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I think I’m going to vomit….
remind me again how fostering civil war is going to “stabilize the region”?
Posted by the greatwent on Jan 17, 2005 at 10:29 AM
remember kids, they want us to believe it’s all hopeless. that any form of uprising is moot. there’s a difference between dying as a suburban coward, and dying as a true believer in human rights.
actually, there’s not. both will prolly hurt as much as monkeys raping granite. but, you know what i mean.
we’re all caught up in a punchline. God in his omnipotent glory has allowed 6 billion zingers to walk around. and that’s just on one planet! so let’s give him a good laugh and kill each other over human rights.
the funniest thing to me, is how i’m totally serious. i’m not a moronic Bush-supporter, neither am i a blind follower in the Democratic party. Both are stained institutions. But there’s more than this. There’s just got to be. And there are many ways to let lessons be learned. Sometimes these ways can be achieved through reading other people’s words and assimilating them as one’s own in a desperate attempt of self-justification. Other times they come through reaching level 60 on World of Warcraft. SOmetimes people believe greatness occurs when they remember a childhood sled. Other times when they carry the guilt for someone being killed for his/her beliefs. And sometimes, though rarely in our present nation, meaning comes through the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now please, flame on
Posted by surge on Jan 17, 2005 at 4:30 PM
I swear, every time I tell a friend that we’re headed the way of Germany in the 30,s and they chuckle nervously, another news item pops up to help me out. The article neglects to mention that among the innocents killed by the US trained and financed death squads were a Catholic archbishop, shot in church, as well as two American nuns and two layworkers. The thousands of people killed and dissappeared in Chile and Argentina for crimes as innocuous as belonging to a trade union or singing a protest song are also deaths that US taxpayers unknowingly supported because our government helped install the regimes that carried out these crimes against humanity. And now, news that our very own “Caligula”, George W. Bush, has probably already ordered the assassination teams into action and the white house lawyers to work on the memeos that will excuse government officials from responsability.
Typically, the moral values crowd nods approvingly. We have gone seriously astray as a nation, please, someone stop us before we destroy ourselves and take the rest of the planet with us. It’s “strangelovian”, it would make a damn funny black comedy if it weren’t all too tragically true. If we, the citizens of this country, allow this to take place in our name, so we can carry on our spoiled, selfish way of life we deserve the consequences that will surely come from it.
Posted by Kenneth D. Brown on Jan 17, 2005 at 10:44 PM
Surge, what the hell are you going on about?
Posted by Huh on Jan 18, 2005 at 2:00 AM
George W. Bush is a murderer. I will repeat that, George W. Bush is a murderer. George W. Bush is as guilty as Charles Manson. Think carefully about it. I’m not just ranting. There are people who are dead who would be alive now if Bush had not got into power. Innocent women and children, not to mention thousands of men who were just defending their country like we would if our country were invaded. Jesus Christ, this country has become an insane asylum.
Posted by Impeach Bush on Jan 18, 2005 at 2:49 AM
An enemy to Bush, is anyone who doesn’t agree with him, or does what he says, when and how, so—many innocent people will die.
Posted by marta kaye on Jan 18, 2005 at 10:44 AM
Bush has learned well the lessons of Saddam Hussien’s brand of government. Worse, he is doing so with the blessing of millions of voters too ignorant and lazy to find out the truth, believing everything they are told if it will relieve them of responsibility for their government’s actions. I feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Or like Neo in “The Matrix”...the red pill or the blue pill…
Posted by Violet on Jan 18, 2005 at 10:45 AM
Even more distressing is the absence of outrage over Bush’s statement in the WP this past week. He claims that his election absolves him and his co-conspirators from any accountablitity for the fiasco in Iraq. Surely that includes total absolution for anything that follows from here on in. We are permitting it.
The only editorial challenging that stance is worth a read:
INAUGURATION in WONDERLAND
http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/inauguration_in_wonderland.html
Posted by Reg on Jan 18, 2005 at 12:55 PM
I feel sorry for this nation of do nothing, don’t rock the bost Americans who let themselves be led around by the nose. The Bush administration is like a rouge elephant stomping on everything and everybody. I wonder how they pulled the wool over so many peoples eyes. It’s like everyone in this country has turned into a bunch of pacifist and that is dangerous. That Patriot Act we let them pass is going to come back and bite us in the butt one of these days.
I wonder how many Americans understand the rights they have given up by that law being enacted. I talked to my priest about where he thought we were as far as history goes a few years ago, he said on the doorstep of the fall of the Roman Empire. I think he has about hit the nail on the head there, what do you think?
Posted by Patty on Jan 18, 2005 at 12:58 PM
Shame, shame, shame, shame on the United States of America.
What on earth are you thinking to elect a bigotted, nonsense-spouting, illiterate moron as your presidente.
I listened in disgust as Condoleza Rice today espoused the Republican agenda in terms of the coalition of democratic nations…who says democracy is right for all people…How can it work in a feudal society such as Iraq?
Wake up voters of America. This man and his administration are bringing you all down.
You simply cannot imagine how you are being percieved, especially by the third world over the imperialistic position we now feel you have taken.
I am so ashamed to be your neighbor. The whole free world is ashamed.
Posted by Lymond on Jan 18, 2005 at 1:08 PM
HUBRIS : Arrogance caused by great pride.
General Custer, meet George W. Bush.He is planning to do things resulting in great destruction to the United States. God help us.
Old Nate
Posted by Nate B on Jan 18, 2005 at 2:10 PM
Just when you think you might get through the next four years, something like this comes up. I was in Central American when death squads roamed and there is no greater evil. The movies and books touched the terror as a feather caresses the breeze. As long as the thugs were run by families they were merely brutal, but once they had the power and might of the good ole US, they became a thing so ugly it baffled human comprehension. And this is the God guided president that the christians so londly hail? How utterly evil and perverted. Once wasn’t bad enough- we have to do all again ? It’s like a great leviathan has been losed upon the nation. If americans can’t wake up over this one-well, when will they?
