Hallo Keith, Ryan, Todd, All, Let me start off by stating that I understand I am sounding like a broken record but I believe my point to be important enough to keep on beating the same old drum.
First things first. We, the United States, are a nation of sheep. Herd animals at heart as are most people to a greater or lesser extent. We also think of ourselves a a good and kind people as do most other folks. But, and this is a big but, we are a lazy people in many respects particularly when it comes to working the mind and that makes us ripe for manipulation. Somehow it does not strike us as odd that when we watch the news on TV or listen to the news on the radio or read the news in the various print media that they somehow all seem to have the same stories in the main. If ABC airs a piece on how Brad Pitt farted in public during the filming of his latest movie you can bet that all the other networks will run the same story and vice versa. Very important stuff. That the majority of the all media is owned by fewer and fewer people doesn't seem to be understood by most folks. When Bush was in a position to realize his plans for Iraq most of the "American public" didn't bother to do any investigating into the excuses he gave for the attack. They just took his word for it. After all he was backed up by intel and men of "integrity" such as Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and Powell. Besides, we all know we are a good and kind people. However, the fact is that had people not been lazy and willing to take the word of out and out professional liars, those being politicians and big money concerns, they would have understood that Iraq may have been a threat to its neighbors in the middle east but not to anyone in the west. Also, were we not plagued by laziness in thought and by selective memory, we would have remembered that it was the United States that assisted Sadaam into power and gave him what "WMD" he possessed. We would have also remembered that he used them against his own people and the Iranians and not against western peoples. Another problem we face is the two party system. A lot of folks will think I mean the Democrats and Republicans but that is just what is on the cover of the book. The contents are the haves and the have nots. We think that there is a world of difference between those in the major political parties but under closer scrutiny we will find that the problem is not that one party wants to rape the public and the other doesn't, but HOW the public will be raped because the raping is sure to come. It is not just the American public who gets raped either. Ask the Iraqis. As a matter of fact just ask anyone who decides not to play the game. Any good idea from those outside the circle of power is co-opted and then watered down. Any government who blasts American policy pays a penalty. But even given that the US is not much different than any other country, just bigger and more powerful. This two party scheme has us doing a couple of thing we should not be doing. The first is believing that the choice between tweedledum and tweedledee is actually a choice. Having to choose between the lesser of two evils without being able to choose for the good is NOT A CHOICE. The second thing we do is settle for that state of affairs. "Well, at least I'm voting and trying to do something about things." Dream on. What you get is the illusion of doing something while the status quo remain essentially the same. While I'm thinking about it a third thing we do is boil everything down to economics. The bottom line. A vile phrase. A phrase which marks us as the lowest form of mammal. We knowingly rape and destroy each other for money? We reduce our fellows to mere increments of labor so we can have the profit margin we think we "need"? My grandfather was in the sit-down strikes in Flint, Michigan back in 1936 when they were trying to get a union established. He told me that back in '36 the union movement was a great and needed social movement with a sense of purpose as well as a good moral and ethical base. He then went on to say that he vividly remembered that in 1955 the union took the final step for the worst and became "just like management" and only interested in money and keeping the union bosses in their jobs. He also told me that he always drove Buicks (at which factory he worked) until 1955 and then he figured he might as well drive Fords or Chevrolets (less expensive and cheaper autos) because the quality in the Buicks had become no better than those other models. In less than 20 years the union had sunk to the lowest common denominator. Again, the bottom line. Well, the bottom line is as low as you can get folks. My duties in the military afforded me the opportunity to go around the world and visit, if only briefly, over 3 dozen countries. The people I met in these countries were folks just like I assume most of us are, that being common, everyday folks. I can tell you that we are not different from one another in the things that matter. The "insert country name here" public wants to do the right thing anywhere you go. The problem is that we are interested in doing what is right for "us" rather than just what is right. We buy into the "us