cruel to one another.

Sometimes I think we're the worst of animal species.

I propose pet therapy for Bush and Rice and people.

"I like Amber Benson 'cause she's a proletarian" Sarabiga

Keynes was right

[Ben Varkentine]

Here's a column suggesting that Bush may be, shall we say, a tad disengaged from reality.

Quote:

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Being steadfast in defense of carefully considered convictions is a virtue. Being blankly incapable of distinguishing cherished hopes from disappointing facts, or of reassessing comforting doctrines in face of contrary evidence, is a crippling political vice.

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Perhaps surprisingly, it's written by that wealthy conservative with a link to the common man--that means he likes baseball--George Will.



Or maybe that's not so strange. With this and Will's comments on gay marriage a few months ago--basically he said America may be more ready for it than the GOP thinks--I'm beginning to think I may have to take a second look at him.



www.washingtonpost.com/wp...4May3.html

Ben



"Never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that you'll not succeed. You have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love."

-- Doris 'Granny D' Haddock

Edited by: Ben Varkentine at: 5/4/04 12:09 pm

[skittles]

so, does this mean that Reagan wasn't/isn't the only president to have cognitive problems while in office??



**to read the washington post article, you must register or be registered**

skittles



If you tell a joke in the forest and nobody laughs, was it a joke?

[Gatito Grande]

Ben, I find it less interesting in what G. Will has to say (he is, after all, defending Traditional Conservatism, essentially "those on top are there because they deserve to be there" ) than that he includes this Dubya quote from last week (which I hadn't heard):

Quote:

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"There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern."

---

to which Will provides this astute observation:

Quote:

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What does such careless talk say about the mind of this administration? Note that the clearly implied antecedent of the pronoun "ours" is "Americans." So the president seemed to be saying that white is, and brown is not, the color of Americans' skin.

---

So it seems Dubya may be more of an Old-Fashioned White Southerner than I thought!



GG In the Year Two Thousand, freakin' Four: it's incredible that anyone, much less the President of the United States can still think this way . . . and even say it out loud, too! Out

[seurat]

Actually, that comment from Dubya doesn't seem particularly surprising at all. It's been clear for some time that his mind, such as it is, works that way-slowly, and long after his mouth has started working. It is depressing nonetheless, to see such bigotry expressed by anyone, let alone an elected official (Well, sort of an elected official.)

"Life's complications and frustrations/they disappear when the music starts playing/I found a place where it feels alright/I hear a record and it opened my eyes/do you remember what the music meant?" - Speakers Push Air, Pretty Girls Make Graves

[justin]

A bomb containing sarin gas was recently discovered by US soldiers in Iraq. I don't know what the American response to this has been but the British government are already using it as justification for their claims that Iraq had stockpiles of WMDS and therefore as justification for the war.



I don't know how a single bomb can be described as a stockpile, especially as it was part of a programme which had been declared to UN inspectors, but which, for some reason, hadn't been turned over to them.



Not that this makes any difference to my to my views about the war as I've always believed that not enough was done to determine whether Iraq had WMDs through peacefull means (such as giving the weapons inspectors enough time to do their job)



This is the full story from bbc news

Quote:

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UK troops may carry chemical kit

UK troops deployed in Iraq may have to start to carry chemical warfare suits and gas masks on a routine basis in the wake of a bomb containing sarin.



Two US soldiers were treated after being exposed to the nerve agent.



A British forces spokesman in Basra said troops had not been regularly carrying their nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) kit.



But he insisted that it was available should the need arise and if it was necessary troops would carry it.



Chemical capability?



In the House of Commons the roadside bomb was seized upon by ministers as possible proof of their claims that Iraq under Saddam Hussein still had chemical and biological capability.



Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell told MPs it appeared to be part of the stockpile that should have been handed to UN weapons inspectors.



It was a old munition, and those who planted it may not have known what it contained, he added.



Concealed weapons?



"This does not represent a new capability but it does appear to be part of a programme declared to the UN," he said.



"That munition should have been handed over 1/8to UN weapons inspectors 3/8 and destroyed.



"It does therefore appear to be in breach of UN Security Council resolutions and it does significantly appear to back up what we have been saying all along that Saddam did conceal some of his stock.



"I think that point needs to be made."



The failure to discover any stockpiles has been an embarrassment for the government as it formed a key part of their case for joining coalition forces in invading Iraq.



