liberal fags
this is just biased media, right?
i mean, war is between soldiers and "insurgents."
and, we're supporting our troops.
and ...
fuck us all.
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My views of the Iraqi invasion have been vomited upon this blog in the past. And of late, politics have been limited to fringe infestations on otherwise happy-go-gey-scribblings. But this morning, the depression boiled inward and I find myself curling over a knotted, sickened stomach.Tens, and tens, and tens of thousands of people have died since our army invaded that country. A country that posed no material or immediate threat to our "homeland" or any of our direct geo-political interests in the world.
It was an invasion built upon lies. Lies. LIES. LIES. The invasion was illegal under the very laws of international cooperation we helped write and have enforced in the past (when it suited us).
... and i go race my bike. i shake this off like a light california shower, sending it sprinkling to the ground, to dry up, forgotten ... moving on to the next trinket played with.
fuck us all. each, every, one of us.
28 comments:
detachment.
privilege.
those aren't quite the right words, but they're the first that come to mind.
Oil is in Americas blood. You can see it in the veins of America's highway's. Just look at the traffic reports today. Gridlock in SF. Clearly there is more to this war than WMDs and Terrorists.
I don't see any argument for believing we are really doing anything to liberate that country. I hope that something good comes of it, but its pretty hard to believe anything good is going to happen with all this loss of life other than a revived creation of a hated spirit.
Amen Motherfuckers!
That is all I can ever muster on the subject from my churning gut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just go out and ride your bike as fast as you can. If you click your cycling shoes together three times it will all go away.
OMG, I'm depressed. The bike is one area that keeps my spirits up.
support our troops!
saw a bumper sticker:
"Support the metallic yellow ribbon industry"
More like it.
It's kinda sad to long for the good old days of Saddam. he was clearly a very bad dude, and probably still has us (U.S.) beat for total body count even when you attribute all of the current iraqi-on-iraqi bloodshed to us.
As for that (iraqis killing one another), the line is pretty wide and pretty grey. Clearly (CLEARLY) we destabilized Iraq. That's an understatement. And in retrospect, we probably took some ignorant steps that led to one group being perceived as favored over the other.
By the same token, there's clearly a cultural element to the violence that we did not import. We took the lid off the pot, rightly or wrongly, and that MFer is sure boiling over now. How to fix it? Me, I dunno. But in part it must come from the Iraqis themselves. Once people have resorted to roving death squads, you've slipped pretty deeply from the potential for a trusted government that respects the rule of law. That's going to take generations, at least. In the meantime, we're probably going to end up with something along the lines of Saddam-lite.
the old addage that says you have to take care of yourself bfore you can take careof others is true. So don't knock down you bike. If that's what keeps you happy and healthy so that you can contribute to what you believe in, then it's good.
indeed.
the jingoistic, ethnocentric spirit that led us down this road makes me ill.
Change has to come from below. You are doing something by speaking your mind, and hundreds (thousands?) of people hear and read that. It makes a difference. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month, but eventually it can. It does matter.
The only consolation--and it is not nearly enough--is that history will be very harsh on the criminals that started this.
fuck....all of us??
b..b..b...but i voted for Gore....
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I agree with trac. and the addage applies to our country, too. what a mess we have.
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gee, one rainy day and everyone is all needin the prozac....
do what you can
and don't beat yourself up for what you can't do
or so i've read
It requires careful reflection, and a thought into ones actions, and perhaps voting history. The war, the oil, the global warming....and us. It is all connected. we are all responsible by decisions we have made and we all have the power to change it be decisions we will make. And change it we will. Go ride.
In a functioning democracy, votes should reflect the government's past and expected future performance. November's elections provide hope that this still works--sadly, too late for 10,000's of Iraqis and 1000's of Americans. It's what most of us can do; few of us have the will to leave our lives to try doing anything more about it.
It's hard to be coherent (and brief) after reading your post, OV. The anger and frustration lie unspoken in many of us, and few put it in words as well.
Rainbows, sunshine, puppy dogs, and ice cream. Rainbows, sunshine, puppy dogs, and ice cream. Rainbows, sunshine, puppy dogs, and ice cream. Rainbows, sunshine...
ice creams, all around.
Rome never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall,
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
Her sentries pass on—that is all,
And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.
We are the Little Folk—we!
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone and you’ll see
How we can drag down the State!
We are the worm in the wood!
We are the rot at the root!
We are the taint in the blood!
We are the thorn in the foot!
Mistletoe killing an oak—
Rats gnawing cables in two—
Moths making holes in a cloak—
How they must love what they do!
Yes—and we Little Folk too,
We are busy as they—
Working our works out of view—
Watch, and you’ll see it some day!
No indeed! We are not strong,
But we know Peoples that are.
Yes, and we’ll guide them along,
To smash and destroy you in War!
We shall be slaves just the same?
Yes, we have always been slaves,
But you—you will die of the shame,
And then we shall dance on your graves!
We are the Little Folk—we!
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone and you’ll see
How we can drag down the State!
We are the worm in the wood!
We are the rot at the root!
We are the taint in the blood!
We are the thorn in the foot!
A country twice the size of France annexed.
That stays at least. The rest may pass—may pass—
Your heritage—and I can teach you naught.
“High trust,” “vast honour,” “interests twice as vast,”
:“Due reverence to your Council”—keep to those.
I envy you the twenty years you’ve gained,
But not the five to follow. What’s that? One!
Two!—Surely not so late. Good-night. Don’t dream.