and them" fiction as though "they" are something other than human beings as well with the same wants and needs and desires as us. We have given way too much of our power to institutions be they financial or governmental. Churches and communities used to take care of their poor and infirm and unemployed. We gave that over to various institutions and along with that we also gave up a good share of our sense of responsibility and the ethic of care. These things have become impersonal now. A matter of figures for the accountant. We seem to care more about our pets welfare than that of our fellow man. Mucking about in politics may superficially appear to be helpful but most often it is actually futile and deletirious as well. Some good can come of it but not much and the good is generally neither profound nor lasting. Politics is really good at keeping track of "us and them" and diverting ones attention from real problems and solutions to getting "them" out of power and "us" back in. Until we figure out that "we" is everyone including the likes of Stalin and Hitler and Sadaam and Bush and Arafat and Osama then we are going to get nowhere and get there slowly. Until we learn to do what is right because it is right for everyone then we are going to have the same old same old until hell freezes over. The good and right and true gets passed on from person to person not by religions or political parties or economic systems or nations. The good is personal and institutions are not. These evil suckers get into power because they pander to our lowest instincts and we buy into it. It is time we smartened up. I am getting old and more and more infirm and figure I have maybe a dozen years before I go to meet my maker. When I do go I would like to leave a cleaner, less polluted, kinder world for my grandkids and great grandkids to enjoy. I want my kids to have reason tempered by love. I want them to understand that until they treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those they despise and who they think do not deserve either kindness or respect, they are going to be part of the problem. I want them to know that if they are not careful the words they speak and write can be considered pollution just as much as smog or anything else. I want them to care enough for others that they are concerned that there are those whose basic needs are not being met and to work to help those needs be met as they are able rather than have some false sense of guilt or just sit on their hands and ignore the problem. I want my kids to share what they have with others beginning in their own homes and extending outward to wherever they are able to help. I want them to understand that loving service to others can be time or money or knowledge or whatever. I hope they will be good examples for their own kids and everyone else and that through their example others will be inspired to do likewise. No public, American or otherwise, does the right thing. Neither do institutions whether political, religious or economic. That is a fiction. Individuals do the right thing or the wrong thing. Institutions suck the discipline, restraint and responsibility from an individual and replace it with an artificial code of some sort. Just look at the 7 soldiers in Iraq who abused those folks in the prison. Had they maintained self-discipline/restraint/responsibility then they would not be in the situation they are now. And how is it going to play out? The lowest man on the totem pole, the enlisted folks, are going to suffer the harshest consequences whereas those who actually gave the orders will slide off with little to no punishment. It always works that way. Despite the talk of honor and ethics and morals and rules and regulations institutions all seem to be basically amoral (or at best situationally moral) and opportunistic. If one absolutely has to fool around with politics I would think that keeping that to a minimum would be advisable. Go with the lesser of two evils if you have to, but know that it is only a bandage and not a cure and keep loving service of others to the fore. Oh, and as the Firesign Theatre once said, "We're all bozo's on this bus." Happy Happy, Gustl Wednesday, 12 May, 2004, 04:26:29, you wrote: ...snip... >>Also, we sure picked a loser for a President in 2000, good thing we can kick >>him out of office in 2004. How many other countries refresh their >>leadership on such a regular basis? I agree with some who think his entire >>administration should be behind bars for the atrocities, corruption, and >>fleecing of not only the American public, but the entire world. I am >>ashamed to be associated with our false President and his cabinet these >>days, but proud that I voted for Al Gore, and rightly so...as it turns out. >>Is Kerry the answer? Maybe, but at least he will choose an entirely >>different administration and get those crocked-good-for-nothin' Ashcrofts, >>Rumsfelds, and Cheneys out of positions of power. When push comes to shove, >>and believe me it has! The AMERICAN PUBLIC will do the right thing. (altered text above - all caps) KA> Tweedledum and Tweedledee. KA> "The American public will do the right thing." I suppose that's a KA> reassuring thing to say, and to