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Friday, September 06, 2002 |
Disgraceful
George Bush and the GOP continue to cynically use 9/11 as a way to pump themselves up, turning a national tragedy into a fundraising event. Buzzflash rounds up the evidence.
On his many fundraising trips to gather this "oxygen of American political life," does Bush tell people that Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and the anthrax terrorist are still free, the economy has tanked, the surplus is gone, unemployment is rising, and the international community laughs at his simple-mindedness one minute and fears his warmongering unilateral actions the next?
Does he mention that he wants to send our friends and family into a war with Iraq that he has not justified and either his stupidity or arrogance has prevented him from hearing the voices of the U.S. citizens, those in Congress and the rest of the world who wholeheartedly disagree with his dangerous plans?
Is it part of his stump speech to remind America that his agenda has never been compassionate and his policies are radically conservative?
So, we ask, what could Bush possibly be telling people that would make them give him more money?
See the pictures yourself and, perhaps, you can determine why anyone would support George W. Bush for anything but an award for bad taste.
4:40:15 PM Permalink
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These are the rights we've lost
From the AP, not exactly a radical source:
* FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation.
* FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records requests.
* FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.
* RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.
* FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
* RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
* RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
3:42:27 PM Permalink
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What kind of country
Dave Winer puts this so succinctly.
A common theme -- what kind of God lets this happen. I answer that with another question. What kind of a country is so selfish that it doesn't see that 9-11 was tiniest big tragedy viewed from a global perspective. What about famine in Africa? What about AIDs? They wonder at the spiritual vision of a person who jumps from the World Trade Center to certain death, but don't wonder about the millions of people who do the same thing with tobacco? It's out of balance. We're out of balance. 9-11 was, imho, a small upheaval in getting to some kind of equilibrium in how the US participates in the world, both from the US perspective, and the world's perspective. That we got so much sympathy says how big the human heart is. That there wasn't more celebrating in the streets of world capitals says that they forgive us for our selfish attitude, which is back in force as if 9-11 never happened.
I think it's worse than if it never happened. So much of what we're doing in this war on whatever is going to have the effect of making the world a much more dangerous place, not less dangerous. There's a series running in Slate by Robert Wright about the war on terrorism, that is very smart, and so contrary to everything we're doing.
Last night I heard a Ken Adelman editorial on All Things Considered, where he was arguing that those who say we shouldn't "go it alone" are wrong. He brought up, predictably, Churchill in the 30s, going it alone against Hitler. It's true that when we're right, we shouldn't worry so much about whether we're supported or not. But at the same time, shouldn't the lack of support we're getting cause us to wonder if, indeed, we're right?
8:36:16 AM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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