Sunday, September 24, 2006

Men can be complete monsters. Murderers who think nothing of slaughtering human beings in the most gruesome fashion, cover themselves in blood and gore; taste the horror of another man's dying and laugh full out and giddy. And half an hour later, after a quick shower, hold a tiny baby in their hands and coo like a fool in love.
Men are such strange, assinine creatures, aren't we?
Men like Rumsfeld feed the death machine with no gain whatsoever save their own sense of power. Some men are fools and cause the deaths of thousands because of their foolishness. Are they to be forgiven because they're fools?
Some men send thousands to their deaths because of a vision they have in the deep, dark night; a vision that involves, usually, some self-righteous image of themselves at the head of an army, fighting the good fight for god and country and mom's apple pie.
Some men are simply bad, evil creatures who like the thrill of killing in a bloody fashion.
These are usually elevated to dictatorship or eminence, or presidente.
And it's a strange sunrise the fals on the kind-hearted man of compassion who's willing to kill for love of life or love of another.
When is victory declared? What constitutes victory in Iraq, I wonder? How many U.S. soldiers must die before we can say we've won? How many lives are we willing to sacrifice in the name of democracy in Iraq? In Iraq? Will 20,000 be enough? 50,000? 100,000? What price are we willing pay to plant democracy in the hearts of a people who've never known it, and likely don't want it? How many deaths make a victory?

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Words have power. Bush has power. Bush's words have power
If the president wants to convey to the Islamic people that America is not a bigoted, religious zealot against Islam and its tenets then Mr. Bush ought to consider that his use of the phrase "islamo-fascist" may be an ill-thought-out idea. It sends the message to Muslims worldwide that America is trying to destroy Islam and that's an incredibly stupid thing to do!
So please, Mr. Bush. Before you whip out your guns and start firing randomly at anything that moves, think before you speak. Christsakes, you're supposed to be the leader of the free world; the steadying hand at the tiller of state; so how can you not get that your words, when expressed in public, have consequences?
Can't you get that we're at war with terrorists. Terrorists of all stripes and religious or any other belief. What does it matter what their personal religiouis preference may be, in the long run?
If we were declaring ourselves at war with Catholic fanatics or Christian-right zealots, don't you think that many Christians, whether politically to the right or not, would get a bit ruffled by the phrase? Wouldn't you think that people who're flocked together with a group of killers and bloody fanatics when they themselves are peaceful and unconnected to any terror effort might take offense and assume a defensive posture against whomever makes the statement "we're at war with Christian fanatics?"
Well, I want to reiterate, sir, words have power. PLEASE THINK BEFORE you speak. It's certainly too late after the phrase leaves your mouth.