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| Response to the King Chickenhawk of Blogland! |
| 08.29.04 (9:30 am) [edit] |
|
Response to the King Chickenhawk: Paul, as we both write from our comfortable rooms, I am going to respond to your Bu$h autobot rhetoric point by point. Please try to remember, opposing the policy of an American administration does not automatically make one anti-American. In fact, I want to end the useless deaths of American kids in a useless war that America cannot ever win. [b]American battalions would be assisting in Fallujah now if it wasn't for the "moderate" Iraqis calling us off.[/b] Horse crap. "Assisting!" Love that. Since when is blowing the fuck out a place "assisting" it? The facts are the US did not want to 1) kill a lot of people and 2) get a lot of GI’s killed just before Bu$h goes to the polls. They ain’t moderate. They hate you as much as anyone else. All that happened in Fallujah was the resistance withdrew to regroup and re-arm so they can fight you again.Then the Chickenwaks can declare victory (again) and hope like hell the place is calm until November, which it won't be. Read some of the Middle East press and you will see they are claiming victory. This will cause even more people to rebel against America’s occupation. Mark my words on this, Paul. Have a little read of Mao’s guerrilla tactics, Paul. And now, scapegoats are us: [b]Maybe these godforsaken people would have more confidence in us, and show more courage, if they could see America's "allies" setting an example of courage and confidence.[/b] I love that one, Paul. First, in their minds, God has not forsaken them. You see, the only reason any of America’s “allies” got into the shit hotel to begin with was promise of reconstruction contracts...…money. The fact is, Paul, the Shit Hotel is run by America. It is American policy that is failing, Paul. The number of troops is immaterial and the “allies” are something less than 10% of the total, just like in Vietnam. The only way to control (and it can only be contained, not won) an insurgency is with counter-terrorism. Ask the Brits and the Israelis about that. Putting more tanks and guns in is useless unless you want to use said weapons for mass slaughter, which I doubt America has the stomach for. [b]Congrats on your critique, written from a safe locale and a superior moral position[/b]. Ahh, the straw man. Instead of addressing the issue of the complete failure of American policy in Iraq, you attack me. I am in a “safe” place and so are you. That is why it is so important for you get into the action in Iraq and win the war for America. And thanks for the compliment. I do feel my position is morally superior. I am against imperialism in all forms. If Arabs want to kill each other, let’em at it, it is their right of self-determination. [b]You don't think this qualifies as "terrorism"? (sic) You think pathological rulers -- such as Saddam, and these "successors" of his in Fallujah (successors in method, if not ideology) -- aren't "terrorist"? (sic)[/b] Paul, the USA opposing the British in 1776 was also “terrorism” by this definition. The fact is, Paul, the Middle East is full of despotic scumbags (Assad being among the worst) and America has supported tons of them over the years. The Shah and Saadam immediately come to mind. If it is so important for America to impose its values on despotic regimes, why not take them all on? Also, let us not forget who (quiz time, Paul) was all buddy-buddy with Saadam in 1975. What is more, none of them are “pathological.” Amoral, yes, scumbags, yes, but Saadam knew exactly how to stay in power. Get a copy of “The Prince” and read it. There is not one Arab regime that does not use terror to control its people, Paul. Why not attack all them, too? [b]The Americans went in to try to change this "heart of darkness". At one time in history there would have been Canadian battalions with us.[/b] More rhetoric. America went to Iraq for its own interests, namely oil, imperialism and bases. If America were really interested in “Heart of Darkness” rhetoric, it would sanction and castigate every despotic regime, China in particular. Canada has participated in every war that was sanctioned by the UN Security Council, a body created by the USA in the first place. We still have troops in Afghanistan and I agree with that because it was UN sanctioned. However, America violated international law and the treaties it signed by getting into this adventure. I am proud that we have nothing to do with it. We had nothing to do with Vietnam, either, and the rhetoric coming from the USA at the time was practically identical. History proved us correct in not getting into Vietnam and I am confident that history will again prove us correct for not checking into the Shit Hotel. [b]The only thing different now is the motivations of the ones doing the beheading, murdering, kidnapping, and every other form of perversion.[/b] I love this. Dropping smart-bombs from 40,000 feet is clean for US TV, so it is does not “terrorise” anyone. The Iraqi resistance does not have access to this kind of technology so it resorts to the nastiness it does. War, Paul, is an ugly business, whether it is beheadings or cluster bombs, the horror is the same. At least 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the USA entered Iraq. Were they all “terrorists?” [b]But that sure doesn't qualify you or anyone else in Canada to decide who is a "chickenhawk"[/b] I am entitled to my opinion (remember that pesky First Amendment thing? We have something similar) just as you are but the fact is, none of the masters of the war, Bu$h, Cheney or Wolfie has ever been anywhere near a war. In fact, the first two used their rich connections to avoid it. Bu$h got into it for revenge, Cheney for profit and Wolfie for ideology. The military was in fact the most reluctant because they could see that the whole affair was an ill-begotten adventure in the first place. [b] Are we supposed to believe that your country is "committed" in any way that's truly consequential (either in treasure or in blood) to a "war on terror."[/b] Paul, perhaps you might concede that the Bu$h way is not the only way and that other people (and I do not speak for my country, either) might have better ways of doing things that you do. The Brits immediately come to mind. They have managed to contain and largely pacify one of the most successful insungencies in modern history, one from a people practically identical to them. (Quiz time: Name that insurgency. Bonus: Name a Second) The fact is, it was American mistakes that led to 9-11 and the Shit Hotel. All the perps of 9-11 were in the USA legally on US visas. We had nothing to do with it. The war in Iraq was stared on the WMD lie and there where absolutely no links between Al-Queda and Saadam. I am just as committed to containing Middle East fanatics as you are but American religious fanatics are leading the cause into the abyss. This kind of war is fought with counter-terrorism and intelligence. It cannot be won with conventional military action. The resistance in Iraq knows the ground and has a sympathetic population. Read a little on insurgencies and how they are won, Paul, and quote it back to me. While you are at it, read some Iraqi history (1917-19 and 1942 in partricular) and quote it back to me, too. Such knowledge would greatly benefit America's cause in the Shit Hotel. Paul, it is imperative that you get to Iraq as soon as you can. Rambo won wars on his own and why can’t you? Even if you are too old to fight, your leadership and belief in your cause should cause the Iraqi “terrorists” to covert to the Best Way, the Right (no pun intended) Way and the Only Way…. The American (Bu$h conservative religious fanatic) Way! |
| Read This, Chickenhawks |
| 08.28.04 (10:31 am) [edit] |
|
This is in todays New York Times. Seems the true situation in the Shit Hotel is finally making it to the mainstream US media..it has for some time been in the UK media, but not in Bu$hdom. I challenge any and all Chickenhawks to volunteer themselves and their children to go and fight for a lost cause in an unwinnable war that will eventually end up with thousands of America dead and a humillating withdrawal. The fact is, the USA has lost control of its newest colony and will not get it back. [b]In Western Iraq, Fundamentalists Hold U.S. Forces at Bay By JOHN F. BURNS [/b] [b]and ERIK ECKHOLM Published: August 29, 2004 AGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 28 - While American troops have been battling Islamic militants to an uncertain outcome in Najaf, the Shiite holy city, events in two Sunni Muslim cities that stand astride the crucial western approaches to Baghdad have moved significantly against American plans to build a secular democracy in Iraq. Advertisement Both of the cities, Falluja and Ramadi, and much of Anbar Province, are now controlled by fundamentalist militias, with American troops confined mainly to heavily protected forts on the desert's edge. What little influence the Americans have is asserted through wary forays in armored vehicles, and by laser-guided bombs that obliterate enemy safe houses identified by scouts who penetrate militant ranks. Even bombing raids appear to strengthen the fundamentalists, who blame the Americans for scores of civilian deaths. American efforts to build a government structure around former Baath Party stalwarts - officials of Saddam Hussein's army, police force and bureaucracy who were willing to work with the United States - have collapsed. Instead, the former Saddam loyalists, under threat of beheadings, kidnappings and humiliation, have mostly resigned or defected to the fundamentalists, or been killed. Enforcers for the old government, including