August 31, 2006

Bush Administration Attempts to Validate Iraq Invasion, Selves

More White House Irony. Just when you thought they couldn't be more grotesque.

Here is my opinion on Bush's later "theme" in his "speeches": When one uses the term “Fascist”, one had better know what that word means. When Bush recently labeled the sprouting bands of terrorists “Islamist Fascists”, he clearly expressed for the whole world that he has no idea what he’s talking about. “Fascism” is a national-socialist ideology that requires purity of race, well-protected national borders, and a single head of state who has supreme power. In other words, the kind of place Pat Buchanon would like to rule over.

Bush clearly has no solid idea of what drives Islamic fundamentalism, and for this we have and will pay dearly. Fundamentalism is not Fascism. These two "isms" are driven by completely different notions about the nature of society. In most cases, the Islamist Fundamentalists are driven by ancient tribal concepts of law and order, not by an ideology of despotism. If he should call them anything, he should call them "war lords", because that is precisely what they are. But Fasicst just sounds so much better, doesn't? It's part of the game of Bush & Cheney - contort words so that they fit your immediate needs. It is sickening.

Elsewhere, Rumsfeld was touting the Administration’s bold stance against terrorism as the modern equivalent of Churchill standing up
against Hitler, stating that history will prove him right. The unfortunate thing about this remark is the here in the US, support for Churchill was largely lacking, until Pearl Harbor was attacked.

But this is Rumsfeld's way of trying to swaddle Bush in the flags of the Greatest Generation, when Bush realy represents the Escapist Generation. Shame on him for making such an inelegant leap. There simply is no parallel between the US invasion of Iraq and the Allied Forces landing at Normandy. None.

To top off the Terrible Trio, Cheney, the most vile man in America, was equating Democrats with the enemy again, trying to pound home the idea that a vote against his party is a vote against the very life of the Nation. ("If you vote the right way, you will keep the nation safe..." He would have Americans think that their fellow citizens were responsible for this whole mess. How utterly shameful, especially given the fact that oil companies and Republican policies since the 1980’s have done nothing but foster a severe form of hatred against everything that the US stands for.

And just what is we stand for today?

Do we stand for the spread of giant multi-national companies worldwide, claiming that business needs supersede the needs of local
communities?

Do we stand for the aggressive invasion of sovereign nations based on potentialities?

Do we stand for the double standard of supporting one dictatorship, while trying to topple others?

Do we stand for conspicuous consumption at the expense of the third world?

If so, then the current Triumvirate in Washington should do the Roman thing and admit to it, proudly hold it in their hands and make monuments and strike commemorative coins, and then get down to business.

Tags:   Bush, Cheney, Fascim, Greatest Generation, Hitler, Islamist Fascists, Pat Buchanon, Rumsfeld, War on Terror

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Posted on 8/31/2006 ( Permanent Link )
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August 17, 2006

Please, News Media, Tell Me About WHat Really Matters

It is astounding that at this precise moment in time, with the Iranians positioning themselves for ever-greater influence in the Islamic world, with Israelis occupying southern Lebanon, and with the US still occupying an ever-deconstructing Iraq, that the news headlines have returned us all to the lurid murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the little beauty queen whose parents were pilloried for years.

On the surface, the sifting-to-the top of the news heap that which is lascivious and taboo might just be a reflection of human nature. But the sad reality is that this is the product of a media afraid to tackle the big stories – the ones that might rankle politicians and the business owners who donate to their campaigns. Clearly, all the efforts put forth by ultra-conservatives has indeed helped to silence the media, or to keep it on a short leash. 

The governor of Colorado, who was the first to approach the Ramseys with cowboy rhetoric just short of inciting a lynch mob, is in Jordan, no doubt looking for contracts for Colorado companies, those donors to his campaign. His response to the claims by a very pitiful looking man that he is the murderer will certainly  prove interesting. Will the governor advocate a new lynching? And the current political news of the day – and very important political news at that – will take a back seat once again to the lurid stories that permeate cable television.

Why should we want to hear about the truly desperate situation in the Middle East, about the dangers of the current international brinksmanship, when instead we can watch video after video of a sad pedophile, or a runaway bride, or a pathological sex offender? Why should we eat a fresh garden salad and poached fish when anything deep fried just tastes so much better?

Americans like to sit up and take notice every once in a while, and say, “How the Hell did that happen?” Just like the Iranian hostage crisis over 25 years ago, many people on the ground saw it coming, but it was never in the news. No, political infighting here in the US, partisan politics and griping about the price of gas was all we ever heard on the news. Not much has changed. Both political parties spend way too much attacking the other party, eating lunch with lobbyists, looking at poll results, and in general thinking about their reelection campaigns, and virtually no time doing anything about anything, except diverting our attention with flag burning and stem cell bills.

The fact is that we dn’t get enough of the real news and we get supersaturated with the pathetic tales of disturbed people. This is the face we put forward to the world – we are our own soap opera stars.

Tags:   anything but the truth, Iran hostage crisis, media rant, ultra conservatives

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August 03, 2006

The Malady of Death – Castro-Watch and the Eye of the

The last icon of the Age of Revolution, Cuba’s Castro, is on death’s door.

This is not the first time that someone has made such a claim. But Castro and Death must have made a secret handshake decades ago. Far
from being killed, assassinated, deposed, arrested, chased by Furies, plagued by boils or any of the other numerous gruesome ends portended for this truly Teflon man, Castro has thrived in the glory of his own essence. He has stubbornly clung to the abstraction of “revolution”, to the point that the abstract now has morphed into something resembling a typical bureaucracy. Revolution requires youth and passion; these Castro does not have, nor does his soon-to-be
replacement, his aged brother.

What will Castro’s end finally be? We will be probably never know, but it doesn’t matter. He is a virtual Saint already – there will be many miracles and healings visited by his spectre once he is dead. If he dies.

The Cubans of Miami are already dancing in the streets, thinking that once Castro dies they will be able to reclaim their possessions, lost in the Revolution. They should be wary, however. It is unlikely that
Castro will be swallowed up in the eye of the hurricane – these tropical storms, it seems, much prefer the tastier morsels of La Flordia.

The malady of death is one that we all live with every day, but none attract attention like Castro. He has outlived his Revolution, his
usefulness, his belief that his Revolution would spread. But he has had such a good time taunting the West for the past 4 decades. Few individuals in history can make such a claim.

Tags:   Castro, Cubans, Miami, Revolution, tropical storms

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Posted on 8/3/2006 ( Permanent Link )
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