-Caveat Lector- ------- Forwarded message follows ------- -> SNETNEWS Mailing List
NOTABLE QUOTABLES ON "PATRIOTIC WARMONGERING" "Dan Rather, the star news anchor for the US television network CBS, said last night that "patriotism run amok" was in danger of trampling the freedom of American journalists to ask tough questions. And he admitted that he had shrunk from taking on the Bush administration over the war on terrorism." -- Matthew Engel in Washington, Friday May 17, 2002 -The Guardian "Rather is 100% correct. The attitude here is such that to question the government's actions is to be labelled an 'America Hater', 'Taliban Lover' or as having 'Terrorist Friends'. The media have been war-mongering since 12 September and stirred up an incredible level of xenophobia towards all other countries. It's simply a right-wing version of political correctness. The War on Terrorism hasn't killed off free speech, that died a long time ago in the United States." --Lain, USA (ex-UK) "Note the disappearance of CNN's bulletin boards. All of them questioning the administration were removed within a few weeks of the attacks (9/11), then all of the other boards were taken down. People here are told to equate patriotism, a love of a country, with nationalism, a love of a government." --Matt, USA, 2002 "Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear-kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor-with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it ..." -- General Douglas MacArthur, 1957 "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." --H. L. Mencken "Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." -- Julius Caesar (shades of G.W Bush) "That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of nations, is as shocking as it is true; but when those who are concerned in the government of a country, make it their study to sow discord, and cultivate prejudices between nations, it becomes the more unpardonable." - Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", circa 1792 "Several weeks ago, I called for a congressional investigation into what warnings the Bush Administration received before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I was derided by the White House, right wing talk radio, and spokespersons for the military-industrial complex as a conspiracy theorist. Even my patriotism was questioned because I dared to suggest that Congress should conduct a full and complete investigation into the most disastrous intelligence failure in American history. Georgia Senator Zell Miller even went so far as to characterize my call for hearings as "dangerous, loony and irresponsible." "Today's revelations that the administration, and President Bush, were given months of notice that a terrorist attack was a distinct possibility points out the critical need for a full and complete congressional investigation. "It now becomes clear why the Bush Administration has been vigorously opposing congressional hearings. The BUSH ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN ENGAGED IN A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE. If committed and patriotic people had not been pushing for disclosure today's revelations would have been hidden by the White House. "Because I love my country, because I am a patriot, and because the American people deserve the truth, I believe it would be dangerous, loony and irresponsible not to hold full congressional hearings on any warnings the Bush Administration had before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. --Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, May 16, 2002 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin "No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." --P.J. O'Rourke "It is only when the People become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. Let us, by all wise and constitutional measures, promote intelligence among the People, as the best means of preserving our liberties." --James Monroe "We have the greatest opportunity the world has ever seen, as long as we remain honest -- which will be as long as we can keep the attention of our people alive. If they once become inattentive to public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors would all become wolves." --Thomas Jefferson "If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams "A global war cannot be continuously carried out for so long without reasons for the war, real or made up. I feel at first the Americans where willing to believe anything (such as a passport from one of the hijackers escaping the burning inferno to reach safety at the foot of a FBI agent) but now as the pain reduces and as does the anger two things will happen. One: the American government will create or "remind" people of the reasons why they are sending their sons and daughters to fight in a foreign land. Two: the American people with a now clear mind will be less likely to just believe everything." --Tony Khan, UK, 2002 ------- End of forwarded message ------- ------------------------ "In little more than a year we have gone from enjoying peace and the most prosperous economy in our history, to a nation plunged into war, recession and fear. This is a nation being transformed before our very eyes." http://www.truthout.com Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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