Who would have thought that the nation that so proudly defeated Hitler would be a nation that produced death squads not once but twice? I think I know how reasonable germans felt as they watched as Hitler took their country from them. Oh the shame of it…you know, if we can’t fix our country, the rest of the planet will get together and do it for us-no matter how many bombs we drop.
Posted by kaela on Jan 18, 2005 at 11:18 PM
The article labels the US a “counter terrorist ” state using death squads, torture and collective punishment. Strange choice of words . Why not be more accurate ? In truth, these programs reveal the US Imperium to be a full blown terrorist state. A degenerate, obscene monstrosity that deserves to die .
Posted by Larry Lambert on Jan 19, 2005 at 12:02 AM
“The blame for these medieval tactics continues to climb the chain of command toward the Oval Office.”
As President Truman liked to say, the buck stops with the president. It’ll be interesting (in a gruesome, tragic way) to see how many deaths Bush presides over compared to Saddam. Saddam managed to cause about 300 000 deaths in 25 years, whereas Bush is at about 100 000 in less than two years. So far, I don’t see how Iraq is better off now.
Posted by boughtmysoul on Jan 19, 2005 at 3:30 PM
Welcome to the twilight zone.
Posted by Rod Serling on Jan 19, 2005 at 9:04 PM
I hope we are not looking at a false prophet that the lord told us to watch out for, but he was suppose to come from the far east. But looking at how many people voted for him, it looks like alot of sheep being led to the slaughter.
I think trying to make Iraq a democracy is a joke. They’ve been the way they are alot longer then this country has been in existence and they like the type of rule they have. All Bush wants is the oil for big business. You know the old scratch the back game called greed. Just look at all our men who are getting killed or maimed for the sake of some greedy assholes. Doesn’t that just make you want to puke. Bush has everyone on this planet hating us except for quite afew idiots in this country.
I have this terrible feeling that we will not get to live our lives in peace much longer. This damned war is going to stir those Arabs into a frenzy and they’ll get over here to damage us as much as possible. Piss on Bush I say.
Patty from Missouri
Posted by Pat on Jan 20, 2005 at 11:09 AM
We are all war criminals now, accomplices to mass murders that our conservative government for decades have been carrying out. Gee, I didn’t know for sure is not a good answer in court or haven’t you noticed?
We can’t vote them out, they own the voting machines and both of our “political parties.” We can’t buy them out, they own all the money and wealth. Can’t fight them, like Nazi Germany the police and soldiers all work for them and they are trained to shoot your dumb ass. You will die if you try, as many have found out.
Twenty four years of murder and governmental insanity since Ronnie brain-dead Reagan showed up while people watch their stupid tv shows and worry about their ignorant kids’ stupid soccer games. Who is willing to die for their beliefs in this country? Nobody I know of. There sure are a lot of wrong wingers that are willing to kill you for them…in the name of Jesus the lord of peace since you are going to hell anyway they might as well help you get there. Maybe they think they get points for it or something?
You, me, red staters, blue staters, christians, atheists, all of us are sacks of shit waiting to get flushed. The only nice thought here is that those of us that are still protesting know what’s happening even if we are unable to stop ANY of it.
We sit on our computers and wring our hands and it’s just too fucking bad because the intelligent thinking people in this country are looking at getting rounded up. You support monkey george? No? Believe in jesus… not the one who fought the rich and powerful but the new one that hates and judges and kills for the joy of watching another person thrash and die and go to hell? Want to dissent? Enjoy your prison, death camp, disappearing in unmarked cars in the middle of the night, IRS investigations, lose your job/house/car/health care/family will disown you/live in a cardboard box? Are you going to go outside when you hear screaming from your neighbor’s house and stop THE GOVERNMENT from taking them away? You’ll hear “we’re FBI, or “police business” or “government business, go inside” and the other crap that those in Germany heard during the 30’s. Who do you think is going to enforce this fascist government’s laws? Your neighbor the cop, your uncle the National Guard guy, the chrisitan down the street with all the guns in his house (how christian to own guns, don’t you think?). That’s who did it in Germany, Spain, Italy etc etc. I think not. And then they will come for you. Be very afraid.
Posted by historyreader on Jan 23, 2005 at 4:06 PM
I will be following this story with much concern. The pentagon likely had NO plans to let people know they were “discussing” this, it is only the courageousness and tenacity of a journalist who broke the story. I remember well the reports of death squads, and it took at least a year or two before the mainstream press was forced to report on it. By then it was too late!
The piece herein did forget to mention something, though. And that is that this option is being considered by the pentagon for IRAN. Wake up America!!
Posted by Don Farrell on Jan 23, 2005 at 8:17 PM
Well I wouldn’t put anything past our government in DC. There were rumors before the Patriots Act was enacted that they were thinking of having prison camps in this country for us non-believers in what they were doing. They would just call us terrorists and pen us all up someplace. It was suppose to have been spoken by that Baptist Bible Thumping Ashcroft when he was Attorney General. He stunk as the governor of Missouri too. This government has mad almost all other countries hate us with a passion. Thay would like to annililate us and can you blame them. They probably wouldn’t have to much trouble doing it either since we don’t know where thousands of foriegners are hiding out in this country at the present time.
Posted by Pat Grzybowski on Jan 24, 2005 at 12:07 AM
Yes, there were “rumors” as to Ashcroft’s proposal to build prison camps (detention centers) on military bases in the US for dissenters. It wasn’t a rumor, he did propose it but it dropped very quickly out of the press. No surprise there.
Don’t you love the term detention centers? Verily like detainees, with no rights, no judges, no charges, no chance to question. Just make anyone who objects disappear. What do you think is going on at Gitmo and the gulags our fascist government now has scattered all over the world? Go to one, never come out. And people will forget you once they have you. Human nature. Ever move long distance? Your old friends keep in contact for a while, then it peters out.
