Bush is an idiot, Kerry changes his mind, Cheney is evil, the neocons are trying to start WW3.

And meanwhile, the terrorists win.

I don't know if I'll see it in my lifetime, but as far as I can see the only thing that can save this world is a massive sea change in basic human interaction vis-a-vis our elected officials. Meaning that there should BE som basic human interaction.

Why is it anathema in the political process to deal with other nations, other cultures as if they are made up of people like the ones that live next door to us?

Why is it out of the question to ask what it takes to drive a young man or woman to strap explosives to themselves and destroy their own life in an effort to take the lives of others? Does any reasoning human accept that someone would do that simply because they 'hate freedom'?

There's an old saying that, if you're tired of the dance, then someone has to leave the floor.' Why is it not even a point of discussion to reason together with our enemies and attempt an understanding of what they perceive as injustices?

I don't for a moment suggest that we are evil, or that our differences can all be laid at our feet - but when the policies of a nation inspire such hatred, surely something can be done to lessen it. Why can't it begin with us? doesn't anyone remember that Ghandi changed the face of India with non-violence after decades of violent struggle had failed? maybe killing is just too much fun for either side to resist.

Am I completely crazy?

-- Modified on 6/17/2004 9:48:27 AM

"Bush is an idiot, Kerry changes his mind, Cheney is evil, the neocons are trying to start WW3."

Just change the names and it could be the same bullshit we heard before the 1984 presidential election!  BTW, Kerry doesn't change his mind, that would require that he ever had a firm opinion on anything (i.e. Core Values).

It is pretty difficult to sit down and reason with someone who just wants to kill you, and is willing to die in the process.  I would suggest that maybe you go first, but then again I like arguing with you to much to take that risk!

IMHO, what we have is a generation of young Muslim men who have been taught since birth by militant, fundamentalist Mullahs that if they strap a bomb on their back and kill Jews, Americans or virtually any non-Muslim human that they will go to "paradise" where "40 Virgins" are awaiting to tend to their every sexual desire.  This same generation of young Muslim men who are so sexually repressed that it sounds like a good fucking plan!

What to do?  Other than try to stop them, I don't have an answer.  But, opening a dialog which may or may not result in them blowing both of us up doesn't really sound too astute (think about how horny these guys are).  I'm open to suggestions, but until something works, I say we stop them, whatever that entails.

Maybe we should just drop inflatable, lifesize fuckdolls with vibrating pussies all over these fundamental Muslim areas, you know, take the edge off!  Then try to talk to them : ).

P.S.  You might want to investigate the differences between Hindusim and fundamental Islam, attempting detente with Bin Laden will be quite different from peace talks with Ghandi.

to study the root causes of islamic terrorists' murderous, goat-fucking mentality and how different caliber bullets affect that thinking.

RLTW

You are correct with your last statement.  

"maybe killing is just too much fun for either side to resist"

It is just to much fun for some people that they can not let it stop.  That is why the "leaders" are not the ones blowing themselves up.  They want to watch.  They get others to do it so they can have their fun and then do it again.

This is not just with the islamic nutcases.  I certainly do not think that all our military brass are really peace loving and hate to go to war.  This is what is so refreshing about Colon Powell.  He seems to understand that wars kill people.

I am sorry I usually don't get into this section of TER I am much to busy with other areas but this one hit a nerve.

We are in the middle of a huge change here in America. Bill Moyer's speech ( http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0616-09.htm ) is as good a description as I've seen. Long but worth reading.

The president's popularity falls, but I don't think it is because he invaded Iraq to extend the American empire. It is mostly because he did it so incompetently that it boggles the mind.

Actually, on the bright side none of this probably matters.

Oil production is either at or near its peak while world demand continues to rise. There is plenty of coal but that produces at least as much pollution as oil even if we manage to change from oil to coal without nuclear war over who gets the oil. Global warming can only accelerate as the amount of carbon dioxide increases. (Hopefully, we will never experience the kind of thermal runaway that occurred on the planet Venus -- it is closer to the sun after all.)

As someone looking at the world environmental situation said, "We are probably all on the Titantic. And this time there aren't any lifeboats."

So my advice is, don't sweat the small stuff. The guy who said, "Eat, drink, and make merry {or was that Mary}, for tomorrow we die" had a point.


-- Modified on 6/17/2004 2:20:23 PM

-- Modified on 6/18/2004 10:19:43 AM

and a tooth for a tooth, until the whole world is blind and toothless.

