If we are not the stupidest humans on the planet, then we ought to be!
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Grave Error · Essays, Prose and other Digressions
Grave Error 
OH COME ON.
Eric, it’s a blonde, you can’t actually expect it to have the ability to stand, look pretty, think and respond … all at once?
That’s just inhumane, you should be ashamed of putting such expectations on such an obviously limited creature.
Shame cugino, shame.
Along with the “improper” conduct of the US senator Craig, this story is part of the media cover up to mask the fact that the US administration is preparing to bomb Iran back to the stone age.
Labeling the Iranian military as a terrorist organization allows Bush to go to war without the need to get the prior approval of Congress. Downplaying the IAEA milestone agreement with the Iranians by the US administration is a remake of 2003: The only difference is that the British poodle was replaced by the French lapdog!
In short,
Americans are distracted by these stories;
Congress is on vacation;
The media is silent about the coming catastrophe;
and
The largest US armada is in the region ready to strike and it is not coincidental that the surge in Iraq is putting more than 160,000 troops next door to Iran at this critical time.
Beside that, have a nice sun tan irrespective of your geographic location!
Fadi,
Any chance you have any links to information regarding this offensive, someone mentioned this same scenario on my site …
I’d just like to see just how far “The Stupid Brothers” are willing to go to make America a third world nation.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
valid point Fadi. I have heard the same info from multiple sources today. Despite the 1994 Cheney interview (which recently came to light- or at least to my attention), which proves that Bush administration knew what they were getting into w/ Iraq and new that they would empower Iran and further destabilize the whole region, I don’t think Bush has the courage to go into Iran.
If this is true it’s not surprising. This country has been making the same kinds of policies for over 50 years.
I feel sorry for the girl but as pitiful as that is it ain’t a sin to be stupid. It IS a sin to be greedy, merciless and corrupt.
Vargas,
nice point. And to add to it, the Cheney video clip, further supports the argument that the Bush Administration isn’t stupid and their actions were made knowing (that it would lead to this outcome) and were made out of greedy.
That’s the article of Jeff Gibbs, who worked on Micheal Moore documentaries
August 31, 2007
It’s Time to Stop Messing Around
Why I Am Not Going to the Protest
By JEFF GIBBS
I am not going to the protest. I am tired of protests: they don’t stop wars. Not protests that are mostly about sign waving and hooking up with friends and strangers and feeling the solidarity and then going back to work or school on Monday. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
Sure it FEELS rebellious, these government-permitted, media-ignored, totally predictable rituals-but come on, going to an anti-war protest hasn’t been rebellious since Abbie Hoffman coughed up a fur ball at one in 1968. And in the context of the war on our civil liberties envisioned by Clinton/Reno and executed by your nemesis George W. Bush, they are very, very happy to have you protest and take your name and number. Or force you into a field, or a waiting pen to be locked away until they decide to let you out.
Personally I am tired of marching alongside people wearing masks and carrying signs about stupid Bush when we and everyone we know put together have not been smart enough to stop him. And the Bush bashing only makes the whole parade, err, protest look juvenile to the rest of the world.
Here is what I propose: let’s stop messing around. No more anti-war. Let’s stop the war. No more protest, unless it is part of some huge thing that doesn’t involve business as usual the next day. How do you stop the war? Shut ‘er down. No more business as usual. The target audience: the Democrats, and the presidential candidates who can’t fall over each other fast enough rattling their little Democrat saberettes. (“Bomb Iran? I can top that, let’s bomb PAKISTAN! Take THAT, cowboy!”)
Being anti-war is a fashion statement, a political position, not a movement. I talked to a fellow yesterday who was anti-poison but still used them on HIS lake to fight HIS weeds-weeds outta control because he and his neighbors dump tons of fertilizer on their beach hugging lawns. I personally am anti-junk food but I still eat it, anti-logging but I still use wood products, anti-fossil fuels but my work and fun still depend on them. I am anti-aging but I still age. I am against, rape, animal cruelty, torture, genetically modified food, child abuse but what am I doing to stop it? Well, being against it. In other words, nothing.
“Anti-” is easy-stopping is hard.
