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May 10, 2007
Coffee Snorters: Terrorized Edition
Yesterday the editorial staff rejoiced that at long last, Halp appeared to be On The Way in the form of one Barack Obama:
Gaia Almighty, can you blame him for breaking a sweat? The strain of taking up the slack for that blundering idiot we have in the White House, (you know, the guy who can't even get dates right) must be almost unbearable by now! Thank the Great Spirit we are finally on the verge of having a Leader who would never make that kind of mistake!
But alas! we may have spoken too soon! The rigors of the campaign trail appear to be taking their toll on the youthful candidate:
...the tiredness explanation nonetheless strikes me as perfectly reasonable. Campaigning for President is, by all accounts, an immensely tiring task — basically nonstop work morning to night, traveling, constantly talking, making political decisions, worrying. I suspect nearly all of us, laboring under that kind of schedule, would make errors of one sort or another in what we say. Just think about the slip-ups you sometimes make after any long spell of intense work. Seems to me we ought to cut the man (and all his fellow candidates) some slack on this score.
Indeed. Fortunately, should Mr. Obama manage to get elected, he'll have far less on his mind. We do hope he manages to get some rest.
All that admiration can be exhausting. Or so we've been told.
With surgical precision, Zbigniew Brzezinski cuts to the heart of what's wrong with America:
The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.Government at every level has stimulated the paranoia. Consider, for example, the electronic billboards over interstate highways urging motorists to "Report Suspicious Activity" (drivers in turbans?)...[the] general effect is to reinforce the sense of the unknown but lurking danger that is said to increasingly threaten the lives of all Americans.
There is no known, hard evidence that such excess has prevented significant acts of terrorism, and convictions for would-be terrorists of any kind have been few and far between. Someday Americans will be as ashamed of this record as they now have become of the earlier instances in U.S. history of panic by the many prompting intolerance against the few.
Such prescient words; chilling reminders of the deadly consequences of ignorance and coldly cynical fear mongering:
Ever since Sept. 11, U.S. authorities have asked the public to be vigilant, urging, "If you see something, say something."In January 2006, a store clerk in New Jersey saw something.
A group of men had brought him a video showing them firing assault weapons and chanting, "God is great!" in Arabic. They wanted him to transfer the footage onto a DVD. So he said something, calling the Mount Laurel Police Department, which in turn contacted the FBI.
And thus began the downfall of one of the most thoroughly infiltrated and documented groups of terrorism suspects in recent history — six men from Yugoslavia and the Middle East who were charged Tuesday with plotting to slaughter scores of American soldiers at Fort Dix and perhaps other military installations in the Northeast.
Truly: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Update: Is Bush to blame for the Culture of Corruption, too?
Speaking of the Culture of Fear, what would we do without those brave 1st Amendment freedom fighters in academia?
You know, people told me that if George W. Bush were reelected we'd see professors fired over trumped up charges of ideological nonconformity. And it looks like they were right!
Bloody fascists...
Kudos for Nancy Pelosi's visionary efforts in the realm of foreign policy:
"I believe [Pelosi's recent visit to Syria] was a step in the right direction. Wise people in the U.S. should realize that Israel and the fundamentalist American conservative right have both become burdens on the interests and the future of America."- Khaled Meshal, one of the founders of Hamas
Posted by Cassandra at May 10, 2007 06:37 AM
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Goodness, cut the man some slack. He just miscalculated. He was ONLY off by JUST 3 orders of magnitude. :) I wonder how he'll do in his budget analysis.
All politics aside, my thoughts and prayers go out to those people in KS. Man, they got bludgeoned. Nature's a mother.
Posted by: LBG at May 10, 2007 07:40 AM
The 10,000 vs. 12 thing is nothing. The lie that will stick is the one about the KNG not being able to respond because they were all in Iraq doing God knows what. Spring break, I think it was. Damn that lying Bush, damn him! Did he just ignore the PDB that pointed out that there was some possibility of a Kyoto-spawned tornado touching down in Kansas? Incompetant fool should be impeached! IMPEACHED, I tells ya.
Posted by: daveg at May 10, 2007 08:15 AM
This just in: "Global warming linked to hot air and CO2 release in Washington, DC. Scientists link a secondary source coming from TN."
Posted by: LBG at May 10, 2007 08:44 AM
The following was extracted from this CNN write up.
in 1974, Brzezinski, a critic of the Nixon-Kissinger foreign policy style, became his* adviser on foreign affairs. After his victory in 1976, Carter made Brzezinski national security adviser.What more needs to be said about ZB?