believe, but is there any substance KA> to it? I wonder if a representative cross-section of this list could KA> agree on whether the American public has ever done the right thing? KA> How could the American public itself agree on what "the right thing" KA> might be in such a hopelessly polarised society? By voting? With a KA> Diebold machine, HAVA, and a bunch of cronies on the Bench? How could KA> they know what the right thing is amid such an intense and constant KA> spin barrage? KA> And indeed they don't. Results of a recent PIPA/Knowledge Networks poll: KA> - A 57% majority believed Iraq was either "directly involved" in KA> carrying out the 9/11 attacks or had provided "substantial support" KA> to al-Qaeda KA> - 82% either said that "experts mostly agree Iraq was providing KA> substantial support to al Qaeda" or "experts are evenly divided on KA> the question" KA> - 45% believe that evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda has been found KA> - 60% believe that just before the war Iraq either had weapons of KA> mass destruction or a major program for developing them KA> - 65% said most experts say Iraq did have them or that experts are KA> divided on the question KA> - estimates of the number of US troop fatalities in Iraq varied widely KA> - 59% were unaware that the majority of world public opinion is KA> opposed to the US war with Iraq KA> - asked how many nuclear weapons the U.S. has, the median estimate KA> was 200 (the actual number is 6,000) KA> These beliefs are closely correlated with intentions to vote for Bush. KA> This puts the level of opinion of the American public far behind KA> current events that have received a great deal of coverage. It would KA> seem that a major proportion of the American public is less concerned KA> with doing "the right thing" than with believing whatever they're KA> comfortable with. KA> Just empty pablum. >>In the mean time, we're all [here on this list] are just doing what we can >>to reduce the need for foreign oil, KA> WRONG!!! >>to take the incentive away from >>stability in the Middle East. KA> Huh? >>Personally I look forward to the day when the >>economics of the region make it impossible to inhabit the area, at least on >>the same scale. Where will all of those people go? Well, they may just >>have to assimilate elsewhere, obey the law, get a job, and act respectable. >>Enough of this 2000 year code of Islamic law already, the world awards >>progress...they'll figure it out. KA> They did, you didn't. Maybe if the American public had done the right KA> thing the US would have had something vaguely resembling a foreign KA> policy over the last 50 years or so instead of sowing a trail of KA> dragon's teeth in the Middle East and elsewhere in order to prop up KA> Big Oil no matter how, a trail leading straight to 9/11 and beyond. KA> http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/BIOFUEL/32425/ KA> http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/BIOFUEL/27058/ KA> And now you think you can just walk away? Like in Afghanistan? Twice? KA> Just broken eggs for your omelette, like the Native Americans and the KA> land? (Most of which went down the Mississippi anyway, and still is.) >>Please note I don't hate Native Americans or Muslim populations in general, KA> Just in particular? >>I believe all people are generally good, and have gone through the four >>years of feminist based philosophy that is State-sponsored University here >>in the US. With that said- >> >> >>Flame away dear friends, KA> Why dangle such obvious flame-bait on an international list? This KA> isn't an American list, Americans aren't even in the majority here, KA> and it would be flame-bait even on an American list. KA> Keith >>Ryan :) >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Appal Energy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 1:57 PM >> To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com >> Subject: Re: [biofuel] US poll about Iraq war >> >> >> Why not ask the Israelis Ted? >> >> No. Wait. They haven't figured out their little problem yet either. >> >> Many don't agree with the analogy of Iraq being another Viet Nam. >> >> Rather, the comparison to the Gaza Strip or the West Bank is more >> appropriate - continual attrition, continual hate, continual oppression, >> continual occupation. >> >> But heck. The US has been very good at oppression, occupation and even >> genocide throughout its "illustrious" past. Just ask any American native. >> And for that? Jackson got his picture on the $20. >> >> One very queer country that pays homage to those who are the architects of >> such sweeping devastation. >> >> Todd Swearingen -- Je mehr wir haben, desto mehr fordert Gott von uns. Mitglied-Team AMIGA ICQ: 22211253-Gustli ******** The safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. C. S. Lewis, "The Screwtape Letters" ******** Es gibt Wahrheiten, die so sehr auf der Stra§e liegen, da§ sie gerade deshalb von der gewšhnlichen Welt nicht gesehen oder wenigstens nicht erkannt werden. ******** Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music. George Carlin ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Yahoo! 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