Every major intervention by the US military has involved deliberate attacks on defenseless civilian populations. From the carpet-bombing of Hanoi to the My Lai massacre, the US waged a war in Vietnam that claimed the lives of two million people, most of them unarmed civilians. In the 1989 invasion of Panama — improbably cited by US officials as a model for the “regime change” they hope to accomplish in Iraq—as many as 4,000 civilians were killed when the US bombed a crowded working class neighborhood.
DOCTOR MY EYES
Jackson Browne
Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand
I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can
Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long
'Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where there will
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it's later than it seems
Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me
Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry
Doin’ the things that we want to (a blogger’s adaptation of a Lou Reed song)
The other night I went to read Jeneane’s blog Doin' the things that we want to
It was very physical, it held you to the page
Doin' the things that he want to ...
Sweatman’s an ESL teacher from some southern town
Doin' the things that we want to
He started a blog, now he’s writing it down
Doin' the things that we want to ...
Tom Bolton’s a techie who writes what he sees
Doin' the things that we want to
He mixes his words with his body and his deeds
Doin' the things that we want to
When Golby’s writing, it’s more than a little brave
Doin' the things that we want to
I’m awestruck, speechless, blown away-hay
Doin' the things that we want to ...
Doin' the things that we want to
It reminds me of the movies Marty made about New York
Doin' the things that we want to
Those frank and brutal movies that are so brilliant
Doin' the things that we want to
True love meet 'The Raging Bull'
Doin' the things that we want to
They're very inspirational, I love the things they do
Doin' the things that we want to ...
Doin' the things that we want to
There's not much you hear on the radio today
Doin' the things that we want to
But you still can read a blog or a play
Doin' the things that we want to
Here's to self-expression and here's to rageboy-oy Doin' the things that we want to
Growing up using these digital toys
Doin' the things that we want to
Doin' the things that we want to
I adapted this song 'cause I'd like to shake your haaa-yand
Doin' the things that we want to
In a way you guys are the best friends I ever had
Doin' the things that we want to ...
Last night, my 3-year-old daughter and I played church. It was her idea, the first time we’ve ever played this game. We’ve just started going to church again, and it’s a new experience for her.
In the game, as she conceived it, we would kneel and receive communion and then I would be the priest and take Audrey, her baby sister, who was being played by a stuffed panda bear, to be Baptized (or “bab-i-tized”).
And as I was kneeling, Steve Forbert’s Evergreen Boy blasted loud and clear from my stereo speakers there in the den, only a few feet away. And I thought, “Yes, I do belong to the church of rock-n-roll.” It was so right, so perfect. I’ve had similar thoughts before about the power of rock n roll, but to enact it, unselfconsciously, with my daughter…it did my soul as much good as any church-going Sunday.
I'm an old soul with plans
I'm a dreamhead that can
Make a new start, I guess
If the landscape says "yes"
Call me--
Evergreen Boy, Evergreen Boy
Evergreen Boy, Evergreen Boy
So, what is it about this CD? Is it really that powerful? Even with a singer who my wife says sounds like Sterling Holloway (i.e. the voice of Pooh)?
“Powerful” probably isn’t the right word. Rather, the music is organic. No solos. Not much in the way of electric guitar, but lots of acoustic guitar, organ and horns – tenor and baritone sax and trumpet – a new thing for Steve. It’s clear and bright and it works, it rocks.
Forbert is more a folk singer/songwriter than a rocker, although, backed by members of Wilco, he rocked nicely on 1996’s Rocking Horse Head, an overlooked gem (although the term “overlooked” in regard to Forbert is somewhat redundant). He’s a sensitive everyman with a guitar, even tagged as a “new Dylan” when he hit the scene in 1978 with Live on Arrival.
To his credit, he has changed up his sound with these more recent outings. But it doesn’t feel forced; there’s a strong thread of Steve’s confident voice, his gift for songwriting, his acoustic guitar and trusty harmonica.
Ah, that songwriting. It’s right up my mid-life alley. The first cut, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” is a companion to Steve’s “American in Me,” as both deal with the deep-seated pull of American restlessness.
