kara
Although I steal good prose whenever the opportunity presents itself, I try not to get caught. Attribution above should be to Tartarin.
Another example of theft... a stanza from Bob Dylan on the subject at hand...the US and war
Quote:Now the roving gambler he was very bored
trying to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said "I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes, I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
and have it on Highway 61"
I never thought it could be done so easily
I never thought so many people would fall for it
I thought joining in an illegal and immoral war would be the end of Tony Blair's career
But it looks like I was wrong
We live in very strange times, and I no longer feel like "one of the good guys", even thought I went on the peace march.
My country's armed forces have struck unprovoked against a weaker opponent.
I never thought it would come to this.
I know, McTag. Feel the same way. It's like being forced to watch an execution and finding your neighbors there, cheering and laughing...
(Actual conversation)
It was an execution, wasn't it? I mean, that's what the US wanted, wasn't it? Saddam dead. Why didn't we just shoot the sob off the top of one of those cars he was always standing on?
Er, ah, because that would be...,
Wait a minute, the US, under the Bushittes, don't really care about all the nuances of legality, do they? she goes on.
I try to explain that nations, even those behaving badly, don't usually try to kill each other's leaders openly because that would make their own leaders a target for others.
'Is that why we killed Allende using undercover agents but we arrested Noriega?'
Yeah, and we would have arrested Saddam too, but he wouldn't surrender.
"So we had to kill him."
'I wish you wouldn't say we. I opposed the war.'
"Still it would have been cheaper just to clip him.'
I stared at my drink.
I felt the same way, these last few days, scanning newspaper front pages and happening to glance at TV screens running in the airport. Are these my countrymen, cheering this triumphal president as he crows about our "great victory"? It is as if he thought there was any other outcome to the massive juggernaut of the American war machine rolling out to crush a toy Tonka truck. His hubris, and that of our administration, is frightening in that it seems we have just begun this campaign.
My only hope is that this very genuine anguish we're feeling, which came as a reaction to our nation's unprecedented and brutish behavior, can translate into a resolve shared by hundreds of millions to oust those in power who wrought the surreal state our once beautiful country finds itself awash in.
feeling verbose this morning. wish me happy birthday.
Happy Birthday, Snood! Let's see if we can get the bastard out of there before you're two years older -- preferably before your next birthday, thanks to a series of revelations which demolish the reputation of the Bush family, and reduce Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz, et al, to disrespected ex-politicos.
Ya gotta love the American way of war:
Quote:At the school where Monday's shooting occurred, teachers spent the day cleaning up in preparation for the start of classes on Saturday. The headmaster, Mohammed Ahmed, said that before they left, U.S. soldiers had damaged furniture and classroom supplies and left offensive graffiti on the walls.
In one classroom, "I [love] pork," with the word love represented by a heart, was written on the blackboard, along with a drawing of a camel and the words: "Iraqi Cab Company." In another room, "Eat [expletive] Iraq" was scrawled on a wall. And in Ahmed's office, sexual organs were drawn with white chalk on the back of the door.
"They came to liberate us?" Ahmed asked, pointing out the graffiti to a reporter. "What is the point of doing this?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2639-2003May1?language=printer
happy birthday snood!
Re the soldiers noted in Tartarin's link...possibly they just don't like schools and learnin' and liberal **** like that. Or perhaps the military encourages hatred based on stereotypes.
Two bets William Bennett would leap at: first, such behavior by soldiers will be described as 'the unfortunate actions of one or two bad apples'; and second, protests against US occupation (as from that same WP link) will be described 'the unfortunate actions of a few Sadaam loyalists'.
Happy Birthday, Snood!
What a present that would be, Tartarin! A lovely gift for all of us, and for the world at large....(daydreaming pleasant thoughts...)
Happy Birthday, Snood. It's a beautiful day. The sun came out.
Hey Mama
How many pages has that book got?
oh sorry happy birthday snood man and happy birthday greetings day to all wishing snood happy birthday