[with props to Tevye]

It's not that pro-war supporters wish for "an eye for an eye" type of approach. The simple fact is that the Islamic Terrorists we are fighting do not negotiate, period. They are terrorists, they love murder in the name of their perverted view of religion and they can not be appeased. The only way to deal with them is to fight them and kill them on our terms. I'm not just talking about the US either. Europe, Asia, and moderate countries of the Middle East are targets of the Islamists also.

Here's an article from Pakistan Today that clearly assesses what we are up against. It's written by a Pakistani Muslim:

"In an Islamist controlled society, debate is forbidden, difference of opinion and dissension is considered a perversion, and modern education a threat. Individual reasoning is forbidden. And expression of doubt about any aspect of the "religiously mandated" social, cultural and political sociology is barred as blasphemy.

Anyone attempting to challenge the status quo is instantly declared an apostate. An Islamist mind is a possessed mind - a condition that compels him or her to live to destroy others. An Islamist does not believe in living side by side with anyone who does not conform to his or her ideology. His life is a constant Jihad (holy war) to overwhelm and eradicate infidels.

No one is more threatened by radical Islam than the Muslims themselves. That's why some of us who have somehow escaped the Islamist control and influence have taken upon ourselves to expose the scourge and by doing so exterminate it. As a Muslim, it is my experience and observation that radical Islam can only be defeated by providing Muslims a basis of comparison - by informing them of the truth about the others. In an Islamist controlled society, Muslims see Jews, Christians and Hindus through a cleric's lens."

RLTW



-- Modified on 6/18/2004 7:00:59 AM

Today we consult "Go Rin No Sho" by Miyamoto Mushashi, sword saint of all Monkey Assassins.

The Gaze in Strategy

The gaze should be large and broad. This is the twofold gaze "Perception and Sight". Perception is strong and sight weak.

In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. It is important in strategy to know the enemy's sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword. You must study this, Lefty Blame America Firsters. The gaze is the same for single combat and for large-scale combat.

It is necessary in strategy to be able to look to both sides without moving the eyeballs. You cannot master this ability quickly. Learn what is written here: use this gaze in everyday life and do not vary it whatever happens.


Practice this so as not be overwhelmed by bleeding heart liberals.

Not literally, of course, but it is patently obvious that you have no respect for any way of life that is alien to your own, and are unwilling to accommodate the possibility of other sets of societal values.  The fact that you don't even have any qualms about preaching such a hateful, holier than thou attitude, and then claiming it to be "sarcasm" gives you away.

First you slander the leadership (which of course is expected of you), then you come back with "tooth for a tooth, until the whole world is blind and toothless" nonsense?

Well on second thought, I guess that was some pretty deep thinking for a liberal.

Had George W. Bush really been looking for our enemies among the radical Moslem extremists, he would have clearly seen that they were NOT in Iraq.  Many were in Afghanistan, of course, but also in Iran, Syria, the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, and elsewhere.  The brutal irony is that they were NOT in Iraq, because Saddam was persecuting the fundamentalists, exiling them, jailing them, etc, and so they were elsewhere.  And their funding was coming from our "allies" in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while their training centers were along with Afghanistan, Syria and Iran.  

And yet, George W. Bush decided to overthrow Iraq.  NOT because of Islamic Fundamentalists who might bring terror to us, but because of Oil, and Money, and Personal Vendettas.  If Bush were SERIOUS about going after Islamic fundamentalist terror, the next step after Afghanistan would have been Saudi Arabia (where 15 of the 19 hijackers came from, remember?).  But that would never happen, because the Bush family holdings had received OVER a BILLION DOLLARS in oil-related business from the Saudi family over the years, and there is certainly MORE to flow in the future.  And Iraq was NEVER about terror.  It was about oil money.

Next thing you know, Bush will be claiming that Paul Johnson's beheading shows how right he was to invade Iraq.  Despite, of course that it was a Saudi Al Qaida cell that committed this brutal act.  And Bush's misguided right wing apologists will nod in agreement.  WAKE UP and see who the enemies REALLY ARE!

From Hagakure, The Book of the Samurai:

Our bodies are given life from the midst if nothingess. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, "Form is emptiness." That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, "Emptiness is form." One should not think that these are two separate things.

Reflect upon it and realise that the lefty Bush hater is full of nothingnesshit.

And, since I'm not a Lefty Bush hater, I don't even know whom you might be referring to.  I'm a centrist Libertarian, who will admit to hating what Bush has done to our Nation.  As an individual, I'd have no problem with the man if he was employed at level commensurate with his mediocrity, rather than in a position where he can squander the lives of nearly a thousand brave American troops, and hundreds of Billions of dollars on a falsely justified fools errand in Iraq.