You have to realize that fascists are patriotic conservatives, though not all conservatives are fascists. And the first thing they did in Germany is get rid of the liberals.
That’s right, it wasn’t exclusive to the jews. 6 million jews and 5 million liberals and dissenters. That government labeled anyone who disagreed, sneered at them, said they hated Germany, disappeared them eventually but it was mostly verbal attacks at first. Like what is going on in this country now.
The trick is to turn whole groups of people into second class citizens. Like the last four years in this country (hell, the last 24 years since Reagan). We’ve created many groups of second class citizens in this country; ie: gays, liberals, other polictical parties, “blue staters,” environmentalists, homeless, the poor, the decendents of slaves (guess the conservatives showed them last election!), recent immigrants, anyone who doesn’t believe in their “new” version of Jesus, feminists, college professors & students or anyone who has an education (yet our leaders all seem to have college degrees), labor unions, hippies, birth control advocates, ex-felons, sex offenders, the list goes on and on in the US. De-humanize people and you can easily get the “good” people in the population to start stomping on them. Or get them to stomp on each other.
It’s a pattern that gets repeated down through history. Break the population into little managable groups. Get them to look crookedly at each other. Then start winnowing out the potential leaders, slam them with anything and everything and it doesn’t matter if it’s a lie because the conservatives control the airways (like ‘30’s Germany). Or they start have “accidents”- Sen. Paul Wellstone?, commit suicide, assasinate them by “lone” gunmen that die really fast, or start disappearing people in the middle of the night.
How many of you reading this have even heard of the Germany “Homeland Securtiy Act of 1933(I think it was ‘33)?” The translated English version reads like guess what recent homeland security act? Ask for it at your local library, request it if they don’t have one. Scare yourself silly because Adolph declared a police state in ‘34.
I don’t have any answers to the incredible scary prospects facing all of us in the near future. It almost paralyzes a person. Like tens of millions of other intelligent Americans I don’t know what to do even though it’s very easy to see where it’s all leading to.
It’s pretty obvious that the political system is broken completely and that we desperately need a well-financed populist third party with matching availability to all forms of media. That isn’t likely, is it? I guesss the best we can hope for is that our soldiers will lose badly in Iraq (already a foregone conclusion there according to the lastest Knight/Ridder article), the economy will tank through the floor (pretty obvious that’s happening with the dollar going down like lead, jobs going overseas, and China/Japan/Europe owning trillions of dollars in their vaults), the democratic party will get taken over by populist radicals (one can hope but Dean isn’t liberal enough by far), and voting will be done by verifiable paper ballots openly counted, free and equal airtime to all political parties, dump the electoral college, regulate corporations and zero political contributions. This doesn’t solve all the problems, and new ones will crop up.
Another hope to pass on…Remember that Nixon had a real landslide (unlike bush) for his second election, and eighteen months later was about to be impeached and tried & jailed. Yes, I know the bushistas are far more organized and much more viscous than Nixon, but hey, we can have some hope, right? Keep protesting, support the aclu, moveon, other organizations, don’t give up. You have a lot of company!!!!!
Posted by historyreader on Jan 24, 2005 at 11:17 AM
I don’t see any hope for us if the government takes us out a few families at a time. Theres lots of vacant land out in the western states where they could bury whole bunches of us in some of those caves on what is considered to be land held for the people by the government for pleasure and what not. That would be some pleasure huh.
I wonder if our own men in the armed forces would gun down thousands of us if we showed up in DC to protest or demand changes in the way our government is run. I was so suprised the way they preceded to get Bush and party to the Capital Building steps for the swearing in. When in the history of this country did it look like war was about to happen in DC if it wasn’t on that day?
The war in Iraq is a sinful waste of our men. Someday I guess when the parties responsible get to the Pearly Gates, St. Peter will give them a swift kick in the butt back down the hill.
Posted by Pat Grzybowski on Jan 24, 2005 at 12:28 PM
I feel so much affinity for everyone who has posted comments here. Obviously you all are aware of what the current government represents and plans for all of us—both those of here and abroad. As to camps and domestic “detention centers”, they have already been set up by executive orders and transportation mechanisms established under FEMA and only await a declaration of “national emergency” to be implemented. In addition, under a state of emergency the Constitutuion and the federal government will be superceded by FEMA.
For me., the time is past for bemoaning all of the prospects that may await all of us. The time has come to move from protest to active resistance . Disrupting the functioning of those institutions that are supporting the American Imperium : the Defense Department,the (in)Justice Department, the Selective Service System, the prison system, the ideology of Americanism, the electoral system, the media, corporate / transnational capitalism, neo-liberalism ,globalism, the Department of Homeland Security, the world-wide system of torture and secret gulags, special operations to assasinate ” terrorists ” and destroy the civilian infrastructure in countries labeled as “terrorist” , the Christian Fundamentalists, the Republican and Democratic parties, the neo-conservatives and their think tanks, the universities, the IRS, Zionism, the INS, FEMA , and private contract “security” organizations.
I would be really depressed if I did not realize that resistance is already underway by people in many countries across the globe. They are waiting for those of us in the belly of the Beast to begin resisting. Once that happens, our prospects for winning will be enhanced tremendously. I take inspiration from the Situationists in France who came very close to actually toppling the state during the 1968 May Revolution. Their slogan/guiding principle was
” All power to the Imagination”. It is time for me to imagine and implement a truly new revolutionary project , one which will resist not only Bush but the many tyrants who will follow him. I need to start this project which will offer people alternatives—all the way from symbolic protest to possibly destruction of State property. Depending on an individual’s circumstances, there are many forms of resistance possible.
We did it in the 1960s and ended the Vietnam War. What we / I didn’t know then was that there would be many more Vietnams . How innocent we/ I were then !
