Re: Mars in their eyes

On Fri, Jun 06, 2003 at 02:29:29PM -0500, Andreas Pour wrote:
> As there were about 2 million registered Baathists, are you saying over 1
> million of them fled to Syria?  Or what number did you have in mind?

The top party leaders. When you rant about Democrats or Republicans, you
don't mean to target all registered members of either party, do you?

> Did they take their al Qaeda connections with them along with the tonnes and
> tonnes of nerve gas?  Did they pack the nerve gas in their perfume bottles, or
> were they driving these "mobile" trucks when their million-man pilgrimmage went,
> unobserved at the time, into Syria?

Who said anything about Al-Qaeda? Now who's buying into the media hype on
OBL.. last time I checked, the phrase was "the war on terrorism", not a war
on one specific group of terrorists.

And the idea has been that the weapons had been transported out of the
country (some time? long?) before the war, not during. I can't back up any
of that, but then again I don't rant "this is the truth, when will people
finally see it". Fact is, we both don't know shit about Iraq. But you're
constantly applauding yourself as the bearer of truth.

It might look impressive that you find so many articles on the points you
want to prove, but it's often little more than parroting other sources.
Which we all do, sure. Which is why to me, personal experiences make more
lasting impressions, such as these two:

http://the-amazing.us/simplyamerican/1195/

http://the-amazing.us/simplyamerican/french_anti_americanism/

It's nice that you're on the outlook for wrong-doings of our government(s),
but it'd be nice if I could wear a Ralph Lauren sweater of Hilfiger polo
without getting insults thrown at me, just because they have a star spangled
banner print (true story).

Try living in Europe for a while and notice how anything American will be
trashed by the hypocrites who eat at McDonald's and wear Nike shoes and
jeans and listen to Britney Spears' soundtrack for a Hollywood movie.

Apparently I can't hang an American flag from my balcony without it being
stolen (true story). Or wear what I want without insults (many true
stories).

http://digilander.libero.it/simino/hup holland.JPG
http://members.optushome.com.au/hdonders/news/fans3.jpg
http://members.optushome.com.au/hdonders/news/fans4.jpg

Of course, that's normal. But people question my sanity when I say I like
watching baseball. I like an American sport over soccer, how rude! And I
call it soccer, not football, the indignity (true story).

I'm living with crap like that day by day and you're making me worry about
fluoride in water? I sometimes consider setting my cell to vibrate in public
because my national anthem ringtone will get me in trouble in some parts of
town, or at least I won't take the risk after the continuous anti-American
insults I get just for seeing a lot of good things about the US and for
supporting the current administration on certain issues. But I don't.. I
didn't pick my signature because it's catchy, I believe in it.

The looks on people's faces when it goes off in the train say enough. God
forbid it will go off in the nighttime with just a few drunken losers on the
street. People have been hassled for less.

And it's funny how the same people who have been pointing at all the
demonstrations in the US (carefully moderated on CNN, where I've only seen a
dozen or so reported (sarcasm)) on American, British, German, Dutch, French,
Belgian, Turkish, Spanish and Italian TV (I sure get variety) are still
maintaining all Americans are evil, greedy capitalists. The traditional
argument that people on the right have no heart. My dad's girlfriend refuses
to open up to the possibility that even a single Republican could seriously
try to better the world and work for the good of the people.

This deep-rooted hatred I see around me all the time opened my eyes. I
always leaned towards the Democrats until I gave Bush a chance. I started
out joking "wow, six months and he barely dissapointed me" which turned out
into a serious "wow, one year and he barely dissapointed me". I still would
have a hard time voting Republican (if I had voting rights in the US)
because they are too strict on personal freedom (thankfully I found out
about the LP).. but at least I'm willing to hear them out - and they make
sense on stuff.

Maybe you're just pissed that many Democrats also supported the war
(http://the-amazing.us/simplyamerican/democrats_on_iraq/) and concluded that
when D and R agree, there must be some sort of conspiracy.

> What did they use to clean the residuals from the machinery before packing the
> nerve gas into perfume bottles?  Were they scraping the factories with their
> tooth brushes as they were running toward the mobile trucks to haul their
> million perfume bottles of nerve gas to Syria, unobserved by the US?
> 
> Or are you talking about the Baathists which the US troops picked up in their
> first trip through Baghdad which ended at the airport?  Who do you think they
> risked to venture into the center of the city for?  They had already picked up
> the military officers on the outskirts of Baghdad . . . .
> 
> > Now, this is all speculation, but then again, probably a lot less
> > speculative than some of the other stuff I've read on this list.
> 
> It's not only speculative, it's completely implausible.

The way you read it, yes.

To me, it's a plausible option. It's not too important to me, as I think
Saddam Hussein's public moral and financial support for terrorism ranks a
bit higher on my list, but each to his own.

And talking about implausible things: Arafat, who spoke the words "there
shall be no peace as Israel lives" got the Nobel price for peace. Many
things are wrong in the world and not necessarily the things you think of.

A local friend of mine already smirked at the (again!) failing Middle East
peace talks (Arafat and the Hamas both denounced it (again, see Oslo
accords) before even talking to Abbas) implying on his blog he would like
peace in the M-E, but he would have a larger dislike for Bush getting credit
for it. Screw peace, we can't possibly have Dubya in the history books.

Maybe this explains why I am so skeptical of criticism on the Bush
administration and American values. There seems to be at least as much
bullshit, hypocrisy and pure hatred in them than in politics, and in my
experience, a lot more.

Now if you'll excuse me, the Blue Jays will be on FSN in a moment.

Rob
-- 
Rob Kaper     | "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
[email protected] | temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
www.capsi.com | - Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

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