Posted on 03/30/2004 9:01:40 PM PST by Kudsman
Today's affairs have me scared
By Ron VanNostrand
Recently, I have been doing some serious thinking about moving from this space. My occupancy on this page has forced an awareness of current affairs that I sometimes find quite troubling on mental, emotional and spiritual levels.
I love my country and the ideals of its foundation. In my lifetime, it has been very painful to watch our image go from a democracy once emulated by people around the world to the most despised nation on the planet. Perhaps Roger Hare was correct last week when he stated we are not a democracy but a republic.
If this is so, it is not democracy we are spreading, but global capitalism for the benefit of multi-national corporations. Even the left's standard bearer, Hillary Clinton, has declared we need a bigger army.
I'd like to pretend it would be to protect us from terrorism, but I'm sure the military increase would only serve to support dictatorships that protect the interests of these corporate giants as they pillage the resources of indigenous peoples around the world.
One only has to look as close as Haiti where a duly elected leader was overthrown with the support of our administration and in Aristide's own words, kidnapped and removed from his country by our forces.
Presently, Jamaica is being pressured by our policy makers to have him vacate that island due to its proximity to his homeland.
Other nations have condemned the Israeli assassination of the leader of Hamas and declared it a violation of international law. We find it "troubling."
When the wall came down between East and West Berlin everyone celebrated, yet another wall is being built in Palestine.
With the bombing in Madrid, the face of international politics forever changed. Protesters flooded the streets resulting in the election of a Socialist regime that promised to remove Spanish troops from Iraq.
Of course we will not have to worry about unpopular views leading to our government's electoral downfall once electronic voting is in place.
If the outcome is not favorable, the results will be able to be manipulated much easier and without a trace.
Our current administration still claims global warming to be "junk" science, yet down the street, the Pentagon prepares strategies to combat the catastrophically environmental and social repercussions of the steady increase in global temperatures.
Perhaps I just need more time to focus on the positive. More time to publish my poetry magazine, play music, garden, enjoy what's left of nature and pray for a miracle to save our planet from its current exploitation. Quite frankly I see little hope for a peaceful political resolution in the future and I find other options quite distasteful.
Tim.
Is it friendly to report that he made me puke green fluid?
Of course he's scared....he's a liberal.
Let's get serious about this war
By Roger Hare
A great divide has been building in the world. Social problems pitting left against right have always been with us, but the terror war has added a vicious "edge" to those differences.
It is worth noting what's at stake in this war and how others are trying to "spin" this conflict into a bogus class warfare template.
The "cold war" lasted 45 years. Socialism lost. For those still fighting the last war, this new conflict is another opportunity to highlight the differences between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Problem is, our new adversaries do not seek land or socialism, so liberals are trying to piggy-back their cause onto an enemy that won't cooperate. Jihadists simply want us dead. Fingerpointing won't alter this fact.
What do radical Muslims want? Wealth-sharing? Social justice for individuals? Peaceful co-existence? If liberals only understood their real intent, they would discard their moldy '60s rhetoric and join the rest of us who understand a growing danger.
Al-Qaida is one of many Wahabi groups who have declared "Jihad;" a command to kill "infidels." What is an infidel? Anyone who doesn't believe in Allah. So while leftists are distracted by their political hatred for Bush, homicidal Muslims plan our deaths. Both liberals and conservatives are infidels in Muslim minds; destined to die equally.
I am eternally curious why liberals have collective strokes over Christian intolerance, yet Muslim intolerance is explained away as Republican-provoked. This same mentality ignores Hamas's putrid habit of sending 14-year-olds to slaughter Israeli bus-riders, yet expresses outrage over an evil mastermind's death.
My curiosity is also piqued over Spain's surrender to terror. If Al-Qaida had nothing to do with Iraq, why are they punishing Spain for participating with us? The fact is, these groups will fight us wherever we are, so it's time for the left to wake up and smell the genocide.
Herein lies the difference between us: Europeans can be intimidated, but after 9/11, Americans refuse to be "cowed." This unique attitude has confounded enemies throughout our history. Whether it's Pearl Harbor or 9/11, beyond a certain "break point," we rally against "sneak attacks;" Europeans surrender. Why should we care what they think of us when their history of inherent appeasement is well known? Churchill likened this to "hoping the alligator eats you last."
It is shameful our president gets worse press than Jihadists seeking our complete destruction. Am I being negative? You bet. It's one thing to be for world peace, but when brutal perpetrators of mass murder are ignored, false Marxist hopes are bolstered.
If the image of victims hanging out the 95th floor of the World Trade Center is not enough, perhaps it will take a mushroom cloud over Manhattan for liberals to finally get serious about this war.
If the fellow has a problem with republics, he definitely should move somewhere else, because that is what the United States always has been. Since there isn't a pure democracy anywhere in the world, he'll have to settle for something else close to his beliefs - communist Cuba, perhaps?
Also, I laugh when I see people like this bemoan the "corporations" that supposedly run everything and ruin the world. Perhaps he should take a moment and realize that corporations, however "giant," are just assemblages of people. They feed, clothe, and enable him to drive and write his columns. They do the same for people around the world. Some evil force!
What a liberal puke.
He says that like it's a bad thing.
Got news for you bucko. This is a republic. A democracy as defined when the framers were devising our Consititution was "mob rule" which they were not comfortable with. Why do you think that initially the only people who could vote were white, male, land owners. This guy could do himself a favor and read the Federalist Papers and the Constitution to get a better feel of how this system was set up.
That was all I needed to revise my assessment of this dope from "misguided tool" to "drooling moron".
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