my dog didn't kill the animal.

"Happy banal fourth of July to you."--CarolynC
I'll see my kids and go out and enjoy a beautiful day. fireworks? on TV. not as exciting but you either have to be VERY tall or VERY early otherwise. food? of course. that's banal enough for me. see,kids,eat. Just like the plains, no discouraging words. Thanks again omooex and all others who, whether meant or no, wished me and mine, a happy fourth.

Nope. I asked you. I mocked one of those individuals and am doing my best to ignore the other.

But yes, you answered and thank you for doing so.

Their squeemishness quickly evaporates when talking about Pol Pot and Cambodian crimes of torture in this article, actually headlined:

"Legal Strategy Fails to Hide Torturer’s Pride"

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/world/asia/21khmer.html?ref=asia)

excerpted quotes:

"he would face a possible life sentence for crimes against humanity and war crimes as well as homicide and torture"

"he took responsibility for the torture and killings,"

"He taught himself how to torture, he said, picking up some beating techniques from Cambodian and French police manuals and improvising the rest through trial and error. He said he frequently had to instruct the young farm boys he recruited as torturers not to get carried away and kill the prisoner."

"Duch said he did not believe most of the confessions his torturers worked so hard to obtain"

Perhaps his most chilling comment, given our own rabid embrace of torture is this: “I considered it evil eating evil eating evil ...”

"Maybe we could find some peace along the way by taking a kind of "systems approach" to our problem, the problem of being human, which unfortunately also means being an animal, sometimes a vicious predator. It means that alleviating a lot of human suffering might not be achievable because of our animal traits, but that we must try anyway, even absent any guarantees of success. We could recognize that all the disagreements are part of a process. We could humbly acknowledge that there is no one right answer to the questions: How are we to be? How are we to act?

Here are some wonderful thoughts of a dying man that we all should consider.

Letter to Obama from a Dying Man (see sig)

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/03

I sent him an email and others might want to do the same. Here were my words.

It is people like you who keep me alive with the hope when I am just approaching 69 years on our planet that we can find a way to respect each other and work together to save our world. As a sometimes too pragmatic politician, Obama does need to find the courage to take a stand on our economy and health care. He talks a good game, but at some point soon he has to inspire us to the higher calling of sacrificing for others as I am sure you have done throughout your life. Thank you so much for taking the time before your departure, to inspire us to a higher calling. I will keep your words in my mind as I strive to build a better world for my three grandsons and all those will walk with them into the future.

Details emerge on woman accused of al-Qaida ties

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer (see sig)

Jul 4th, 2009 | NEW YORK -- Newly filed court records reveal evidence regarding the life of a U.S.-trained scientist accused of being an al-Qaida operative.

The documents, filed in the past few days in federal court in Manhattan, contain the analysis of psychologists who have treated Aafia Siddiqui (AH'-fee-ah Sih-DEE'-key) since her arrest last summer. One psychologist disputes claims that she was held captive overseas from 2003 to 2008.

The psychologist says Siddiqui told the FBI she was working in Pakistan in 2005 and went to Afghanistan in 2007 to look for her ex-husband.

She is charged with shooting at U.S. soldiers and FBI agents after her capture last year in Afghanistan.

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/us/2009/07/04/D997SA880_us_al_qaida_suspect_shooting/index.html

"...holidays HAVE to be banal!"

Dictionary definition of the word "banal":

"devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite"

Oh, well. To each his own. Happy banal fourth of July to you.

More Tonic needed, store closed.

"Don't look at me...wasn't I asking you?"

-- omooex

-----------------

Actually, I think you were originally asking either adnoto or heru-er, but you did ask me, too, it's true.

In any case, I already gave you my answer.

Thank you, and let me retort: more power to us!

My use of the word "easy" can be analogous to the way mathematicians use the word "trivial." I remember from my academia days, when a problem took several days or weeks to resolve, it was often deemed "trivial," and what this meant was - the solution was known to be possible, there was no mathematical or logical hurdle to cross, it was just a matter of doing it, and even though it may take several hundred man-hours to complete, no one doubted it could be done. This is deemed "trivial" by the academic elites! :)

I say that freeing one's mind is not trivial. Overthrowing government's changing societies, having cultural or political revolutions - these things are "trivial," in the sense that we know they can be done. And once one's mind is free of the propaganda that attaches the emotions of Fear and Hate to free-thinking ways of seeing the world, then the solutions become readily apparent. Although implememntation may take several years, we know they can be done.

There does not need to be bloody or violent revolution, but know this: as soon as real change begins to be felt by the Power Elite, they will do everything they can to foment and create violence and bloodshed, because that is the way that they will instill Fear and Hate and distrust in the common citizen, who will then go back home, stop trying to change things, and resume their normal, every-day lives of mental, physical, and emotional slavery.