So I need to get away from my PC and connect with other dissidents and to discuss and implement resistance possibilities. The system relies on keeping us isolated and alienated .
It is time for us/me to imagine a new revolutionary project. I take inspiration from my brother Che. After being wounded and detained by CIA-hired thugs, he refused to die on his knees. Several times they dispatched an agent to deliver the final bullet to Che. Despite his pain and his blood, he struggled to his feet and asked the assassins to shoot him on his feet. He said to his would-be killers
” Shoot me on my feet becaue I refuse to die on my knees “. The thugs were too intimated to shoot him. Finally one did deliver the fatal bullet. Che died on his feet and then they cut off his hands and sent them back to his home town in Cuba.
I owe myself no less . I wish you all the same strength, courage and determination in your struggle to resist and obstruct the monstrous system of control, robbery and death known as the US government.
Posted by Larry on Jan 25, 2005 at 12:47 AM
BRAVO LARRY!!!
I like your perception of what happening now and these pacifists sitting around with their heads buried in the sand. Keep us posted with more of your good info.
Posted by Pat Grzybowski on Jan 25, 2005 at 7:54 AM
You know Larry, I was informed that FEMA brought alot of big white 18 wheelers down to Florida when the hurricanes struck last year.They were empty. A friend of mine said they had a bunch of them parked in the Orlando area. They made a horrible discovery. Where ever they foun lots of bodies they just hauled them someplace to be disposed of. Alot of them were said to be mexican farm workers and families, but it was said alot were not. The reason they dumped the Americans was to save insurance companies from having to pay out millions in life insurance claims. They could say these persons were missing and couldn’t be found and that doesn’t constitute death does it. I can believe it to, because there are lot’s of elderly people down there without many relatives and some without any. How convinent for the insurance companies and the governments to just dispose of these people. That’s a lot of lack of conciouness for you right?
Posted by Pat Grzybowski on Jan 26, 2005 at 7:20 AM
You have to realize what fascism is. The business/corporate world TAKES OVER the operation of the state, not the other way around (that’s socialism)). Anything that makes a profit for the wealthy segment of the population, or keeps them from having to pay anything out in support of the country, becomes the primary purpose of government.
When this happens just about any type of insane behavior is possible and acceptable as long as it makes a profit for the aristocracy.
Class warfare? Absolutely! The 80% of the working population of this country who make $50k or less a year (50% make under $30k) is under the gun and whips of the overseers in this country.
Five corporations, all headed by extremely wealthy white conservative christian republican supporters, own 95% of all media, tv/radio/newspapers/magazines. This small segement of the population own or is tied into the insurance companies which own the HMO’s which own the drug companies which own the oil companies which own the stock market which own the so-called “defense” industries which own… see where this is leading? Business is splintered by subsidaries, but the spider web always leads back to the priviliged few. This group dines together, vacations together, lives in the same neighborhoods, sit on the boards of many interlocking corporations and businesses and banks and mortgage companies etc etc. Their kids go to the same private schools, go to the same churches (which all seem to say god loves you because he made you rich), inter-marry one another, and never get sent off with an M-16 to kill people in far away places. They NEVER meet or intermingle with that lower class 80%. Never.
They control your job, your finances, your health care, your child’s education (or lack of it), your credit card. They control the army, the police, the judges, the politicians, the media, and now the counting of ballots.
As to will the government kill you, during the 30’s Depression, thousands of soldiers from the first world war went to DC to demand the $1000 bonus that was promised them. They were met with submachine gun toting soldiers led by a couple of generals (MacArthur & Patton). Needless to say they didn’t get the bonus. Recently, think of Kent State. Dead students but they were “protester/commie” etc so it was just fine that they got murdered.
Who did the shooting? The lower class under-educated christian-believing soldiers. In other words, your brother or your uncle or your neighbor did the shooting. Because they were told to!
The government can kill you, shoot you down, and nobody gets “punished” for it. That’s class warfare, and the wealthy segment has got the guns and the LAW on thier side.
And if dissenters start disappearing like 30’s Germany, you won’t know about it unless it’s your neighbor (or YOU). Does anyone have a clue as to just how much empty land is owned by the military in N. America? I would assume that Ashcroft’s proposal to build detention centers on military bases has already been completed as I have been told by a person in the Nat Guard that saw new buildings surround by wire on remote posts (during training exercises). Off limits of course.
So what do we do in an age of technological/phsycological control never dreamed of by Hitler and Stalin?
Remember that Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Franklin, all were criminals & traitors and terrorists. Real ones, murderers who beat and killed people and burned houses down and broke the law constantly, and they did it for their own financial gain against the profits of the Dutch East India corporation who was the “tax arm” of the British government!
Funny to realize that those paintings of old white-haired men hanging on walls were actually all in the 20’s & 30’s when they started the American Revolution. Ben Franklin was the old man at 40.
Like those boys, who is willing to die for their Constitution? Or go to prison or live on the street starving? That’s what it took then. And in those days you could always go hide in the woods or disappear into the population (like in Iraq, lots of supporters so the fighters blend in easily). No easy answers.
Bet the computer software the feds are using to read all these comments is just adding to the list. We know about the fbi carnivore program, and that’s years old.
Yep, be scared. But be willing to continue to speak out, support organizations fighting this insanity. I love writing letters to the editor, and have actually had people come up to me on the street saying thank you for speaking out. That’s what makes it worthwhile. Will it make a difference? Don’t know. Ask jesus or ghandi or buddah or nelson mandela. They spoke out, didn’t they? Are you less than them? I think not. Find the source inside you for motivation. And life is short….
Posted by historyreader on Jan 26, 2005 at 11:40 AM
Well Historyreader, You have a better gift for words then I do and I did enjoy and concur with what you had to say. We are like a bunch of ants I guess, who cares if a few thousand of us are stepped on now and then huh?
