2003.05.09 they're all the same:
nothing much to mention, I just wanted to direct everyone to a little article written by ted rall. ted's an amazing politcal and social commentator, and a hell of a cartoonist to boot. his article made me laugh my ass off and still agree with everything he said.
and yes…i just posted this here so javan can get his panties in a bunch and try to discredit anyone involved.
birthday countdown: 2 days to shop!
(no…i still don't know what shame is.)
geoff said:
That is some good article, indeed. Tell yer buddy M@ to stop voting green, er, I mean, start voting, period.
brian. said:
Hahaha…The thing is…I was with him. We had a burger after getting turned away from the polls. We did the next best all-American thing: We went and got a burger.
Javan said:
I will make you happy, then, Brian. I will comment.
First, I must remind us of a few things. This is the first time I have heard anything about Bush skipping draft, but if it is true, Clinton is no better. He went to Canada just the same!
Next: budget surplus during Clinton administration was NOT his fault. It was brought about by earlier, brighter, non pot-smoking, non out-getting-laid-by-their-intern kind of Presidents. Matter of fact, the current current recession is Clintons fault, it even started during his administration, I am sorry to say:
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/budget/pd020900b.html
Next point: Dems and liberals need to QUIT BITCHING!!!
Javan said:
Pushed the enter button by accident. SO not finished.
As I was saying, dems need to shut up about how Republicans are cheaters, how Gore really won, and other varied crap. I must remind you how Gore was the one who continued to ask for recounts, HE was the one who would be prone to cheat in this case. Also, Bush won the electorial college, which is THE FINAL WORD, whether it is outdated or not. Bush won the election. period.
I would like to point out that this article encourages something you all disagree with: Party Politics. It calls democrats who actually think for themselves "disloyal swing voters". Hrm. Fishy.
I hope you noticed that this author has nothing worse to say about George W. Bush than saying that he resembles a monkey. That is really, really, sad and low.
This loser encourages dems in 2004 to acutally use mudslinging as a policy to get their candidate in. It says Al Gore might have won the election if he had played up Bush's DUI. Can he not think of something good to say about himself instead of bashing his running mate? Guess not. The author also encourages dems to have a snotty attitude, as if they don't do that enough already: "I know I can beat George Bush," Lieberman said on May 4th. "Why? Because Al Gore and I already did it." Bullcrap, we all know.
The article is contradictory. It says Bush was a draft-dodger, but that he served in the Texas Air Guard. Something has GOT to be wrong, and I would put my money on the draft-dodger part.
Sometimes, we need an "ass-kicking meanie" to lead our country. Imagine with me, if you will, where we would be with Gore now. bin Lader would still be attacking the US, and Saddam would still be killing and opressing his people, producing weapons of mass destruction, and funding terrorism, all because Gore would be too pussy to use the US Military for what it is meant for: to keep us safe.
This person seems not to mind if Americans die, just as long as we don't offend the terrorists. Very sad.
brian. said:
"I hope you noticed that this author has nothing worse to say about George W. Bush than saying that he resembles a monkey. That is really, really, sad and low."
Ahem…A draft dodging, coke snorting, drunk driving monkey.
If you can use "draft dodger" against Clinton, it's certainly applicable to Mr. Monkeyface.
Javan said:
ok, I am going to copy-paste this article, not link to it. It seems like a reliable source to me.
Be Sure to read this
A Reply from John, an Airline Pilot and Former Air National Guard Pilot.
Just a few comments on the letter from "Jerry". First off, President Bush was not a draft dodger. President Clinton was. President Bush served his country in the National Guard as a fighter pilot. I am both a veteran from active duty and the National Guard, and I want to point out that there are quite a few soldiers in the Guard who are very proud (and have every right to be) of their Guard service. The President served in the Texas Air National Guard. While I did not know him, I have talked with many former Air Guard pilots (as an airline pilot, these are people I come into contact with on a daily basis) who served the same time he did. They knew who he was. Many critics mention how he didn't finish his tour. His unit was transitioning to a new aircraft that would've required expensive schooling. The Air Force offered him the chance to either get out a little early (since he was due to get out in a few mont! hs), or extend his tour for a number of years. He chose to get out early. This sort of thing happens all the time in these types of jobs. The military doesn't want to spend the money training someone on a new system if that individual is going to separate very shortly thereafter.
As far as Al Gore is concerned, he enlisted in the army as a journalist. He was stationed in Alabama. (Ft. McClellan). His enlistment was timed perfectly with his father's bid for reelection. His father was known as a very liberal, anti-Vietnam War politician in a very conservative state. It was thought that young Al in uniform would help win some votes. (Al did accompany his father throughout most of the campaign). When his father was defeated, Al was ordered (didn't volunteer) to Vietnam, where he served around 6 months or so. As far as his being awarded the CIB, that is strictly an army infantry award. To date, I know of no one! that has been awarded the CIB that was not infantry qualified at the time of the award. If Al was given the coveted award as a journalist, I would think that there would be more said about it.
