Dennis Kucinich went to Lebanon. Aren't you, congressman Insley, also, curious to see what you have accomplished there? Take your children for a lesson in the history of "WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT."
Imagine you take the family to visit a hospital in Iraq, the children's wards particularly. You voted to plant thousands of cluster bombs in Falluja, the holy city, the area of the world, the middle east crescent, where Christ was born and walked. You voted funds to make and drop bombs, meant to destroy a battalion of tanks, on schools and hospitals.
This is not suitable for child to see. Which child? The one in the bed, or the one you have by the hand? You have deeded it to both.
You now have your 10 -year- old in the hospital in Iraq, the children's floor. Explain to him and his older sister how the pressure from the concussion from an exploded block buster bomb popped the eyes out of the Iraqi 5 year old's head, the one in the bed. Perhaps the Iraqi nurse will tell how this child came to the hospital holding his eyes in his hands. Explain how these bombs are Weapons of Mass Destruction in other countries but not in ours.
Explain how proud you are of what you have done.
Oh, you mustn't forget to explain how the cluster bombs are made to look like toys for children like your grandchild to pick up, or step on, and that, of the many that do, some live. How many? Tell your kids that we have counted 666,000 dead. That is according to the Johns' Hopkins crew. Your 5 year-old will ask, "Where are its legs." Try telling the truth. Try, "They're in a garbage can." This is REAL history. The truth. The kind your children won't read: Because our newspapers don't publish the truth.
You're slumming. Try another hospital. Your older child will wonder why the children are so thin. Explain that they have nothing to eat. Explain that you voted for that. And be sure to explain how proud you are of what you have done.
How many congresspeople do we have? Imagine, only one of this mob has visited Lebanon. Make this a history lesson. Explain that he came to see what you have done. An act of humanity. Explain that the Iraqi father crying at one of the beds isn't like you. It's okay to blow the legs off his child. Give me a lesson, too. I'd like to know why.
Of course, this isn't real. It's only human. Real is that, of our, how many representatives in Congress? something like 600? Of the whole bunch only Kucinich has visited in Lebanon. Only Dennis is human enough to cry and pray with an Iraqi father at a bed where his child lies without legs, or often with only half of his head. THIS IS REAL. THIS IS THE WORK DONE BY AMERICANS IN CONGRESS. You CONGRESS AND SENATE, STAND PROUD.
I am ashamed.
http://www.emilyhorswill.blogstop.com
Emily saw her first article in print 71 years ago. Subsequently, twenty-six earned awards. Mike Lowry, Stew Udall, then Secretary of the Interior, read her work in Congress Recently, Emily stopped when a voice called, ?Wait, I know who you are!? The caller explained, ?When I was 6 years old and my brother was 12, we spent Sunday morning sprawled on his bed reading your column. Now when I can?t stand the world as it is, I read them again.Grasping Emily's hand, she whispered."Thank you.? In 1990 Emily took a haitus to write a book. Today she invites all of you to her hompage to enjoy, Follow the Hawk, Montana Winds and Sometimes Better to Walk than Fly, a collection of the weekly columns a six-year-old kept. emilyhorswill.blogspot.com
Thank you for bringing home so vividly some of the reasons why war is always a bad alternative.
Many here appease their consciences by pretending that it was only Republicans who allowed or advocated for this heinous and illegal war. To them I suggest they research the votes for that war and make especial note of the overwhelming support for it by Democrats. We are all of us guilty, we all have blood on our hands.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 at 7:04:31 AM
I would quibble with Ardee above on one point. The Democrats may be in part responsible for the war in Iraq, but they do not represent progressive or liberal values. Those of us that do, however, often do not identify with the Democrats even if we find them less repugnant than the Republicans. As you say, the Democrats voted for war while the left protested against it.
Nor did they even listen to us. Our opinions were marginalized and ignored. This country stopped being a democracy a long time ago. Even now, with popular opinion mostly supporting withdrawal, the government escalates.
I know what Ardee means - that all Americans own a piece of this problem - but I cannot accept the judgment that, "[w]e are all of us guilty, we all have blood on our hands." The corporatocracy (and that's the Republicans AND the Democrats) won't acknowledge what would have been our valuable contribution to the debate had there been a debate. And if we go by Vietnam, they never will.
So, I'm not very predisposed to share the blame and guilt for being so wrong and so cruel. Homey don't play dat. I might help mitigate the damage if I can, but I would do so as a Canadian or a Mexican, too.