Posted by Pat Grzybowski on Jan 27, 2005 at 9:18 AM
You all are very enlightning, with your tin fiol hats and your secrete code words. As a conservative, I find your remarks to be fascinating, you are all saying the same thing that the militias said under Clinton, yes the militias, the same people you were all denouncing as radical kooks. People taking you away in the middle of the night, slaughtering your families, you alll are victems of an overactive imagination. Now I suppose you will assume I have “my head buried in the sand”; a classic refrain when someone does not agree with your position; but I do not believe that to be true. Just keep in mind that a few of you mocked the gun carrying citizen, criticised him as a religous nut, but it is the gun in the hand of the individual that prevents your depicted worst fears from transpiring. Reality checks are in order for all of you that have posted to this colume, espectially the washed up ex hippie, yearning to relive the glory days of the 60s, trying to start his revolution; good luck larry, it would help if you allowed the mind to unhaze and you got up off the couch and did something productive first. God Bless all
Posted by John on Feb 3, 2005 at 9:14 AM
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Reader Comments
I think I’m going to vomit….
remind me again how fostering civil war is going to “stabilize the region”?
remember kids, they want us to believe it’s all hopeless. that any form of uprising is moot. there’s a difference between dying as a suburban coward, and dying as a true believer in human rights.
actually, there’s not. both will prolly hurt as much as monkeys raping granite. but, you know what i mean.
we’re all caught up in a punchline. God in his omnipotent glory has allowed 6 billion zingers to walk around. and that’s just on one planet! so let’s give him a good laugh and kill each other over human rights.
the funniest thing to me, is how i’m totally serious. i’m not a moronic Bush-supporter, neither am i a blind follower in the Democratic party. Both are stained institutions. But there’s more than this. There’s just got to be. And there are many ways to let lessons be learned. Sometimes these ways can be achieved through reading other people’s words and assimilating them as one’s own in a desperate attempt of self-justification. Other times they come through reaching level 60 on World of Warcraft. SOmetimes people believe greatness occurs when they remember a childhood sled. Other times when they carry the guilt for someone being killed for his/her beliefs. And sometimes, though rarely in our present nation, meaning comes through the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now please, flame on
I swear, every time I tell a friend that we’re headed the way of Germany in the 30,s and they chuckle nervously, another news item pops up to help me out. The article neglects to mention that among the innocents killed by the US trained and financed death squads were a Catholic archbishop, shot in church, as well as two American nuns and two layworkers. The thousands of people killed and dissappeared in Chile and Argentina for crimes as innocuous as belonging to a trade union or singing a protest song are also deaths that US taxpayers unknowingly supported because our government helped install the regimes that carried out these crimes against humanity. And now, news that our very own “Caligula”, George W. Bush, has probably already ordered the assassination teams into action and the white house lawyers to work on the memeos that will excuse government officials from responsability.
Typically, the moral values crowd nods approvingly. We have gone seriously astray as a nation, please, someone stop us before we destroy ourselves and take the rest of the planet with us. It’s “strangelovian”, it would make a damn funny black comedy if it weren’t all too tragically true. If we, the citizens of this country, allow this to take place in our name, so we can carry on our spoiled, selfish way of life we deserve the consequences that will surely come from it.
Surge, what the hell are you going on about?
George W. Bush is a murderer. I will repeat that, George W. Bush is a murderer. George W. Bush is as guilty as Charles Manson. Think carefully about it. I’m not just ranting. There are people who are dead who would be alive now if Bush had not got into power. Innocent women and children, not to mention thousands of men who were just defending their country like we would if our country were invaded. Jesus Christ, this country has become an insane asylum.
An enemy to Bush, is anyone who doesn’t agree with him, or does what he says, when and how, so—many innocent people will die.
Bush has learned well the lessons of Saddam Hussien’s brand of government. Worse, he is doing so with the blessing of millions of voters too ignorant and lazy to find out the truth, believing everything they are told if it will relieve them of responsibility for their government’s actions. I feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Or like Neo in “The Matrix”...the red pill or the blue pill…
Even more distressing is the absence of outrage over Bush’s statement in the WP this past week. He claims that his election absolves him and his co-conspirators from any accountablitity for the fiasco in Iraq. Surely that includes total absolution for anything that follows from here on in. We are permitting it.
The only editorial challenging that stance is worth a read:
INAUGURATION in WONDERLAND
http://www.tvnewslies.org/html/inauguration_in_wonderland.html
I feel sorry for this nation of do nothing, don’t rock the bost Americans who let themselves be led around by the nose. The Bush administration is like a rouge elephant stomping on everything and everybody. I wonder how they pulled the wool over so many peoples eyes. It’s like everyone in this country has turned into a bunch of pacifist and that is dangerous. That Patriot Act we let them pass is going to come back and bite us in the butt one of these days.
I wonder how many Americans understand the rights they have given up by that law being enacted. I talked to my priest about where he thought we were as far as history goes a few years ago, he said on the doorstep of the fall of the Roman Empire. I think he has about hit the nail on the head there, what do you think?
Shame, shame, shame, shame on the United States of America.
What on earth are you thinking to elect a bigotted, nonsense-spouting, illiterate moron as your presidente.
I listened in disgust as Condoleza Rice today espoused the Republican agenda in terms of the coalition of democratic nations…who says democracy is right for all people…How can it work in a feudal society such as Iraq?
Wake up voters of America. This man and his administration are bringing you all down.
You simply cannot imagine how you are being percieved, especially by the third world over the imperialistic position we now feel you have taken.
I am so ashamed to be your neighbor. The whole free world is ashamed.
HUBRIS : Arrogance caused by great pride.
General Custer, meet George W. Bush.He is planning to do things resulting in great destruction to the United States. God help us.
