George was quoted on the cover of the New York Times today (Wednesday, September 20, 2006 issue,) saying, "The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism, and fuel extremism, and pursue nuclear weapons."
No, this wasn't a confession, folks. Actually, he was talking to the Iranian people at the United Nations yesterday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later accused George, and the US, of hypocrisy. He was also quoted as saying, "Excellencies, the question needs to be asked, if the governments of the United States or the United Kingdom, who are permanent members of the Security Council, commit aggression, occupation and violation of international law, which of the organs of the U.N. can take them to account?". Who will hold this country accountable if, say, we were to go against the Geneva Convention? If we decided it's OK to hold prisoners, indefinetely, without trial? And by the way, how is it possible that the President of this country, the Land Of The Free, think that it's in any way alright to do this? A nation founded in the name of freedom, holding prisoners without trial, without bail, without hope of release. Sounds ridiculous, right?
Reading this passage at work today, I was reminded of a passage from the Declaration of Independence.
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
For the full article concerning George and President Ahmadinejad at the UN, click the title header of this post.
Here's a few posts that I plan to put up sometime soon. If there's a specific topic anyone's interested in, I'd be glad to let y'all know my thoughts... 1. Why Wal-Mart is Evil 2. Why George is a Liar 3. Why George Knows He's a Liar 4. Roadside Attraction Distraction: The House On The Rock 5. The Ann Coulter Phenomenon AND What Is Wrong With This Woman?!? 6. How Both Bushes Screwed Iraq Over 7. Why Saddam And al-Qaeda Don't Mix And Never Did 8. Why I Love America 9. But Also Think Some Things Should Change So, there's a tentative list of some stuff that's been brewing. I'd love to hear from some people, so please comment or email.
Ok, so if you're, say, a divorce lawyer, you can't represent the husband if you already have a relationship with the wife. It's a conflict of interest. If you're a Psychologist you can't date a patient. Same deal. For the most part, you wouldn't be breaking any laws, but it's just unfair business practice and ethics. So, if you're, oh I don't know... The vice president, and you need to allocate work contracts to, say, help rebuild a post-war Iraq, you shouldn't give those contracts to a company you formerly chaired. Or should you? So why did Haliburton recieve hundreds of millions of dollars in a no-bid contract to "help" rebuild Iraq? Ask Dick.
I recently read in "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman, about an experimental practice at a few McDonald's franchises in Missouri. A few stores have begun outsourcing their orders to Colorado Springs, over 900 miles away. Imagine, you drive up, place an order at the intercom, and pull forward, expecting to see the person who was taking your order via the intercom. Instead, your order was taken in another state altogether, and sent to the store through high-speed data lines. Does anyone in this country still care about people??? Or is it all about money? Places like McDonald's obviously employ people in the lower income brackets, and now we have stores that are firing workers in favor of the cheaper approach. The scary thing is, if McDonald's were to adopt this practice, it would only be so long before the other fast food companies followed suit. Great. Another big chunk of jobs lost in a country where our president has yet to create one single net job. Scary.
A friend of mine used to tell us how much he hated Mongolian Barbeque, how he couldn't stand the smell. Now, of course we all ragged on him about this because it seemingly made no sense. When we found out the reason, though, we'd never screw with him about it again. For the purposes of this story, and to help my friend remain anonymous, we'll refer to him only as D. Several years ago, somewhere in Asia, NOT Vietnam... D is on guard duty for a certain military outfit. He's been stationed here for some time. Another guard calls to him, tells him he's gotta see what's going on here. D walks out, is taken to the crash site of a jet. It's on fire. A few local folk are holding their children up to the fire, hoping the burns can be blamed on American bombing or an American jet-crash. Problem is, it's not an American jet. D takes one whiff of the air, the burning flesh, promptly vomits, and faints. Skip to America, mid- to late-nineties... D is invited to a family outting, meeting at Mongolian Barbeque. Since that day on guard duty, he has become a vegetarian, but is assured that you can make vegetarian dishes. He takes one step into the parking lot, and promptly faints.
Ok, for anyone who hasn't checked this out yet, here it is. The headline link will take you to Loose Change's website. Loose Change is a documentary that claims a vast conspiracy on the part of the government. It claims that 9/11 was an inside job, that the administration was responsible for the attack. Now, now. Take it all with a grain of salt. Better yet, take it with quite a bit. The problem is, though, that if even a small fraction of this film is accurate... well, pretty scary anyway. Check it out.
The headline is a link to the Anti-Bush League blog's post about an up-and-coming ABC show, The Path to 9/11. The program will place undue blame on the Clinton administration and is on the whole a right-wing propaganda-fest. Check out the link and join in the effort to petition ABC.
Is The Bush Administration Composed Entirely Of Liars?
No. Not entirely. Mostly? Perhaps. November, 2004: Dick Cheney announces Dubya's victory in the 2004 election as a "broad nationwide victory," and a "mandate" for Bush's "clear agenda." Dictionary.com defines "broad" as "of great breadth," as in, "the river was too broad to swim across." Mr. Bush won the election by 2.5%, the smallest margin in American history. Broad, indeed. The victory was so broad, in fact, that this so called "mandate" was agreed upon by the media, practically across the broad board. Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry my story is from '04, I got a lot of catching up to do. *facts cited from The Truth (with jokes), Al Franken
Come one, Come all! This is my first official posting here at ET's No-Label Rants and Raves. I'd like to say thanks for visiting, and invite you to please leave comments. Any input you've got, right, left, agree, or disagree. It's all welcome and appreciated. I'm not going to moderate comments except in cases of vulgarity (you may find it hard work to meet my definition of vulgarity.) My blog will be dedicated to the further exposure of crap, bullshit, lies, and liars in this country. I'd like to dedicate it to the man whose books inspired this blog, Al Franken. While I don't align myself 100% with any political classification (hence, No-Label,) Mr. Franken's work certainly makes me want to believe that there are "Good guys" in the American political arena. Anyway, enough of that. On to the good stuff.
I'm a 23 year old recovering alcoholic working at Jerry's Pages and Pipes, tobacco and bookstore in Appleton, Wisconsin. I read constantly, and I'm a movie fanatic. I've been sober since August 2005.
