To “a good hoosier,”
You obviously have no concept of the enemy that we face. You fit the category of the short-term thinker. If you don’t want bombs being lobbed in your neighborhood, then don’t allow scum to train for terrorism in your front yard.

And it’s probably true. I probably haven’t the concept required for real honest thinking about the enemy. I’ve never read his books, never met his friends, never attended his religious services, never scrounged for food in his desert market places while Western empires suck the oil from out under my feet. I’ve got no clue. But, to be sure, most American hoi polloi couldn’t tell an Arab ally from an Arab enemy. So, I’m in the intellectual company of the great American unwashed, as, I suspect, is the commenter.

But does it matter? What empirical knowledge could possibly change a moral principal so rudimentary as the Golden Rule? What would it take for me to say, aye, those hundred thousand Iraqi citizens that my bombs killed, those million Iraqi citizens that my destruction plan forced to abandon their homes with nothing but what they could fit into a 1981 Datsun 210, they are worth me not having to worry about the safety of myself and my family? The innocents be damned. Never mind the expense in the moreal scheme of things, I want to live freely!

A bunch of evil fuckers attacked us here, but that doesn’t mean we have the right to wipe out scores of innocents who had nothing to do with that strike, in some inchoate attempt to create a MiddleEast battlefield. The bombs, commenter, ARE in our neighborhoods. But they aren’t hot potatoes; you don’t get to toss them into someone else’s neighborhood, someone who has problems of his own enough to deal with without our potatoes blowing off the arms of his children. It will take courage, but we need to fight righteously.

But Rudy’s remarks indicate an astounding fact about the former Mayor: he is either shockingly ignorant or not very bright. And here’s why:
Osama Bin Ladin’s reason for attacking the U.S. is in writing in multiple places, and has been both before and after 9-11. A cursory reading of Bin Ladin’s Fatwa reveals the origin of his discontent.

It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies. Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq. The horrifying pictures of the massacre of Qana, in Lebanon are still fresh in our memory. Massacres in Tajakestan, Burma, Cashmere, Assam, Philippine, Fatani, Ogadin, Somalia, Erithria, Chechnia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina took place, massacres that send shivers in the body and shake the conscience. All of this and the world watch and hear, and not only didn’t respond to these atrocities, but also with a clear conspiracy between the USA and its’ allies and under the cover of the iniquitous United Nations, the dispossessed people were even prevented from obtaining arms to defend themselves.

Ron Paul demonstrated knowledge of this fact, one which is so basic that any future President should know it. And one which, if known and remembered, could plausibly said to be Bin Laden’s reason for attacking the U.S. If Rudy hadn’t even considered this readily available reasoning, and–what’s more–demanded that it be retracted, I shudder to think what other self-evident bits of information he’d be stunned by in the White House. Although, a trend of either not knowing, forgetting, or not understanding key political or historical facts doesn’t mean you won’t be elected… twice.

But along the tortuous paths of these networked computers a stray sometimes comes. And some gal read my link to Pat’s book and said this:

Name: BUNNY xxxxxxx | E-mail: xxxxxx@xxxxxx.NET | URI: | IP: xx.xx.xxx.xxx

I watched you on Fox News and I agree with your stand on: One Nation Under God.Send the illegal imigrants back where they came from.Protect our borders. Protect us against terror threats whatever that takes. Everyone I talk to feels the same way.

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Let me explain something to you, Bunny, in order of importance.
1) I am not Pat Buchanan.
2) I was never on, nor will I ever be on, Fox News
3) You agree with me on very little, save (i suspect) for some necessary truths that even you would understand (ie there are no three-sided squares, married bachelors, etc)
4) Each of your trite half-sentences are chillingly myopic and usually false… specifically:

“One Nation Under God.”
There’s nothing wrong with that for plenty. But it’s like oil and water for those of us who belong to mother church. Such folks despise any lumping together of a nation’s policies (ie abortion on demand, state-sponsored death penalties, preferential treatment of the rich, and on-the-offense foreign policy) with an all-good religion. It’s like oil and water, too, for those of us who believe in no God at all, trying to find tolerance in a community of freely believing and acting individuals. Such folks despise the lumping together of a nation with a predominant religion.