former Republican Guard officers, have put themselves in the service of fundamentalist clerics they once tortured at Abu Ghraib. In the last three weeks, three former Saddam loyalists appointed to important posts in Falluja and Ramadi have been eliminated by the militants and their Baathist allies. The chief of a battalion of the American-trained Iraqi National Guard in Falluja was beheaded by the militants, prompting the disintegration of guard forces in the city. The Anbar governor was forced to resign after his three sons were kidnapped. The third official, the provincial police chief in Ramadi, was lured to his arrest by American marines after three assassination attempts led him to secretly defect to the rebel cause. The national guard commander and the governor were both forced into humiliating confessions, denouncing themselves as "traitors" on videotapes that sell in the Falluja marketplace for 50 cents. The tapes show masked men ending the guard commander's halting monologue, toppling him to the ground, and sawing off his head, to the accompaniment of recorded Koranic chants ordaining death for those who "make war upon Allah." The governor is shown with a photograph of himself with an American officer, sobbing as he repents working with the "infidel Americans," then being rewarded with a weeping reunion with his sons. In another taped sequence available in the Falluja market, a mustached man identifying himself as an Egyptian is shown kneeling in a flowered shirt, confessing that he "worked as a spy for the Americans," planting electronic "chips" used for setting targets in American bombing raids. The man says he was paid $150 for each chip laid, then he, too, is tackled to the ground by masked guards while a third masked man, a burly figure who proclaims himself a dispenser of Islamic justice, pulls a 12-inch knife from a scabbard on his chest, grabs the Egyptian by the scalp, and severs his head. The situation across Anbar represents the latest reversal for the Marines' First Expeditionary Force, which sought to assert control with a spring offensive in Falluja and Ramadi that incurred some of the heaviest American casualties of the war, and a far heavier toll, in the hundreds, among Falluja's resistance fighters and civilians. The offensive ended, mortifyingly for the Marines, in a decision to pull back from both cities and entrust American hopes to the former Baathists. The American rationale was that military victory would come only by flattening the two cities, and that the better course lay in handing important government positions to former loyalists of the ousted government, who would work, overtime, to wrest control from the Islamic militants who had emerged from the shadows to build strongholds there. The culmination of this approach came with the recruitment of the so-called Falluja Brigade, led by a former Army general under Mr. Hussein, and composed of a motley assembly of former Iraqi soldiers and insurgents, who marched into the city in early May, wearing old Iraqi military uniforms, backed with American-supplied weapons and money. But the Falluja Brigade is in tatters now, reduced to sharing tented checkpoints on roads into the city with the militants, its headquarters in Falluja abandoned, like the buildings assigned to the national guard. Men assigned to the brigade, and to the two guard battalions, have mostly fled, Iraqis in Falluja say, taking their families with them, and handing their weapons to the militants. The militants' principal power center is a mosque in Falluja led by an Iraqi cleric, Abdullah al-Janabi, who has instituted a Taliban-like rule in the city, rounding up people suspected of theft and rape and sentencing them to publicly administered lashes, and, in some cases, beheading. But Mr. Janabi appears to have been working in alliance with an Islamic militant group, Unity and Holy War, that American intelligence has identified as the vehicle of Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist with links to Al Qaeda whom the Americans have blamed for many of the suicide bombings in Baghdad, which is just 35 miles from Falluja, and in other Iraqi cities. The videotapes showing the killing of the guard commander, the humiliation of the governor, and the beheading of the Egyptian all display the black-and-yellow flag of the Zarqawi group as a backdrop, and the passages of the Koran chanted as an accompaniment to the killings are drawn from passages of the Muslim holy book that have accompanied some of the videotaped pronouncements by Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden. Iraqis who have watched the Falluja tapes say the Egyptianâ's executioner speaks in a cultured Arabic that is foreign, possibly Jordanian or Palestinian. A Severe Blow in Falluja The blow to the American position in Falluja came with the Aug. 13 execution of the national guard commander, Suleiman Mar'awi, a former officer in Mr. Hussein's army with family roots in Falluja. In the tape of his killing, he is seen in his camouflaged national guard uniform, with an Iraqi flag at his shoulder, confessing to his leadership of a plot to stage an uprising in the city on Aug. 20 that was to have been coordinated with an American offensive. For that purpose, he says, he recruited defectors among the militants' ranks and met frequently with Marine commanders outside the city to settle details of the attack. American commanders in Baghdad acknowledged ruefully that Mr. Mar'awi had been killed, but they denied that there was any plan for an offensive. Still, Marine commanders at Camp Falluja, a sprawling base less than five miles east of the city, have been telling reporters for weeks that the city has become little more than a terrorist camp, providing a haven for Iraqi militants and for scores of non-Iraqi Arabs, many of them with ties to Al Qaeda, who have homed in on Falluja as the ideal base to conduct a holy war against the United States. Eventually, the Marine officers have said, American hopes of creating stability in Iraq will necessitate a new attack on the city, this time one that will not be halted before it can succeed. Some of these officers have also acknowledged that Iraqi "scouts" working for the Americans, some disguised as militants, others working for the national guard and police, have been a source of intelligence on militant activities in Falluja, and on the location of bombing targets. The American command says it has carried out many bombing raids since the Marine pullback from the city in May, killing scores of militants. One such raid that was reported this week in a popular Baghdad newspaper, Al-Adala, said that 13 Yemenis had been killed in an air raid in Falluja as they prepared to carry out suicide bombing attacks in Baghdad, and that the Yemeni government was negotiating to bring the bodies home. Among militants in Falluja, there has been one point of agreement with the Americans - that many of the bombing raids have hit militant safe houses, and with pinpoint accuracy. A clue as to how this has been possible is given in the tapes of the beheadings of Mr. Mar'awi, the national guard commander, and of the Egyptian, a man in his mid-30's who identifies himself on the tape as Mohammed Fawazi. Both men confess to having planted electronic homing "chips" for the Americans. As they speak, the tapes show a man wearing a red-checkered kaffiyeh headdress holding a rectangular device, colored green and encased in clear plastic, about the size of a matchbox. The tape of Mr. Fawazi's execution, prepared with studiolike effects, breaks from the scene of the Egyptian kneeling in confession to a combat-camera film from a bombing raid on Falluja that has been posted on numerous Internet websites in recent weeks. The black-and-white tape, giving the pilot's eye view, shows a district of Falluja on a moonlit night, with the targeting crosshairs fixed on a large, low building across the street from a mosque, whose minaret throws a moonshadow onto the street. The sound of the pilot breathing into his mask can be clearly heard, with an exchange with a controller that speaks for the nonchalance of modern warfare. "I have numerous individuals on the road, do you want me to take them out?" the pilot asks as the tape shows a stream of about 40 men coming out of the building and heading down the street away from the mosque, toward what some Web site accounts said was a firefight between militants and American troops. After a pause, the controller replies, saying, "Take them out." The pilot, having fired his weapon, begins the countdown. "Ten seconds," he says. "Roger," the controller replies. The combat camera swings suddenly, picturing the scene from behind the men below. A huge blast of smoke and flame erupts on the road, enveloping the men, as the pilot cries "Impact!" The controller then closes the exchange. "Oh dude!" he says, with what appears to be a chuckle. The execution tape then shifts to scenes of devastation after an air attack on Falluja. It shows a crater, rubble, people piling up belongings, injured being carried into a hospital, and distraught-looking groups of civilians, including children. Shifting back to Mr. Fawazi, it shows him with his hands tied behind his back, looking downcast at the ground, then nervously toward the camera, as the heavyset man towering over him quotes passages from the Koran ordaining death. "He who will abide by the Koran will prosper, he who offends against it will get the sword", he says, his right forefinger pumping in the air, pointing first to heaven, then down to Mr. Fawazi. "The only reward for those who make war on Allah and on Muhammad, his messenger, and plunge into corruption, will be to be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet severed on alternate