Carolina looks real good if I’m in East St. Paul
Oklahoma looks alright if I’m in Montreal.
Something’s gotta hold on me,
tugging on my heels and toes,
something’s got a hold on me and it won’t let go.
Something’s got a hold on me
and it calls my shots
I don’t want your golden rings
Or your forget me nots
I throw out my ramblin shoes,
cant’ get a full night’s sleep.
Anything I think I’ve got
I know I just can’t keep.
“Strange” details the peculiar feelings of estranged friends. “Your Own Hero” strikes a note of compassion for anyone who’s dealing with “those times when there’s no one but God to call on, those times when you barely get through.” “It Doesn’t Matter Much” offers: “what kind of car you drive won’t keep your love alive.”
"Now You Come Back" proves, again, that Forbert has a deft touch for the 3-minute pop song. The song passed the true test of toe-tapping pop: my daughter danced around the den, unable to resist.
In “Rose Marie”, the truly standout track on the CD, the song’s protagonist crashes “a deluxe uptown gala quagmire” wondering “what’s the wine like? What’s the beer?” but really hoping – no, needing -- to see the light shining in Rose Marie’s eyes.
And the horns kick in, and then Steve brings up the “shoo-bop-a-dooo-dah” background vocals, the electric guitar finds that simple yet powerful note and it all adds up a benediction of sorts for my “Trusting Old Soul.”
I
wish
I
could
write
poetry
I wish I could just let it flow out of me in a torrent of beautiful words and images
Unconscious
Real
Expressing it
You know, it
all of it
in all its fragile beauty
with all the returns
in the
right place
But alas
(a poet never says that)
(but I do)
it ain’t gonna happen
not in this lifetime
and
were I a poet
I could make that into something
uh
…poetic
But
then
I wouldn’t need to
However, the issue is not whether or not we will be able to buy oil. The Middle East countries are in the business of selling oil, they want to sell oil, and they’ll want to sell oil to us even if they don’t like us. To our administration, with its fetish for unilateral self-sufficiency, it is the idea that disruption of foreign oil supplies with the concomitant public outcry within the United States, might serve as a brake on American imperial aspirations overseas that is unacceptable. In other words, the wheels of empire—not our economy or our democracy--are lubricated with foreign oil. Control of this oil—and the wealth and power it generates—gives the American government the freedom to act without the check of foreign resistance or meaningful domestic dissent.
The tragedy is that we never control the oil—the oil controls us. Oil corrupts our foreign policy and the government’s relationship with its people. The oil war is a secret doctrine and must be pursued out of the public eye. Indeed part of its allure is that the oil war is the sacred secret of a few patriots beyond the demeaning demands of democratic disclosure and debate. Shoveling billions at the rich and fortunate in the petroleum and defense industries is justified by the assumption that the interests of oil and the nation are one. No wonder conservation and alternative energy are sneered at; they would empower the American people outside the halo of the oil elite and strike at the assumption that our St. Georges in the Pentagon must slay the oil dragon again and again to save the fainting, helpless Lady Liberty. Without the oil crusade, George Bush and company are just the bunch of mean, sleazy losers.
~ The Secret War Doctrine, Halcyon Days, via Cursor
That question has been bandied about over on Sandhill Trek. Since I found something that backs up my answer to the question, I am blogging it here. I was going to send an e-mail to Frank, but hey, these blogs are all about opening up the conversation.
So....
{Mark Crispin] Miller found [when researching his book, The Bush Dyslexicon] that Bush's distortions of language mask a deftness in the political arts. It is foolhardy to "misunderestimate" Bush. He may be ignorant of much a president is normally expected to know, much a graduate of both Yale and Harvard would normally be required to know, and things a man of privilege would traditionally make it his business to know. But he is not stupid. He possesses a degree of cunning and native intelligence that are extremely well suited to politics.
~ Review of Mark Crispin Miller's "The Bush Dyslexicon" by David Cogswell
And, just as an aside, I think anytime Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld appear, they should be accompanied by the Imperial March music from the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back.
