Letters to the Editor
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fwiw, I'm on very slow dial-up (24k) and appreciate the transcripts -- can't do video ...
or rather, can't seem to successfully download the software I need to get video ... too slow.... thank you Qwest
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The American people need to understand that...
Human beings, by and large, do not like being occupied by foreigners."
-Sinan Antoon
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The video clips download too slow.... for my computer.
apologies. tempus? OT.
You are not a twin of Romulus. But some guys are from Mars.
Raised and nurtured from a animal tit... by a she-wolf. Why?
Somebody abandoned 'um.
A peasant family bought twins?
A good shepherd family did good.
`Mars symbolizes war. Old trivia.
The Vestal Virgin Rhea Silva had something to do with helping the two in a basket
The brother Rhemus and Romulus were put in a floating basket on the Tiber River. Wow.
What an interesting testimony. Interesting. Personnel stories are enjoyable, in my opinion.
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If only, if only, if only (apply directly to the forehead)
There is a pervasive notion that if we'd only done this or that, things in Iraq would be just hunky-dory. Thus, we should be able to that and this and everything will be lollypops and rainbows.
The cold hard truth is that when you invade and occupy another country which is no real threat to you, it will not go well, particularly if you do not mean to actually run it like the Romans did.
There is no magic planning, no particular general, no fairy dust that would have helped. Perhaps you can make things go somewhat better, but it will always go badly.
Always.
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And thats why Wright was Right!
The reason for this is clear. The American media has a script to which they loyally adhere. The U.S. can make mistakes and government leaders can be criticized for incompetence, but we can never do anything that is actually destructive or evil or which justifiably provokes hatred towards us by people in other countries -- not even bombing them and occupying them for years and imprisoning tens of thousands of them with no charges and replicating the behavior of their hated dictator. Any views that suggest such a thing are simply not heard.
The more I listen to the (so called) "outrageous" and "racist" remarks made by Rev. Wright, you know the ones the Republicans want to hang Obama with, the more I realize that Wright is telling the truth and that a lot of Americans can't handle the truth. And how can they if the media will not discuss it or even confront it?
Yes the chickens have come to roost.
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Mr Humidty
But the more important reason is a good education. By the time you've gone through Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard and Princeton or even less fancy places, you have instilled into you the understanding there are certain things it just wouldn't do to say. You believe that you're being free and objective, whereas in fact, you're just repeating state propaganda. It's like Orwell said, you just have inculcated into you that there are certain things it wouldn't do to think."
Exactly, education today is far less about learning *how* to think than it is about being told *what* to think.
Granted, the instructions on what to think can be subtle but that doesn't mean they aren't being communicated.
This is probably the main reason I'm often glad I never pursued a formal education.
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16:35
Is what I get . Will try the latest link . tempus , here's Al Jazeera English http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/55ABE840-AC30-41D2-BDC9-06BBE2A36665.htm
Anybody think this idea will get any MSM mention?(In related news , Hell's hockey team has a new manager ;) That is ,the Iraq operation as a new type of crime, or at least a new recognition, that of "Corporate Genocide" .
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/10BD41A2-B1F8-41A2-95B2-45898566C48E.htm
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I rarely disagree w/ Chomsky
But I think he strongly overstates the degree of cultural indoctrination that goes on in a healthy university environment.
Cornell, in the 80's anyway, was ACLU-like in their promotion of free speech.
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Good Wars Die Young
You can never go wrong if you oppose all wars, all the time - even the "good" wars. It's an affront to decency and rationality to place the terms "good" and "war" in the same sentence - and actually mean it. The final tally of any war in history will always show far more on the debit than the credit side. War, as has been said repeatedly, is the ultimate confession of impotence to deal with the human condition - so what does that tell you about a man who years to be remembered as A War President? But, speaking of censorship, there is a way to bring the Iraq war to a close: by attacking the base on which it rests (you know, that moment that "changed everything"). But it can't be attacked because it's become a sacred icon; and anyone who dares attack it becomes a blasphemer. Frankly, I don't give a damn who or what was behind it. If enough people start entertaining doubts, the vast majority of Americans who claim to oppose the war...will actually mean what they say for once.
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I wonder if anyone else has noticed Kosovo
I see the US bombing of former Yugoslavia and the forced annexation by NATO, UN and the US of Kosovo, as the way the US would have done Iraq if Democrats had run the show. Not that I think that's good, mind you. Anyone, else notice?
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yes, "people" by and large do not like to be occupied, even under the guise of "humanitarian mission" ...
but -- ferchrissakes -- doesn't anyone remember Gulf War I? the highway of death? USA as the Great Satan? The USA as Zionist agents?
It's not just that "we" are occupiers -- it's also WHO we are ... our "legacy" as it were ...
After 09/11, there was beaucoup talk about macho-ism and humiliation and how this played a significant part in the creation terrorists -- both against the west but also in how the decadent ineffectual regiemes of the middle east failed to provide jobs and meaningful lives and careers for so many of its educated citizens (who were then unable to marry, leave the familial home, etc.) ...
None of that sunk in. At all. We threw the thousand and thousands of previously well-employed baathists and the entire army out of work -- with no prospects ... wtf.
Frontline said, irrc, that the Army we disbanded had 300,000 members ... wonder if that might have helped in providing domestic security way back in 2003/2004? ya'think?
[another semi"falsehood" frontline perpetuated last night was how "shocked and suprised" (paraphrase) the US was at the degree of the Sunni boycott of the election -- yes, there was only 2% (irrc) participation, but would only 10% have been acceptable, or maybe 25%, or ??? you tell me. ]