And stop it we must. We cannot wait ’til our hand is forced. Morally, it will mean we failed. Already the deaths of ten, or maybe hundreds of thousands of Iraqis is on our hands. Yours and mine. Mothers incinerated as they hold their children. Young men who looked like trouble. Shopkeepers standing where Saddam “might” have been. By some accounts two million refugees that we refuse to take in. Every day, more die because we are there. Sure it’s a mess–so was Vietnam and the killing only stopped when we left. (Read the actual history, Mr. Bush, not the pretend history.)
We are not welcome in Iraq by the people we are allegedly liberating. Most people don’t appreciate being killed to be freed and surprise! EIGHTY PERCENT of the citizens of Iraq want us gone. In fact a lot of them are so overjoyed with us “liberating” them to celebrate they are killing as many young Americans as possible. They long for the good old days before we “liberated” them, and coincidentally, their oil.
Why are we not gone? It’s our economy, stupid. Let’s get a grip: the U.S. does not have enough of it’s own oil, or natural gas, and soon coal, and no time soon-maybe never-are we going to be rid of our addiction to fossil fuels until it runs out and our cold, dead hands will at last let loose of the gas pump. Without access to Middle East energy YOU would not be flying to Ohio to see your grandma or to Europe for that meeting. YOU would not be driving your Subaru up the mountainside. And I would probably not be making movies by traipsing around the countryside in van. It’s not about the SUV or Ford F-150 driver-he or she probably uses less fuel in a year than you and I do flying to Hawaii or Paris one time. It’s about all of us, we Americans. WE are not complaining about HDTV’s and ipods and cheap prices on Travelocity or even aware of the irony of liking, no loving a show about a mobster family that kills, maims and extorts its way to wealth.
The grim reality we don’t have enough energy in the U.S. to feed economies and lifestyles going. Losing control of the region-and an Iraq ruled by Iran means the oil (and perhaps even more importantly the natural gas) is controlled by people who don’t kowtow to us-and might not cough up the oil & gas. The Chinese have contracts; we have ARMIES! Feel safer?
So why don’t we have A STOP THE WAR plan? That might require pain and sacrifice, something we’re told we don’t have to engage in as American’s–not even to save the planet. So for Christ’s sake if changing light bulbs and buying a hybrid can save the entire planet, I mean what do we have to do to save little puny country like Iraq? Squint? Give up the lime in limon? Buy some green light bulbs?
Now make no mistake, I like many of all of you reading, felt like I was giving it my all from time to time. The big protest in February of 2003 was part of that-millions turned out, we all felt heartened. Thought is was scarcely reported by the media, friends of mine blockaded a military deployment for a few hours while I and others served as a support team. I was part of making an anti-war movie you may have heard of-“Fahrenheit 9/11.” But I repeat, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting the same result, and hundreds of protests and anti-war films and four years later we have NOT stopped, nor slowed the war at all. Maybe we have helped galvanize public opinion. If so good. Maybe we thought supporting the democrats in ’06 would do it. It didn’t.
No longer can I live with myself by saying, well, I did my part. I don’t care whether the polls are for or against us. I don’t care whether or not the political process is working-it isn’t. It is immoral and a crime against humanity for us to continue to occupy Iraq and kill civilians. (Anywhere for that matter. May I digress for a moment? When did it become okay to bomb civilians because Saddam or a terrorist or a bad guy MIGHT be present among them? That’s a sin and those responsible should be held accountable. Would you be wiling to sacrifice YOUR family because someone wanted to take out a nearby bad guy? When did we lose our moral compass so badly that we don’t even need to pretend to be against killing civilians, or torture, or occupying a nation that wants us the hell out?)
I can no longer give myself a pass because MY deal, my family, my work, my ease, is more important. It’s not. Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, even if the comfortable are ourselves. We should be ashamed that we are leaving the heavy lifting the Cindy Sheehan, to me the lone voice who has failed to be cowed into submission or giving up among us.
Let’s come together not as activist or organizers but as citizens to make a plan. People associated with peace and justice groups could attend as individuals. Why? Because, 1) our “grassroots” groups, as good of people and as great a service as they provide, are really NOT grassroots groups, they are individuals self-appointed, and 2) organizations tend to merely want more of what they are good at, the usual protests, T-shirts and ad hoc causes glommed on to this one.
