On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 10:19:18 -0800 (PST), Michael Redler
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "Those Americans.....!".
>
> If your are not American and anti-American, know this:
>
> There are plenty of Americans who watched the coronation -- like
the 80+ thousand protesters (myself included) who marched in NYC on March
20th, 2004. Many were more interested in cheering on the demonstrators
along the parade route than the parade itself.
>
> Many who haven't lived here in the US, don't know how complex the
culture is and how many are screaming foul, knowing they are not being
represented in a duopoly we call the federal government.
>
> Many of us who are not atheists, don't subscribe to nationalistic
dogma and have the benevolence to see the trouble with those who only find
it in their hearts to say "God Bless America".
>
> Mike
>
> Anti-Fossil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Luc,
>
> I would like to clarify a couple of things for you, as it appears
to me that
> perhaps you do not know all that you think you do.
>
> First, I do not personally know of one single person who actually
> watched
> president dumb-a** on his ridiculous inauguration day. I am sure there
> were
> plenty, but my point is that there are a great many people in this
> country,
> in my opinion, who do not subscribe to his brand of insanity and
are working
> night and day to limit his damage. I am a simple man and do not claim
> to
> know the inner workings of world politics, or even top level American
> politics. But I know this, if you dismiss all of America because of the
> policies of an obviously lacking President, then you do so at your own
> peril. This country should not be judged to be the sum total of her
> leadership. That simply isn't the case. America is about her people.
> Say
> what you will about us, the fact is that I personally know at least 6
> soldiers who are either in Iraq right now, or have rotated back, and I
> can
> tell you first hand not one of them wants to be there. Do we still
> sound
> like "war mongers" to you? I could pass on stories they have relayed to
> me,
> about things that have happened over there, that would give you a
> different
> perspective, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Personally, I am
> of
> the opinion that you are just anti-American, and that is unfortunate,
> but
> also quite popular today.
>
> The only other point I wanted to make was that if we do get into a war
> with
> China and/or Russia, God forbid, I think it would be in the worlds best
> interest to appeal to all parties involved, and do whatever is required
> to
> prevent any conflict from starting. Who knows what would be left for
> collateral, or to be damaged for that matter.
>
> AntiFossil
> Mike Krafka
> Minnesota USA
>
> *********************************************************
> "If you think you are too small to make a
> difference try sleeping with a mosquito."
> Dalai Lama
> *********************************************************
> "Experience is the comb that nature gives us
> when we are bald."
> Belgian proverb
> *********************************************************
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Legal Eagle"
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 5:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [Biofuel] What the Rest of the World Watched on
> Inauguration
> Day
>
> > I can still see that image in my mind's eye and it always troubles me
> > deeply.
> > When the words "colateral damage" is applied to Americans at home
> > after
> they
> > get into a war with Russia and/or China over global control of
> > natural
> > resources I wonder just who is going to be feeling anything for them
> > ...
> > anything at all. Won't be the warmongers that are slaughtering the
> innocent
> > that much is certain.
> > They will reap what they have sown and there will be none to
deliver. What
> > was once a brave group of men and women are now reduced to nothing
> > short
> of
> > barbaric pirates. All for the "glory of God" no doubt... NOT !
> > Luc
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Keith Addison"
>
> > To:
> > Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2005 2:01 PM
> > Subject: [Biofuel] What the Rest of the World Watched on Inauguration
> > Day
> >
> >
> > > See also:
> > >
> > > http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0128-24.htm
> > > Published on Friday, January 28, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
> > > Why the Children in Iraq Make No Sound When They Fall
> > > by Bernard Chazelle
> > >
> > > ---------
> > >
> > > http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0128-35.htm
> > > Published on Friday, January 28, 2005 by the National Catholic
> > > Reporter
> > >
> > > What the Rest of the World Watched on Inauguration Day
> > >
> > > by Joan Chittister
> > >
> > > Dublin, on U.S. Inauguration Day, didn't seem to notice. Oh,
they played
> a
> > > few clips that night of the American president saying, "The
> > > survival of
> > > liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty
> > > in
> > > other lands."
> > >
> > > But that was not their lead story.
> > >
> > > The picture on the front page of The Irish Times was a large
> > > four-color
> > > picture of a small Iraqi girl.
> > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/middle_east_s
> > > hooting_in_tal_afar/html/3.stm
> > > Her little body was a coil of steel. She sat knees up, cowering,
> screaming
> > > madly into the dark night. Her white clothes and spread hands and
> > > small
> > > tight face were blood-spattered. The blood was the blood of her
> > > father
> and
> > > mother, shot through the car window in Tal Afar by American
> > > soldiers
> while
> > > she sat beside her parents in the car, her four brothers and
> > > sisters in
> > > the back seat.
> > >
> > > A series of pictures of the incident played on the inside
page, as well.
> A
> > > 12-year-old brother, wounded in the fray, falls face down out
of the car
> > > when the car door opens, the pictures show. In another, a
soldier decked
> > > out in battle gear, holds a large automatic weapon on the
four children,
> > > all potential enemies, all possible suicide bombers,
apparently, as they
> > > cling traumatized to one another in the back seat and the child on
> > > the
> > > ground goes on screaming in her parent's blood.