sides, or be expelled from the land," the man says. With that, the two gunmen flanking the executioner shout "Allah u Akbar!" God is Great, drop their Kalashnikovs and tumble Mr. Fawazi face down on the ground. The killer pulls his knife from behind a magazine belt on his chest, grabs Mr. Fawazi by the hair, severs his head, holds it up briefly to the camera, then places it between his rope-tied hands on his back. On Aug. 21, the Marine headquarters issued a brief news release. The police chief of Anbar, Ja'adan Mohammed Alwan, had been arrested that day in Ramadi on suspicion of "corruption and involvement in criminal activities to include accepting bribes, extortion, embezzling funds, as well as possible connections with kidnapping and murder." A Marine spokesman, Lt. Eric Knapp, declined to offer more details of Mr. Alwan's charges, beyond saying, "everyone knew he was corrupt." In the Saddam years, Mr. Alwan was a senior police officer but also a high-ranking Baathist, people who knew him at the time say. But unlike many Iraqis who prospered under Mr. Hussein, these Ramadi residents said, he had never been known as a thug. When the Americans arrived, leaders of a local clan that had secretly cooperated with the invaders vouched for him. But soon, the Ramadi residents said, " people started to hate him because he was too cooperative with the Americans." Repeated death threats followed, and the three assassination attempts. The third, in May, especially shook him, acquaintances said, because he survived a rocket attack on his car, but his eldest son lost a leg. Soon after, the verdict on the streets of Ramadi about the police chief began to change. Although he may have raked in illegal profits, Ramadi people say, he also began cooperating with Islamic militants, even passing American military plans to them. Although such claims are unverifiable, the assassination attempts stopped. But so too, last week, did Mr. Alwan's tenure as police chief. The Marines say his arrest followed a three-to-five month investigation, that "countless government officials were afraid of him" and that the provincial chief "contributed to crime and instability." Asked whether Mr. Anbar was also charged with aiding the insurrection, Lt. Knapp the spokesman, said tersely by email, "We are investigating suspected ties to the insurgency." Lt. Knapp described how the police chief was lured to captivity. "To avoid bloodshed and to make the arrest as clean as possible," he wrote, a Marine officer who had been working with the police invited him to a meeting in an American camp. On his arrival at the gate he climbed into a car where he was advised of his arrest. The e-mail message concluded, "He was then removed from the vehicle, handcuffed, and blackout goggles were put on him for security reasons."Sabotage by Humiliation. In the case of the provincial governor, Abdulkarim Berjes, Mr. Zarqawi's group, Unity and Holy War, appears to have decided that it could achieve its ends, nullifying American efforts to build governing institutions in the province, by humiliating him - a punishment many Iraqi men regard as worse than death. They then passed the videotape to the Arab satellite news channel, Al Jazeera, the most-watched channel in Iraq. "He cried like a woman," one of the Iraqis who watched the tape said, after viewing the governor's reunion with his kidnapped sons in a militant safe house, At the end of June, Mr. Berjes, a former Anbar police chief under Mr. Hussein, complained in a discussion at Camp Falluja, the Marine base, that his government was riddled with agents of the resistance. "I can no longer trust anybody" Mr. Berjes said in a farewell meeting with L. Paul Bremer III, the departing leader of the American occupation authority. "I don't know if people are working for me, or for the resistance." Mr. Berjes was visibly shaken, having survived an insurgent ambush on his motorcade as he drove in his old American limousine to the Marine base from Ramadi. In fact, Iraqis in Anbar say, the governor had become a despised figure, for the same reason as Mr. Alwan, the Anbar police chief - because he too enthusiastically embraced the Americans and took to calling the resistance fighters "terrorists." Following a common ritual among the resistance, militants sent him a note of formal warning, paraphrased by those who say they had been told about it as saying: "We are watching you. Remember that we consider anybody who cooperates with the Americans a traitor, to be killed under Islamic law." On July 28, assailants entered the governor's residence in Ramadi, snatching his three grown sons and setting fire to the house. The governor got his final warning: repent and resign, or your sons die. His capitulation was broadcast on Aug. 6, in the video now circulating in Anbar markets. Standing under the Zarqawi group's flag, he glumly recites: "I announce my repentance before God and you for any deeds I have committed against the holy warriors or in aid of the infidel Americans. I announce my resignation at this moment. All governors and employees who work with infidel Americans should quit because these jobs are against Islam and Iraqis." As the governor is reunited with his sons, a voice on the tape recites the Zarqawi group's attacks on public officials in the last three months. "We killed the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, and then the deputy minister of the interior," the voice says. "The minister of justice survived our attack, but we killed the governor of Mosul. And now we have captured the governor of Anbar. The list is just beginning, and is far from finished.'' More than three weeks after Mr. Berjes resigned, the Allawi government, seemingly hard put to find anyone to take the governor's job, has yet to announce a successor. No Answers in Anbar American commanders confess they have no answers in Anbar, and say their strategy is to curb the militants' ability to project their violence farther afield, especially in Baghdad, only 35 miles east of Falluja. A recent meeting between Iraq's interim prime minister, Mr. Allawi, and a delegation of tribal sheiks from Falluja who have pledged fealty to Mr. Janabi is said to have reached a standstill accord, with Mr. Allawi promising not to sanction large-scale American attacks on the Anbar cities, and the sheikhs conveying Mr. Janabi's pledge to halt militant attacks on the Americans, But leaving the militants in control could pose a disabling threat to American political plans, already badly shaken by events in Najaf. Top American officials say that events there, with Moktada al-Sadr's militiamen finally driven from the Imam Ali shrine, have set the stage for a turn in American fortunes across the Shiite heartland of Iraq. But even there the prospects seem deeply clouded by the failure to effectively disarm Mr. Sadr's surviving fighters as they left the shrine with shouldered rifles and donkey carts loaded with rockets, Mr. Sadr has signed a new pledge to join the democratic political process that will be the final measure of American success here. But he has abrogated similar undertakings before, and many of his fighters vowed to take up arms again. Coupled with the militants' control in Anbar, this could unsettle plans for elections scheduled across Iraq by the end of January - the next crucial step toward a fully elected government by Jan. 2006, an event American officials see as a way station on the path to a draw down or withdrawal of the 140,000 American troops committed here, These Americans say a rapid buildup of the new Iraqi army, the national guard and police, coupled with gathering momentum in "turning dirt" on the thousands of reconstruction projects funded by $18-billion in American financing, should eventually improve security across Iraq. But the Americans acknowledge that a full, nationwide election in January may not be possible. For now, they have identified 15 cities across the Arab parts of Iraq that they contend can be stabilized to make voting in January possible. For the moment, they say, Falluja and Ramadi are not among them. Iraqi staff members of The New York Timesin Baghdad contributed reporting for this article.[/b] I am eagerly awaiting comments from Chickenhawks not actually in the Shit Hotel. I am sure they will attach all kinds of rhetoric about the correctness of America's cause. I am equally sure they are 100% ignorant of Iraqi history, just as the last generation of Chickenhawks knew nothing of Vietnam's history. I want to see some justification of the American kids being killed in Iraq in a useless war, a war that actually diverts rescources AWAY from fighting terrorism. |
| Dizziness from Success |
| 08.26.04 (8:22 am) [edit] |
|
