Many Musings

Penny’s Pet Peeve:
I can’t remember verbatim the comment but to paraphrase – Americans have an “I want it yesterday” mentality. That’s why public support of the war has deteriorated (oh! Is that why?). I just wonder what would have happened during our own revolution! Would we have been able to be patient? Would we have allowed the process to complete before tiring of the entire endeavor? Yuck. Yuck.

A group of people rising up FROM WITHIN their own nation is NOT COMPARABLE to a PREEMPTIVE strike and ongoing occupation of a sovereign nation by a much larger nation.

Interesting Tidbit
FBI – top-notch communications and surveillance experts – right? I’m not out of line here, am I? Investigation takes communication and surveillance from what I gather. A report released yesterday states that many in key positions within the agency have yet to get an email address.
Why?
Cost.
That’s right.
Cost.
They simply do not have the money to hook everyone up.
Shudder.
Note to FBI : arnieagent.fbi.gov@hotmail.com (it’s free!!!)

Quick glimpse to the White House press corp:
Bravo bush. You finally allowed someone to ask you a question who does not have a permanently brown nose. When someone asks you a question and the answer is not based in reality, that person is going to try to stop you so that you don’t spin wildly out of control talking about things that have nothing to do with anything. It might be considered rude, but most of us believe that if someone has misunderstood a question it is better to redirect to protect that person from unnecessary embarrassment. Plus it’s highly unusual to have a question entertained by this president that doesn’t come from the right so you never know when you might get the opportunity again. Helen Thomas, the 1000 year old character from Lord of the Rings, has more experience than all the reporters in the room combined. Yes, she leans permanently to the left, God bless her! And she appears to be biting into something extremely bitter whenever she utters a name from this administration. But she deserves an answer and she will not put up with any nonsense. Here’s the exchange:

Helen Thomas: I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet - your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth - what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil - quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?

The President: I think your premise - in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist - is that - I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect -

Helen Thomas: Everything -

The President: Hold on for a second, please.

Helen Thomas: - everything I've heard -

The President: Excuse me, excuse me. No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We - when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.

Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that's why I went into Iraq - hold on for a second -

Helen Thomas: They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.

The President: Look - excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained -

Helen Thomas: I'm talking about Iraq -

The President: Helen, excuse me. That's where - Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.

I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences -

Helen Thomas: - go to war -

The President: - and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did, and the world is safer for it.

Issue 1
We did not allow the weapons inspectors to complete their mission. Bush made them cut and run.

Issue 2
Now I understand the “post 911 mentality”. It is clearly stated.
But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. You see, not to sound smug or arrogant, but before and after 911 I knew that killers could destroy innocent life. I’m not psychic or anything. I just read on occasion.

Issue 3 Helen asked about Iraq and he starts talking about Afghanistan. Yes, we all agreed to that. We all said – hells yes! Go get Bin Laden. But then he says I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. OMG! I do believe someone needs a refresher course in what is considered diplomacy. Diplomacy is synonymous with peacekeeping.

Issue 4
The world didn't agree, that's why there was no vote at the UN authorizing the war.

This is what happens when you lose people’s trust. This is what happens when you say that you have character but you are talking about your ability to mimic John Wayne or Marlon Brando and not a coveted quality.

I listened to some Fox Radio guy last night while in my car. They had a Fox News military consultant, I believe a general, who said that Rumsfeld should be fired because of major mistakes he has made and HE REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE CIVIL WAR going on in Iraq right now.
Did you get that?
Question of the week: Who also denied that a civil war is being waged in Iraq, just this past Sunday on Face the Nation? Hint – chene chene chene! Chene of fools.
Clever sticks. You’re right! Dick “Mr. Burns” Cheney.

Good news today – hostages rescued by troops. Woohoo.

Bad news on-going – thus far, 9,000 soldiers have deserted. Can’t say I blame them.

