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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
A remaining realm of American excellence
Saturday, October 22, 2011 4:32 AM
CANTTAKESKY
Quote:When President Obama announced the killing of Osama bin Laden on the evening of May 1, he said something which I found so striking at the time and still do: “tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history.” That sentiment of national pride had in the past been triggered by putting a man on the moon, or discovering cures for diseases, or creating technology that improved the lives of millions, or transforming the Great Depression into a thriving middle class, or correcting America’s own entrenched injustices. Yet here was President Obama proclaiming that what should now cause us to be “reminded” of our national greatness was our ability to hunt someone down, pump bullets into his skull, and then dump his corpse into the ocean. And indeed, outside the White House and elsewhere, hordes of Americans were soon raucously celebrating the killing with “USA! USA!” chants as though their sports team had just won a major championship. ....snip.... It is difficult to articulate exactly why, but there is something very significant about a nation that so continuously finds purpose and joy in the corpses its government produces, while finding it in so little else. During the Bush years, I frequently wrote about how repetitive, endless fear-mongering over Terrorism and the authoritarian radicalism justified in its name was changing — infecting and degrading — not just America’s policies but its national character. Among other things, this constant fixation on alleged threats produces the mindset that once the government decrees someone to be a Bad Guy, then anything and everything done to them (or ostensibly done to stop them) is not merely justified but is cause for celebration. That was the mentality that justified renditions, Guantanamo, vast illegal domestic surveillance, aggressive war against Iraq, and the worldwide torture regime: unless you support the Terrorists and Saddam, how could you oppose any of that? ....snip....
Saturday, October 22, 2011 4:56 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Quote:Yet here was President Obama proclaiming that what should now cause us to be “reminded” of our national greatness was our ability to hunt someone down, pump bullets into his skull, and then dump his corpse into the ocean.
Saturday, October 22, 2011 4:59 AM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Quote:Yet here was President Obama proclaiming that what should now cause us to be “reminded” of our national greatness was our ability to hunt someone down, pump bullets into his skull, and then dump his corpse into the ocean.And we have the chutzpah to scold Iran for trying to assassinate people, when it is our current tool of choice for statecraft? Has nobody understood the irony of that???? Heh.
Saturday, October 22, 2011 5:25 AM
Quote:I just find it curious that Obama didn't support freedom in Iran , and yet is all a flutter over supporting anarchy over here.
Saturday, October 22, 2011 10:38 AM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Quote:Posted by Rappy: Considering who Iran's leaders are, the terrorism they're engaged in, and all. They should be scolded. And severely.
Saturday, October 22, 2011 12:22 PM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Sunday, October 23, 2011 7:35 PM
RIONAEIRE
Beir bua agus beannacht
Monday, October 24, 2011 3:07 AM
Quote:Originally posted by RionaEire: Because it is suspicious sounding when you look at it sideways, or even if you look at it frontways.
Monday, October 24, 2011 3:24 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko:] There are those around the world who say the exact same things about us. And with just as much justification.
Monday, October 24, 2011 3:31 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Quote:I just find it curious that Obama didn't support freedom in Iran , and yet is all a flutter over supporting anarchy over here. Obama is supporting anarchy here??? Just in the other thread, weren't you saying that Obama was getting a lot of money from Wall Street?
Quote: Or the one about Obama being sympathetic to Muslims?
Quote: Or the other idea that Obama is destroying our freedoms? I have to know, rappy... do your ideas EVER meet each other and check each other out for logical consistency? Or do they each wander the lonely space that describes your brain, encased in bubbles which guarantee that none of them will ever contact any of your other thoughts? Because the multiplicity of contradictory sound-bites that fill your brain... seems to me that if they ever cross-reacted, they'd cause a meltdown or something!
Monday, October 24, 2011 3:54 AM
BYTEMITE
Quote:Only there is zero justification , at all.
Monday, October 24, 2011 4:04 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Bytemite: - but I am reasonably sure that US soldiers have participated in such actions.
Monday, October 24, 2011 4:22 AM
Monday, October 24, 2011 5:36 AM
Quote:Those who have an interest in defeating the US, and what it stands for, aren't going away. They have to be SENT away.
Monday, October 24, 2011 6:30 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Bytemite: Rather, we must strictly define terrorism to mean an intent to cause civilian casualties for a political or ideological message.
Monday, October 24, 2011 6:32 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Where are you going to "send" them to?
Monday, October 24, 2011 6:42 AM
Monday, October 24, 2011 9:28 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Yes, I know. But I was trying to make the point that they are in their own country so the only place left for us to "send" them to IS the afterlife. That is the position you wind up being in when you assume that you have the right to invade anywhere at any time, and that anyone who objects is automatically an enemy.
Monday, October 24, 2011 9:40 AM
Quote:Yes, send the radicals to the afterlife
Monday, October 24, 2011 10:31 AM
NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: allow the sane, free loving people to govern their home.
Monday, October 24, 2011 10:34 AM
Monday, October 24, 2011 1:33 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Quote:Originally posted by Bytemite: - but I am reasonably sure that US soldiers have participated in such actions.
Monday, October 24, 2011 1:35 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Germany exists w/ out NAZIs. Japan exists still , even with an Emperor, with out an expansionist military.
Monday, October 24, 2011 1:53 PM
Monday, October 24, 2011 3:26 PM
Quote:Originally posted by RionaEire: So, the SEAL team 6 members who died in that crash weren't the ones who were part of the kill Osama group? Because that is a much less conspiratorial reason that it hasn't been covered very much on the news. I still think its stupid to have the best of the best flying low enough that such things are likely to happen, getting RPGed etc.
Monday, October 24, 2011 4:45 PM
1KIKI
Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.
Monday, October 24, 2011 5:11 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1kiki: "Clearly, I meant 'freedom' loving .." Why is there always such a large gap between what little Rappy posts and reality? Just curious ...
Monday, October 24, 2011 7:55 PM
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 2:13 AM
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 1:22 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: And Kwickie, how DO you live in a country which you absolutely hate, with a white hot passion? Man, that must really suck.
Quote:Friday, September 24, 2010 I hate Obama's America. You're damn right about that. Friday, May 28, 2010 - 18:26 To President Obama: Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit. ... go fuck yourself, Mr. President.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 4:08 PM
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