I wish Rudy would read a history book…
…and not just whatever document prepared by his handlers is shoved in his face.
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It certainly looks bad that the release of the hostages occurred within an hour of Reagan’s swearing in, but that doesn’t mean Reagan’s swearing in caused their release. Many sources I’ve read have shown, quite undeniably to me, that the Carter Administration negotiated the deal that released the hostages (read: pots ‘o gold handed over ($8 billion)). Their holding onto the Americans until Reagan was in office was, perhaps, a big “fuck you” to the Carter people for standing so tough on their position.
In more controversial reading spaces it was the Reagan people who brokered a deal with the Iranians so that Reagan would look like King Fucking Kong; strolling into the White House and without a word scarring those towel wearing motherfuckers into releasing the Americans. (I’m not racist, that’s not racist, don’t say it is, that was the neo-cons view… I love those towel wearing motherfuckers.. well not love… See it’s a complicated relationship dating back hundreds of years which…)
On the upside of this ad I’m happily surprised he didn’t mention 9/11 or show the video of the planes flying in moments before impact…
In other news, in the latest GQ Huckabee says if we make gay marriage legal, we will implode as a society…
Is the strategy shifting because social conservatives are losing on those core issues? Ten years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have gay marriage even in liberal Massachusetts. Now it’s there.
I don’t think the issue’s about being against gay marriage. It’s about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that’s important. You have to have a basic family structure. There’s never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived. So there is a sense in which, you know, it’s one thing to say if people want to live a different way, that’s their business. But when you want to redefine what family means or what marriage means, then that’s an issue that should require some serious and significant debate in the public square. And if you look at states that have had it on the ballot—I know in our state it was a 70-percent-against issue. Most states are similar to that.
“The Family Unit” has gone through such drastic shifts (without public debate) over the past hundred years. Just fucking say a book tells you you can’t change things, at least be honest, and drop that whole Chuck Norris thing… That’s really, really done as a meme now that you picked it up… Dickface…
Damn fine song…
…imho…
Get yourself a copy of the album “Year Zero” if you don’t have one… This is “The Warning” with pretty pictures and stuff…
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi everybody!
Me and my buddies William S. Burroughs and Lee Greenwood would like to wish everybody a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Thanks for all of the memories, America!
i got disfigured defending america in iraq and all i got was this lousy t-shirt
Bush recently visited with injured vets. Here’s the link to the full slideshow. This just makes me sick. Does bushy not realize how bad these photos make him look?
Gee thanks Mr. President!
Better late than never…
Happy Veterans Day all!
RP and the 12 Million Dollar Baby….
Ron Paul is asking for a political contribution from anyone who can afford it and agrees with him that we need change in this country. So, if you have $100 bucks kicking around (and I’m sure some of you do) head on over to ronpaul2008.com and give something to help this man spread his seeds of peace, justice and the American way… He’s almost halfway there right now (10:37 AM CST) so do what you can to spread this message as far and wide…
–Dr. Jerome Pestlebottom, GP Extraordinaire to the Stars
In case you aren’t up on RP, check his message out… 5 star vid…
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Well, I guess you could say that pretty well describes Ron Paul’s thoughts on America…
“That got us 9/11…”
So, earlier tonight I mentioned to my mother what Rudy Giuliani said in Iowa Wednesday night:
Asked at a community meeting here whether he considered waterboarding torture, Mr. Giuliani said: “It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it.”
He went on to say that the way the practice had been described in news reports — “particularly in the liberal media” — he did not believe it should be allowed. But he expressed doubts about whether it had been described accurately.
“America should not allow torture,” Mr. Giuliani said. “But America should engage in aggressive questioning of Islamic terrorists who are arrested or who are apprehended.”
“The line between the two is very delicate and very difficult,” he said. “But we can’t abandon aggressive questioning of people who are intent on coming here to kill us.”
Mr. Giuliani noted that torture violates the Geneva Convention. “There is a distinction, sometimes, when you’re dealing with terrorists,” he said. “You may have to use means that are a little tougher.”
Quite a few people have written short and to the point analysis of this:
What the United States is doing isn’t torture because it’s the United States doing it. I suspect this is the way a lot of torture apologists feel, but give Giuliani credit for being (I think) the first to come out and say it.
–Chris Orr, The New Republic
I think what that means is that if the Iranians were to waterboard a captured US pilot it would be torture but if the Americans were to waterboard a captured Iranian intelligence officer it would not. Such is the moral clarity of our times.
–Alex Massie, The Debatable Land
Back to what I started this story with, I mentioned Giuliani’s statement, and my mom nodded her head and said, “That’s about right.” I was astonished… I returned with some of these ideas, and the concept that torture is torture, no matter who we’re dealing with or what they may want to do to us. She said I need to “live in the real world”, which seems a rather vague thing to say, as best as I can tell, I do live in the real world. “These people are trying to kill us…” “…they use these techniques on our people, slitting throats, things like that.”
Then came the cherry on the cake; as she shuffled off I mentioned that we need to take the moral high ground and not torture people our government arbitrarily describes as “terrorists”. Her response? You guessed it…
“That got us 9/11…”
What the fuck is going on with this country right now…
David Shuster v. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Great interview…
“But you weren’t appreciative enough to know the name of this young man (from your district), he was 18 years old who was killed, and yet you can say chapter and verse about what’s going on with the New York Times and Move On.org.”
this is incredibly f*cked up!
A University of Florida student gets tasered right in front of John Kerry’s own eyes as he looks on and does nothing! This is what we have come to? Can we not even ask straight forward questions of our leaders without persecution? This is a clear and unquestionable violation of this student’s civil rights. The two videos give your a clear picture of what happened. The second with the best view. See it for your own eyes…
Dulce et Decorum Est
In honor of the president’s recent speech attempt to prolong the Iraq War, I would like to share a poem written by a man named Wilfred Owen.
Wilfred Owen was born in England in 1893 and enlisted with England’s Manchester Regiment in 1917 at the height of World War I. Once he arrived on the western front, Owen lost all pretenses of romantic battle scenes and heroic wartime exploits. There was nothing glorious about the deaths of the young men who served in the army with him. They died brutally, painfully, and gruesomely.
The horrors of battle had a profound impact on Owen. He began to write poetry as a means of escape, documenting the senseless slaughter through a powerful and heartfelt language. While Owen might have become one of England’s most famous poets, he tragically perished during a skirmish that took place a week before the armistice agreement between the central and allied powers. Thankfully, his work has survived, even though he did not. It remains a powerful testimony to what war really means.
The title of this poem is an allusion to a line of verse written by an ancient Roman poet named Horace. It translates roughly as: “It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country.”
Dulce et Decorum Est
WILFRED OWEN
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.