Just some thoughts.
John
Javan said:
BTW, if you want to see the site, here the link is:
http://www.yellowairplane.com/It_means_war/President_George_Bush_Jr..html
Jennifer said:
Hello everyone,
sorry for the rant as a first-post – I couldn't hold back any longer. I'm an old friend of someone here – Hi Matt! (>waves to right of weblog (it's me, Jennifer, an ex- of one of your friends, hope you can understand my reluctance to keep in touch, common friends are tough to keep after a break-up -ouch this is uncomfortable!), and the awkardness of reappearing in this format has been prohibitive. But, so be it, the times being what they are, and this weblog housing some interesting minds, I had to break my silence. Back to the reason for my having to finally post – hope I don't bore the shit out of everyone who's read even this far. here goes…
Has the fact that the linked article by Ted Rall is SARCASTIC been lost on a certain someone? I've been lurking here for quite a while, but given the absurdity of assumptions and pat right/left, BS, media-driven responses, I felt someone had to point this out. Ironic that this is Rall's point in the article.
I believe that the more honest approach is to get to the understanding that both sides are equally corrupt or trustworthy. The danger we are faced with is colored with far more shades of grey than any media – on the "right", or the "left", or the just as brain-whacked remainders ("green/libertarian/socialist/anarchist/
fill-in-the-blank-ian") will ever address. The reason for the dearth of full truth in the media is as old as civilization – as much a PR conspiracy of the controlling and battling parties as it is lack of time or audience.
I'm harping on media "news" coverage because "knowledge is power", and so many people seem content to allow themselves to be polarized by the pre-packaged arguments coming out of the machine – "fox news dittoheads" and the so-called liberal "pinko-anti-war-anti-americans" alike.
If we are to ever have a country "by the people, for the people" we have to struggle past the distractions being thrown at us.
Truth One: we will never, ever, know the full truth about ANYTHING our country, or our president , does, as long as it involves national security – the catch-22 of a goverment that must protect its people.
Truth Two: the information we do receive does not come from a vacuum – either the media is corporate/interest group-based (ie.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
http://www.aei.org/
http://www.brook.edu/
to name a few relevant "think-tanks"), or it is from a much smaller funded source that can not be held to industry standards of accountability. Even NPR and public tv/CSPAN have their masters.
Truth Three: beyond the character of leading officials, which is primarily in the realm of party politics, there is actual fact – what is really happening out there. Someone is writing our present, and our past (we can discuss later the phenomenon of the whitewashing of history in society if you'd like), who do you think will be writing our future? What are the issues that are going on behind the hype of war and taxes and bush's proven or implied misdeeds? What do we hold dearly as the cornerstone of our supposedly unique and bright and shiny democratic republic? Freedom?
I wonder if anyone here has any thoughts on the current standing of the Freedom of Information Act, the Bill of Rights, the Patriot Acts, 1 and possibly 2, the WTO's secret international courts and sweeping legislative powers, the atmosphere of McCarthyism, knee-jerk democrat responses to that atmosphere, or the eery echoes of Orwell's "1984" and Adler's "Handmaid's Tale", among many other cautionary tales, surfacing in our public and private lives. Just a start – I'd love to hear some well-tempered and informed opinions. Having been a lurker here for quite a while, and a one-time friend to one of the bloggers – I know my hopes are probably not misplaced.
–
aside-
Oh, and Matt, I've been following your posts, and I'm so happy for you. You seem to be doing so well! I frequently wonder how all you guys are (obviously, as I found this blog a long time ago and have checked in occasionaly). I'd be awfully happy to hear from you if you feel like emailing, but will certainly understand if you choose not to. Best wishes and warm regards to you all.
Jennifer said:
I almost forgot! Hello to you as well, Brian! I think I met you once years ago – if you are the same Brian that was friends with Jess, and used to live in the apt across from us (Jess, Melody (sp?), Matt, Jim, Brax and me). Otherwise, sorry if I am mistaken. Glad to see Nathan and Paul are happy and doing fine as well!
"Like most of life's problems,
this one can be solved with bending."
– Bender
geoff said:
Clinton "dodged" the draft by being a Rhodes scholar. That's prolly how I woulda done it. W actually did go AWOL…it's well documented.
But really, does this matter at all?
Nope.
brian. said:
Jennifer – I'm the same Brian. Well…one of 'em. There were two of us that lived across the hall, after all.
Well thought out post. Share your opinion more often. It's always welcome.
Geoff – Good point, sir. Add it to your "wins" column.