When Stalin wanted to end whatever excess he was excessing at, he usually sent a "letter" to Pravda telliung of his great achievements. "Dizziness from Success" came at the end of the forced grain expropriations that starved to death millions of Ukranians in the late 1920's-early 1930's. http://www.artukraine.com/fam... Well, history does repeat itself. Today the Dear Leader's mouthpiece (in English), the Korea Lies, published its own "Dizziness from Success" editorial: [b]Rulung Party in Agony [/b]http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... [b]As suspected from the start, the controversial project of investigating and correcting wrongs committed in our modern history is showing signs of turning into a mere witch hunt, seriously eroding national unity[/b] Oddly, the Lies was all for it a month ago. Interesting how "witch hunt" is used. [b]Ironically, the ruling Uri Party, which is spearheading the drive, is suffering most because of revelations that the fathers of two leading members actively collaborated with imperial Japan during its rule of the Korean peninsula. The government party is also facing the possibility of the disclosure of a few more cases.[/b] Hmmm, read on, it gets a lot better. [b]Driven into a corner, the ruling party has suggested that there might be some dirty connections behind the revelations aimed at foiling the plan to address shameful matters of the past[/b] You gotta admire the Lies for being Loyal to the Dear Leader the end. You see, revealations about the opposition would have been just great. The whole idea was as a pretty poorly veiled smear at Park Gyun-tae. Here is the "Dizziness from Success" part: [b]However, investigating and addressing acts perpetrated during the period of Japanese occupation may affect a large number of people as most Koreans worked within the Japanese system in some way because of its 36-year rule.[/b] If this witch hunt has produced anything positive it is this admission, the first time I have ever seen it in print. It also signals the end of yet another Comrade Rohism, blustery rhetoric thought up by a twenty year-old it seems. [b]But what the general public most wants the government to do is revive the stagnant economy. It would be desirable for the ruling Uri Party to reconsider the move at least until that is achieved.[/b] This is the end of anything we will hear about the witch hunt, for now that is. The next president might try it again. |
| Turtles 'R' Us |
| 08.25.04 (7:53 am) [edit] |
|
It is interesting that the Korean media has [i]nothing[/i] interesting today. However, more significant, is what it is not saying. I will provide a quick rundown: 1. Big Nose. As much as we know we are superior to Big Nose, we need him at the moment because the Dear Leader is mad at us again and there is still a part of our Borg psyche that does not love the Dear Leader. We need Big Nose's protection so we had better keep quiet for now. 2. China. Nothing China does is without intent. The Koryo thing was China deliberately pulling our chain to put us in our place. We want access to that market so we have better keep quiet for now. 3. The Dear Leader. He was rather pissed that we admitted so many of his people in one go. It will take months and billions of dollars to appease him and man, is he belligerant at the moment, so we had better keep quiet for now. 4. The Witch Hunt. OK, we fucked-up on that. We were gunning for Park Gyun-tae and ended-up with having two of our own top people go down. We know the other side is more guilty than we are but we have to do some more dirt digging to be sure, so we had better keep quiet for now. 5. The Economy. Comrade Roh assures us all is well since he lives in a palace like the Yangban he has become. We know that the elite is all that matters but the peasants have been known to get out of control and wreck stuff that serves the elite. We have to do something to get the economy going, be it printing money of lowering interest rates. We have lots of vendettas to fight but the economy is weak, so we had better keep quiet for now. 6. Japan. The hated Japanese are recovering fast now and producing all kinds of things the elite in Korea want to get thier hands on. We hate them more than anybody (except maybe Big Nose, or it is a tie) but we need their second hand technology to build our next generation of licenced knock-offs, so we had better keep quiet for now. Expect Turtle Mode until the next major election in Korea, so we had better keep quiet for now. |
| Skeltons 'R' Us |
| 08.24.04 (8:47 am) [edit] |
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I mentioned on a past post that if one were to go back into the past of any Korean family, one was bound to find a case of "collaboration." Well, here is another one: http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... I like this one in particular: [b]Lee, however, said she has no idea at the moment whether her late father, Lee Bong-kwon, was conscripted to the Japanese Army or [i]voluntarily joined[/i][/b] Now, there is a good one. I do not know what the exact case was but one can be certain that more than a few Koreans joined the Japanese army voluntarily, a part of Korea's past that few Koreans can come to terms with. This whole eposide comes as quite a surprise, really. The Dear Leader Party is based in Jeolla. Its reason for existance is to sell out South Korea to North Korea. If one does a little research, one will find that Jeolla politicans and royals sold Korea out to the Japanese. Thus, I find it absolutely absurd for the Dear Leader party to start this kind of witch-hunt in the first place, since they are the most likely to suffer from it. Case in point the resignation of its leader last week. What we have here is a classic Korean example of not thinking things through before going ahead at flank speed. I would wager the whole witch hunt will be done like dinner shortly. BBC has an excellent take here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/as... Notice how the silence is deafening in this issue:http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... Of course, nothing happens in South Korea without at least tacit government approval. I had always thought that the next anti-Big Nose battle would be about more land at Pyong'taek. Not this time, Zerg; the Koreans know Uncle Sam would be gone in a flash should any more shit start simmering. The 12,500 going this year seems to have woken a few people up in Korea. |
| Amazing! |
| 08.22.04 (8:29 am) [edit] |
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You know, Korea always manages to amaze me. This gem comes from Kyung-hee, who seems to be off her medication again. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/... I will not get into great detail because at least 99% of my readers are fully aware of the events that led to the withdrawal of troops in Korea but this bit is priceless: [b]The forthcoming talks on the timeline of the U.S. troop cut program will be a test of the alliance, in that Washington should reconsider its unilateral decision that may weaken South Korea's defenses when North Korea has yet to give up its nuclear ambitions, let alone its million-strong conventional forces deployed along the DMZ. At the same time, Seoul will also have to make efforts to allay misgivings about its foreign policy. An alliance demands fidelity on both sides.[/b] I wonder if Kyung-hee remembers what she wrote on her editorial page two years ago, during the events that led to the departure of USFK? I do but I doubt she does. On the same theme, this from the Chosun: http://english.chosun.com/w21... Interesting but the USFK members I know in Korea are happy to be there because they are in a so called combat zone where nobody is shooting at them or trying to blow them up. My buddies there are professional soldiers and smart guys; they are intelligent enough to know the Pentagon is trying to create a strategic reserve to rotate into and out of Iraq. They are also smart enough to know that America can never win in Iraq and will eventually do a Vietnamesque departure from that shit hotel that Iraq has become. [b] ” Retired Sgt. Reginald Joseph also said, “As soon as you do that [reduce the troops], they’ll walk right down into Seoul. It’s a cakewalk.” [/b] I have heard much the same thing from USFK members and Korean friends who have served at the DMZ but hey, Korea wanted "a more equal retationship" with Korea. The ironic thing is that Korea will now have to spend billions of dollars to buy AMERICAN weapons that USFK will take with them, especially attack helicopters but more importantly, the AEGIS system, which is the best there is but cost BILLIONS. [b] Air Force Capt. Scott Meakin, serving in Ukraine, said, “A lot of people join the military to see the world. People really want to do tours in Europe.” [/b] Translation: Friendly people, good food, hot chicks and nobody trying to kill you. Of course, Korea has to realise that the departure of USFK is the culmination of a hate America campaign that went into high gear right after the Dear Leader Love-in of 2000. It escalated and continued unabated, with tacit and active government support, until February 2003 when the USA warned it had had enough. While I see hidden references to it in the Korean press not one says this: "We went to far. We did not think about what we were doing or that there could be consequences for our actions. Now we have even less influence over the Dear Leader and Big Nose than we have ever had. We want to assure Big Nose, who we actually still hate, that we really love him because the Dear Leader, well, has become rather nasty again recently." And this is "New Diplomacy." |
| BLAME AMERICA, volume 7,223,002 |
| 08.20.04 (11:02 am) [edit] |
