Monday, March 17, 2003

"I'd like to be in the USA, pretending that the wars are done." When Joe Strummer sang that in 1978, it was the high water mark of detente, before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and blew that to hell. Maybe, at the time, America did seem like a place where people, tired and sick from Vietnam, wanted no more to do with war, and to pretend that all the conflicts then raging or brewing had nothing to do with them. 25 years later, it's a much different story. We are no longer pretending that the wars are done; we are inventing new wars where previously none existed. We have become the aggressor, just as the Soviet Union was the aggressor when its tanks crossed into Afghanistan 24 years ago to "end feudalism" and "liberate the Afghan people." Try to keep that in mind tonight when a man that we didn't elect President is explaining exactly why thousands of people have to be murdered. Meanwhile, here are today's thoughts: This is the end of the United Nations I hate to be so gloomy, but it looks like all the advances made in international law since 1945 are about to be undone. The people at fault are the governments of Great Britain, Spain, and the United States. The first casualty of war is regular programming I'm glad that ABC and NBC are pulling their crews from Iraq; they might inadvertently photograph or report something that could upset American viewers. Perhaps, say, thousands of people being murdered by our bombs. This is the end of the Labour Party Robin Cook, Leader of the House of Commons, has resigned from Tony Blair’s war cabinet over the Iraq issue. Cook says he can't be responsible for launching an illegal war. So much for New Labour. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down, part I Carrboro, North Carolina, which passed a resolution calling April "French Products Month" as a way of thumbing its nose at the freedom fry sentiment in this country, has been inundated with hate mail. That's because hate is the only emotion understood by the subhumans who support this insane war. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down, part II One of the Dixie Chicks said at a concert that she was ashamed of George W. Bush. You disagree with her. Do you (a) decide that everyone is entitled to their opinion and accept, like a grownup, that someone's opinions do not affect their ability to make art (b) decide that you are no longer going to listen to Dixie Chicks CDs or (c) rent a bulldozer and have a bunch of your subhuman friends smash Dixie Chicks CDs after scrawling messages like "Don't Mess with Texas" on them? If you're anything like the people quoted in this story, I think you know what to do. He who dies with the most oil still dies Graphic photos from the first Gulf War. Something to think about tonight when George Bush is explaining how absolutely essential it is for world peace that we bomb thousands of people to death. Leave for me a message of hope Although the Pope has denounced this war in the strongest terms, along with every major Christian denomination save one (the Southern Baptists), and, although Bush's own Methodist church has denounced the war, our "Christian" leader marches on, heedless. Perhaps he is indeed praying every day, as he says, but his prayers are more likely to resemble the one that Mark Twain called "the War Prayer," almost 100 years ago. It goes, in part: "O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle--be Thou near them! With them—in spirit--we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it--for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts." -Consider Arms 3:03:19 PM    comment []

The appeasement happy, pro-Saddam, treacherous, Axis of Weasels have spoken!: - French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking to Europe 1 radio, warned that "one country can win a war but it takes more than one country to win peace." - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a possible war in Iraq would be "a mistake fraught with the gravest consequences which may result in casualties and destabilize the international situation in general." - Li Zhaoxing, the Chinese foreign minister, said, "We appeal for a political settlement to the Iraq question within the framework of the United Nations and urge all efforts to avoid war." Don’t listen to ‘em George! I say nuke their ass and take their gas! Yee-haw! - M.C. No Shame 2:35:50 PM    comment []

And the Father of the Year award goes to... Shirl Mitchell, father of Elizabeth Smart kidnaper David Mitchell! According to Mr. Mitchell his son isn't a delusional, kidnapping, polygamist, he just had a rough childhood. Mr. Mitchell admits that in hindsight, maybe physically assaulting and showing his son pictures of genitalia, when he was "seven or eight", weren't the best parenting choices. What I want to know is why does God always require his prophets to take 15 year old girls as wives? I remember the good old days when he required them to stand on a pillar in the desert for 80 years Even fish don't support the war In a very Simpsons-esque moment, a fish plant worker in New York claims that right before he was about to gut a carp it started screaming, in Hebrew, at him. Prophesying the End of Days, the fish was killed by the stunned worker before it had a chance to take a teenage bride. I take back everything bad I've ever said about Tom's of Maine Oh man, I've been getting it all wrong this whole time. Seems that you actually want to smell like a fetid crust punk in order to attract the ladies. I'm throwing my soap away as soon as I get home. - M.C. No Shame 11:26:40 AM    comment []

I apologize for abandoning politics for a more emotional tone today, but I can't help it.  Read this excerpt from a Reuters story: "It is not only adults who are conscious of war coming. It is on children’s minds too. ‘Before he went to school my 10-year-old son asked me if Bush will attack today,’ said Ibrahim Khalaf, 42, who runs a shoe shop in Baghdad. ‘This is a question he asks often but after last night’s news he heard us talking and this is the first thing he asked this morning. War has become the obsession of our children.’ The majority of Iraqis, who long ago learned to live without the luxuries they once had, say their main fear is about the effect of bombardment on their children. ‘Our children get terrified when they hear thunderstorms so imagine what will happen to them when they hear the pounding of American bombers,’ said a woman who did not give her name. ‘I don’t know what to do with my children when the bombing start. They will be terrorized,’ said Mona Shahed. ‘Only God knows what will happen to us. We have nobody but him.’" It doesn't seem to me that anybody who supports Bush on this war is fully thinking about what's going to happen.  Obviously, the term "collateral damage" is terrible, but being so far away makes it hard to recognize the real human costs involved.  I have a five year old son (whom I sometimes have to comfort during thunderstorms), and I sometimes have these terrible, anxious nightmares about failing to protect him.  Fortunately, I have the luxury of knowing that those are just nightmares, that he lives in a world that is relatively safe.  But the people in Iraq do not have that luxury.  What could you possibly say to a child who was asking if bombs were coming if you knew that they were? We've all talked about the financial cost of the war, the political ramifications it may have in the Middle East and the costs the American public may confront at the hands of a vengeful extremist Islamic state, but one thing that gets lost in the translation of political discourse is that we are beyond the hypothetical now.  People ARE going to die, and they're going to die soon, possibly as soon as today. I'm sorry.  I've run out of things to say.  I've lost my faith. - Marcus-Marcus 11:09:24 AM    comment []

Warmongering peas in an anti-democratic pod "British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock blamed France for threatening to veto the resolution which would have issued Iraq with an ultimatum to disarm by Monday or face military action." This reminds me an awful lot of December, 2000, when the Supreme Court acknowledged the recounts to an extent, but imposed a ridiculous deadline which couldn’t possibly be adequate. Same here. The "compromise" resolution, with Blair’s point-by-point plan and a miniscule extension of the deadline was only a compromise in name. But it’s nice to see that they found a way to blame France for the war. Well, folks, this is the Zero Hour. The embassies are closing and the inspectors are being withdrawn. My family heard from my cousin this weekend (who is stationed in Kuwait) who offered this cryptic (but hardly surprisingly) advice: "Keep your eye on CNN." We all knew it was going to happen, but now that we’re here, the reality is heavier than I would have thought. I feel ill as we enter this deadly new chapter in the history of the world. I don’t know if arguing about why the war is wrong is even worth it at this point. I think we all know what is and what isn’t the truth by now, and as it is inevitable, all we can do is sit back and watch in horror as blood is spilled in the name of freedom. - Marcus-Marcus 10:40:07 AM    comment []

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