> > >
> > > No promise of "freedom" rings in the cutline on this picture. No
> > > joy of
> > > liberty underlies the terror on these faces here.
> > >
> > > I found myself closing my eyes over and over again as I stared at
> > > the
> > > story, maybe to crush the tears forming there, maybe in the hope
> > > that
> the
> > > whole scene would simply disappear.
> > >
> > > But no, like the photo of a naked little girl bathed in napalm and
> running
> > > down a road in Vietnam served to crystallize the situation
there for the
> > > rest of the world, I knew that this picture of a screaming, angry,
> > > helpless, orphaned child could do the same.
> > >
> > > The soldiers standing in the dusk had called "halt," the
story said, but
> > > no one did. Maybe the soldiers' accents were bad. Maybe the car
> > > motor
> was
> > > unduly noisy. Maybe the children were laughing loudly --
> > > the way children do on family trips. Whatever the case, the car did
> > > not
> > > stop, the soldiers shot with deadly accuracy, seven lives changed
> > > in an
> > > instant: two died in body, five died in soul.
> > >
> > > BBC news announced that the picture was spreading across Europe
> > > like a
> > > brushfire that morning, featured from one major newspaper to
> > > another,
> > > served with coffee and Danish from kitchen table to kitchen
table in one
> > > country after another. I watched, while Inauguration Day dawned
> > > across
> the
> > > Atlantic, as the Irish up and down the aisle on the train
from Killarney
> > > to Dublin, narrowed their eyes at the picture, shook their heads
> silently
> > > and slowly over it, and then sat back heavily in their seats, too
> stunned
> > > into reality to go back to business as usual -- the real
estate section,
> > > the sports section, the life-style section of the paper.
> > >
> > > Here was the other side of the inauguration story. No military
> > > bands
> > > played for this one. No bulletproof viewing stands could stop
the impact
> > > of this insight into the glory of force. Here was an America they
> > > could
> no
> > > longer understand. The contrast rang cruelly everywhere.
> > >
> > > I sat back and looked out the train window myself. Would anybody in
> > > the
> > > United States be seeing this picture today? Would the United
States ever
> > > see it, in fact? And if it is printed in the United States,
will it also
> > > cross the country like wildfire and would people hear the unwritten
> story
> > > under it?
> > >
> > > There are 54 million people in Iraq. Over half of them are
under the age
> > > of 15. Of the over 100,000 civilians dead in this war, then, over
> > > half
> of
> > > them are children. We are killing children. The children are our
> > > enemy.
> > > And we are defeating them.
> > >
> > > "I'll tell you why I voted for George Bush," a friend of mine said.
> > > "I
> > > voted for George Bush because he had the courage to do what Al Gore
> > > and
> > > John Kerry would never have done."
> > >
> > > I've been thinking about that one.
> > >
> > > Osama Bin Laden is still alive. Sadam Hussein is still alive. Abu
> > > Musab
> > > al-Zarqawi is still alive. Baghdad, Mosul and Fallujah are burning.
> > > But
> my
> > > government has the courage to kill children or their parents. And
> > > I'm
> > > supposed to be impressed.
> > >
> > > That's an unfair assessment, of course. A lot of young soldiers
> > > have
> died,
> > > too. A lot of weekend soldiers are maimed for life. A lot of our
> > > kids
> went
> > > into the military only to get a college education and are now
> > > shattered
> in
> > > soul by what they had to do to other bodies.
> > >
> > > A lot of adult civilians have been blasted out of their homes and
> > > their
> > > neighborhoods and their cars. More and more every day.
According to U.N.
> > > Development Fund for Women, 15 percent of wartime casualties in
> > > World
> War
> > > I were civilians. In World War II, 65 percent were civilians.
By the mid
> > > '90s, over 75 percent of wartime casualties were civilians.
> > >
> > > In Iraq, for every dead U.S. soldier, there are 14 other deaths, 93
> > > percent of them are civilian. But those things happen in war, the
> > > story
> > > says. It's all for a greater good, we have to remember. It's
all to free
> > > them. It's all being done to spread "liberty."
> > >
> > > From where I stand, the only question now is who or what will free
> > > us
> from
> > > the 21st century's new definition of bravery. Who will free us from
> > > the
> > > notion that killing children or their civilian parents takes
> > > courage?
> > >
> > > A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Sister Joan is a best-selling author
> > > and
> > > well-known international lecturer. She is founder and
executive director
> > > of Benetvision: A Resource and Research Center for Contemporary
> > > Spirituality, and past president of the Conference of American
> Benedictine
> > > Prioresses and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
Sister Joan
> > > has been recognized by universities and national organizations for
> > > her
> > > work for justice, peace and equality for women in the Church and
> society.
> > > She is an active member of the International Peace Council.
> > >
> > > © 2005 The National Catholic Reporter
> > >
