Molôn Labé
Of interest was the following from Bush:
"There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country."
Hmm. So he says the U.S. does not need permission slips to defend itself yet in this very nation U.S. citizens need & often do not receive permission slips to defend themselves, their families & communities. D.C., NYC, & Chicago come to mind, as do national parks & airports. Odds are this irony completely slipped by his speech writers, and was apperently missed by Bush himself.
# I switched my blog comments from Haloscan to cgiComments, a little Perl script, which I modified. I was getting tired of waiting for Haloscan. This isn't much faster, and may actually slow down the main page a little, but it should be more consistent. And, more importantly, the comments are now stored on my web site. I converted all the old comments, I think.
# Javelin Press - Molôn Labé by Boston T. Party. His first novel. 454 pages. $25 cash postmarked by 31 January gets you a signed copy. Significant discounts for quantity orders (40% for 6-13 copies).
After a decade of retaking their stolen freedoms, the people of Wyoming (many of them newcomers) are forced to finally confront their jealous masters in the U.S. Government. Can a lone, courageous state successfully resist federal tyranny, or has the Bill of Rights been reduced to a myth? Can an allegedly free people act free, or is our liberty just a 4th of July farce?And don't miss Boston's FAQ:
These issues weigh heavily on the shoulders of Governor James Wayne Preston, a decorated Desert Storm Marine helo pilot. Elected in 2014 on the Laissez-Faire Party ticket, he enjoys nearly full support of the legislature to return Wyoming to a long-lost era of liberty. But how far can he and the people of his state go before Washington, D.C. feels compelled to act? Will Wyoming's free and independent course reach actual secession? Will President Melvin Connor suppress the maverick Western state with federal troops? Will anybody come to Wyoming's aid?
America is unique. It has a government which simply cannot tell the truth, and a people which simply cannot hear the truth. Hence the partnership. Our country is like a tawdry apartment in which everything has been swept under the rug but the residents walk all over the lumpy, undulating floor as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Those areas which have several feet of secreted truth - such as JFK being assassinated by triangulated rifle fire, or TWA 800 exploding from a missile strike, or the Murrah Building blowing up from shaped charges wrapped around its structural pillars - we navigate around in a conspiracy of silence. Americans are guilty en masse because they refused to march in the streets - refused to sit-down strike - until their government told them the truth.
We are paying for our complicity, and we will continue to pay. I think that Islamic terrorism on our shores will greatly increase because of Desert Storm II, and because of our willy-nilly reaction to it (such as our insane refusal to racially profile at airports). We should probably expect even more restrictions on the Bill of Rights, even though the previous restrictions did not stop crime and terrorism (funny how they never mention that, eh?).For example, many of the 19 terrorists of 9-11 were on FBI watchlists and had even bought tickets in their own names by credit card! Why weren't there FBI agents at those gates?
In short, I see more violence coupled with an economic collapse. How Bush 2.0 expects to be reelected over this, I cannot fathom. He strikes me as a decent man, but his bloodlust for Saddam et al is becoming unreasonable. I think that he is going to drag us over a very unpleasant cliff, and we are not militarily or economically prepared for the impact.
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For those of you who believe that Christianity and Libertarianism are incompatible, if not often mutually exclusive, I must, after much thought and experience, generally disagree. Although not central to the story, this issue is (parenthetically) explored in some depth in Molôn Labé!
# George StarPD at BrianWilson.net - Molon Labe - a short telling of the original story and interpretation of its relevance today. Very nice. [clairefiles]
# Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - Victim of Anti-Gun Hysteria Needs Your Support - brings home the injustice visited on Hunter by the Ohio Highway Patrol. Remember, you can still contribute. [jpfo]
# World Net Daily - Rep. Ron Paul wins seat early - nobody filed to challenge Dr. Paul for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, so the rest of the house will have to live for at least two more years with "Dr. No". Yay! [claire]
# Catfarmer at The Price of Liberty - Three Chickens and A Fox - a fable. [price]
# Lew Rockwell at LewRockwell.com - A World Recreated - Lew is optimistic about the take-over of the world by capitalism. [lew]
# What Really Happened - The State of the Union - an alternative view. [whatreallyhappened]
And most of all you don't see the United States looked up to as a bastion of freedom, law, and democracy any more. You don't see the United States looked upon as a moral leader any more. You don't see the United States looked on as a leader in technology any more.
And THAT, my fellow Americans, is the real state of the union.
# Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey at Pravda - Defending the Undefendable - a view from Russia of Bushnev's State of the Union Speech. [whatreallyhappened]
Far from leaving America a safer place, the foreign policies pursued by George Bush have divorced Washington from the international community, resulting in the USA being derided as a pariah by world public opinion. Proof of this is the fact that George Bush dare not step off an airplane in most countries around the world and the fact that he was the only visiting Head of State to have to leave Number 10 Downing Street by the back door due to security preoccupations, and this in the home of his closest ally.
George Bush has gone too far in his foreign policy and must be held accountable for the war crimes which his administration has sanctioned. Regarding domestic policy, he leaves every US taxpayer with a massive bill to pick up after his globe-trotting war-mongering, a bill running into tens of billions of USD per year in the Middle East - and every year, if the situation in Iraq is not stabilized in 2004.
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Bearing this in mind, it is up to the US citizen to question how he or she is better off under the administration of George W. Bush. Isolated, alone, mistrusted, with its back turned to the heart of the international community, Washington appears more and more like a bully who has been locked out of the playground and George Bush as the inept and dysfunctional doting parent who tries to justify the unjustifiable, defend the undefendable, being the most unconvincing and unimaginative president the USA has ever had the misfortune to have in its long and rich history.
# Special Broadcasting Service - War Crimes Probe for Britain - one of the drawbacks of signing the International Criminal Court treaty. I'd love to see Bushnev and company swing for the mass murder of innocents they've committed in Iraq. But hanging Blair, Straw, and Hoon would be a good start. [whatreallyhappened]
"It is critically important for those who lost their lives and for future generations facing future wars that the leaders of governments waging war are fully accountable for war crimes committed," said civil rights lawyer and Peacerights spokesman Phil Shiner.
He said there is no reason why British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon should not be prosecuted over their role.
# AlJazeera.net - US plans to attack seven Muslim states - no Muslim is safe from the Bible-thumping neocons. [whatreallyhappened]
A former commander of NATO's forces in Europe, Clark claims he met a senior military officer in Washington in November 2001 who told him the Bush administration was planning to attack Iraq first before taking action against Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.
# Freedom Solutions NW " is a nonprofit dedicated to nonpolitical means of advancing freedom. It was founded January 2003 in Oregon's Wallowa Mountains on the idea that today's American democratic system is too slow, divisive and corrupt to be an effective mechanism for social change. Instead Freedom Solutions focuses on ways individuals can gain greater control over their lives without waiting for permission or guidance from political and economic powers that be." They have some interesting proposed "solutions". [lrtdiscuss]