“Send the illegal imigrants back where they came from.”
Eegads, Bunny, have you worked out the logistics? We’ll need bus drivers, government-hired, so there are likely union concerns here. And what about the translators? Many of these folks can’t speak our language. And I don’t just mean they leave an extra “m” out of the word “immigrants”. I mean syntax issues. How are we going to explain to them to fill out a form in triplicate, get the second page notarized, and bring it to such and such building on this corner in order to catch the next bus home? Oh, and don’t forget the administrators. And, who enforces your sending policy? The cops? You’d rather they go around and round up bunches of illegal immigrants, most of whom are not violent criminals, instead of chasing dope dealers and porn peddlers? What about the FBI? Have you called your FBI hq recently? I have, and when someone is in, you realize that this poor underpaid overworked paper pusher is chasing cases involving either terror or massive amounts of lost cash. He doesn’t have the resources to hunt down Emanuel who is getting paid $8.00 under the table to wash dishes.

Did you even listen to Buchanan when he was on Fox news? Less probably yet, have you read his book? Re: page 269, “We do not need to create a Gestapo or send federal agents to round up and deport nannies or gardeners.” Patty B, in his divine wisdom, sees the “attack” as one of a government against a government and two governments on its own people, rather than one of man vs man. Most illegal immigrants are themselves pawns, encouraged by their own government to suckle off the teat of a booming US economy. And for so long, US response has been all but explicitly laid out: do nothing, look the other way, and encourage more of the same by inaction. This is as much our fault as it is their’s. To an illegal immigrant, not having papers is tantamount to your driving 65 in a 55. It’s against the law, and one oughtn’t do it, but everyone does it.

“Protect our borders. Protect us against terror threats whatever that takes. ”
I worry about you, Bunny. Did you mean to write to Sean Hannity instead of me or Pat or whoever the fuck you think this is? Hannity would have a much more sympathetic ear. He knows where the money’s at, baby.

True, a defensive army is a good thing. Such an army should protect our borders. But it’s the “whatever that takes” that underscores the fundamental difference between you and Buchanan. Pat is vehemently anti-iraq war. But I’ll bet you can’t guess why. Think really hard. Why would a good, God-fearing man be against this war?

Try this: the Iraqis never asked us to help, nor were we ever in the position to know with reasonable certainty that the Iraqi people wanted our help to oust their leader. Sadam Hussein’s Iraq was seen by our allies in Middle East to not be a threat to them. Even itchy finger Israel was at ease.

The problem? The purported problem was that some of the WMDs that we sold Hussein in the eighties were now unaccounted for. Like our own government, he used WMDs against groups of people who were in a different tribe, so we knew that some of them were spent. But we couldn’t locate the rest. And, neither could Sadam, so he said. Now, mind you, we had no reason to believe that he was gearing up to use them or sell them. There was no imminent threat. We went to war because our commanders and administrators were cowards. Better to take the easy way out and kill off what might one day happen rather than act with certitude on what you know to be the case.

This same Neocon position guides those in favor of racial profiling. Better to harm a bunch of innocents in order to get at a bad guy rather than have to live a harder life, one in which you treat all people well, but accept that such a lifestyle has consequences.

Yes, Mr. Buchanan is a Christian, of the Mother Church variety. He follows the Golden Rule and, as such, would never bomb to kingdom come thousands of innocents on the chance that some of those innocents may strike a back door deal with Made in the USA WMDs. Rather, he’d accept the consequences of his own actions, and treat others as he would be treated, even if this means being strong enough to stand up to fear and terror.

“Everyone I talk to feels the same way.”
Here we are in total agreement. I am sure everyone you talk to feels the same way you do.

Yours,
Pat Buchanan

“A” has a boyfriend in prison. She’s 19. She lives with her friend… To be precise, she lives at her friend’s parents’ house. She gets pissed off at her friend’s dad who doesn’t appreciate all she does. I wasn’t clear on all she does, but I suspect it’s plenty enough by her lights.

She’s nineteen and her boyfriend’s in prison. She chewed out the guard the other day because he searches her boyfriend’s cell without closing the door. It’s a federal prison, but, she explains “a nice one where all the inmates get along”. I don’t know what was worse, her pitiful naivete or that strand of dead hair tied up in Native American ornaments.