Committee warning



A single drop of sarin, which was used to horrific effect in a 1995 terror attack on the Tokyo subway, can cause an agonising death.



The 155mm artillery round exploded near a US military convoy in Baghdad.



The Ministry of Defence said the decision to order troops to carry NBC suits was a matter for local commanders on the ground.



"What equipment they [the troops] carry is a matter for the commander in the field."



Just two months ago members of the Commons defence committee said there would have been severe consequences if Saddam had used chemical weapons because of problems with the supply of protective equipment.

---

"To mess up a Linux box you need to work at it; to mess up a Windows box you just need to work on it."

[maudmac]

Oh, God, that's just beyond ridiculous. I cannot roll my eyes hard enough for that.



Because while that's going on, there's a whopping ton of sarin and worse sitting between Birmingham and Atlanta, waiting to be incinerated by an apparently incompetent Army that is entirely too nonchalant about problems with the incinerator, endangering tens of thousands of people.



A snippet from Army Fiddles while Chem Weapons Burn at the Chemical Weapons Working Group site:

Quote:

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Adding to the ire of local residents are more recent developments. Last week the EPA announced that the Anniston incinerator failed its Trial Burns, held in November, for emissions of PCBs - indicating they have been out of compliance with federal regulations since operations began on August 9, 2003. On Tuesday, the Army confirmed a leak of GB (Sarin) agent into the atmosphere from the weapons storage area.



Also, on Monday, March 1, monitors at the edge of the Anniston Army Depot confirmed the presence of VX nerve agent, the most lethal agent in the U.S. chemical weapons arsenal. The Army has not been able to explain the source of the VX agent, and since all the monitor samples were destroyed during the basic confirmation tests, there are no samples left to conduct a more detailed analysis.

---

So when is the international community going to send UN troops into the US? I'm waiting.

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and i don't really care if you think i'm strange   /   i ain't gonna change

[justin]

In 2002 a resolution was passed granting US personel on UN missions immunity to conviction of war crimes.



The terms of the immunity were that it would have to be renewed every year. Last year three countries abstained, with the rest voting in favour of renewal.



However given the reports of what's happening in Iraq it's likely that more countries will abstain this time. It remains to be seen whether enough will abstain to stop the immunity to be renewed.



It should be noted that the resolution was origionaly passed due to America threatening to veto all UN peace keeping operations if it wasn't passed.



This just seems to be another example of America thinking it is better than everyone else, and that it doesn't need to be accountable to the rest of the international community.



The whole story is here

"To mess up a Linux box you need to work at it; to mess up a Windows box you just need to work on it."

[darkmagicwillow]

In case anyone believes the artillery shell is indicative of WMDs, you might want to read marine intelligence officer and former UN weapon inspector Scott Ritter's take on the situation here. The main question is whether the shell was a derelict dud shell from Saddam's scrapped sarin weapons program from the 1990's, which is the most likely explanation, but one which is difficult to answer given how close-mouthed reports have been about the physical characteristics of the shell in question.

--

"Omnia mutantur, nihil interit." -- "Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."

[Ben Varkentine]

story.news.yahoo.com/news...4&ncid=716

Quote:

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"It's been raining a lot and the topsoil is loose," the spokesman said. "You know this president. He likes to go all out. Suffice it to say he wasn't whistling show tunes."

---

"Suffice it to say he wasn't whistling show tunes."



I love it. I just love it. Could you get more butch?



Ah, George, George, George...it doesn't matter how many bike accidents you have, you're still not man enough for your job...

Ben



"Never be discouraged from being an activist because people tell you that you'll not succeed. You have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love."

-- Doris 'Granny D' Haddock

[mscheckmate]

Ah, Mr. "Uniter-Not-a-Divider," pandering to his base through his aide's homophobic comment. His team just can't miss an opportunity to throw a bone in the religious right's direction, especially if it ups his Marlboro Man cred in the process.



Does it rain a lot in Crawford this time of year?



Has anyone checked a weather site to see if it had actually rained enough recently to make the riding conditions that hazardous?



Or are the Bushistas blaming supposedly wet ground in an effort to cover up another one of Dubya's pretzel emergencies?

[emma peel]

I was just over at cnn.com where I read where George Dubya is going to give a speech on Monday about Iraq. I wonder how the scrapes on his face will look by then. I cracked up at the following:

"President Bush will give several speeches on Iraq before the June 30 handover date, officials said."

