words, words, words
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
If I begin to detail myself here, will you understand?
P. I am me
Q. I don't always know exactly who that is
R. I am Quaker
S. I like words and playing with them
T. I like genmaicha tea
U. I like the word napkin more than most others
V. I spend time walking my neighborhood
W. I cook rice often
X. I sleep well most every night
Y. I eat large amounts of fruit and vegetables
Z. I munch, sleep, write, create, cook, bike, watch, walk, listen, hope, learn, drink, live, breathe, touch, know, question, taste, copy, read, stare, carry, talk, dance, finger, try.
raisin@gmail.com
albums:
Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs
Erasure: I Say, I Say, I Say
Depeche Mode: Black Celebration
The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On?
David Bowie: Hunky Dory
George Michael: Listen without Prejudice
George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
songs:
Wild is the Wind: Nina Simone
Come Undone: Duran Duran
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini: Rachmaninov
My Funny Valentine: Chet Baker
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate: The Flaming Lips
This Must Be the Place: The Talking Heads
Hyperballad: Bjork
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
"We have not seen such systematic distortion of intelligence, such systematic manipulation of the American people, since the war in Vietnam," wrote John Brady Kiesling, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service in his letter of resignation last week to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Kiesling, who was political counselor in U.S. embassies throughout the Mideast, added that "until this administration, it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president, I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer."
I pulled that from Robert Sheer's opinion piece printed in Salon.com today. Here is a link to the NYtimes which prints the entire resignation letter
I usually avoid talking too much about politics in my blog. I prefer to explain my own feelings, my own views in the world. I know that most, if not all, politicians lie, and frequently. I know that espousing one side or the other accepts those lies in hopes that at least your side is reaching for some good in the middle of all their lies. I know that in my own personal relations, I could never deal with this sort of people. If I believe that you simply cannot succeed without lying, then I am certainly glad that I will stay well below the public radar if I can continue to be truthful.
However, I am incensed. I see what's going on in our country, and it feels like an incredible amount of lying to me. I don't know what to do with it. Yelling and screaming does no good, even if I direct my anger towards those who put the current politicians in office. Upsetting myself to the point of panic doesn't hurt anyone but me.
I can't believe in any way that killing the Iraqi people will ultimately help the Iraqi people. I try to believe that the White House really is looking out for our best interests, but I can't. I see them looking out for their own best interests, which means incredible power for America (do you not know that for the past five years the AF motto has been "Global Reach, Global Power?"), which means protecting Israel, which may even mean protecting oil interests. If I believed in the humanitarian causes they suggest, then I would see them acting out in other hurting places in the world, helping the Palestinians, helping the Irish, helping the extreme poverty and destitution in our own country, helping to control the problems between India and Pakistan, or curbing the tyrannical leaders of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan we instead seem to be patting on the back for their help invading Afghanistan.
I know that these inspections are unnecessary in the eyes of the White House. As they have repeatedly said, they will accept nothing less than regime change. No matter how much Iraq disarms, they will still insist that Hussein is a danger to the US. I won't argue that point because although it doesn't seem likely, I honestly don't know. I do however get the sense that the terror alerts going off all the time without any direction or plan mean to add to our fear rather than to add to our safety. When fearful, people often react. I am always suspicious of people encouraging fear. What motive do they have to increase our fear? I don't have to answer that.
In the end, I don't care so much about the politics. Our elected representatives will always fight and squabble; our constitution sets them up for that, and the slow process of legislation is exaclty what democracy needs to survive and weather people's many faults. I do care about the casualties, the people who have nothing to do with these arguments about missiles and regimes, about global power and influence. These people always suffer the most in any conflict.
1:57 PM
|
|
| |
|
|
|