Our country may not acknowledge our effort, but we should. This is the doing of conservatives, both Republican and Democrat, and the tens of millions of Toby Keith loving, Nascar patronizing Wahoo's who supported an illegal war when we told them it was such. They get ALL of the blame.
by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 175 comments)
on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 at 9:34:37 AM
I appreciate the comments of Yaybob and find much truth in them. But I stand by my statement that every American should share in the culpability for the actions of this nation. This means that we are ultimately responsible for our actions as individuals and , as citizens of this country, should be motivated to change what we cannot tolerate. If we feel no guilt then how motivated are we to effect change?
How many actually vote in any election cycle? Far too few , just as many think that by marching in a demonstration, by writing their elected officials, by posting on forii such as this, they complete their obligation to this country and to the world. I do not accept that a job undone brings any alleviation of conscience or gives a free pass to the individual. We are all responsible, even those among us that hate what is being done in our name, it is in our name after all.
I guess I feel this way because we see so much ennui from our fellow Americans, so much disinterest, so little concern, so few actively working for change. I am tired of the "let the other guy do the work" syndrome. Look at what the other guy has wrought!
I would ask Yaybob if he were a democrat would he accept responsibility for the takeover of that party by the conservatives within it? Would he think that the party that bears his allegiance and votes for the invasion of Iraq and for so many other Bush agenda items, and worst of all, remains silent on far too many issues of the day makes him share in the blame for those actions? It is the same with citizenship, at least in my opinion.
What it boils down to ,I guess, is motivation. Guilt motivates, or it darn well should. If one accepts our tortures and murders sans any guilt then one is being dishonest. I am an American, when my fellow Americans act like Nazis then it shames, embarrasses and humiliates me no end. It also motivates the hell out of me.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 at 11:55:52 AM
"I would ask Yaybob if he were a [D]emocrat would he accept responsibility for the takeover of that party by the conservatives within it? Would he think that the party that bears his allegiance and votes for the invasion of Iraq and for so many other Bush agenda items, and worst of all, remains silent on far too many issues of the day makes him share in the blame for those actions? It is the same with citizenship, at least in my opinion."
If I can make a distinction between sharing responsiblity and sharing blame, then I agree that all Americans are responsible for the war in Iraq because we are collectively responsible for everything it does, but only in the same sense that I am responsible for the misdeeds of my children even if I couldn't have prevented them.
If my son sneaks out of the house and breaks a window with his baseball, I must see to it that the window is fixed at no cost to the owner. I am responsible for the bill, but I am not to blame.
by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 175 comments)
on Tuesday, January 9, 2007 at 12:19:12 PM
You want me to hate my country. Is there anything that's worth fighting for to you. Was WWII worth it? Or would you just have ALL the Jews dead and have the NAZIs still in power all over Europe. Would you have let Saddam take Kuwait in the '90's and kill a bunch of Kuwaitis too? I know, maybe we should have just talked to Saddam and said, please don't kill your people anymore, and please don't invade Kuwait--oh, pretty please. I don't think you people would fight if terrorists blew up the Statue of Liberty, the Capitol Building, and you grandma's house. Get real.
by
Adam Frank (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 35 comments)
on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 5:04:28 PM
how childish commentary and silly assumptions, false as hell by the way, does anything to enhance this debate.
Where do you get the gall, or the immaturity really, to say that we , any of us, hate this nation, or love it any less than you think you do?
We, many of us, work passionately and tirelessly to make this nation what we believe it should be. While you, on the other hand, claim to support the troops by supporting an agenda that slaughters them for no real reason and to accomplish other than the stated purpose.
We seek the truth behind the propaganda while you suck up the lies as if it were orange soda. Does that make you an asset to this nation? I think not. We told Sadaam Hussein that we would turn our backs on his efforts to stop Kuwait from stealing his oil by means of slant drilling, and then we used his naievety to invade his nation.
Our President told us that Iraq had WMD's, they did not. Our President told us that Hussein supported AlQaeda, they were mortal enemies, the one being socialist the other being religious fundamentalists. It seems that it is you that fails this nation so it is you that mneeds to read to think and to gain understanding, and it is certainly you that needs to get real.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 5:20:45 PM
Wouldn't I have to hate my country to not fight for it in the face of evil? Go back and read what I wrote and you'll see that I never said that you hate this country, but yeah, you sure do act like it sometimes.
And are you defending Saddam Hussein there? Do you really want to take that road?
You say you love your country, but you want to leave the Iraq war unfinished, and slap the face of all those who have given their lives to defend Iraqis and Americans.