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Loved this Lies Piece:http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... US Blocking Kaesong Development Project [b]The U.S. government recently demanded the Korean government regulate the speed of development of the industrial complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, expressing worries that North Korea might use ``strategic facilities'' for military purposes. [/b] I love the word "demand" when used in the Korean context. America has not "demanded" anything, which we will soon see! [b]The Wassenaar Arrangement established in 1996, which replaced the cold-war era's COCOM (Coordinating Committee for Export Control to Communist Area), states restriction on export of conventional weapons, dual-use goods and related technologies to countries supporting terrorism or causing regional disputes.[/b] Damn those treaties! They are only paper. Yea, well, we signed it because we were pressured to by Big Nose because we are sooooo pooooor and weaaaaaakkkk! We love the Dear Leader now and it as nothing to do with wanting that $1.00 a day labour! It is all about fraternal love! [b]As one of the 33 signatories to the treaty, South Korea is banned from sending strategic facilities and items to North Korea, since North Korea is categorized as a ``dangerous country'' by the treaty[/b]. Well, we signed for the above stated reasons. We love the Dear Leader now and know he will never attack us. That is until Big Nose mentions leaving. Then we cannot decide what to do about it but in a jam, hating and blaming Big Nose always makes us feel good but be had better not say it too loud now. [b]Experts assume that although the U.S outwardly says it is worried that permitting shipment of advanced machines including Pentium-III computers to North Korea might be used for communist purpose, the real reason for U.S. concerns is that Kaesong industrial projects will bring communist North Korea large sums of foreign capital.[/b] Of course, we have absolutely no proof in our allegations at all but we do know that a united Korea will rule the world and that is what Big Nose really fears, hence he will not allow his stuff to be exported to a nation that threatens him on an hourly basis. [b]In particular, many assume that the U.S has taken the recent gesture as a counter-attack on North Korea's ambivalent attitude regarding the nuclear issue[/b]. There is no gesture. There is a treaty and Korea signed it. Don't like it? Tear up the treaty and use those geniuses at KAIST to develop a better CPU than Intel can. We all know Koreans are smarter than Big Noses. [b]Even if South Korean companies manufacture products in Kaesong industrial complex, as tariffs several times higher than other countries are slapped on North Korean-made products, it is actually hard to sell them in Western countries. For example, a neck-tie made in the Kaesong complex sold in the U.S would incur a whopping 65 percent tariff rate making it almost impossible for the product to compete with products from other countries with a 7.6 percent tariff rate applied.[/b] Ummm, then North Korea can join the WTO. Maybe such things should have been checked before the project, which will never produce anything than bigger Swiss bank accounts for the Dear Leader anyway, was stared. [b]"The government should pursue its negotiation efforts with the U.S. no matter what. Such U.S. gesture is hard to understand because the end user of the key facilities in the Kaesung industrial park is not North Korea but South Korea. It is South Korean government and its private organizations who are responsible for the management of the industrial complex," Kim said. [/b] Newsflash: Comrade Roh used America as a patsy to get elected. America no like being patsy. America very powerful. America remember 2002 Race Riots. America would not buy a hamburger for Comrade Roh and sure as fuck is not going to let its best technology anywhere near the Dear Leader. And, the grand (laughable) finale: [b] There would be amazing opportunities for those who seek to invest in the country," he added. [/b] A great oppurtunity to see your money disappear! The Lies really floors me. On the same front page, before the Hate Big Nose article, was this: http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... [b]US Likely to Delay Troop Cut[/b] If you read through the article, and speak English, you will find absolutley no mention of the USA delaying any troop cuts. At the very best, this is what was said: [b]Lending an air of optimism to Seoul's request, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless said, ``We will continue to consult on the U.S troop redeployment, including the overall time schedule.''[/b] Well, I understand English pretty well and also know the nuances of this statement. My take of it is; Your campaign to get us to leave prime real estate has been successful, we are closing a whole bunch of bases and we are gonna do it by the end of 2005 and if you ingrates are not careful we'll leave all thogether. I sincerely hope there is someone in South Korea (and it would not be anybody at the Lies, btw) has enough common sense to realise this. [b]South Korea formally requested a hiatus of several years for U.S. troop cuts here as the two nation's negotiators opened the two-day 11th round of policy talks known as the Future of the Alliance Policy Initiative (FOTA), according to the Defense Ministry.[/b] Dreeeeam, dream, dream, dream, dream...What about the demands for "equality" and a new SOFA. What about the government sanctioned race riots, kinappings and firebombing? IT WAS NOT A MISUNDERSTANDING! AMERICA HAS NOT FORGOTTEN! AMERICA DOES NOT LIKE BEING USED AS A PATSY BY A BUNCH OF INGRATE POLITICANS! YOU NOW THAT YOU HAVE DECIDED YOU ARE STILL SCARED OF THE DEAR LEADER, YOUR TUNE CHANGES. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, KOREA.... Whew, I wonder if anyone Korea will hear what I just wailed there. I think not. [b]However, the U.S. plan has intensified security concerns in South Korea as the communist North Korea has not shown signs of compromise over the dismantling of its nuclear weapons programs.[/b] Remember "New Diplomacy" and "The Equal Relationship?" America does. |
| Amnesia 'R' Us |
| 08.19.04 (9:48 am) [edit] |
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The lead story in today's Lies http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200408/kt200408 1917070610230.htm" title="http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200408/kt200408 1917070610230.htm" target="_blank"http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... I will not get into great detail with this but I do find it highly amusing that now, with NK and China not exactly in a loving mood with South Korea, SK tries to cozy up to Big Nose again.
Seoul Asks Washington to Delay Troop Cut Well, I remember huge (government sanctioned, too) mobs on the streets all over Korea demanding Yankee Go Home! Now he is. What is the jibe here? In June, Washington said it would pull out 12,000 of its 37,500 troops stationed here by December next year, triggering security jitters among South Koreans. Well, gee, seems like the Dear Leader is not as nice as you wanted to think was is. In fact, he is a repressive thug who treats his people like shit. He only uses you as a cash cow and at the moment is pissed at you. In fact, he hates you more than he hates Big Nose. ``In a recent working-level dialogue, the U.S. expressed sympathy with South Korea's concerns about a security vacuum to be left by the envisaged postponement of the U.S. troop cut.'' In fact, you can find sympathy in the dictionary between shit and syphillis. Seoul negotiators have also asked the U.S. side to not pull out its anti- North Korean artillery systems, such as MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) and Apache Helicopter units, even if it moves ahead with the troop withdrawal, according to sources. In reality, this is the big issue. Big Nose announced this withdrawal, along with leaving Pammunjom, soon after the suppression of the Race Riots. ``After consultations with the U.S. delegates, the two nations will likely hold a joint press conference on the outcome of the talks,'' ministry spokesman Nam Dae-youn told reporters. Wishcraft. America is so pissed at Korea that it does all the talking and Korea all the listening. The "Equal Relationship" has been a stunning success, don't you think? Meanwhile, in the spirit of brotherly love: http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200408/k t2004081917384311970.htm" title="http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200408/k t2004081917384311970.htm" target="_blank"http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... NGOs Warned Not to Encourage NK Defections ``It is against government policy toward North Korea for NGOs to prompt or prod North Korean defectors to flee to South Korea,’’ said Rhee Bong-jo, vice unification minister during a news briefing. Newsflash: People who are starving to death do not need much prodding. The move came four days after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young asked local civic groups to refrain from intentionally promoting the defection of North Koreans to the South, saying that doing so could negatively affect inter-Korean relations. It is finally starting to sink in that the Dear Leader is not a huggable and lovable as was once thought. News for ya, Chung: You are the Dear Leader's bitch; he can slap you around and you'll always come back with the chequebook. In response, local human rights groups accused the government of not doing enough to help bring North Korean refugees in China and other Asian countries to South Korea. In fact, official policy is to either do nothing for them or send them back to the Juche Paradise, to slave labour at best or most probably certain death. Gotta love that inter-Korean brotherly love. Pyongyang called on the defectors to return home and promised not to punish them if they do. I am sure that the Dear Leader will honour that promise. |
| Upgrade, My Sons! |
| 08.17.04 (8:50 pm) [edit] |
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I upgraded my computer for my 39th birthday last October. I have an Asus P4C 800 Deluxe mainboard, a P4C 2.4GHZ CPU, 128 MB Readon 9600 video card and a 7200 RPM Samsung 40GB HDD. Along with it is 512 MB of DDR400 RAM. Quite frankly, it fucking flies. I have yet to use a computer better than this one. I makes all the things you has to wait for things you do not have to wait for. The sheer horsepower can push you through anything. There is so much power, it never crashes. I know this because the machine I use at work is generic piece of shit. Invest a Grand and get one of your own. You will never regret it.