Only one cause here: stop the war. Only citizens allowed. Speaking of citizens, where is Al Gore? Or Bill Clinton? Jimmy Carter, we need you! Where are the heavy hitters? Time to weigh in, past time. Time like Martin Luther King or Gandhi to lead the walk-out, lead the shut-down, get out in front.
What would stopping the war look like? How about democrats: start to bring the troops home by thus such day, or we’re going to have NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL DAY. Picked a day, draw a line in the sand for a national strike, or slow down, or work stoppage, or walk-out, maybe a day when college students are getting bored, maybe in striking distance of the holiday shopping binge. But it should here is the message: “Democrats, end the war now. Bring the troops home now. Business will NOT go on as usual until you do this.” No shopping. No going to work. No movies released. No concerts. No TV shows produced. No schools open-the students have walked out. No buying of cars, plane tickets, gasoline. Hundreds of people driving the speed limit every rush hour-every major city will be shut down. Campus walkouts and non-violent strikes; maybe occupations. I don’t know how to do this, but I know we must do it, or something like. Do you have a better idea?
Their blood is in our name. Yours and mine. They want us gone. The killing does not have a chance of ending until we’re gone. We must admit we were wrong, we are wrong, apologize, ask what we can do to make amends. Sending young men and women to kill or be killed, young men and women with bombs, guns, napalm, artillery is the way to breed tens of thousands of Osamas, not the way to peace.
Let’s stop the war. Let’s pick a day and come together to plan this, how to stop, not oppose the war. You know the constitution gave us liberties not merely to be happy, but to rise up when our leaders have taken the power from the people. The president doesn’t have the power to wage war: only the people do. The second amendment wasn’t meant to safeguard your right to horde sub-machine guns in your basement, it was meant to reserve the right to rebel, to fight for what is right, for the people, in the event their government has gotten out of control.
History will not judge George W. Bush. It will judge us. He did not send the troops there; we did. Only one congresswoman and NO senators voted against this war. We can bring them home, but first the democrats must fear the wrath of the people. And right now they fear us far us far too little.
If the planning happens around the protest, then I will be there. If the protest is not an event, but is a reality-changing, world-changing first step in a real plan to stop the war; if everyone promises to not get back on the bus, on the plane, or in their cars having wasted a bunch of fossil fuel on a parade, I will be there.
And if we do have a slow-down, shut-down, buy nothing, consume nothing, use no fuels thing going for a time maybe we can have a parade on our bikes, get to know our families and neighbors, and begin the real work of stopping global warming and global wars and terrorism the only real way possible: by ending our role as the world’s chief glutton and bullies.
Jeff Gibbs is a filmmaker from Flint, Michigan. He was a producer on “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” and is currently working on an environmental documentary and one on radical activism. He can be reached at jeffgibbstc@aol.com.
There is also today’s Robert Fisk article where he subreptecely mentions at the end that the whole region will turn into a 4 July fireworks.
http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2917317.ece
Finally, there is Juancole.com blog where he mentioned this on August Thursty (other sources with websites are mentioned).
Cheney & Iran: Here We Go Again?
Barnett Rubin relays a message from a well-connected friend in Washington on the Cheney Administration’s plans to roll out a military confrontation with Iran in September. He writes at the Global Affairs blog:
” My friend had spoken to someone in one of the leading neo-conservative institutions. He summarized what he was told this way:
They [the source’s institution] have “instructions” (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don’t think they’ll ever get majority support for this–they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is “plenty.”
Of course I cannot verify this report. But besides all the other pieces of information about this circulating, I heard last week from a former U.S. government contractor. According to this friend, someone in the Department of Defense called, asking for cost estimates for a model for reconstruction in Asia. The former contractor finally concluded that the model was intended for Iran.”
—–
Cole: there has been some recent similar reporting. For instance, just on Tuesday Raw Story covered a paper by two British academics arguing that the US has the capability and perhaps the intention of launching an aerial assault on Iran’s enrichment facilities.
Earlier, McClatchy reported on Aug. 9 that Cheney has been urging bombing of Iranian trails to Iraq. This position struck me as eerily reminiscent of Nixon-Kissinger’s treatment of Cambodia (which is what really caused the Khmer Rouge horrors, not, as Bush said the other day, US withdrawal from Vietnam; we dropped enormous amounts of ordnance on that country and severely disrupted it).