Black Jack and A.J. always play great, soulful blues on their Tuesday morning radio show on Atlanta’s WRFG, 89.3 FM (radio free Georgia). The community radio station has been doing four hours of blues 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. every weekday for more than 15 years. It’s called Good Morning Blues, and different DJs take turns for two-hour shifts. Some are into early blues, some Cajun, some more R&B, there’s even one British guy who brings in lots of UK-based acts.
But Black Jack and A.J., who are married, just play killer material, much of it new releases. This morning two new songs stood out, “Wedding Ring” by the James Montgomery Blues Band (the singer, betrayed by a kiss, ponders his ring bitterly as he notices it on his hand wrapped around a glass) and “Going Down Slow” by Anthony Gomes. These songs were drenched with deeply felt harmonica and guitar solos, respectively.
Both Black Jack and A.J. are extremely laid back. A.J. invites you into her kitchen for the 8-10 a.m. segment, kicking it off each time with a different cover of “Come on Into My Kitchen” (cause it’s going to be raining outside). They are as cool as cool can be. I think they’ve both achieved some kind of Zen enlightenment. But the music they play is full of the strife and heartbreak of everyday life, naturally. It’s the blues. Enlightenment is in the guitar solo.
Thanks to WRFG, Black Jack and A.J., and the Atlanta Blues Society , the blues is alive and well in the deep South.
HITLER ANALOGY SHOCK
(POSTED 29 08 02) Whitehouse insiders are becoming increasingly alarmed at The Bush Administration’s constant use of a ‘Hitler Analogy’ to justify war on Iraq. One insider admitted "we’re getting a little nervous. If people start reading their history books and drawing comparisons - we could be in big trouble." He went on nervously: "Nazi Germany was a superpower hell bent on world domination. It was threatening to invade other countries. It was organised by a gang of racist white men who thought they were the master race. Face it, if you were American president - would you be drawing attention to this stuff?"
CHENEY: ‘THIS VIETNAM DODGER WANTS A WAR!’
(POSTED 27 08 02) Dick Cheney - the only man who dodged Vietnam and still ended up with a Purple Heart - says he wants a war with Iraq. Cheney explained "yes, I dodged Vietnam. Yes, I traded with Saddam’s regime when I ran Halliburton. No, I won’t be putting on a tin hat and joining in the fighting." Many US warmongers, like Cheney, tend to have avoided war themselves. George W Bush dodged Vietnam by "being a millionaire’s son and getting pissed witless for a decade." Cheney however denied moral bankruptcy: "fightin’s for trailer trash - not us rich white folks!" he quipped.
I'm sorry readers. I'm obsessed. I'll get back to the personal stuff....soon. How long's it been? Maybe I'll do a dialogue, but then again, there are others doing that, and doing a damn good job: Sequitur, Discussion Time, and PageCount, To Ramona...
talking to the Moon or talking to God, it can lead to some interesting conversations...
“There is no way around riding the American train. We don’t really know who the driver is, nor where he is taking us or at which station he is planning to stop or whether he plans to return. Yet if we stand by on the pavement, we are told we will sit alone and another train may crash right into us." ~ Mohammed Saeed Tayyeb, in an MSNBC.com report
Yo, American people, I'm quoting a Bush administration writer, but I'm talking about you. You went and put another Bush in the White House. I know, he lost, but it shouldn't have been close to begin with. Funny, how everything said about a corrupt regime on the other side of the world applies equally well right here at home. (I'm just as guilty as anybody, but we gotta wake up.)
Virtually all experience is mediated in some way...
Most of us give little importance to this change in human experience of the world, if we notice it at all. We are so surrounded b a reconstructed world that it is difficult to grasp how astonishingly different it is from the world of only one hundred years ago, and that it bears virtually no resemblance to the world in which human beings lived for four million years before that. That this might affect the way we think, including our understanding of how our lives are connected to any nonhuman system, is rarely considered.
~ Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own
~ John Prine, Blow Up Your TV
A message to warbloggers, government officials, media pundits, and bureaucrats
From Krishnamurti:
In this country, unfortunately, as all over the world, we care so little, we have no deep feeling about anything. Most of us are intellectuals -- intellectuals in the superficial sense of being very clever, full of words and theories about what is right and what is wrong, about how we should think, what we should do. Mentally, we are highly developed, but inwardly there is very little substance or significance.
I don't know what you think about Michael Moore. Since you are here, you probably admire him as I do. There have been many unkind things said about him from both the left and right. I've chosen to ignore them. Judging from his efforts, I take him to be good man doing important work. That he is a populist and makes good money doesn't bother me. He's not a saint, and neither is anybody else.
He's also a living, breathing, feeling person. A human being like me and you with a mother and a father. Last month, he wrote about his mother's death. I just read it, and it's a poignant reminder of our common humanity. I thought I would share.
Another liberal joins the true believers on the Web
Elayne Riggs rules! I mean, check this out from her new blog, Pen-Elayne on the Web:
So we're all like, "Hey, let weapons inspectors back in!" and they're all like, "Dude, you pulled out, inspectus interruptus was your idea from the last time you bombed, and you're like spying on us anyway!" and we're all like "Shyeah, as if, let us in or we bomb you!" and they're all like "This is sooo like just a pretext, we say yes and you'll find something else!" and we're like "No, dude, we swear, no pretext and we're serious and we have lots of bombs!" and they're all like "Let me talk to Kofi okay?" and Kofi's all like "Yo, yo, dude!, they mean business and they have bombs fer sher, we've seen 'em!" and they're all like "Jeez, okay already, your inspectors that you pulled out anyway can come in again" and now we're all like "Psyche, dude! Too late! Not good enough! Give us a minute to think of more demands before we bomb you anyway!" So like, what I want to know is, isn't that the very definition of pretext? Oh dude, I can't think straight any more, take me to RenFaire.
Corporate-owned American media enjoy spinning the myth that people like them are "independent." For obvious reasons, therefore, you'll never see the distinction phrased as between privately-held and publicly-held media - only implications that anything owned by the government of an Official Enemy is de facto evil and suspicious (and the corresponding implication that there's something wrong in general with the idea of public utilities, as the global corporate mentality salivates at the thought of privatizing even more transportation and phone and electric and water companies)...
Okay, must blogroll Elayne and get to work. (thanks to Tom Tomorrow for the discovery)
“God was on the water that day
Moving through the rocks and stones”
Sang Randall Bramblett I was driving in my car
Winding my way to work
I was singing
Koyaanisqatsi , Koyaanisqatsi while watching the trees
And the soft, eternal clouds
Against a faint blue sky
A peaceful backdrop to a sea of metal
Pumping carbon monoxide
Brake lights twinkling
In the early dawn
"This much is all too obviously true: We have no real idea what our government is doing right now," says San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford, in his piece entitled Lies My President Told Me.
No, we surely don't. You have to seek out the truth, which, as Donald Rumsfeld so poetically put it, is all too often sorrounded by a bodyguard of lies. For example, there's the staid BS of the New York Times, that voice of authority that mouths accepted lies in every other statement. I couldn't help myself; this editorial, The Iraqi Chessboard, was just so awful, I had to take a wack at it.