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| Ministry of Truth |
| 08.15.04 (8:38 am) [edit] |
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Greetings readers. Sorry for not much blogging lately but I have been very busy with work, family and enjoying the great summer we are having. To tell the truth, I am really not that interested in Korean affairs anymore. I figure if they want to run their country into the toilet then let them. Who really cares? Not me anymore. Anyway, I did see this in the Lies http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200408/kt200408 1517074252820.htm" title="http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200408/kt200408 1517074252820.htm" target="_blank"http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... Comrade Roh is setting up his own Ministry of Truth. That is a really useful thing, isn't it? I am sure that he will find plenty of wrong-doings in Han-nara-dang and none in his party. I find such actions simply sickening, especially when average working people in Korea are struggling in the present ecomomic climate. This was in the Herald and rather obviously absent from the Lies: http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/200 4/08/16/200408160007.asp" title="http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/200 4/08/16/200408160007.asp" target="_blank"http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/... Well, seems the love in with the facist thugs who run China is over. I never quite understood the love affair with China, which is one of the most repressive regimes in the world. While America is no saint, it is a helluva lot better in the area of human rights than most countries in the world, South Korea included. I would assume that the Koryo thing tipped the balance. I have some news for you Korea; China will swallow you up politically and economically if you are not careful. Reparing your relations with the USA would do a lot to prevent that. America remembers the 2002 Race Riots only too well; Yankee WILL go home if you do it again. 12,500 already have. This Herald editorial seems to confirm my view. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/200 4/08/16/200408160014.asp" title="http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/200 4/08/16/200408160014.asp" target="_blank"http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/... Major Update: Seems the Dear Leader Party Leader's father was a also Japanese stooge! LOL, I wonder how the Comrade Roh's mob will react to this? http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200 408/200408170007.html" title="http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200 408/200408170007.html" target="_blank"http://english.chosun.com/w21... I have made this point many times to anyone who would listen to it: Japan brought Korea out of the stone age. Like it or not, all the modern institutions we take for granted such as school, roads, banks, legal codes, post offices and even money were introduced to Korea by the Japanese. Thus, anyone who used them is by definition a "collaborator." The only road of upward mobility in the feudal society Korea was (and it is still feudal, btw) to participate in Japanese institutions. Using this to dig up the past on politcal rivals is useless (especially when it comes to offspring) since about 90% of the population is "guilty" in one way or another. Of course when I mentioned this to people (who were not even born in 1945, btw) they would proudly stand, nostrils flared and state their political purity because in Korea, appearance is reality and that is all that matters. Do a little digging on just about anybody and you'll find something unsavoury, particularly in the case of the Japanese in Korea. Of course this comes straight from Pyongyang and is not a new idea in SK at all. You see, any business larger than a shop in South Korea was founded in the Japanese era. All the cheabol were and private property is rather, well, not commie at all. What better way to get rid of the dirty capitalists than to brand them all Japanese collaborators. Then you can shoot them dead and seize thier assets. Simple Stalinism, 101. I wonder how this will play out. I do find it sad that all Korea's ruling party can do is point the finger at the opposition instead of taking some responsibility for leading the country out of its present difficult time because when you point a finger, three more point back at you. |
| Is there Some Sanity Left? |
| 08.08.04 (8:13 am) [edit] |
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Dear Mother - Bush Sucks By Alan Penny Like many families, my mother and I enjoy discussing politics. This is just something that we inevitably do when we are talking. My last phone call with her was no exception. In it, she told me that she is still undecided about who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election. According to her, the jury is still out on Iraq _ thus implying that it’s out on Bush as well. Well yes, I suppose that in a way I agree _ it will be quite some time before we see if this invasion manages to germinate democracy in the region. But Pollyannaish dreams aside, is the jury really still out on Bush? Do we still not recognize the grievous affect of his myopic vision upon the world? My opinion, as you’ve no doubt figured out is an emphatic no. The case is closed. The verdict is in. Bush sucks. George Bush likes to continuously repeat, in steadfastly robotic fashion, that America _ indeed the world _ is a safer place because of his invasion and occupation of Iraq. Saddam Hussein is in shackles and Iraq is now “free and sovereign” _ enough said. But is this the case? Are we really safer because of these actions? It seems to me that Mr. Bush is exhibiting some rather wishful thinking here. Apparently he’s forgotten his own argument for going to war in the first place. And I’m sorry “Duhbaya”, but bringing democracy to Iraq was not it. The battle cry of the pre-war days was Weapons of Mass Destruction. This was the only cry that could justify going to war. The now disgraced and discredited neo-conservatives, led by Vice President Dick Cheney, knew this. So, despite all of the ambiguous evidence, they cried and they cried, played patriotic chicken with the Democrats and the press, and got their way. 18 months on, Iraq is in chaos, thousands are dead and dying, and hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars have been wasted. In addition, tens of billions of these wasted dollars are finding their way into the coffers of the previously struggling Halliburton Corporation, via a non-competitive bidding system and egregiously wasteful cost-plus contracting. Practices which for some reason Dick Cheney, the (currently) stock-option holding, former CEO of Halliburton Dick Cheney, has not spoken out against. But, according to my mother, the jury is still out. We have to see how things play out. Well, sorry mom _ I love you, but I’ve seen enough. There comes a point when being objective is nothing more than an exercise in futility. Sometimes arguments just stink. And with the facts in, stating that we are safer today is very stinky indeed. In fact it smells kind of like a rat. Spin is the name for this stench. And, as of late, the Bush administration has been spinning as fast and furious as a Texas twister. For example, take the argument that the CIA is entirely to blame for the bad intelligence. Although it is true that the CIA, under heavy, post-9/11 pressure, had a less than complete picture of what was going on in Iraq, the months leading up to the war were replete with reports of CIA analysts casting serious doubt on neo-con claims that Iraq was a threat to America. That it was connected with al-Queda. There were also the stories about Cheney applying heavy pressure on the analysts to draw different and more favorable conclusions about this ambiguous intelligence. And despite the failure of Bush to recollect it, this “pushback,” if you will, from the CIA, was the very reason that the neocons set up their own little intel shop in the Pentagon _ the very aptly name “Office of Special Plans.” This was the laboratory in which Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and the rest of their merry band of neo-cons processed the bum data that convicted fugitive, Ahmed Chalabi, of the Iraqi National Congress, was feeding them. The kind of data they wanted to consume. Reinforcing the kind of decision Bush wanted to make. As if this weren’t bad enough, Bush and the neo-cons went on to completely ignore a year’s worth of post-war planning by the State Department, principally because the authors of the plan were Clintonites. They had such a disdain of things Clinton, such arrogance, and such a lofty opinion of their ideas that they didn’t even bother with those plans. How much money and lives were lost because of this? How many lives have been lost because Bush, to this day, still allows the usage of cost-plus contracts, and therefore is burning through cash so fast that he hasn’t enough to buy extra armor for the vehicles and flak jackets for the soldiers? How, with these suspect and misguided decisions that Bush has made, and the worldwide hate that they have engendered towards America and some of its allies, are we safer today? Bin-Laden couldn’t have possibly made a better recruitment video. The neo-cons chose this course of action, and Bush, despite having much more sane counsel in Colin Powell, chose to listen to them. George Bush is the commander in chief. It was his call and he made the wrong one. The world is more unstable, not more. America’s in greater peril, not less. And everyone, especially us Americans, are less safe. And yet mother, you still may vote for George Bush? The writer is an editor for a Korean media company. |
| No Comment Necessary |
| 08.06.04 (10:59 pm) [edit] |
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The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush POLITICS | 8.6.2004 Theodore Roosevelt, that most virile of presidents, insisted that, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people." With that in mind, I say: George W. Bush is no conservative, and his unprincipled abandonment of conservatism under the pressure of events is no statesmanship. The Republic would be well-served by his defeat this November. William F. Buckley's recent retirement from the National Review, nearly half a century after he founded it, led me to reflect on American conservatism's first principles, which Buckley helped define for our time. Beneath Buckley's scintillating phrases and rapier wit lay, as Churchill wrote of Lord Birkenhead, "settled and somewhat somber conclusions upon... questions about which many people are content to remain in placid suspense": that political and economic liberty were indivisible; that government's purpose was protecting those liberties; that the Constitution empowered government to fulfill its proper role while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power; and that its genius lay in the Tenth Amendment, which makes explicit that the powers not delegated to government are reserved to the states or to the people. More generally, American conservatives seek what Lord Acton called the highest political good: to secure liberty, which is the freedom to obey one's own will and conscience rather than the will and conscience of others. Any government, of any political shade, that erodes personal liberty in the name of social and economic progress must face a conservative's reasoned dissent, for allowing one to choose between right and wrong, between wisdom and foolishness, is the essential condition of human progress. Although sometimes the State has a duty to impose restrictions, such curbs on the liberty of the individual are analogous to a brace, crutch or bandage: However necessary in the moment, as they tend to weaken and to cramp, they are best removed as soon as possible. Thus American conservative politics championed private property, an institution sacred