I cracked up because I initially read "handover" as "hangover,"

silly me.

[maudmac]

Quote:

---

Or are the Bushistas blaming supposedly wet ground in an effort to cover up another one of Dubya's pretzel emergencies?

---

Actually, I think he wiped out when he got the news that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. From Cannes Gives Filmmaker Moore Anti-Bush Platform. Michael Moore had this to say:

Quote:

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"I hope nobody tells him that I have won this award while he is eating a pretzel," he said in reference to the time Bush choked on a pretzel and fainted while watching an American football game on television.

---

I wonder if Bush will be able to explain what exactly is being handed over on June 30th. See Bush's New, New Lie. A snippet:

Quote:

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For months we've been encouraged by spinmeisters in Washington to believe that there is something momentous about the so-called handover. The national media, too, has relentlessly trumpeted the event so often and so simple-mindedly as a watershed moment that it has taken on the hue of history in the making.



In reality, the United States plans to send new troops to Iraq. It is building 14 "enduring" bases in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins. And we have appointed tough-guy Reagan-era hatchet man John Negroponte to run the world's biggest embassy in the same building that currently houses the CPA. The United States will continue to control all the money, all the military forces (U.S., Iraqi, foreign mercenaries) and all the key political appointments in Iraq. To call this "limited" sovereignty is a bit like describing the situation in Iraq as "volatile."

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It's a sham, it's all a sham. Who does the Bush Adminstration think it's fooling? Who believes what they say? Folks in the Middle East certainly don't. Europeans don't. Increasingly, Americans don't.

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and i don't really care if you think i'm strange   /   i ain't gonna change

[Kieli]

Apparently idiot Americans who send me this kind of email believe Bush the Almighty Spinmaster:

Quote:

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WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR GEORGE W. BUSH OR JOHN KERRY GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH?







My Fellow Americans:



As you all know, the defeat of Iraq regime has been completed. Since



congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.







This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces



from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to



begin the reckoning.







Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which



have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The



United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.







The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the worlds



nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of



both lists later this evening.







Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those



nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.







The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world



Hell-holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.







Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.







In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money



toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home.







On that note, a word to terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will



hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the



earth. Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China.







To Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Yo, boys. Work out a peace deal



now. Just note that Camp David is closed. Maybe all of you can go to Russia



for negotiations. They have some great palaces there. Big tables, too.







I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France,



Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.







I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN



diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I



don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of



thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers, and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York.







A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to



be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing



us off for a change. Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire



corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple



extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am gonna put



em? Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil. Oh, by the



way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty --- starting now.







We are tired of the one-way highway.







It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens.



Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them be saying, "darn tootin."







Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world



has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet.



It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate



homelessness in America. It is time to eliminate World Cup Soccer from America.





To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you and we



won't forget. To the nations on List 2, a final thought. Drop dead.





God bless America



Thank you and good night.





"If you can read this, thank a teacher."



"If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier."





( Please forward this to at least ten friends and see what happens! Let's get this to every USA computer!)

---

It's sad to see this kind of brainsick nonsense cluttering up my Inbox (or anyone else's for that matter).

Time flies by when the Devil drives.
It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.

[maudmac]

Quote:

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Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet.

---

Um, no, actually it's been that century of trying to subjugate and/or annihilate folks around the world that's earned us all that undying enmity. Whoever wrote that is woefully ignorant of US history. Heh, they were probably present in history class, too, unfortunately. Considering how whitewashed US history is in American history texts, it's a wonder we aren't all brainwashed Stepford Americans.



I think anyone who's been on the receiving end of some humanitarian US aid is definitely grateful. How much more painful then is it when people wearing the same uniforms as the troops who brought them food and medicine turn around at some other point in time and shoot them, bomb them, and/or train some of their own fellow countrymen to do it?



Bleh.

Quote:

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It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America.

---

Amen to that. But...hello...it's not because we don't have the resources to do that. It's not like we sure do wish we could eliminate hunger and homelessness, but, gosh, there are just so many left-leaning and/or oil-rich countries out there we need to overthrow because our big American corporations can't make billions if we don't. America could eliminate domestic hunger and homelessness in a heartbeat if it really wanted to and it always could have and always will be able to in the future. There is no excuse.



This thread makes me mad!

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and i don't really care if you think i'm strange   /   i ain't gonna change