Old Nate
Just when you think you might get through the next four years, something like this comes up. I was in Central American when death squads roamed and there is no greater evil. The movies and books touched the terror as a feather caresses the breeze. As long as the thugs were run by families they were merely brutal, but once they had the power and might of the good ole US, they became a thing so ugly it baffled human comprehension. And this is the God guided president that the christians so londly hail? How utterly evil and perverted. Once wasn’t bad enough- we have to do all again ? It’s like a great leviathan has been losed upon the nation. If americans can’t wake up over this one-well, when will they?
Who would have thought that the nation that so proudly defeated Hitler would be a nation that produced death squads not once but twice? I think I know how reasonable germans felt as they watched as Hitler took their country from them. Oh the shame of it…you know, if we can’t fix our country, the rest of the planet will get together and do it for us-no matter how many bombs we drop.
The article labels the US a “counter terrorist ” state using death squads, torture and collective punishment. Strange choice of words . Why not be more accurate ? In truth, these programs reveal the US Imperium to be a full blown terrorist state. A degenerate, obscene monstrosity that deserves to die .
“The blame for these medieval tactics continues to climb the chain of command toward the Oval Office.”
As President Truman liked to say, the buck stops with the president. It’ll be interesting (in a gruesome, tragic way) to see how many deaths Bush presides over compared to Saddam. Saddam managed to cause about 300 000 deaths in 25 years, whereas Bush is at about 100 000 in less than two years. So far, I don’t see how Iraq is better off now.
Welcome to the twilight zone.
I hope we are not looking at a false prophet that the lord told us to watch out for, but he was suppose to come from the far east. But looking at how many people voted for him, it looks like alot of sheep being led to the slaughter.
I think trying to make Iraq a democracy is a joke. They’ve been the way they are alot longer then this country has been in existence and they like the type of rule they have. All Bush wants is the oil for big business. You know the old scratch the back game called greed. Just look at all our men who are getting killed or maimed for the sake of some greedy assholes. Doesn’t that just make you want to puke. Bush has everyone on this planet hating us except for quite afew idiots in this country.
I have this terrible feeling that we will not get to live our lives in peace much longer. This damned war is going to stir those Arabs into a frenzy and they’ll get over here to damage us as much as possible. Piss on Bush I say.
Patty from Missouri
We are all war criminals now, accomplices to mass murders that our conservative government for decades have been carrying out. Gee, I didn’t know for sure is not a good answer in court or haven’t you noticed?
We can’t vote them out, they own the voting machines and both of our “political parties.” We can’t buy them out, they own all the money and wealth. Can’t fight them, like Nazi Germany the police and soldiers all work for them and they are trained to shoot your dumb ass. You will die if you try, as many have found out.
Twenty four years of murder and governmental insanity since Ronnie brain-dead Reagan showed up while people watch their stupid tv shows and worry about their ignorant kids’ stupid soccer games. Who is willing to die for their beliefs in this country? Nobody I know of. There sure are a lot of wrong wingers that are willing to kill you for them…in the name of Jesus the lord of peace since you are going to hell anyway they might as well help you get there. Maybe they think they get points for it or something?
You, me, red staters, blue staters, christians, atheists, all of us are sacks of shit waiting to get flushed. The only nice thought here is that those of us that are still protesting know what’s happening even if we are unable to stop ANY of it.
We sit on our computers and wring our hands and it’s just too fucking bad because the intelligent thinking people in this country are looking at getting rounded up. You support monkey george? No? Believe in jesus… not the one who fought the rich and powerful but the new one that hates and judges and kills for the joy of watching another person thrash and die and go to hell? Want to dissent? Enjoy your prison, death camp, disappearing in unmarked cars in the middle of the night, IRS investigations, lose your job/house/car/health care/family will disown you/live in a cardboard box? Are you going to go outside when you hear screaming from your neighbor’s house and stop THE GOVERNMENT from taking them away? You’ll hear “we’re FBI, or “police business” or “government business, go inside” and the other crap that those in Germany heard during the 30’s. Who do you think is going to enforce this fascist government’s laws? Your neighbor the cop, your uncle the National Guard guy, the chrisitan down the street with all the guns in his house (how christian to own guns, don’t you think?). That’s who did it in Germany, Spain, Italy etc etc. I think not. And then they will come for you. Be very afraid.
I will be following this story with much concern. The pentagon likely had NO plans to let people know they were “discussing” this, it is only the courageousness and tenacity of a journalist who broke the story. I remember well the reports of death squads, and it took at least a year or two before the mainstream press was forced to report on it. By then it was too late!
The piece herein did forget to mention something, though. And that is that this option is being considered by the pentagon for IRAN. Wake up America!!
Well I wouldn’t put anything past our government in DC. There were rumors before the Patriots Act was enacted that they were thinking of having prison camps in this country for us non-believers in what they were doing. They would just call us terrorists and pen us all up someplace. It was suppose to have been spoken by that Baptist Bible Thumping Ashcroft when he was Attorney General. He stunk as the governor of Missouri too. This government has mad almost all other countries hate us with a passion. Thay would like to annililate us and can you blame them. They probably wouldn’t have to much trouble doing it either since we don’t know where thousands of foriegners are hiding out in this country at the present time.
Yes, there were “rumors” as to Ashcroft’s proposal to build prison camps (detention centers) on military bases in the US for dissenters. It wasn’t a rumor, he did propose it but it dropped very quickly out of the press. No surprise there.
Don’t you love the term detention centers? Verily like detainees, with no rights, no judges, no charges, no chance to question. Just make anyone who objects disappear. What do you think is going on at Gitmo and the gulags our fascist government now has scattered all over the world? Go to one, never come out. And people will forget you once they have you. Human nature. Ever move long distance? Your old friends keep in contact for a while, then it peters out.
You have to realize that fascists are patriotic conservatives, though not all conservatives are fascists. And the first thing they did in Germany is get rid of the liberals.