*(Carter's)
Posted by: bthun at May 10, 2007 08:48 AM
What in hell is essential about having the KS National Guard there? For crying out loud, there are dozens of private contractors better qualified to do a lot of the work.
When will these political fossils finally go away, bthun? Jeeves, bring me my straight jacket!
Posted by: Mark at May 10, 2007 06:30 PM
"When will these political fossils finally go away, bthun?"
I would be happy if some who are no longer on the stage, former POTUS/cabinet/under_whatever’s would heed the words of McArthur and just fade away, quietly. Write a book, go on a long vacation to parts unknown. Just remember that this is our nation and we all stand together when are warriors are abroad and in harms way, or we should.
Failing to take that sound advice, I would hope that they might reflect on the farewell speech Gen. McArthur gave at West Point 12-May-62.
Apologies Milady for my wordy response to Mark and I hope that you do not take offense to having a US Army General quoted by a former squid on this fine Thursday evening. His words just seemed appropriate given the verbal diarrhea coming from the four corners of the nation these days... =8-}
Posted by: bthun at May 10, 2007 07:36 PM
Those men in New Jersey are innocent victims of Bush. How suspicious that this comes along just as his poll numbers are down.
Everyone knows that New Jersey is an anti-Bush state, and if they were planning something, they would have gone to Texas or some other redneck place that hates, as Bush calls them, "libruls." Bush figures that by arresting a few immigrants that he can continue stomping on our rights like he has been doing for over 6 years now. Even if those men were watching fighting videos, that's their First Amendment right to do so, no different than Girls Gone Wild or a Rambo flick. While you guys are patting Bush on the back, he is making it a crime to watch certain videos. Sounds like Nazi Germany to me.
Posted by: Vincent at May 11, 2007 11:21 AM
I thought the comment was more interesting for its relationship to the "10,000" dead in Katrina.
Also I haven't seen much beyond the number and the nodding and the mm-hmms in the video. What point was he trying to make anyway?
Posted by: Morgan at May 11, 2007 11:22 AM
Mr. Obama has a good point. Unfortunately, it's on top of his head.
Posted by: fernie at May 11, 2007 11:34 AM
Vincent had far more to say to us today, but sadly like Keith Olbermann he was carted off to become more grist for the White House plastic shredders and is now pushing up roses just outside the Oval Office.
O Vincent! This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you!
Posted by: Cassandra at May 11, 2007 11:38 AM
LOL Vincent, that post is great satire, you capture the voice of the generic moonbat/aclu wonk perfectly.
Posted by: Joel Mackey at May 11, 2007 12:00 PM
Vincent, is there a full moon where you are?
Posted by: david at May 11, 2007 12:11 PM
Vincent, that was almost perfect. Too literate, and maybe not quite angry enough. Otherwise: perfect!
Posted by: Jeff Medcalf at May 11, 2007 12:21 PM
No, no, Vincent's parody fails because it doesn't use a single word of profanity.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at May 11, 2007 12:50 PM
AOG has it right. There needed to be more profanity.
Posted by: Eric Blair at May 11, 2007 12:59 PM
What about the 3 million Americans who have died in Iraq, and the million who died in Hurricane Katrina?
Why, just a week ago tens of thousands died at Virginia Tech thanks to lax gun control.
And lets not forget the tens of millions of Americans who die every in car crashes. Under my administration, America will be a car-free zone!
Posted by: BarackObama at May 11, 2007 01:01 PM
"I believe [Pelosi's recent visit to Syria] was a step in the right direction." I agree. Now if we could just get her to stay there!
Posted by: Skeptic at May 11, 2007 01:25 PM
BO!
That was closer to the intensity that AOG was talking about, but it’s still lacking in profanity and spittle-speckling on the inside of my monitor.
More rage, more intensity please, more profanity and more spittle… otherwise how can we gauge your sincerity?
Posted by: Darth Shredder at May 11, 2007 02:44 PM
We have warnings from the Surgeon General on packs of cigs, so why don't we have warnings from Homelamd Security on Democrat State Governors:
"WARNING; May not Function during Emergencies!!"
Posted by: sherlock at May 11, 2007 07:56 PM
Why, just a week ago tens of thousands died at Virginia Tech thanks to lax gun control.
VT wouldn't even had happened if sKerry/Edwads had been elected in 2004. After all, Chris Reeves would have risen from his wheelchair, put on his Superman cape, and caught the bullets in his teeth. Hell, Kerry probably would have gotten another souvenir hat out of the deal.
Posted by: DaveG at May 13, 2007 11:45 AM
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