I didn’t ask why her man was in the hoosegow, because that’s impolite. It’s funny to think of social norms like politeness for inmates and their kin, but I do believe that such norms exist. You don’t ask; you don’t ever ask. I never knew why folks shouldn’t ask, but tonight I believe I do. You never ask why someone was on the inside because that sort of jinxes the whole thing. When you are inside you just want to get out, and explaining why you are there just reiterates the need for you to be there

I didn’t ask why, but I suspect drugs. “A” dabbled in pain killers and muscle relaxers in high school.

So, since her current residence was tension filled, and a whopping $200/month, she is now considering living with a guy named “O” who is housesitting indefinitely. She doesn’t know him well, but he already had three girls living with him. He wouldn’t charge rent and would let her have a dog. His living arrangements, to be sure, are not in line with the home owner’s wishes.

I was flabbergasted. You’re only nineteen, for God’s sake. You are a nice girl… why are you visiting a convict in jail, and giving his guard hell, why are you snorting lortabs, why live with a guy you barely know?

“L” is twenty-five. L’s an ex- “Cayote Ugly” bartender, who used to fuck girls on stage for cash. She’s very thin and very sweet, and pretty. She’s bisexual. Just another lost sole, I used to figure. But I was wrong. Over some sips from several several hundred dollar bottles of wine (some patrons got drunk and left them barely full on the table), she giggled about how her dad used to get drunk and ground her. She was grounded every day from age fourteen to eighteen. Her mother left when she was fourteen after a throw-down fight with her father. She wanted to live with her mom, but her mom wanted nothing to do with her. The night of the big fight, L learned her dad was an alcoholic.

He constantly grounded her, L said, because it kept her at home. And if she could stay home, she could clean up after him. He used to drink until he pissed himself. She used to have to scream at him to get up and go to bed. Before the divorce, she was in school chorus. After, she never went out with friends and was condemned to her room after dinner. Her father cooked dinner, but she had to clean up, do laundry, clean house.

L’s dad then married a girl several years older than L. This girl already had a child, whom the two (L’s father and new wife) would beat with a belt. But the boy would only laugh, and so they would beat more and harder. And one night they hog tied him naked and then told him to go to his room, but he couldn’t. So now they got to laugh at him.

L has done a lot of ecstasy and coke. She used to “parachute”, crush coke in a napkin and swallow it, so that the coke wouldn’t absorb into her throat until it hit her stomach and the napkin disintegrated.

K lives with “R”. R is also twenty-five. R doesn’t know her real mother. Her real mother was, in R’s words, “a whore” who shacked up with lots of different guys. R has lots of half siblings. R is spending this Thanksgiving meeting a few of her half siblings, two of whom are state troopers. R lives with L and both smoke a lot of pot. They live with “B”, an ex-batteree who isn’t afraid to talk about her violent past. R will hook up with an ex-roommate while visiting her demisiblings so that she can buy dope.

A is going over to K and R’s house tonight to smoke weed and drink. Mild for food service folk’s lifestyle.

My loving father died when I was 16 of a brutally debilitating disease. Tonight I count my blessings.

Look at you with your pressed button-down shirt and gelled gray hair. You’re on a mission tonight, I see. And while you’re feeling fancy, you ask for my expert wine advice. After all, I’m a server, I should know. And, you figure, we can talk connoisseur-to-connoisseur; a wry nod to tell me, “I speak you’re language, server. I’m in the know, too.”

Not so deep down I know better-I know what you want. But, let’s do that dance. “Well, now, what are you in the mood for tonight; perhaps we can pare something with your meal?” Hey, then! A surprise! You want something “not too dry.” Ah, such parlance; your’re clearly in the know. Did you pick that sophisticated lingo up in Alsace? Tuscany? I see now there’s no fooling you. So, then, Billy Bob, let me tell you about our fine not-to-dry-wines…

..Ah, ah, of course, whites only. We do have a wonderful Pino Grigio which is all the rave among those in the know. Oh, No? Alright, then, how about this delicate, not very oaky, slightly fruit forward chardonnay? Oh, I see, not in the mood for a chard tonight? Well, then, I do have a bold and uncharacteristic Sauv Blanc, not as dry as most, with hints of melon and pineapple… Hello? You’ve gone blank, man. Need to bring you back. How ’bout a traditional Riesling? You’re bound to love that! Crisp and fruity with… Your puzzled eyes tell me you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about.