How naive do you have to be to really believe that Saddam Hussein did not support terror? We have found documents that link Saddam to Al-Qaeda operatives, by the way. What about all the missiles and other weapons caches we have found in Iraq? What about the possibility that Saddam moved the weapons he had? You're too caught up in your hatred for President Bush to even consider the fact that Saddam was not the cuddly little teddy-bear you're making him out to be.
I question your feelings for our country because you agree with the people who think that every time we go to war to protect the country or people in other countries, it's evil and must have an ulterior motive.
What you believe this nation should be, what you say you are working so tirelessly to make it, is not what I think it should be. We should not be afraid to question 6 Muslim clerics who act suspiciously on an airplane. We should not be a bunch of spineless, panty-wastes who are afraid to fight evil. And, indeed, we should not be afraid to call evil evil. We should not be a nation of pacifists who will forget that evil men hijacked four planes and killed 3,000 Americans. Nor should we be a nation of people who appease dictators because we're too feminized to recognize a real threat and deal with it appropriately.
by
Adam Frank (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 35 comments)
on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 5:38:20 PM
You will not be allowed a pass, not here, not anymore!
Well then...
Wouldn't I have to hate my country to not fight for it in the face of evil? Go back and read what I wrote and you'll see that I never said that you hate this country, but yeah, you sure do act like it sometimes.
...ardee:
What if the evil this nation faces is from within? As it definitely happens to be....You certainly implied such, saying that WE would have YOU hate this country. Then you cannot resist adding that we act like we do , because we fail to walk in lockstep with some who dont know or care to know the real facts. Dont play semantics, you are unqualified and outmatched.
.....................
And are you defending Saddam Hussein there? Do you really want to take that road?
You say you love your country, but you want to leave the Iraq war unfinished, and slap the face of all those who have given their lives to defend Iraqis and Americans.
.....ardee: Oh please , play the love Saddam card in your high school civics class, not here among the adults, it is unworthy of any further commentary, excepting of course the fact that Reagan, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle and Wolfowitz loved him throughout the eighties!
It is, by the by, you who slap the face of our troops by wanting even more of them to die for big oil and not in defense of our nation. Every single stated reason to invade Iraq has long been debunked. Bush lied and people died!
.......................
How naive do you have to be to really believe that Saddam Hussein did not support terror? We have found documents that link Saddam to Al-Qaeda operatives, by the way. What about all the missiles and other weapons caches we have found in Iraq? What about the possibility that Saddam moved the weapons he had? You're too caught up in your hatred for President Bush to even consider the fact that Saddam was not the cuddly little teddy-bear you're making him out to be.
......ardee: You are either mentally ill, a naive fool or a liar. Please link to one single example of the outrageous and , sorry, stupidly incorrect claims that you post here...garbage!
...........................
I question your feelings for our country because you agree with the people who think that every time we go to war to protect the country or people in other countries, it's evil and must have an ulterior motive.
.....ardee: More horseshit from the usual source, one note Johnny....I served my nation in Viet Nam, I watched friends die for another, older lie, and I will do all in my power to prevent that from ever happening again.
...............................
What you believe this nation should be, what you say you are working so tirelessly to make it, is not what I think it should be. We should not be afraid to question 6 Muslim clerics who act suspiciously on an airplane. We should not be a bunch of spineless, panty-wastes who are afraid to fight evil. And, indeed, we should not be afraid to call evil evil. We should not be a nation of pacifists who will forget that evil men hijacked four planes and killed 3,000 Americans. Nor should we be a nation of people who appease dictators because we're too feminized to recognize a real threat and deal with it appropriately.
......ardee: You get your facts (lies) from Limbaugh, from Hannity, from O'Reilly and thus you must love being lied to, or more accurately you are too damned lazy to do your own research, think hard about complex issues and arrive at mature decisions. I feel rather sorry for you, but much sorrier for my nation which depends upon intelligent decisions from thinking adults. You are letting your country down.....repeat, you are letting your country down.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 7:28:19 AM
I don't hate my country. In fact, I weep for it daily because of what people like you have done to it. No, I just don't have much use or respect for about half of the people living in it, and, judging by the responses to the trail of comments that you have littered OpEdNews with today, not many others here do either.
Now, go back under your bridge.
by
Yaybob (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 175 comments)
on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 7:13:27 PM
is that this person probably really believes that stuff....and refuses to see the myriad facts that expose and debunk much of his core beliefs....why I wonder would someone do this to themselves?
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 6:13:38 PM
Dear Adam:
You say: You want me to hate my country.
No: I want you to love it enough to take care of it.
