Letters to the Editor
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Heh, heh, hehhhh...
Good for him, the old codger.
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cool, but....
Unfortunately, nobody in the white house will pay any mind to what he's saying; unless he emails it to Pakistan.
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Anti-Israel
It's sad that one of Mr Blum's two thoughts regarding what he would do as President includes ending US financial (and presumably political) aid to Israel. That country already faces threats of annihilation from Iran and would likely not survive the hatred of its neighbours without US support - Europe would already be happy to see it gone. So he feels that restitution for presumed US crimes is paticipating in the slaughter of another few million Jews.
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thanks
blum's anti-empire report was a good read. a sorely needed expose of the thievery-in-progress going on in iraq.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=11&ItemID=9496
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A little kooky, perhaps
but I like him. And I would also cut aid to Israel, who has rubbed the world's face in their messianic advance of the settlements - all on our dime. With their disasterous invasion of Lebanon and increasingly desperate measures to control the Palestinian population, they have alienated themselves and to a large extent America from the Muslim and European world- and our own political cowardice and dishonesty leads us to rubberstamp billions in military aid - which only prolongs and increases the misery. I'm a Jew, but I'm an American first, and Israel has only taken, taken, taken - offering little back in return.
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Hey Philip
Maybe a few more million jews wouldn't die if they hadn't of started slaughtering the Palestinians the moment they were given the keys to Israel. Just a thought but you reap what you sow. If you piss off the muslim countries around you by killing the muslims in your nation how long do you think you're going to survive? Israel has used America as a shield for too long, it's time they face the consequences of their actions. This ideal that you're allowed to be a dick because you were persecuted is disgusting.
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This is so narcisisstic
"I would first apologize to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism." In that passage, Blum goes on to explain that he would end American support for Israel and reduce the military budget by 90 percent. "That's what I'd do on my first three days in the White House," Blum writes. "On the fourth day, I'd be assassinated."
This is such a narcissistic fantasy. There's a lot of narcissism and chauvinism on both the right and the left these days. Either we get the credit for everything good on the planet, or the blame for everything bad on the planet.
Either way, it's like nobody else in the world ever makes a decision that they're responsible for. What's up with that?
I think the world is full of screwed up violent people, and we're not going to cure them all overnight by confessing to our own sins.
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Why the Wry Tone?
I find the faintly mocking tone of your article tiresome. It is of course standard neocon operating proceedure to mention truths as if they are preposterous lies, since it obviates the need to be corrected-- you haven't actually said they're lies. While it's understandable that anyone living in America today would be forced to ignore his nation's greater crimes or else go mad with grief, I see no reason why such a person would feel obliged to pluck out his own eyes in order to see which way the world goes. As Harold Pinter said in his Nobel acceptance speech, the crimes of Soviet Russia have been acknowleged and can be discussed, historically, politically and morally. The same is true for the crimes of Maoist China. The crimes of America, however, are not acknowledged and cannot be discussed.
It is not as if these crimes are debatable. Anyone who visits Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Panama, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Liberia, and of course the Middle East in toto can ascertain what happened and get a rough death toll from anyone on the street. Why is it we all know the story of Manuel Noriega's capture and regime change in Panama, but we know it without the three thousand dead civilians?
I'm afraid Mr Blum's thesis is all too correct, as is Professor Chomsky's. They are based on verifiable facts, events upon which no good spin can be put. Why is it so hard for US journalists these days
to face this truth? I don't see the neocon loudmouths debating Chomsky, although they snipe from the sidelines and cast spurious aspersions. They are too smart to go one on one, because he'd wipe the floor with their ridiculous assertions and bald lies. No doubt Blum makes an easier target.
Have you any idea how foolish you seem in the eyes of the world when, rather than deal with his arguments, you call Chomsky's sanity or motives into question. Everyone knows what his day job is. To take offence at the truth is a pathology, the act of a bad drunk or a paranoid gangster. One simple truth that needs to be faced is that what happened in New York on September 11 has been enacted thousands of times over, often with even more horrific consequences, by the US government in far-flung places on the planet, and this is why 9/11 occured. A healthier society than yours would look into the 'why' a little more carefully, asking some hard questions, and accepting the answers, whatever they are. Instead, you have developed a persecution complex much like the one Israel continually uses to its advantage. No matter what you have been brought up to believe, you are not the good guys of this world. You are the bad guys.
It really seems absurd that a nation led by an unlettered, bullying buffoon has the gall to mock anyone, let alone a man who is merely pointing out what's true and what is not.
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The bin Laden book club
"Narcissistic"? Aw c'mon, Patricia. It's a short swift Salon interview with a guy who's been doing his thing his own way for years and not made a splash and suddenly he's in the eye of the media. If you don't like the style, don't read short swift interviews. I thought he handled himself pretty well. I mean, hey he didn't even sound like Hunter Thompson till the very end, but after all, it was the interviewer who asked him who would assassinate him. Apart from all of that, there are some genuinely serious policy arguments behind and within not only what William Blum says (and/or in what style) but what Osama bin Laden says (and does)[as well as policy decisions of our government and other governments) and how the news media do and don't "cover" all of this or investigate it or analyse the histories and politico-econimc factors involved.
Me, for one, I was delighted to find a good laugh. Second one today on Salon.com [the first being that Blum's Rogue Nation in the Amazon best-selling list is right between the Potter books and Strunk and White :-)].
So please don't take offense at my tone. I really _needed_ a laugh just now and sure wouldn't want it to be at anyone's expense. I'm semi-housebound for a while fighting very uninteresting things like a bad toothache and a limp self-discipline. I think it's probably only when _I'm_ being "narcissistic" that I post much to chat groups, o.k.? So can't we all have an occasional bit of narcissism?
I'll now try to look up some of your other posts in order to know you better and maybe another time say something more relevant to you and not just my own current Anbesol ("Instant Toothache Pain Relief!")- induced ?narcissism? :-)
Be of good cheer ("unless you had other plans") :-),
salonmarte