Also at Raw Story on Aug. 10.
And Gareth Porter on Aug. 16 responding to the McClatchy article.
So, maybe something is up.
If you want to see what I think of a war with Iran, see this golden oldie.
Read Rubin’s whole piece.
Sorry August 30th!
Thanks Fadi, good reading.
The Jeff Gibbs article is excellent, perhaps Moore should take a lesson from him. The endless rants may get minor media attention, but that’s one mention on the evening news, and then, no one really cares any more.
Gibbs hits it dead on, and although it makes one an anathema publicly, that’s what has to be said ~ we aren’t trying, and may not even have the fortitude left as a society to do what is required, (i.e. it isn’t just Bushco, it’s the entirety of the politicians who represent the depraved indifference of this system).
D.C. needs to burn, and those people need to disappear permanently. That won’t stand a chance of happening unless the Iran incident does take place though. You only move societies out of their habituations by suffering and death, sad truth of the human world.
Graci amici
Indeed but who’s reading? The anti-war movement does not want to oppose the Democrats… and the US Admin is yet again having a free bloody ride…
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more
than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 7 have been arrested for fraud
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
* 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
* 3 have done time for assault
* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year…
Can you guess which organization this is?
Give up yet?
It’s the 535 members of the United States Congress.
The same group that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to
keep the rest of us in line.
Running the numbers that is 374 known criminals enjoined in the administration of this country.
I add one to get 374, because the V.P. is Senate leader and our V.P. has criminal DUI charges on his record, and should also include a number of other charges including felony assault, aggravated assault, gross negligence, fleeing the scene of a crime, evading arrest, and fraud.
Yet, American’s will still play the partisan politics and say “the other party” will get the job done. In a manner, they are correct in saying such; as long as “getting the job done” is equated to sodomising the Republic with 80 grit sandpaper and forgetting to kiss us on the cheek when leaving via the window, with our wallets.
James interesting facts in post #13. I love it.
As for the last paragraph in post #11, I often pose a similar question to people… the way i phrase the question, is what if change in the US will only occur if the (political) pendulum is swung too far to the right (or one extreme)… and then it will naturally swing back past the middle and to the left.
Most people tell me that things don’t work that way. However, recent history has proven them incorrect. Bushco did swing the pendulum a bit too far to the right and when the pendulum swung back the conservatives fleed and continue to flee all connections w/ Bushco. Even Bill Reilly can no longer get a republican on his show.
So i wonder what would happen if the pendulum was swung even further to one extreme?
My hope is that swings further enough back beyond the democratic party to a new party that represents working people.
Fadi/James,
Interesting, I just read on my flight back to Madrid an article in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reporting on the US’s intention to do a swift attack on Iran and destroy its military. That would be a great way to make people hate us even more.
Having said that, though, I am sure that the US has the approval of the Saudis, Egyptians, et al. Those guys are scared shitless of the Shiites anyways.
Rewrite,
That’s one of my favorite lists to keep updated and cram down individual’s weeping throats when the start the “my party’s better” banter.
If you go get the names on them, you’ll find out, it’s just about an even split, with no differentiation as per type of crime ~ which really steams my shells on the “117” statistic , and that we give them the keys to the bank.
On the pendulum problem, there is no contention there, you are correct, overswing is now the status quo; oh damn it, what did Niccolo say about this, “The stability of a Republic is not found in the well being of its individuals, but in the well being of its community.” Wow, what a dumbass Machiavelli was, it’s just so obvious how wrong he was ~ putting the community of the Republic above the petty wants of the individuals ~ he must be on “The Stupid®”.
[/exit bittersarcasm.exe]
Eric,
The problem with the Saudi’s, Egyptians, et al., is that they will say that they fear the Shia in diplomatic sessions ~ and then turn right around and send them checks after “ole Whitey” has left the building. Ceteris paribus, the Saudi’s are more dangerous than the Iranians or the Shia.
They play both sides to try to maintain enough instability to keep oil at a premium, and send out enough gold to keep themselves “fairly” safe and out of harm’s way. The Reaper awaits them, it’s only a matter of time.