The WMD our Nazi leaders are addicted to will destroy the world's ability to host life, including yours. Forty years ago the Bush Gang attended college together where they first planned to rule the world. They are very close to that in the U.S. now. Their tool is fear. One of them wrote his thesis on "How Easy it would be to scare us into submission. We need only to produce a fake Pearl Harbor." 911 was their Pearl Harbor. (1)
The Bush Group wants the world's oil. Their partners, the corporations, want to sell weapons. They own the weapons industry. Through manufactured enemies and fear, we are their slaves. In return, their horror weapons provide mangled human beings, poisoned air, oceans and land.
Is there anything that's worth fighting for to you?
I have been fighting 71 years, 40 of them to stop Bush and his friends, but you chose to kill yourself to "get" the "terrorists, while I chose to fight to live. When Carter negotiated a world peace treaty major nations world-wide promised him they would not make nuclear weapons, in return for a promise that the U.S. would not bomb them, I thought we had won. The people want peace. Enforced this agreement can save the world.
Now we have to convince the voters. We need them to demand that Congress recognize the Treaty and put it into use. We need people to call Congress, to march at weapons depots, to tell voters to stand up.
You ask, "Would you have let Saddam take Kuwait in the '90'...."
You need a history lesson: I would have helped them stop Kuwait from stealing Iraqi oil.
We forced the Iraqis to accept Saddam as their leader 25 years ago. Why? Read on.
In the 1990s, Kuwait slant-drilled to steal the Iraqi oil. U. S. GAVE HIM PERMISSION to stop Kuwait. But with Saddam's first effort, U.S joined Kuwait and bombed Iraq!! Then about 2 years ago, Saddam announced he would henceforth sell Iraq oil for Euros only. Seems that even devil dictators can do right, if only once in a lifetime. But instantly, he became our enemy!
Today I heard that the international oil corporations, with the blessing of the Oval Office, meaning Big Oil, finally got control of 75% of the Iraqi's oil. I can hear them slurping. Cheaper gas for U. S.? Don't bet your bobby socks on it: But, for sure more starvation for the Iraqi kids, what's left of them.
You ask, Is there anything that's worth fighting for to you?
Yes. I will fight for justice. The world has limited assets. When a few have most of them, and many starve, they fight. If your baby was hungry, wouldn't you? Peace=justice, and/or justice=Peace. Either way, they are inseparable Siamese twins. I am a member of Veterans for Peace.
You ask, Was WWII worth fighting for...
No. Every war was instigated by rich to enrich the rich. That's injustice, and injustice breeds war.
Or would you just have ALL the Jews dead...
I would have everyone die of old age having put their gifts to their highest pinnacle. But, no rich Jew was ever hurt. Only the poor. The rich knew about Hitler when they could have, should have, stopped him. But they owned the munitions factories! How do you make money from weapons? Money glowed. For it, they, again, sacrificed their middle-class, their poor, and their frail and old.
And, today their progeny, the Zionists, rage, burning Iraqi olive groves, bulldozing Iraqi homes, too often with the owners in them, and with U.S support, while eighty per cent of the Israelis cringe in shame. (2)
You ask, Or would you have the Nazis still in power all over Europe.
The Nazis control the U.S.!! Europe is down the road.
I don't think you people would fight if terrorists blew up the Statue of Liberty...
I soldiered through WWII. Forgive me, I didn't know better. But I have grown wisdom since. It is difficult not to do so, even if you sit and yawn for 84 years.
And the Capitol Building, and you grandma's house.
The terrorists in Israel have bulldozed your grandma's house.
It is a sad day, when citizens must read The English
Guardian, and the Mid-Eastern Haartz to get the truth.
Do you know Lt. Watada? Saying, no, to killing yourself with pollution, takes courage too? And better yet, brains? You will love Watada. If you haven't read President Eisenhower's farewell address, you will want to do so: Also, WAR IS A RACKET, by the much decorated war hero, Major Smedlely Butler.
Will enough of us awaken in time? Will we hold the toes of those who represent us to hot ashes?
What is the matter with a mind that says that the path to my happiness is to kill myself to "get" my "enemies? Get busy on endorsements for the Peace Department. George Washington wanted one. It's time we got it.
Finally, there is another who walks my path. I waited for him for 67 years. I will introduce you. Allow me, and if you let him he will be your friend and teacher. And you will be very lucky.
He is Dennis Kucinich, Congressman from Ohio, the only one of those who have announced for the Presidential race who would fight to keep the Earth able to support life; who would legislate for you and I. His bio is better than fiction. Read it. Supporting him could make America great.
Refs: 1) Google Stanley Hilton 2) ditto, Caterpillar
by
emily horswill (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 64 comments)
on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 4:12:52 AM
