Letters to the Editor
SusanMc
Published Letters: 467 Editor's Choice: 1
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Flat Earth Society
[Read the article: Tom Friedman doesn't understand why America is unpopular in the world]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Northwestwoods quoted Randy Newman!
Weirdly enough, the first time I paid any attention to Friedman was when he started a column with that same song, and completely missed Newman's pointed satire:
They Hate Us! They Need Us!
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/15/opinion/15FRIE.html?ex=1183780800&en=5bd41b0c05ab1ae1&ei=5070
I'm not surprised he didn't "get" that song, and it sounds like he wouldn't understand Newman's latest, either, A Few Words In Defense of Our Country:
I’d like to say a few words
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst this poor world has seen
Let’s turn history’s pages, shall we?
Take the Caesars for example
Why within the first few of them
They were sleeping with their sister
Stashing little boys in swimming pools
And burning down the City
And one of ‘em, one of 'em
Appointed his own horse Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something
That’s not a very good example, is it?
But wait, here’s one, the Spanish Inquisition
They put people in a terrible position
I don’t even like to think about it
Well, sometimes I like to think about it
Just a few words in defense of our country
Whose time at the top
Could be coming to an end
Now we don’t want their love
And respect at this point is pretty much out of the question
But in times like these
We sure could use a friend
Hitler. Stalin.
Men who need no introduction
King Leopold of Belgium. That’s right.
Everyone thinks he’s so great
Well he owned The Congo
He tore it up too
He took the diamonds, he took the gold
He took the silver
Know what he left them with?
Malaria
A President once said,
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color coded
And what are we supposed to be afraid of?
Why, of being afraid
That’s what terror means, doesn’t it?
That’s what it used to mean
[To the first eight bars of "Columbia The Gem Of The Ocean"]
You know it pisses me off a little
That this Supreme Court is gonna outlive me
A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now too
But I defy you, anywhere in the world
To find me two Italians as tightass as the two Italians we got
And as for the brother
Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore either
The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free
Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OldToIF5ZGs&eurl=
I'm sure he thinks Randy's saying Bush is great because they're not as bad as Hitler or Stalin.
BTW, By far, my favorite Friedman parody was McSweeneys:
THOMAS FRIEDMAN EXPLAINS THE ISSUES OF THE DAY.
BY SEAN CARMAN
It's all good, but this part was prescient:
Why They Hate Us
PART TWO
I've said before the world doesn't really hate us. Rather, a large number of people in the world-a majority, technically-resent our government's support of repressive dictatorships in the Middle East and Central America, our use of radical extremists as proxy insurgents, and our failure to give due consideration to the Palestinian cause.
They don't hate us, in other words, they just hate our foreign policy.
Fair enough. Don't ignore me just because you don't like the woman I brought to the dance, right?
But, at a certain point, people transfer their hatred of something to those responsible for causing it. If you don't like the woman I brought to the dance, eventually you'll blame me for her presence. Especially if you are the ex-wife, and you hold the woman I brought to the dance responsible for ending our marriage.
My point is, we seem to have reached a tipping point, past which the people of the world really do hate us. Not just our government. They hate us. You and me.
"OK, Tom," I hear you say. "Great. Now they hate us. But I've got a job at Home Depot and three kids to support. If I could take back my vote for George W. Bush I would, but I can't. That's not how our system works. So what do you want me to do?"
That's a fair question, and one I'll be addressing in future columns, as the dynamic and direction of these problems become more clear, both to me and to the public at large. Could a sad history of misplaced American foreign-policy priorities be coming back to haunt a twilight empire?
Maybe. It's just too early to say.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2006/9/7carman.html
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@ bernbart
[Read the article: Tom Friedman doesn't understand why America is unpopular in the world]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]better speech to post
Of course I have never seen any thing positive in this blog so I am sure you can find much wrong with it. It might make for a good discussion.
Every time you post something like this, an Obamafairy loses her wings.
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@ generalDisdain
[Read the article: Al-Marri and the power to imprison U.S. citizens without charges]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Several posters have noted how sweet the irony would be if Obama were elected, and arrested the lot of Cheney, Bush, Rove, et al.
This bothers me as a possibility because I cannot understand why they are continuing to gain increasing Executive power, when they know that they will very likely lose the election in the fall.
I don't believe they do know that. I think they think McCain's going to win. If all you watched was FOX "News" you'd be convinced the election is a toss-up, too-- and they've finagled the last two toss-ups, so why shouldn't they be optimistic?