That’s right, it wasn’t exclusive to the jews. 6 million jews and 5 million liberals and dissenters. That government labeled anyone who disagreed, sneered at them, said they hated Germany, disappeared them eventually but it was mostly verbal attacks at first. Like what is going on in this country now.
The trick is to turn whole groups of people into second class citizens. Like the last four years in this country (hell, the last 24 years since Reagan). We’ve created many groups of second class citizens in this country; ie: gays, liberals, other polictical parties, “blue staters,” environmentalists, homeless, the poor, the decendents of slaves (guess the conservatives showed them last election!), recent immigrants, anyone who doesn’t believe in their “new” version of Jesus, feminists, college professors & students or anyone who has an education (yet our leaders all seem to have college degrees), labor unions, hippies, birth control advocates, ex-felons, sex offenders, the list goes on and on in the US. De-humanize people and you can easily get the “good” people in the population to start stomping on them. Or get them to stomp on each other.
It’s a pattern that gets repeated down through history. Break the population into little managable groups. Get them to look crookedly at each other. Then start winnowing out the potential leaders, slam them with anything and everything and it doesn’t matter if it’s a lie because the conservatives control the airways (like ‘30’s Germany). Or they start have “accidents”- Sen. Paul Wellstone?, commit suicide, assasinate them by “lone” gunmen that die really fast, or start disappearing people in the middle of the night.
How many of you reading this have even heard of the Germany “Homeland Securtiy Act of 1933(I think it was ‘33)?” The translated English version reads like guess what recent homeland security act? Ask for it at your local library, request it if they don’t have one. Scare yourself silly because Adolph declared a police state in ‘34.
I don’t have any answers to the incredible scary prospects facing all of us in the near future. It almost paralyzes a person. Like tens of millions of other intelligent Americans I don’t know what to do even though it’s very easy to see where it’s all leading to.
It’s pretty obvious that the political system is broken completely and that we desperately need a well-financed populist third party with matching availability to all forms of media. That isn’t likely, is it? I guesss the best we can hope for is that our soldiers will lose badly in Iraq (already a foregone conclusion there according to the lastest Knight/Ridder article), the economy will tank through the floor (pretty obvious that’s happening with the dollar going down like lead, jobs going overseas, and China/Japan/Europe owning trillions of dollars in their vaults), the democratic party will get taken over by populist radicals (one can hope but Dean isn’t liberal enough by far), and voting will be done by verifiable paper ballots openly counted, free and equal airtime to all political parties, dump the electoral college, regulate corporations and zero political contributions. This doesn’t solve all the problems, and new ones will crop up.
Another hope to pass on…Remember that Nixon had a real landslide (unlike bush) for his second election, and eighteen months later was about to be impeached and tried & jailed. Yes, I know the bushistas are far more organized and much more viscous than Nixon, but hey, we can have some hope, right? Keep protesting, support the aclu, moveon, other organizations, don’t give up. You have a lot of company!!!!!
I don’t see any hope for us if the government takes us out a few families at a time. Theres lots of vacant land out in the western states where they could bury whole bunches of us in some of those caves on what is considered to be land held for the people by the government for pleasure and what not. That would be some pleasure huh.
I wonder if our own men in the armed forces would gun down thousands of us if we showed up in DC to protest or demand changes in the way our government is run. I was so suprised the way they preceded to get Bush and party to the Capital Building steps for the swearing in. When in the history of this country did it look like war was about to happen in DC if it wasn’t on that day?
The war in Iraq is a sinful waste of our men. Someday I guess when the parties responsible get to the Pearly Gates, St. Peter will give them a swift kick in the butt back down the hill.
I feel so much affinity for everyone who has posted comments here. Obviously you all are aware of what the current government represents and plans for all of us—both those of here and abroad. As to camps and domestic “detention centers”, they have already been set up by executive orders and transportation mechanisms established under FEMA and only await a declaration of “national emergency” to be implemented. In addition, under a state of emergency the Constitutuion and the federal government will be superceded by FEMA.
For me., the time is past for bemoaning all of the prospects that may await all of us. The time has come to move from protest to active resistance . Disrupting the functioning of those institutions that are supporting the American Imperium : the Defense Department,the (in)Justice Department, the Selective Service System, the prison system, the ideology of Americanism, the electoral system, the media, corporate / transnational capitalism, neo-liberalism ,globalism, the Department of Homeland Security, the world-wide system of torture and secret gulags, special operations to assasinate ” terrorists ” and destroy the civilian infrastructure in countries labeled as “terrorist” , the Christian Fundamentalists, the Republican and Democratic parties, the neo-conservatives and their think tanks, the universities, the IRS, Zionism, the INS, FEMA , and private contract “security” organizations.
I would be really depressed if I did not realize that resistance is already underway by people in many countries across the globe. They are waiting for those of us in the belly of the Beast to begin resisting. Once that happens, our prospects for winning will be enhanced tremendously. I take inspiration from the Situationists in France who came very close to actually toppling the state during the 1968 May Revolution. Their slogan/guiding principle was
” All power to the Imagination”. It is time for me to imagine and implement a truly new revolutionary project , one which will resist not only Bush but the many tyrants who will follow him. I need to start this project which will offer people alternatives—all the way from symbolic protest to possibly destruction of State property. Depending on an individual’s circumstances, there are many forms of resistance possible.
We did it in the 1960s and ended the Vietnam War. What we / I didn’t know then was that there would be many more Vietnams . How innocent we/ I were then !
So I need to get away from my PC and connect with other dissidents and to discuss and implement resistance possibilities. The system relies on keeping us isolated and alienated .
It is time for us/me to imagine a new revolutionary project. I take inspiration from my brother Che. After being wounded and detained by CIA-hired thugs, he refused to die on his knees. Several times they dispatched an agent to deliver the final bullet to Che. Despite his pain and his blood, he struggled to his feet and asked the assassins to shoot him on his feet. He said to his would-be killers
” Shoot me on my feet becaue I refuse to die on my knees “. The thugs were too intimated to shoot him. Finally one did deliver the fatal bullet. Che died on his feet and then they cut off his hands and sent them back to his home town in Cuba.