It appears that Sean Insanity has had it, HAD IT, with the negative nellies. Do you have any concept of what this continuous onslaught of negativity does to our troops and their families? Haven’t you had enough of your abetting the enemy in your constant undermining of this brilliant leader? Ignoring all the progress we’ve made in Iraq! Can we all just say, enough already? Well, ahem, no, in a word. We want the troops home. That’s all. We want them home. Regardless of the hands-in-front-of-the-eyes-therefore-I-don’t-see-it commentary from bush when it comes to there being a civil war a-blazin’ – according to people who are actually there and not tied politically or fiscally to this administration there is! Our soldiers are smack dab in the middle of it.

Then there’s the “hey, people, we’ve got it pretty good! Personal income is up! Jobs are being created like never before! Taxes are lower than ever before! You have a roof over your head, running water, electricity, probably got a car and a job. Hell! You can go out to eat if you want! We have it pretty good in this country! But not according to the media. Not according to the lefty loonies. According to them, America is heading to hell in a hand basket.” Gee, Sean, my mom says that. How old are you? (No offense mom). I find it so fascinating that he talks about taxes being low, while screeching about libs not understanding that we are “AT WAR”. Who ever heard of cutting taxes during wartime? Is that crazy? And this is the best he can do with the examples of the American Dream being attained in this country by the average citizen? A roof over our heads? Running water? Sorry, Seany, but we’ve had that for quite some time. And I don’t know if you remember, but after Cheney had his little energy tête-à-tête, California went without electricity. Let’s keep this real and not as a view from your Escalade, okay, dawg? Katrina survivors are still waiting for insurance to check out damage and awaiting help in housing, while funding for hotels and apartments has dried up. Your personal income might be up, but unfortunately, the rest of us are struggling. Hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people are in jail instead of being treated in hospitals – a big shout out to reaganomics – hoorah! Domestic violence, child abuse and neglect is rising in leaps and bounds while the funding for shelters and programs that help those in need are being slashed. I will not don the government issued rose-colored glasses and pretend that we are treating prisoners ethically. The environment is a becoming more and more toxic thanks to bush’s refusal to do his job, all the while ignoring global warming. Again manipulating the language he has yet to master by insisting on calling it “climate change” like some great thermostat in the sky. Gasoline prices have again shot up to 2.50 per gallon but we have yet to hear why – except of course because we can’t drill off the coast of Florida and bush can again try to sneak Arctic drilling into legislation. Let me get this straight. This industry has made profits that have never existed before, off the backs of the average consumer – and they can RAISE prices with no consequences whatsoever? Bush points a twisted finger at us and says WE are addicted to oil all the while refusing to set minimum requirements in gas mileage and find alternatives? Say what?

It’s kind of like the whole shame of Houston when it comes to the 9 out of 10 animals that are killed by the city and their insistence that it is the people’s fault for not spaying and neutering their animals. When something doesn’t work, when you have a crappy record and a crappy business do not point outward at the public. What purpose does that serve? Come up with a better plan! Other places, cities comparable to Houston have a 91% placement rate. That’s only putting down 1 in 10 animals. Stop scolding and start being a leader. Real leaders don’t pretend to know everything. Smart strong leaders go to people with the working plans to emulate their success.

Another thing sean said was that the biased liberal media refused to acknowledge the liberation (yawn) of millions of people, that girls could go to school in Afghanistan (the schools are being burned to the ground by taliban members), the demise of an evil (sigh) dictator, and the end of rape rooms and torture….wha?

Sorry, Hanman, torture is alive and kicking and it might not be a designated rape room but there are prisoners of war at this very minute being sodomized in black hole prisons. Reality is reality. Things are not going so well and we need to reassess our position and strategy. Oh. Sorry. We need to create a strategy.

So now the right is saying that all this anti-war sentiment is – partisan political ambition. Blind ambition.

Huh.

