OK. It's my blog, and I get to talk about what I want, and what I want to say is this: the continued smacking-of-ignorance system of beliefs in the US is so staggeringly awry that I'm simply resigning myself to the fact that their currently political atmosphere is so stagnant, it won't even waft away after the next presidential vote unless blind followers take off the shades.
Listen up USA, and I know I get hits from south of the border - I'm talking to you: the people in positions of US governmental power from your community to the country on the whole are by and large
not the stupid jokers you voted for, but big business CEOs lining their pockets and pulling strings. Senators prove that fact
time and
time again. For them, you are less a part of the constituency they represent and more the means to an end. Their greed and immorality is beyond your imagination. Every government is manipulative by design, but yours takes the freedom cake. For instance, the War on Terror is a ruse to keep you looking right while they shuffle money left - the administration uses it to exploit you, and the media cranks it up whenever it needs ratings to satisfy glutenous advertisers. If the army had wanted to capture Osama Bin Laden, they would have, alright? They haven't, because it's far too fun to keep you squirming. The Afghani is an extremist not a magician, and international military task forces cannot and do not simply say, "oops, we missed him again, gee these mountains are darn confusing..." fact is, as long as this figurehead for your fears is alive, the administration can capitalize on your will to relinquish your rights, freedoms and livelihoods supposedly protecting you from some nameless impending doom - homeland security is about your fear feeding the corporate machine, not about keeping you safe. I just keep wondering when you're going to quit with the mass hysteria and get with sending mass-messages by holding politicians accountable? Or you like being scared, you like being told what to care about.
And speaking of care.. does your administration really care about nukes? No. Should you? No. Iran's signature is on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and it's perfectly legal for a signer to develop the technology and facilities that enriching nuclear fuels for power plants. So maybe they want to develop a 'threshold' capacity, where it's very possible for them break off with the NPT and develop weapons rapidly if necessary, and guess what? That's perfectly legal too. Iran is within its rights. And why wouldn't it want to? It's already surrounded by big nuclear powers with cocked guns. India and Pakistan admit to having the bomb, but there's another country pretty close that's keeping mum about it's capabilities. Yeah, that's right, Israel hasn't even admitted to its nuclear capabilities (beyond what Iran could catch up to in the next five years) or to stockpiling, nor even signed the NPT (Indian and Pakistan haven't signed the NPT either). So hey, wait a minute, why didn't the US think about invading India, Pakistan or
Israel for that matter ('cause psst, it's rumored that they have some fun-time weapons of mass destruction!)? Oh that's right, the US can't screw over its buddies, especially Israel, since US-based corporate weapons contracts suppling the Israeli army with bunker busters (so that Israel can straight-facedly bust Palestinian refugee balls in the ain-t-gonna-be-no-olive-branches-left-to-offer in the Israeli dispute) are still withstanding.
Iran has also seen what the US can just up and decide to do unilaterally, without international support (Umm. Bush is a war criminal in definition, BTW) in Iraq. They've reassured time and time again
they're not an aggressor and have no plans for nuclear attacks, but they do want to hold a card just in case Bush decides to make an even bigger mess of the Middle East. They're not the only ones wanting some assurance that the US will keep its military hands in its pockets - attention whore North Korea is scared shitless of the US, it wants to protect itself and negotiate a more powerful diplomatic position in the international community and its bullshit regime is [albeit wrongly] waving the only bargaining chip it hopes will bring the US to the table. Funny thing, NK has nothing to worry about in that vein, since the only thing the US administration is pissed about is NK's poor timing. Here's the US trying to make a crisis out of Iran when NK steps in with a real one, throwing off the big plan. Invading Iraq was about Haliburton contracts (helping Cheney earn his huge yearly annuity in deferred payments from the company) and big oil money. International pillage and plunder. Invading Iran would be more of the same. That's the focus. Invading North Korea would pointlessly alienate the US's biggest trading partner (China), which is why Bush and the largely UN are using 'strong' language instead of cluster bombs in response to the nuclear test North Korea conducted a few days ago. Besides, there's no certainly NK won't use whatever technology its managed to scrape together in retaliation, not like Iraq, which the administration knew had no factual weapons of mass destruction to retaliate with. (Think the US would still have launched their exclusive air strike on Baghdad if they'd
confirmed in the slightest that Saddam Hussein had had some big usable weapons loaded on down the road?)
From an
e-mail sent to CNN:
"For all his posturing, Mr. Bush thru his continued support of Gen. Musharaf and Pakistan has shown that one could be a rogue state, one could export terrorism to all parts of the world, one could trade in nuclear technology to other terrorist states and organizations and still be a "bulwark" in the war against terror and could be rewarded with billions of dollars of aid and military assistance. It is this status that Kim of the DPK wants for his country and for himself. Thank you, President Bush for showing him the way!"
-- Madhu Ranganathan, Chennai, India [sic]Oh and has any one else noted that North Korean wouldn't even have capability if the US hadn't backed a hard-water program with billions of dollars back in the day?
This isn't about cleaning up the international community or even keeping you safe, states-side friends, it's about what's most beneficial financially for a very select few people.
Oh Canada has shortcomings too, and I'm waiting for
us to wake up and smell the coffee on the so-called 'Afghanistan Mission' among other things (including paying dues to Kyoto & global warming, giving Gays the last word, being outspoken about the shitty softwood lumber deal and bulking the missile sheild - where Canada should stay the course, Conservatives and Steven Harper's hard line be damned), but at least I can be fairly certain Canadians aren't going to start urging Harper to
help re-arm Japan (because more bombs is always a great idea), send an early Thanksgiving
carpet bomb card to Iran or beat the war drum in Asia.
Now I realize I'm being as glib and annoying as the blow-'em-all-to-hell Americans I'm actually referring to, and that adding a voice to the herd doesn't make me any more justified or correct than those I'm professing to address here, but like I said, it's my blog.
My suggestion: don't phone-in your politics.
