Christmas Ideas from VPC

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 05 Nov 2004 13:00:00 GMT
From smith2004:
"I don't want much: a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, a box of ammo and a browser that doesn't suck." -- Chuck Bridgeland

# MakeStickers.com has an on-line designer for making custom 3" x 10" bumper stickers (or 4" x 6" ovals). $5 for one, $90 for 100. Shipped. Recommended by unknown. I've been investigating sources for production of my "Get Thee Behind Me, Bushnev!" meme.

# CustomButtons.com has an on-line designer for making custom 1" buttons. $1.00 apiece for 1-4, 50¢ apiece for 100-499. $3.00 shipping (USPS 1st class) for up to 100 buttons.

# Scott Ritter at Guardian Unlimited - The war on Iraq has made moral cowards of us all - the senior UN weapons inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998 takes the U.S. and Great Britain to task about their mass killing of Iraqis. [cafe]

The fact that most bombing missions in Iraq today are pre-planned, with targets allegedly carefully vetted, further indicts those who wage this war in the name of freedom. If these targets are so precise, then those selecting them cannot escape the fact that they are deliberately targeting innocent civilians at the same time as they seek to destroy their intended foe. Some would dismiss these civilians as "collateral damage". But we must keep in mind that the British and US governments made a deliberate decision to enter into a conflict of their choosing, not one that was thrust upon them. We invaded Iraq to free Iraqis from a dictator who, by some accounts, oversaw the killing of about 300,000 of his subjects - although no one has been able to verify more than a small fraction of the figure. If it is correct, it took Saddam decades to reach such a horrific statistic. The US and UK have, it seems, reached a third of that total in just 18 months.

...

But we all are moral cowards when it comes to Iraq. Our collective inability to summon the requisite shame and rage when confronted by an estimate of 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians in the prosecution of an illegal and unjust war not only condemns us, but adds credibility to those who oppose us. The fact that a criminal such as Osama bin Laden can broadcast a videotape on the eve of the US presidential election in which his message is viewed by many around the world as a sober argument in support of his cause is the harshest indictment of the failure of the US and Britain to implement sound policy in the aftermath of 9/11. The death of 3,000 civilians on that horrible day represented a tragedy of huge proportions. Our continued indifference to a war that has slaughtered so many Iraqi civilians, and will continue to kill more, is in many ways an even greater tragedy: not only in terms of scale, but also because these deaths were inflicted by our own hand in the course of an action that has no defence.

# Jerry Pournelle - Thursday, November 4, 2004 - Jerry wants to return to the days when presidential candidates were chosen, not just annointed, at the convention, sort of like what happened with the Libertarian Party this year, though he doesn't say that.

First, the nominating process is seriously broken. If God had intended us to vote, He would have given us candidates. And while some characterizations of Bush are a bit over the top, I think few would have chosen Bush to be President given other choices among Republicans; and Kerry was hardly the best the Democratic Party could offer.

Second, if the Democrats hadn't been stuck with Kerry, they might have found someone who could beat Bush. Heaven knows Bush was beatable, even on his favorite issue, the war on terror: that isn't a "popular" war in the United States, but it is one perceived as necessary, as Kerry discovered. Unfortunately his attempts to show that he is more fit to lead the war than Bush were obscured by his personal problems -- he may have been a hero among most of his own boat crew, but all the other boats in that squadron didn't much care for his style. None of that was relevant to being President, but much of it was relevant to being elected President: not quite the same thing.

Had Kerry been someone other than who he was, the election might have been about something: about Republic and Empire, and the direction of the nation.

# kim du Toit - Just In Time For Christmas - commentary on the Violence Policy Center's list of guns especially designed for children. I doubt they intended it to be used this way, but it's a damn fine place to find ideas for Christmas presents for your kids. Hehe. [kimdutoit]

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