I truly wish that everyone could understand the role that media has played in this whole disgusting mess and our perception of it (and detachment from it).
The most compelling 29 minutes of video I saw in the last year was Democracy Now's Independent Media In A Time Of War. Must see video from a great source of independent news.
OK -- I can't help myself.
The comment from Chris who, I believe, was quoting Kipling -- Rome never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall,
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;...
I think, and I could be wrong, but the sentiment expressed by Kipling (?)is as true now as it was in the days of Pax Romana and it will be equally true forever into the future. We humans consolidate into groups, be they communities, political parties, nations, united nations, etc... We consolidate because as a group we have more power than as individuals. There are some of us who no matter how much power he or she may have will always want more and those types of individuals typically wind up as the leaders of a group. In my opinion this is an unalterable human condition. Therefore, again in my opinion, there will always be a nation looking to increase its sphere of influence.
Now onto the Middle East. I think the best thing we as cyclists can do to help our nation in the Middle East is to always conduct ourselves with class and aplomb. We need to be secure in a belief that bicycles are more than just toys for kids. Bicycles are a legitimate form of transportation. When non-cyclists see us being healthy and foregoing cramming our selves into steel boxes with wheels only to inch along a gridlocked freeway, they'll notice and ask us what it's like. If we respond with class and aplomb and not in a holier than thou tone, I believe more and more people will begin to recognize that bicycling is a legitimate form of transportation.
That change in public perception sets up what I think is a possible solution in the Middle East. As public opinion warms to alternative transportation, we as a nation will reduce our dependency on oil. The sheiks who fund the terrorists do it with revenues from oil. As we consume less and less oil, the money funding terrorist decreases proportionally.
Now this part is a long ways away, but as our nation reduces its dependency on oil, we get a cleaner environment. In the Middle East, they get us, for the most part, out of their region of the world because it's no longer a region with vital national interests. It's a win-win scenario.
Banks:
'cept that at least out here in cowboy country, asking, expecting, crap, even HOPING that joe public might someday give up his god given right to a 4x4 F350 crew cab is akin to treason. Really. Baseball hot dogs apple pie and chevrolet and all that.
shawdoggy:
I'm talking more about Joe Suburbia than Joe Hinterland.
I think we as a nation fumbled on Iraq. I think we as a nation are responsible to recover the ball. To do so, I like reducing our dependency on oil. Thus reducing the money flowing to terrorists and to nations that want to do us harm.
I'm not big on increasing troops and forcing a country into administering a democracy before it's ready. Increasing troops means increasing deaths. Not my style.
Nor do I like retreating from Iraq and leaving behind a small footprint. When we did that in Vietnam it led to the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and a communist government in Vietnam. Over 2 million southeast asian civilians died at the hands of those two regimes.
Maybe we never get some people to relinquish a "god given right to a 4x4 F350 crew cab" in order to drive ten miles to work each day. But if the costs are high enough, and the price we're paying in Iraq increases every day, maybe it will give some pause.
B --
You and I see eye-to-eye more than you think. Whether I agree with their viewpoints or not, I'm just pointing out that there are a lot of people outside of the confines of sunny CA who think: liberal is a bad word, Bush is right, the war is right, fight 'em there not here, criticism is treason, and America always does good.
I just like to point that out to my friends in NorCal, who like to pat one another on the back about how right they are. There are just as many people in Fresno and Bakersfield and Reno and Salt Lake City and Boise and other small cities across the nation who are patting themselves on the back about how right THEY are. These are suburbanites... they shop at Target, they eat McDonalds, they get their movies from Netflix and surf the web on high speed.
Those are the people who need to be talked down from energy dependence. Not the converted.
S--
Good point on preaching to the choir. Although, I haven't heard my particular sermon voiced. Public discourse is filled with clamor over whether to follow the Republican or Democratic approach to the war on terrorism. Personally, I'll vote for the first politician, no matter the party, who says the way to win the war on terrorism is to slowly wean our nation off oil.
It's fine if the folks in Boise don't adhere to that message right away. Foreign governments, not even China's, can afford to buy T-Bills at their currrent pace. To pay for our nation's oil addiction taxes will eventually have to rise and government services will eventually have to be cut. Then lets hear what the folks in Boise have to say on the matter.
B --
When the gov't goes BK and China forecloses, that's when WWIII breaks out. We still own a heck of a lot of military hardware... worst case scenario is that using it seems like a good idea.
Don't disagree with your message at all. But the avg. American's voluntary willingness for self sacrifice is about nil right now. Shoot, gas went to $3+ last year... was your commute any less crowded?
S--
I enjoy being forced to organize my thoughts by a thoughtful person such as yourself. However, while this dialogue has been fun, time constraints require that I desist. One more comment from me, then you may have the last word --
You made two incompatible statements:
"We still own a heck of a lot of military hardware... worst case scenario is that using it seems like a good idea." -- and --
"...the avg. American's voluntary willingness for self sacrifice is about nil right now."
First, war is never a good idea. It's a necessary evil. Second, without self-sacrifice war is worse than evil. It's moronic suicide.
shawndoggy aint' a "thoughtful person" ... he's a lawyer.
;)
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are we going to hash over the 3 centuries old "hobbes v locke" wrestling match?
cuz ... i've only got but a handful of blood vessels free to handle that extra workload.
will the average aMErican do what it takes to make our world a better, safer, cleaner, more "morale" place.
i guess the only answer i've got it ...
fukkal, we better hope so.
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