in itself and vital to the well-being of society. It favored limited government, balanced budgets, fiscal prudence and avoidance of foreign entanglements. More subtly, American conservatism viewed human society as something of an organism in itself. This sense of society's organic character urged the necessity of continuity with the past, with change implemented gradually and with as little disruption as possible. Thus, conservatism emphasized the "civil society"--the private voluntary institutions developed over time by passing the reality test--i.e., because they work--such as families, private property, religious congregations and neighborhoods--rather than the State. In nearly every sense, these institutions were much closer to the individuals who composed them than the State could ever be and had the incidental and beneficial effect of protecting one's personal liberty against undue intrusion from governments controlled by fanatics and busybodies, that which Edmund Burke presciently called the "armed ideologies," and thus upheld our way of life as flying buttresses supported a Gothic cathedral. But the policies of this administration self-labeled "conservative" have little to do with the essence of tradition. Rather, they tend to centralize power in the hands of the government under the guise of patriotism. If nothing else, the Bush administration has thrown into question what being a conservative in America actually means. Forty years ago, when Lyndon Johnson believed the United States could afford both Great Society and the Vietnam War, conservatives attacked his fiscal policies as extravagant and reckless. Ten years ago, the Republican Party regained control of Congress with the Contract with America, which included a balanced-budget amendment to restore fiscal responsibility. But today, thanks to tax cuts and massively increased military spending, the Bush administration has transformed, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a ten-year projected surplus of $5.6 trillion to a deficit of $4.4 trillion: a turnaround of $10 trillion in roughly 32 months. The Bush Administration can't even pretend to keep an arm's length from Halliburton, the master of the no-bid government contract. Sugar, grain, cotton, oil, gas and coal: These industries enjoy increased subsidies and targeted tax breaks not enjoyed by less-connected industries. The conservative Heritage Foundation blasts the administration's agricultural subsidies as the nation's most wasteful corporate welfare program. The libertarian Cato Institute called the administration's energy plan "three parts corporate welfare and one part cynical politics...a smorgasbord of handouts and subsidies for virtually every energy lobby in Washington" that "does little but transfer wealth from taxpayers to well-connected energy lobbies." And the Republican Party's Medicare drug benefit, the largest single expansion of the welfare state since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, was designed to appeal to senior citizens who, as any competent politician knows, show up at the polls. None of this is conservative, although it is in keeping with the Bush family's history. Kevin Phillips, whose 1969 classic The Emerging Republican Majority outlined the policies that would lead to the election of President Reagan, describes in his American Dynasty the Bush family's rise to wealth and power through crony capitalism: the use of contacts obtained in public service for private profit. Phillips argues the Bushes don't disfavor big government as such: merely that part of it that regulates business, maintains the environment or aids the needy. Subsidizing oil-well drilling through tax breaks, which made George H. W. Bush's fortune, or bailing out financial institutions, such as Neil Bush's bankrupt Silverado Savings and Loan, however, is a good thing. This deficit spending also helps Bush avoid the debate on national priorities we would have if these expenditures were being financed through higher taxes on a pay-as-you-go basis. After all, we're not paying the bill now; instead, it will come due far in the future, long after today's policy-makers are out of office. And this debt is being incurred just as the baby boomers are about to retire. In January 2004, Charles Kolb, who served in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush White Houses, testified before Congress that, at a time when demographics project more retirees and fewer workers, projected government debt will rise from 37 percent of the economy today to 69 percent in 2020 and 250 percent in 2040. This is the sort of level one associates with a Third World kleptocracy. Even worse than this extravagance are the administration's unprecedented intrusions into our constitutional privacy rights through the Patriot Act. If it does not violate the letter of the Fourth Amendment, it violates its spirit. To cite two examples, the FBI has unchecked authority through the use of National Security Letters to require businesses to reveal "a broad array of sensitive information, including information about the First Amendment activities of ordinary Americans who are not suspected of any wrongdoing." Despite the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure, the government need not show probable cause: It does not need to obtain a warrant from a judge. And who can trust any law enforced by John Ashcroft, who single-handedly transformed a two-bit hubcap thief like Jose Padilla first into a threat to national security and then, through his insistence that Padilla, an American citizen, could be held without charges, into a Constitutional crisis? All this stems from Bush's foreign policy of preemptive war, which encourages war for such vague humanitarian ends as "human rights," or because the United States believes another country may pose a threat to it. Its champions seem to almost joyously anticipate a succession of wars without visible end, with the invasion of Iraq merely its first fruit: former Bush appointee Richard Perle, from his writings on foreign policy, would have us war against nearly every nation that he defines as a rogue. The ironic consequence of this policy to stabilize the world is greater instability. It reminds me of the old FDR jingle from the Daily Worker: To be sure, there's more than enough blame to go around with the Congress' cowardly surrender to the Executive of its power to declare war. The Founding Fathers, who knew war from personal experience, explicitly placed the war power in the hands of the Congress. As James Madison wrote over 200 years ago: But since the Korean War (which the Congress defined as a "police action" to avoid using its war powers), war has been waged without its formal declaration. Thus Congressional power atrophies in the face of flag-waving presidents. Perhaps Congress is too preoccupied with swilling from the gravy trough that our politics has become to recall its Constitutional role as a co-equal branch of government, guarding its powers and privileges against executive usurpation. The Congress has forgotten that the men who exacted Magna Carta from King John at sword point instituted Parliament to restrain the executive from its natural tendency to tax, spend and war. Moreover, there is nothing conservative about war. As Madison wrote: By contrast, business, commerce and trade, founded on private property, created by individual initiative, families and communities, has done far more to move the world forward than war. Yet faith in military force and an arrogant belief that American values are universal values still mold our foreign policy nearly a century after Woodrow Wilson, reelected with a promise of keeping America out of World War I, broke faith with the people by engineering a declaration of war within weeks of his second inauguration. George W. Bush's 2000 campaign supposedly rejected Wilsonian foreign policy by articulating both the historic Republican critique of foreign aid and explicitly criticizing Bill Clinton's nation-building. Today, the administration insists we can be safe only by compelling other nations to implement its vision of democracy. This used to be called imperialism. Empires don't come cheap; worse, "global democracy" requires just the kind of big government conservatives abhor. When the Wall Street Journal praises the use of American tax dollars to provide electricity and water services in Iraq, something we used to call socialism, either conservatism has undergone a tectonic shift or the paper's editors are disingenuous. This neo-conservative policy rejects the traditional conservative notion that American society is rooted in American culture and history--in the gradual development of American institutions over nearly 230 years--and cannot be separated from them. Instead, neo-conservatives profess that American values, which they define as democracy, liberty, free markets and self-determination, are "universal" rather than particular to us, and insist they can and should be exported to ensure our security. This is nonsense. The qualities that make American life desirable evolved from our civil society, created by millions of men and women using the freedom created under limited constitutional government. Only a fool would believe they could be spread overnight with bombs and bucks, and only a fool would insist that the values defined by George W. Bush as American are necessarily those for which we should fight any war at all. Wolfowitz, Perle and their allies in the Administration claimed the Iraqis would greet our troops with flowers. Somehow, more than a year after the president's "Mission Accomplished" photo-op, a disciplined body of well-supplied military professionals is still waging war against our troops, their supply lines and our Iraqi collaborators. Indeed, the regime we have just installed bids fair to become a long-term dependent of the American taxpayer under U.S. military occupation. The Administration seems incapable of any admission that its pre-war assertions that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction were incorrect. Instead, in a sleazy sleight of hand worthy of Lyndon Johnson, the Administration has retrospectively justified its war with Saddam Hussein's manifold crimes. First, that is a two-edged sword: If the crimes of a foreign government against its people justify our invasion, there will be no end of fighting. Second, the pre-war assertions were dishonest: Having decided that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, the policymakers suppressed all evidence that it did not. This immorality is thrown in high relief by the war's effect on Iraqi civilians. We have no serious evidence of any connection between Iraq and 9/11. Dropping 5000-pound bombs on thousands of people who had nothing to do with attacking us is as immoral as launching airplanes at an American office building. To sum up: Anything beyond the limited powers expressly delegated by the people under the Constitution to their government for certain limited purposes creates the danger of tyranny. We stand there now. For an American conservative, better one lost election than the continued empowerment of cynical men who abuse conservatism through an exercise of power unrestrained by principle through the compromise of conservative beliefs. George W. Bush claims to be conservative. But based upon the unwholesome intrusion into domestic life and personal liberty of his administration and the local governments who imitate it, George W. Bush is no conservative, no friend of limited, constitutional government--and no friend of freedom. The Republic would be better served by his defeat in November |
| I can Slam Canadians, too! |
| 08.05.04 (8:04 am) [edit] |
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This from today's Lies:
OK, so don't confuse me with the facts. When it comes to bringin' the American way, the better way and the only way to people inferior to America, facts only get in the way. stir some raw emotions asserting that voters were knocked off the voting lists ``by the color of their skin.’’ This is not necessarily in dispute, but other notions should also have been bravely raised by Moore. Umm, Jeb the Good Olde Boy kinda arranged that, didn't he? Why didn’t he say that the Republican Party was established as an anti-slave party; Because we are talking about the 21st century and not the 19th. It is gruesomely unfortunate viewing the portion that shows Iraqis with their houses ransacked, faces burned, or family killed due to American weaponry. I know, it should have been sanatised. War is clean. Oh, and America has now completely blown any goodwill it may have had with the Iraqi people and will have to stick around for another ten years to realise it at the cost of thousands of more American deaths. It will in the process spawn a generation that hates America even more than this one while at the same time remaining completely ignorant of the history of the region, particularly in regards to western imperialism. Michael Moore brought interest to the public, but his one-dimensional view makes this nothing more than a ``mock-umentary’’ of the Bush Administration. I know, Fox news provides a much more balanced view. The writer is a Canadian freelancer residing in Seoul Making the world safer by singing the ABC song for eight year olds. |
| Chickenhawks |
| 08.04.04 (9:59 am) [edit] |
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It is very interesting, in the run up to the US election in November, to see the Chickenhawk Bu$hites squawking so loudly. Why doth they squawk so loudly? Why can't they admit that America is in Iraq to get Iraq's oil? Why can't they admit they are losing? Why can't they admit that they will never be able to impose an American system on a tribal culture? At least admit why America is there and get on with the job. The fact remains this: Bu$h got into the war on a lie. He wanted intelligence that told him what he wanted to hear and he got it. Cheney gave his buddies at Bechtel the largest untendered contract in American history. It was a great plan: blow the fuck out of the place and then use Iraqi oil to pay your have and have more buddies to rebuild it all. Upon entry to Iraq, the happy Iraqis would kneel down, covert to Bible Bashing Bu$h style and await the rain of Whoppers and Big Macs. Except it did not work out that way. I wonder how many Chickenhawks have any knowledge of Iraqi history? For example, what happened in 1919? I doubt that one Chickenhawk reading this can cite one example of Iraqi history, especially in the aforementioned year. Chickenhawks are a strange breed. They love war but prefer others do the dying for them. The death toll of American kids in Iraq is now 920 http://antiwar.com/casualties/" title="http://antiwar.com/casualties/" target="_blank"http://antiwar.com/casualties... for a war that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Another generation of Arabs will grow up hating America. I challenge any and all Bu$hite Chickenhawks reading this to GO ENLIST!! If you believe in President for Life Bu$h so much, put your life on the line for him and Bechtel. http://goarmy.com" title="http://goarmy.com" target="_blank"http://goarmy.com I also love the "we had to dipose a ruthless dicator" line. First of all, 99% of the Chickenhawks I encounter cannot name another dicator. There are tons of them around. Let me cite some examples: Boukassa, in Zaire. He was as bad as they come. America supported his regime for years because he bascially exported everying in his country not welded to the earth at knock down prices (daimonds in particular). He murdered millions. Let's look at Syria. Want a nation with proven links to terrorism? Sytia is it, in spades. Assad is about as bad as it gets in the dictator field but htere is really nothing of value in Syria. Iran: nasty as hell but there are almost 70 million of them and the Iran-Iraq war (Chickenhawks, tell me a bit about how that one got started) showed full well that fighting them is not a good idea, especially when 70% of them are under the age of 15. http://www.payvand.com/news/03/dec/1098.html" title="http://www.payvand.com/news/03/dec/1098.html" target="_blank"http://www.payvand.com/news/0... I could go on but you get the picture. Chickenhawks love to go on about freedom and democracy as long as nobody disagrees with their version of what freedom and democracy are. If anyone questions them, Chickenhawks go onto a diatribe of hate. Only the Party Line is allowed by Bu$hite hatriots. Hatriotism is the way of America these days it seems. Perhaps in the never ending struggle for America, the America way and American hatriotism, all Chickenhaws should join the military, overthrow the government and install Bu$h as President for Life. Then the world would be perfect. As long as someone else does the dying, though.
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| Stop Making Sense..Cho Se-hyun |
| 08.02.04 (10:58 am) [edit] |
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Walking down the street in Gwanghwamun the other day, I stopped and watched a group of some 40 workers with red headbands hold a rally in the middle of a sidewalk, a couple of blocks from the U.S. Embassy. Using a portable loudspeaker, a leader of the group was delivering a speech on what sounded like the state of economy. As a rule, I try to avoid political rallies and demonstrations and pass by them quickly without trying to find out their nature and purpose. But since I had some time to kill that morning, and since the speaker was shouting, almost screaming, so vehemently, I decided to hang around a few minutes and listen to what he was saying. His speech, however, was so staccato and incoherent I couldn't quite make out what he was trying to say. The only point I thought he was attempting to make was that all those American capitalists are squeezing South Korea dry by investing their money and then taking profits out of the country. In the process, he charged, they are ruining or destroying South Korea's manufacturing industries. "Let's kick them out of this country," he said, "along with the U.S. forces." Listening to him, I had an illusion I was hearing one of those speeches that leftist politicians used to make during the utterly confusing and politically chaotic era following the liberation of Korea from Japan at the end of World War II. More than half a century has passed since then, but what the speaker was saying sounded so similar and so anachronistic that I could not help remembering what I used to hear at political rallies 50 years ago as a Seoul middle school student. It was only a few days ago that I read in the newspaper that an increasing number of foreign businessmen and corporations are withholding their investments in South Korea of late, putting a brake on the country's already sagging economy. And, one of the reasons for the dwindling foreign investments, they said, was the worsening relationship between management and labor unions which are becoming more and more militant these days. You don't have to be an economic expert to know that foreign investments are one of the essential ingredients for economic development in an advancing nation like South Korea. That is why most governments, including Seoul and Beijing, are making all out efforts to encourage foreign businesses to invest. Besides, in this day and age when globalization and multinational corporations and business groups are the norm, rather than an exception, it is easy to see that not all foreign investors in this country are American. And yet, the speaker at the workers' demonstration in Gwanghwamun last week, and so many labor leaders like him, I am sure, are accusing American capitalists of "exploiting" South Korean workers, and "ruining" the manufacturing industries of this country. With the economy sliding downhill, they have to blame someone else, instead of looking at their own action - rather their inaction - as well as various policies of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, that are often described by independent economists as hostile, or at least not accommodating, to business and management. Talking about incomprehensible speeches delivered at political rallies, I had the misfortune to witness them at radical student demonstrations that were held almost daily in Seoul during the 1980s while I was visiting home. The student leaders who had apparently been organizing the demonstrations were addressing their followers in such muddled rhetoric that they practically made my head spin whenever I tried to listen to them carefully and find out what they were angry about and what they were opposing so frantically. Now, I understand that those student leaders of the 1980s have become the leaders of the administration and the National Assembly as well as the ruling political party. But true to form, many of them are still unable, it seems, to make a whole lot of sense when they make public statements or try to elaborate on their policies and actions. Take, for instance, some of the ruling Uri Party lawmakers who were reported to be attempting to draft a resolution in the National Assembly, opposing a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to promote human rights in North Korea. They claimed that the American bill was "tantamount" to interference in the internal affairs of North Korea. At first hearing, their statement was so unexpected and senseless that I thought it was made by a group of deputies to the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly. Instead of welcoming the legislative action in the U.S. Congress that would help improve the human rights conditions in the North, the South Korean lawmakers accused the United States of trying to erect a stumbling block to the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue. The human rights abuses by the Communist dictator Kim Jong-il and his thuggish lackeys and the development of nuclear weapons in the North are two different issues. By the way, I wonder what the 460-odd North Korean defectors who arrived in Seoul last week will think, if and when they hear that Uri Party members in the South were opposing the American efforts to help improve the human rights of their fellow North Koreans and provide humanitarian aid to North Korea. In any event, as soon as you point out any illogical thinking or absurdity in the statements and action of the so-called progressive and reform-minded people like the labor leader I mentioned and politicians, they immediately jump all over you, accusing you of having an "anachronistic and conservative Cold War mentality." But who is more anachronistic than those who are still harping on the outdated early 20th century idea of exploitation by foreign capitalists, and who is more persistent in harboring a Cold War mentality than those who are trying to back and protect the Communist dynasty in the North? |
| Your Aid Dollars at Work |
| 08.01.04 (8:26 am) [edit] |
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This should come as no surprise, though I am surprised the Lies printed it. Seems like the winds are starting to reverse somewhat in SK: http://times.hankooki.com/lpa... [b]The 28-year-old defector explained that most of the North’s national budget and international aid is funneled into Kim’s guards. ``It maintains the most powerful military capabilities in the Stalinist regime, with cutting-edge military equipment even more developed than that of the North’s Defense Ministry.’’[/b] There is a no-brainer. Monsters need their security apparatus in good order to maintain control. [b] Lee said aid and economic investment under Seoul’s ``sunshine’’ policy have done nothing but feed North Korea’s military and solidify Kim’s dictatorship.[/b] Well said. No comment necessary. [b]He also said few North Koreans know about the celebrated inter-Korean summit meeting of June 2000, arguing that ``it is not only meaningless but also helpless for the people who are suffering.’’[/b] The Dear Leader's Swiss bankers know all too well, however. |