I owe myself no less . I wish you all the same strength, courage and determination in your struggle to resist and obstruct the monstrous system of control, robbery and death known as the US government.
BRAVO LARRY!!!
I like your perception of what happening now and these pacifists sitting around with their heads buried in the sand. Keep us posted with more of your good info.
You know Larry, I was informed that FEMA brought alot of big white 18 wheelers down to Florida when the hurricanes struck last year.They were empty. A friend of mine said they had a bunch of them parked in the Orlando area. They made a horrible discovery. Where ever they foun lots of bodies they just hauled them someplace to be disposed of. Alot of them were said to be mexican farm workers and families, but it was said alot were not. The reason they dumped the Americans was to save insurance companies from having to pay out millions in life insurance claims. They could say these persons were missing and couldn’t be found and that doesn’t constitute death does it. I can believe it to, because there are lot’s of elderly people down there without many relatives and some without any. How convinent for the insurance companies and the governments to just dispose of these people. That’s a lot of lack of conciouness for you right?
You have to realize what fascism is. The business/corporate world TAKES OVER the operation of the state, not the other way around (that’s socialism)). Anything that makes a profit for the wealthy segment of the population, or keeps them from having to pay anything out in support of the country, becomes the primary purpose of government.
When this happens just about any type of insane behavior is possible and acceptable as long as it makes a profit for the aristocracy.
Class warfare? Absolutely! The 80% of the working population of this country who make $50k or less a year (50% make under $30k) is under the gun and whips of the overseers in this country.
Five corporations, all headed by extremely wealthy white conservative christian republican supporters, own 95% of all media, tv/radio/newspapers/magazines. This small segement of the population own or is tied into the insurance companies which own the HMO’s which own the drug companies which own the oil companies which own the stock market which own the so-called “defense” industries which own… see where this is leading? Business is splintered by subsidaries, but the spider web always leads back to the priviliged few. This group dines together, vacations together, lives in the same neighborhoods, sit on the boards of many interlocking corporations and businesses and banks and mortgage companies etc etc. Their kids go to the same private schools, go to the same churches (which all seem to say god loves you because he made you rich), inter-marry one another, and never get sent off with an M-16 to kill people in far away places. They NEVER meet or intermingle with that lower class 80%. Never.
They control your job, your finances, your health care, your child’s education (or lack of it), your credit card. They control the army, the police, the judges, the politicians, the media, and now the counting of ballots.
As to will the government kill you, during the 30’s Depression, thousands of soldiers from the first world war went to DC to demand the $1000 bonus that was promised them. They were met with submachine gun toting soldiers led by a couple of generals (MacArthur & Patton). Needless to say they didn’t get the bonus. Recently, think of Kent State. Dead students but they were “protester/commie” etc so it was just fine that they got murdered.
Who did the shooting? The lower class under-educated christian-believing soldiers. In other words, your brother or your uncle or your neighbor did the shooting. Because they were told to!
The government can kill you, shoot you down, and nobody gets “punished” for it. That’s class warfare, and the wealthy segment has got the guns and the LAW on thier side.
And if dissenters start disappearing like 30’s Germany, you won’t know about it unless it’s your neighbor (or YOU). Does anyone have a clue as to just how much empty land is owned by the military in N. America? I would assume that Ashcroft’s proposal to build detention centers on military bases has already been completed as I have been told by a person in the Nat Guard that saw new buildings surround by wire on remote posts (during training exercises). Off limits of course.
So what do we do in an age of technological/phsycological control never dreamed of by Hitler and Stalin?
Remember that Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Franklin, all were criminals & traitors and terrorists. Real ones, murderers who beat and killed people and burned houses down and broke the law constantly, and they did it for their own financial gain against the profits of the Dutch East India corporation who was the “tax arm” of the British government!
Funny to realize that those paintings of old white-haired men hanging on walls were actually all in the 20’s & 30’s when they started the American Revolution. Ben Franklin was the old man at 40.
Like those boys, who is willing to die for their Constitution? Or go to prison or live on the street starving? That’s what it took then. And in those days you could always go hide in the woods or disappear into the population (like in Iraq, lots of supporters so the fighters blend in easily). No easy answers.
Bet the computer software the feds are using to read all these comments is just adding to the list. We know about the fbi carnivore program, and that’s years old.
Yep, be scared. But be willing to continue to speak out, support organizations fighting this insanity. I love writing letters to the editor, and have actually had people come up to me on the street saying thank you for speaking out. That’s what makes it worthwhile. Will it make a difference? Don’t know. Ask jesus or ghandi or buddah or nelson mandela. They spoke out, didn’t they? Are you less than them? I think not. Find the source inside you for motivation. And life is short….
Well Historyreader, You have a better gift for words then I do and I did enjoy and concur with what you had to say. We are like a bunch of ants I guess, who cares if a few thousand of us are stepped on now and then huh?
You all are very enlightning, with your tin fiol hats and your secrete code words. As a conservative, I find your remarks to be fascinating, you are all saying the same thing that the militias said under Clinton, yes the militias, the same people you were all denouncing as radical kooks. People taking you away in the middle of the night, slaughtering your families, you alll are victems of an overactive imagination. Now I suppose you will assume I have “my head buried in the sand”; a classic refrain when someone does not agree with your position; but I do not believe that to be true. Just keep in mind that a few of you mocked the gun carrying citizen, criticised him as a religous nut, but it is the gun in the hand of the individual that prevents your depicted worst fears from transpiring. Reality checks are in order for all of you that have posted to this colume, espectially the washed up ex hippie, yearning to relive the glory days of the 60s, trying to start his revolution; good luck larry, it would help if you allowed the mind to unhaze and you got up off the couch and did something productive first. God Bless all
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