The Iraqi Chessboard
Iraq's offer yesterday to allow United Nations weapons inspectors back to Baghdad without conditions could open the way to resolving the crisis (of course, it’s a “crisis” because the administration has decided to launch a war of aggression on a country and on a population to gain control of Iraqi oil) peacefully and should certainly be tested. (the US could have been “testing” ways to mediate this disagreement for years)
Given Saddam Hussein's machinations over the years, however, the offer could also be an insincere gambit (an insincere gambit, in politics? Why, I never) aimed at delaying and dividing the Security Council (divisions we will encourage, rather than truly seek peaceful means. What was that about insincere gambits?) as it begins to consider President Bush's demand to force Iraq to give up its unconventional weapons. (that, according to intelligence reports, they scarcely have)
It shouldn't take long to tell (not when you’re itching to start a war) whether Iraq will really give inspectors a free hand, or will follow its invitation with limitations that render it meaningless. (again, working and negotiating peaceful means does take time. Or you can be tyrannical yourself, call bullshit, and start bombing)
As the Iraqi offer is assessed, Washington must confront a related issue raised in recent days by the capture in Pakistan of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who is believed to be one of the architects of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. (this was accomplished without dropping bombs on one of the world’s poorest countries. Nope, it was police work.) That critical issue is whether the United States can effectively combat terrorism at the same time it is engaged in a confrontation with Iraq. (oh please. Can we drop the reverence for this joke called a “war on terrorism”?) The arrest of Mr. bin al-Shibh is a telling reminder that terrorism remains a menace to American security. (sure it does. And police work, of the kind that was criminally neglected before Sept. 11 – and what’s up with the investigation into that, NYT? – is what is needed to prevent it.) If President Bush ends up waging a two-front war against America's enemies, he must be certain that the distractions of fighting Iraq do not divert the nation's attention from its original goal. (my attention is on getting through the day as best I can, being a good husband and father, and keeping myself and family healthy, not “wars.” Wars are not what this nation should be about, NYT. There’s something called democracy and social justice of which a vigilant press plays a key part in. Oh nevermind.)
There might well be benefits (in a myopic, fascist sense, yes, but tell that to the men, women and children who will die.) from weakening or removing Mr. Hussein, if the brewing conflict comes to that (drop the pretense, you know it will, as you keep coyly hinting), but they would not include the dismantlement of Al Qaeda (thanks for stating the obvious). While Mr. Hussein is not averse to employing terrorist techniques and his regime has doubtless had ties over the years to terror groups (we won’t mention how this is also true for the US, we’d have to drop our holier than thou facade, right?), there is little evidence to suggest that he and Al Qaeda are allies.
The war against terrorism has many pieces, some of which could easily be undermined by a war with Iraq. Military resources are the least of the potential problems. A relatively small number of American combat forces are still assigned to Afghanistan and nearby countries like Uzbekistan (making the region safe for US oil companies).
Mirabeau: “The two greatest inventions of the human mind are writing and money – the common language of intelligence and the common language of self-interest.”
Why we hold out so much hope regarding the Internet: so far, it's much more about writing (blogs being a prime example) than it is about money.
2) "I have faith in our system of checks and balances."
Certainly, the uproar over Operation TIPs and recent court decisions on FBI abuses and secret deportation hearings are healthy signs. Except, of course, that controversial findings against Ashcroft's Justice Department will most likely be appealed before the same felonious five who handed down the 2000 selection. Chief Justice Rehnquist has already warned that, "in times of war, the laws are silent." Then, too, though the Constitution grants Congress the sole right to declare war, since 1948, America has been involved in approximately 250 military incursions without one single declaration of war. The Bush regime has already said they don't need Congress' approval on Iraq. So much for checks and balances.
Further reading in Think on These Things by Krishnamurti
And do you know what is happening in the world? What is happening in the world is a projection of what is happening inside each one of us; what we are, the world is. Most of us are in turmoil, we are acquisitive, possessive, we are jealous and condemn people; and that is exactly what is happening in the world, only more dramatically, ruthlessly. But neither you nor your teachers spend any time thinking about all this; and it is only when you spend some time every day earnestly thinking about these matters that there is possibility of bringing about a total revolution and creating a new world. And I assure you, a new world has to be created, a world which will not be a continuation of the same rotten society in a different form. But you cannot create a new world if your mind is not alert, watchful, expansively aware…
And from the same page (66 in my edition):
What is real life? A little boy has asked this question. Playing games, eating good food, running, jumping, pushing – that is real life for him. You see, we divide life into the real and the false. Real life is doing something which you love to do with your whole being so that there is no inner contradiction, no war between what you are doing and what you think you *should* do. Life is then a completely integrated process in which there is tremendous joy. But that can happen only when you are not psychologically depending on anybody, or on any society, when there is complete detachment inwardly, for only then is there a possibility of really loving what you do. If you are in a state of total revolution, it does not matter whether you garden, or become prime minister, or do something else, you will love what you do, and out of that love there comes an extraordinary feeling of creativeness.