I know. I fucking knew from the start, and so did you, for that matter. You’re a fucking hilljack Southern Man in fancy pants. Why did we play this vino game? Why don’t you just say what you want? I have 98 wines, man, NINETY-EIGHT FUCKING WINES. And only one of them is the kind you want, and both you and I know which one it is. That’s right, we don’t even offer a selection for your kind. We have only one, and it’s cheap, and it’s our best seller, and you order it every damn time. Because rubes like you don’t know a pinot gris from a Sangria. WHITE FUCKING ZINFANDEL, right? Oh, shit, I nailed it, huh? That’s the one? I’m psychic, right? Your face lights up, oh happiness! You look so pleased when I pour it. The thrill only intensifies as I agree to bring you a glass of ice on the side.

Hey, shithead, I suggest the pasta… Yes, you can split it.

My biggest pet peeve is with the neocon agenda of “American hegemony or bust” combined with a die-hard pro life stance. Human math is not only totally acceptable to these goons, it’s integral to the cause for neocons.

As many of us see it, the impetus for an Iraqi invasion in lieu of one into Iran or Syria was done precisely for the reason the Bush admin said, to fight the ongoing war on terror. For the Bushies, it was a link in the chain, or to use their parlance, part of the axis of evil. After 9/11, neocon hawks began reevaluating terrorist threats. The biggest threat? Radical Islamic terror, primarily that sponsored by Iran, but any which could easily attract an impoverished, dejected Muslim populace One nation which posed little, albeit significant, threat was Iraq. More importantly, it was in a strategic location, sandwiched between two terror-sponsoring states, Syria and Iran. Close to an ally, Israel, and buttressed against an often sympathetic government, Jordan.

Get into Iraq, have a quasi-legitimate reason(s), therefore get some allies, face a beleaguered, starved, unfunded, less-than-armed military, crush them, then set up shop to fight a war on terror. Launch offensives, but welcome attacks so that we can defend there. That way, we destroy another land and other innocents get lumped into the collateral damage category, rather than destroying the homeland and our own innocents.

Sympathetic though some may be to this position, it is easy to see the glaring platform contradiction. Scorch villages, destroy vital infrastructure, and pillage OVER THERE so we don’t have to face danger OVER HERE. Sure, that poor Iraqi child may be missing every appendage, but it COULD have happened over here, to one of our white, Christian, not impoverished children; the kind of person with whom we’d identify. And fuck that!

Is this treating others how we would be treated? Of course it isn’t; in fact, it’s precisely the opposite. Kill innocents abroad to avoid the risk here. Hurt others rather than hurt myself. WWJD? He’d face them on his own turf. He’d defend himself (and others, if they asked at it was just), but not launch offensives that killed innocents. A true hero would show bravery that our neocon politicians can’t stomach. A true hero wouldn’t sacrafice other innocents in pursuit of her own well-being. As the Pro-Lifer bumper sticker reminds us, it is real tragedy that innocent children “must die so that you may live as you wish”?

The deficit of the Neocon party, much like the modern Democratic Party, is its incorporation of not just contradictory beliefs, but FUNDAMENTALLY contradictory beliefs. Or, as those of us unaffiliated with any political parties call it, hypocrisy.

There’s a slippery slope at work here. If we ban the collection of groups of human-differentiated cell groups, then we can’t implant only those human-differentiated cell groups that are not gay. In the same vein, given Bush’s veto, we cannot harvest only those embryos that will be America-loving conservatives, not to mention those that will contribute to the cure of Parkinson’s disease. That means that no company can reap the benefits of the free market system which rewards innovation, be it merely technological or biotechnological;.

This is a defeator to our free market capitalist system, and it fucking rubs me the wrong way.

Dumb ass conservatives are selling out in order to override Bush’s position on this issue; perhaps they can save themselves at the midterm elections.

Dumb ass liberals are myopically viewing only the positive benefits of embryonic stem cell research, disregarding the 1984esque consequences.

Gotta love a committed Catholic who pokes fun at himself.

That’s all for now!

Zarth