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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (14006)	11/22/2004 9:03:12 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 20773

Agreed. The US government isn't comparable to the Iranian mullah government. No indeed. The reality is the US is far more powerful, and wreckless about using that power to achieve its goals. Nope, the US isn't comparable to Iran. Nor Iraq. No way. The US throws its might around more than Iran or any other nation on the face of the planet. People often say using US might is right, when used in support of attaining "our goals", but most people saying that have no concept of what "our goals" actually are, or they wouldn't be so cavalier about lending their support to government gone wild. How might that power be abused? I can cite example after example from recent and distant history, but lets look at the present: Iraq -- unable to actually threaten the US, or any of its neighbors -- was nicely nestled on top of oil reserves and in a strategically central place. It was there, it was weak - ripe for the picking so to speak - and Bush and company wanted Iraq harvested. Thy will be done, a willing, nay, an the eager duo of Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz brayed. Cheney made sure the plan felt like the Boss's idea, and that no troublesome facts got in the way. Limelight wasn't important to any of them, only the spoils. Yes indeed, Iran is not at all like the US. It could never in a million years pull off what 200 billion of US taxpayers' dollars could fund. The invasion and occupation is just the latest example of how that monetary and military power is abused. > Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving. < It might seem uncouth to take a dig at Thanksgiving, but I will, since I can't think of a holiday more ironically emblematic of our problems except for perhaps the excess which has perverted Christmas, but that's next month's rant. We do indeed have so much to be thankful for. We are thankful that we aren't Iraqi or Iranian; we are thankful that our cluster bombs did not blow apart our homes, our wifes, and our children. We are thankful that Cheney and Co. have designs on enslaving the people, the land, and the resources of the region, for our pecuniary benefit, lest our habits of unbridled consumption go unsated. We are thankful that this administration is worried about our gasoline tanks and less about our health. We are thankful that, so far, the nation has not again felt the draft. We are thankful that most believe we are on an honest, even holy, mission, rather than the more pedestrian mercenary fact. We are thankful that our schools do not teach our students to fully appreciate the nation's history, for the details would incite skepticism and free thinking, which is not helpful when its time to cast ballots. We are thankful that we are all long removed from self-suficiency - dirty work that is, glad to be rid of it; we are also thankful that we are mostly unaware we've joined a vicious circle, where we are ever dependent on an industrial complex which give rise to our stock markets, but that complex -- which produces everything from the too-big cars we drive too much, to the too-generous servings of food we eat too-much of -- requires, demands even, that we continue to exploit the entire world in the pursuit of resources - mostly energy - to feed the engine. Its no wonder that the support for the war in Iraq is relatively high, since so few people understand that actions they take personally have a direct impact on our ability to fend for ourselves without exploiting, invading, occupying or otherwise using might to access or take resources to keep feeding our wasteful ways. The sad truth is we've enslaved ourselves and doomed the world in the process, and a goodly portion of the population isn't even aware of it. I hope you enjoyed your Turkey.