Socialism seeks to pull down wealth. Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests; Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. -- Winston Churchill in 1908
Courtesy of my wife Leigh, who, when I told her the other night that sometimes I would rather be a bricklayer than a writer, informed me that Churchill loved to lay bricks and built walls and buildings all over his property.
The Bush warriors' reckless American unilateralism can only hasten the day when the creditors' conclude that they must assert their leverage over us, perhaps in order to defend peace and stability in the world. How will Americans react when they discover that "U-S-A" is a lot less muscular than they were led to believe? Assuming Americans do not really yearn to become latter-day Roman legions, many people may be relieved to learn the truth. Stripped of imperial illusions, this country could concentrate on building a different, more promising society at home. -- William Greider, The End of Empire, The Nation
Guy Debord said that in 1954
He was talking about despair
At the values promoted daily
The nonsense held up
As good and right and true
And justification for oppression
In one way or another
For useful means of control
The power of the spectacle
To sweep away the human
And put us into service
Of industrial wealth
Which provides the thrill of superiority
And the mastery of others
That boils down to ruthlessness
And my gun is bigger than your gun
But I’d rather just bludgeon you with it
Than use all this remote control
Pushing buttons for peace
Which I define and you accept
As the act of killing
To prevent being killed
And where does this end?
That is not for you to ask
The spectacle does not permit anyone
to step outside of
Its inexorable logic
Militarism leads to more militarism
(an ever-expanding market, hurrah!)
As we hoard it all
And beat down the masses
Who we’ll brand terrorists
While the fanatics
Pass through unmolested
(we’ll get them next time!)
I’ll keep it for me
Because my life
And my possessions
Are more important than yours
Do not move
Do not come closer
I have a gun
Have a nice day
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These two headlines have been in my paper the last two days, just before Bush is to give a speech to make his Iraq war case. A bit suspicious the way these fears are ramped up with such convenient timing.
Can there be any doubt that we are being played by the media and the administration? That it is all managed?
Add to this all the “concern” lately over chemical weapons. Then look to alternative, non-ad-supported, non-corporate press, like this from Counterpunch on August 5:
“…in a move that stunned and angered the international community, George W. Bush killed the proposed enforcement and verification mechanism for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention -- in December 2001, after the threat of bioweapons attacks was particularly clear.
Passed in 1972, the convention has over 100 signatories, including Iraq and the United States. Because of the lack of an enforcement mechanism, countries were free to violate it, as did Iraq and the United States -- both have attempted to weaponize anthrax, for example, as we found out when anthrax killed six Americans in the fall of 2001.
In 1995, those signatories started negotiations to provide enforcement through mutual, intrusive inspections. For six years, the U.S. government threw up constant roadblocks, finally terminating negotiations. The reason? Biological weapons inspections in the United States might imperil the profits of biotech companies. Of course, had the enforcement mechanism passed, it could have been used to press for inspections in Iraq.
Even worse, in March 2002, the United States removed Jose Bustani, head of the Organization to Prevent Chemical Weapons, from office. According to George Monbiot of the Guardian, it was because Bustani's efforts to include Iraq in the Chemical Weapons Convention (subjecting it to chemical weapons inspections) would deprive the United States of a casus belli.”
And Chris Floyd had this story, back in April, backed, as usual, with sources from across the spectrum. This is what I was looking for when I wrote in “I wish I could find the link” in Rage against the machine.
One of the stories in my local paper says, “The United States has been calling for action to stop Iraq's efforts to build weapons of mass destruction, saying Baghdad poses a threat to U.S. and international interests.” But obviously, that’s not what the problem is. This is the only problem the administration has: Iraq nationalized its oil in 1972, taking complete control over its own selling and pricing of oil and over the use of oil revenues.
Do you remember when you felt life
Really felt it?
When you soaked it up
through your fingers
And your toes?
