licentious radio

Wednesday, January 22, 2003
[5:17:55 PM]

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. . . . All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."--Hermann Goering

[2:46:08 PM]

Another question.... Is there anything Saddam can do to avoid war? Bushlette says "dis-arm". But wouldn't turning over some weapons now be discounted as incomplete compliance, and therefore grounds for invasion? I mean, what if Saddam gave up *tons* of bad stuff. Wouldn't Rummy just blather about how much is still hidden, and keep the bombers flying?

[12:14:24 PM]

Tantek Celik [tantek.com] rants one of the interesting points about the weekend's peace marches -- the values and ideas of some of the organizers are *vastly* different from those of the masses of people in the streets.

I was *stunned* at the December march to see some Palestinian group at the core of the organization. I've never heard of Palestinian organizations that want non-violence. That is, is there a mass-movement of Palestinians against terrorism and violence? People were buying big Palestinian flags, as if that were a completely normal idea.

Frankly, there's some weird stuff going on.

But who filed for the permits has little to do with who showed up. We *all* showed up. (At least if you say anybody would be less likely to show up for two marches in one weekend, and use the presence of blacks on Monday to explain the relative absence of blacks on Saturday.)

*Microsoft* could get the permits, and we would still show up. We would have showed up if Diane Feinstein had organized the march. Heck, Doktor Frist the cat-killer could have paid for the permits and we would have marched.

Tantek -- who seems to me to be a right guy -- then extolls the web and weblogs: "This kind of political quackery can therefore be far more readily and quickly exposed for what it is."

One of Tantek's links quotes Orwell in 1942 saying "Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist." A quick Googling finds suggestion that Orwelll repudiated that sentiment by 1944. As always, any analogy or reference to World War II is likely to be wrong propaganda. Saddam is not Hitler, and Iraq's ability to make war was never like Nazi Germany's. I mention this in agreement with Tantek that the web easily exposes wrong arguments.

But the point of the marches is that the people of the United States, like the people of Europe, mostly believe that war should be a last resort, not a first resort. If the Democrats, Republicans, and corporations won't get a march permit, that's their problem.

[10:52:31 AM]
"Some would argue that the president himself benefited from a form of affirmative action because as a C student, he only got into Yale because his father was a wealthy alumnist. But the White House counters that Saddam is a menace and must be stopped." --Jon Stewart

I hear Jon Stewart is almost funny enough to justify owning a TV set.

[10:10:55 AM]
First the masses take to the streets against invading Iraq. Then France, then Germany, then the EU come out against unprovoked war.

The Dimwit's cronies are completed isolated. We're in some kind of positive feedback loop. Pathetic tantrums and saber-rattling lead to greater resistance throughout the world, which leads to more pathetic tantrums and saber-rattling.

The Bushist story has lost its legs: nobody believes that existence of "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq is grounds for a war of conquest. The fact that Saddam isn't nice is no reason to bomb Iraqi civilians.

Even pathetic Democrats in Congress are likely to get over this -- if they can figure out a way to explain their change of position. ("We *were* stupid idiots, but now we're smarter.")

Bush is likely to try to go ahead with the war because he's "the Commander" and he "doesn't have to explain why he does things".

The excitement is palpable as the people of the world fight back against the Axis of Evil that has seized the Republican party and taken control of the US government by coup d'etat.

The good news is that the more evil wrought by the Bush front, the deeper and longer-lasting will be the repudiation. Republican Corporate Criminals would be wise to grab another tax cut or two and stand down.

[9:35:13 AM]
Thomas Friedman has lost it. His new justification for war in Iraq is to empower citizens in Arab countries. "Freedom, education, women."

Someone needs to spank Thomas Friedman.

Perhaps Tom read the Mother Jones article on the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda. There they have more freedom, more education for women, and more power for women. Newsflash. Not a reason to hack a million people to death with machetes.

Is it the same in Iraq? Can you justify invading Iraq because we could promote political accountability in Algeria afterward?

Tom's idea of the day is so stupid it makes Dim Dubya look like a jenius.