Oh! And the NSA wireless wiretapping is not that anymore. It is “terrorist surveillance”, and what patriotic American doesn’t want that, eh? The adage is “if you ain’t got nothing to hide…” blah blah blah. That just doesn’t hold up anymore, I’m afraid…in this post trust everyone in authority world. We have all seen innocent people cooperating with the police only to have the long arm of the law reach out and grab them by the neck. Guilty people aren’t the ones that call out for a lawyer, smart ones do. They know that evidence can be manipulated. Things you say can be twisted to sound really incriminating. If I am on the phone with my friend or family member and I make an offhand comment – innocently – and I am being surveilled, that blip can and will be taken out of context and I will go to jail. Because we all do it. If I am relaying a conversation between two other people where I am not even involved – say, an incident at work between colleagues- and one of those people said this construction site is so out of hand we should just dynamite the whole thing and start over – that could be taken out of context and you can be painted as guilty. If we are talking about an administration that gets stuff right, that’s one thing. But this administration has a history of screwing up intelligence and manipulating it for their own gain.

As far as the political ambition goes – geez, the fun never ends. Huh. Political ambition. Really. I had no idea I had political aspirations. I suppose this is how you satiate your dwindling masses. Reduce everyone to the lowest common denominator stereotype. The good thing is, democrats are no longer taking the bait. The knee jerk reaction to someone saying you are against the troops when you criticize the president is to defend your position regarding the troop, derailing from the original point about the president. Neocons are very good at this. Throwing non sequitur grenades. However, dems have caught on to this ploy and they, to coin a phrase, stay the course. The drumbeat has always been the same. You can call us unpatriotic, spineless, aiders and abettors, weak on terror, anarchists, communists, but we march on. You can insinuate that if you are liberal you are gay, unmanly or a feminist, but we march on. Because the message is the same. We do not believe the rest of the world likes terrorists. There are billions of people out there that would be on board if we had a clever idea to bring everyone in on the “purge the terrorists from your community” plan. The citizens of the world are not weak nor are they stupid. They are not going to sit idly by while terrorists run amok. Not everyone is sitting in a dark corner praying that the mighty Americans come and save them. Wake up. Would you rather have a neighborhood watch or a marshal law in your community? We cannot go running around policing the world while at the same time cutting taxes to the top 1% in this country, cutting vital programs for the most desperate amongst us, undermining education, not maintaining the health of the nation and pretend that you have everything under control. I know that bush doesn’t cater to public opinion, but excuse me, what the hell!? You don’t cater to public opinion – doesn’t that mean you don’t give a crap what the majority of the people YOU REPRESENT say? Doh!

And finally:

March 20th or thereabouts is MEATOUT Day. There’s also Meatout Monday…..I prefer Meatout Months but that’s just me.

Why Meatout?

"Kicking the meat habit" holds lasting benefits for consumer health, world hunger, resource conservation, environmental quality and animal welfare.

Kicking the meat habit reduces our risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other chronic diseases that cripple and kill nearly 1.4 million Americans annually.

Kicking the meat habit decreases our exposure to infectious pathogens like Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter, which kill several thousand Americans annually and sicken millions more.

Kicking the meat habit raises our energy level, lowers our food budget, and simplifies food preparation and cleanup.

Kicking the meat habit frees up grains and other foods that can be used to feed the world's hungry. Animals are extremely inefficient "protein converters;" it can take up to 16 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of beef.

Kicking the meat habit preserves our topsoil, water, and other food production resources vital to the survival of our children and their children.

Kicking the meat habit protects our forests, grasslands, and other wildlife habitats from encroachment by cattle ranchers while reducing the polluting effects of methane, soil particles, manure, and pesticides on our air and water.

Kicking the meat habit saves animals from caging, crowding, deprivation, drugging, mutilation, manhandling, and agonizing slaughter. Each person who adopts a plant-based diet saves over 80 innocent, sentient animals each year. Over a lifetime, an individual can save more than 6,000 animals just by going vegan.

http://www.meatout.org/

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