And you were down
On the ground feeling it
The rough sidewalk
The glass shard
Under your ass
And then you stood up
leaned over
And vomitted
Took a few deep breaths
One hand on the brick wall
Fingers gripping the mortar
Stars reeling overhead
And you felt better as
inside
The band charged into
The first song
Of the second set
I come to you today, and before congress, to talk about War, and because I was told it was on my schedule, right after beer, pretzels and football. I should be done in time for ESPN’s Sunday night game.
Uh…just kidding about the beer..haw.
War, my friends, is surious bidness, and not to be undertaken lightly. That’s why we’ve been preparing you for this war for months. Hopefully, none of you has thought about much else for a while now. And for you in the blogging community, you should be scared shitless by Andrew Sullivan’s and Glenn Reynolds’ warnings of hoards of evil Islamic persons washing over our shores.
I have made our case to the world, and what I think is what I believe. And I stand by my word, and that should be good enough for you. We in the administration have had our disagreements …(smirk), but now the debate is over! We WILL effect a regime change, and find a dictator we like.
We have been putting troops into place, moving warships, and building bombs and other nasty surprises, for months. If we didn’t start killing now, it would look bad, like we were weak and impotent or somethin.
Make no mistake: Amuricuh is ready to eradicate this evil from the face of the earth, and by our estimates, that will only cost the wanton murder of 10,000 men, women and children.
This is a price we are prepared to pay!
(standing ovation)
Now, we are going to attack Iran, I mean Syria..uh…shit, I keep getting the whole War schedule mixed up….is this live?
(advisor in mic in W’s ear: don’t worry about it, the media will pretend it didn’t happen, causing intelligent people who can see with their own eyes to become that much more isolated. Heck, most of the stories on this speech have already been written – they’re trotting out comparisons to Churchill again, hee.)
We are going to attack Iraq. There will be an Attack on Iraq, it will be the End of Saddam Hussein, Gulf War II, Still Enduring Freedom, Bombs over Baghdad…we’re still deciding on the name.
Richard, Donnie, Dick, Paul, my Dad, and James decided, back when we were busy protesting vote counting, that once we got in this here White House, we’d be all over the Middle East, starting with that motherfu…starting with Saddam Hussein! The…most….evil…man….since….Hitler! And he’s crazy!
(more saber rattling from the crowd)
Now, in closing, I’d like to paragra…parenthe..parrr…uh…use some words from Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street:
War clarifies and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. War in all its forms, War for (our way of) life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. War will save not only (numerous friends’ corporations), but that other malfunctioning corporation, the USA.
War is good. War is right. War works.
Thank you, and good night.
(Coming up on FOX! The Jets and the Dolphins battle it out for superiority on the gridiron. Sit back and watch while they pummel (oof), gouge (arrghhh), punch (biff!) and slam (ugghhh!) the livin shit out of each other. On FOX!)
"The Global Eye would like to apologize for having inadvertently helped perpetrate a fraud upon the reading public. In so doing, we facilitated -- again, unwittingly -- the efforts of a criminal enterprise bent on plunder, conquest and the promulgation of a mad, inhuman ideology. These are heavy crimes and we, no doubt, will answer heavily for our complicity in them.
During the past several months, this column has featured a number of items on the "debate" over the Bush administration's plans for military action against Iraq. Therein lies the fraud: The "debate" is a sham, a cynical con game, and we were suckered in, like the gawking country bumpkins we undeniably are. However, we can take some small comfort in that were not alone in this classic yanking of chains; the world's media have been increasingly absorbed by the "debate," which has relegated almost every other topic to the shadows."
"This is without doubt the most dangerous moment in our nation's history. We stand on the precipice - on the cusp of what Churchill foresaw for the world under the heel of a different nation's fascism, 'A new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.' Think about that the next time you hear the Bush administration talk about its missile defense plan, for which there is next to no credible threat, and wonder about the real purpose of a globe-encircling network of space lasers able to destroy any possible target on the planet's surface, which is the plan's ultimate goal. Think about the world Bush is building, and ask yourself if living under a world dictator with unlimited military power is what you want. If not, maybe next time you'll join us on our side of the protest line." -- Kent Southard, Bushwatch.net
"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." -- Morpheus, The Matrix
