Pandora - Ohio 2004 - Violence - Evil Mr. Rahman - Death in the Blogosphere

Happy Birthday to me. In honor of my birthday (I started my sixtieth year on Planet Earth at 20 minutes past midnight) I am giving myself license to plant my tongue firmly in cheek and have a little fun with my political foes here and there in this post.

• Our President opened a Pandora's Box when he declared his policy of Pre-emptive War. Here is even more evidence of what the Bring-It-On arrogance of George W. Bush has brought us. Teddy Roosevelt's motto, "Speak softly and carry a big stick", evidently was lost on this guy. He loudly blusters and brags while he whittles our big stick down to a bunch of toothpicks. And the supposedly conservative Republican Congress? Their Rubber Stamps are ready. "Whadya need Mr. President? Another trillion? Sure, no problem. The kids can pay for it."
  
  
• A columnist for the Miami Herald takes a peek at Ohio 2004. Turns out the great "Liberal Media" gave Bush another free ride there. (That "Liberal Media" is so doggone successful at hoodwinking the public, all three branches of government are now totally controled by, well, uh, conservative Republicans!)
  
  
• The same guy writes a provocative post about all the violence:"theirs" and "ours". I'm not sure I'm ready to subscribe to his every word, but he reminds me of what bothers me so much about the gung-ho-for-the-Iraq-war blogs. These people say things like: The (a bleeping term for those who oppose the Iraq war) condemn (some apologetic term for the Abu Ghraib mistreatment of prisoners) but say nothing about the "hacking of heads" by "Islamofascists".
  The basic concept that such writers seem to totally miss is that the terrorists are doing what terrorists have always done. We expect terrorists to, well, terrorize. Excuse me if I expect American Presidents and American soldiers to live up to a higher standard, for heaven's sake. Surely, even the most radical writers on the far right wing realize that ALL loyal Americans despise terrorism and are repulsed and appalled by the age-old tactics of the bad guys. But the fact that bad guys are bad does not excuse abuse and torture by Americans. To point out the misdeeds of our President and his administration is not to excuse the inexcusable in others. The others are not representing my country: Bush and company are.
  Read a few right-wing blogs and you'll appreciate this quote: "As any propagandist knows, it's much easier to countenance violence and death delivered against a people once they have been dehumanized to mere slurs."
  Anyway, here's another editorial for you to consider.
  
  
• And now the "democracy" we have set up in Afghanistan is ready to execute a terrible criminal, Abdur Rahman. Rahman converted to Christianity 16 years ago. The unrepentant ne'er-do-well refuses to renounce his Christian faith and return to the Islamic fold. Death is prescribed by Islamic law. Put up with that sort of thing and before long the guy might start doing even more evil, like drawing cartoons or something. We can expect the majority Shi-ites in Iraq to stand up for Islam in a similar manner should they take control by democratic vote or after a civil war in that country. I really think Bush was just about totally ignorant of what he was getting into. The poor guy thought "Mission Accomplished" two years ago, for heaven's sake! We've got to bring millions of people forward several centuries to have this mission accomplished! Or we could just wipe the Islamists out, maybe? A final solution, anyone?
  
  
• And MyDD says the Right Wing Blogoshpere is dead! The blogs of the right that I have seen seem to be mainly about namecalling rather than real discussion. Does that mean they are dead?
  
  Right wing blog A: The Democrats and MSM are low-down (crude term for toilet paper).
  Comment from Blogrolling Right Wing Blog B: Man you are so right. The Democrats and MSM are Islamofascist Apologists AND (crude term for participants in incest).
  Comment from Blogrolling Right Wing Blog C: Well said. Astute observations, Blogs A and B. You should check out Right Wing Blog D. His erudite elucidations on all the Democratic (crude term for bodily waste) reinforce your conclusions irrefutably!
  Right wing blog A: Thanks, y'all. You're so kind. And great Americans. Let me tell you about my grandchildren...
  
  Dead? Nah.