Tuesday, April 27, 2004

This is Chickenshit, plain and simple.

First, the president doesn't want a commission investigating what happened on 9/11. Then he begrudgingly accepts it, but underfunds it. Then he approves decent funds, but doesn't agree to appear before the commission, nor let his National Security Adviser testify. Then he agrees to give them ONE HOUR of his time, and let's the NSA testify. Then he says he'll only testify in concert with his Vice President.

NOW, they're saying that the testimony will be 1) private 2) not recorded (!), no transcriptions will be taken and finally 3) the President and Vice President will NOT BE UNDER OATH! Yahoo! News - Bush, Cheney Coached for 9/11 Questioning

This is the Sham of all Shams. Mr. President, you should truly be ashamed of yourself. What are you hiding? Why do you need to be "coached"? Why does your Vice President need to be there with you? WHY WON'T YOU GO ON RECORD? WHY WON'T YOU TESTIFY IN PUBLIC?

This is an outrage.

More later...
Paul

Friday, April 23, 2004

Military 'R' Us.

These are very strange days, indeed. A mysterious war in Iraq, famous athlete-turned-soldier killed in military action in Afghanistan, Israel assassinating opposition leaders, bombs going off in other countries, and the U.S. election mud-slinging in full swing.

With all that, Godspeed Pat Tillman. I didn't know you or anything about you until you were killed in action and the media decided to make you a hero. Thank you for your service; I'm only sorry your life and talent were wasted in what I think are fairly meaningless actions in Afghanistan; I hope you disagree with me.

As we get swept up in the inevitable media whirlwind about this young man's unfortunate demise, let us not forget those soldiers who were NOT professional athletes, but still volunteered to leave their families and communities to serve...and die. War is, without a doubt, hell.

My more conservative friends and others on the extreme right want to constantly remind us of the "fact" that we owe everything we have in America to the brave men and women who serve in the armed forces. I find that idea very sad. If it were true, it means that the sole reason America exists, and continues to exist, is because we have a strong successful army that protects us from a world of people who would otherwise control us and deny us our current lifestyles.

People want to "take" our freedom? Do we still believe this? Who are these people?

People want to "take" our land, our belongings, our "things"'; are we still equating material goods with freedom?

Yes, there are crazy, murderous people out there who want to kill Americans and westerners. They want to deprive us of life, remove us from this world...but not necessarily contain our right to pollute our own country...or curtail our right to hunt animals...or many, many other rights. They don't want us to exist at all. Lucky for us, they are a microscopically small minority, and they only matter because the media is coerced into (or is willingly) blowing them out of proportion.

As far as those "superpowers" that actually have armies....which of them wants to deprive Americans of their rights? China, our trillion-dollar trading partner? Crazy North Korea, the pimple on the butt of Southeast Asia? Of course not.

More later...
Paul
Some folks have guts.

Got to give it up to Gary Trudeau for bringing the War in Iraq home to the comics page in a realistic way: Yahoo! News - Doonesbury

Currently, the strip is showing how long time character BD, a college football coach and the strip's classic right-wing warhawk, has been ambushed in Iraq and had lost his leg. Not your normal funny papers storyline. Yet there's still humor and empathy to be found...this story is gonna get bigger.

More later...
Paul