Tuning in
I spent most of the last eight days tuning out. I ate a lot of food, played precious little poker, spent time with good friends, and enjoyed my family. It was a much-needed reprieve from everything. Upon my return, I spent a few minutes looking over what I've missed.
* Mexico boos Miss USA -- It's not enough that Rachel Smith is clumsy. She also got booed by a Mexican audience at the Miss Universe competition. I find it pretty amazing that it takes a beauty pageant for most of America to realize that the rest of the world hates us. But, whatever it takes, I say.
* Lindsay Lohan back in rehab -- Oh yeah, on a day when eight American soldiers are killed in Iraq, the fact that a no-talent actress can't stay off the booze and coke makes it above the fold on the front page of CNN.com You know why? America can feel better about itself if it pays less attention to the honorable people who are dying and more attention to the dishonorable people who are merely killing themselves. At least Britney Spears can get back tolipsynching work.
* Even Cindy Sheehan is giving up -- You know you're on the losing side of the battle when even the Sheehans are headed for the house. I, for one, would like to welcome our leaders from Haliburton and Blackwater USA.
* Sad because it's true -- My friend Geno directed me to this one. It nearly made me cry. This is probably the best paragraph from the entire thing:
Holy shit, that should be on the base of the Statue of Liberty right now.
Rural southwest Missouri storm or a more significant harbinger?
* Mexico boos Miss USA -- It's not enough that Rachel Smith is clumsy. She also got booed by a Mexican audience at the Miss Universe competition. I find it pretty amazing that it takes a beauty pageant for most of America to realize that the rest of the world hates us. But, whatever it takes, I say.
* Lindsay Lohan back in rehab -- Oh yeah, on a day when eight American soldiers are killed in Iraq, the fact that a no-talent actress can't stay off the booze and coke makes it above the fold on the front page of CNN.com You know why? America can feel better about itself if it pays less attention to the honorable people who are dying and more attention to the dishonorable people who are merely killing themselves. At least Britney Spears can get back to
* Even Cindy Sheehan is giving up -- You know you're on the losing side of the battle when even the Sheehans are headed for the house. I, for one, would like to welcome our leaders from Haliburton and Blackwater USA.
* Sad because it's true -- My friend Geno directed me to this one. It nearly made me cry. This is probably the best paragraph from the entire thing:
"Money maintains the Republican/Democratic duopoly of trivialized politics. It confines the debate over U.S. policy to well-hewn channels. It preserves intact the cliches of 1933-45 about isolationism, appeasement and the nation's call to "global leadership." It inhibits any serious accounting of exactly how much our misadventure in Iraq is costing. It ignores completely the question of who actually pays. It negates democracy, rendering free speech little more than a means of recording dissent."
Holy shit, that should be on the base of the Statue of Liberty right now.
Rural southwest Missouri storm or a more significant harbinger?
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4 Comments:
"I find it pretty amazing that it takes a beauty pageant for most of America to realize that the rest of the world hates us."
What are you talking about? Mexicans booed the US soccer team just weeks after 9/11 in Mexica, chanting Osama...Osama throughout the match. This is not a "wake up" call, at least not to most of us.
Everyone hates us and they have for decades before 9/11. Are you ready to change America so that the world loves us again? Ready to sell out Israel? That will gain lots of friends.
Mature people worry about doing the right thing. Teenagers worry about being liked.
Mike,
1) Being mature and being liked aren't mutually exclusive.
2) I said "most of America" woke up with the beauty pageant. You might forget that most of America doesn't watch soccer and missed that other Mexico incident.
3) There's a difference between activley trying to be liked and actively working to be hated.
Otis
Dude, is that lint on your lens, or is that supercell smiling at me?
As for Isreal, I'm pretty sure it can take care of itself these days. They can always use those nuclear weapons that they don't have that they didn't build from nuclear material we didn't give them or have taken from us in the late 60s.
There's a difference between activley trying to be liked and actively working to be hated.
Bingo.
My reaction to the Iraq/world opinion stories ran contrary to your comments. I would like to make a request to the best writer that I personally know. You are President/King Otis. It is 9/11 or whenever. What do you do? Do you stop enforcing the “no fly” zone in Iraq? Do you pull all of the 100,000 or so troops out of the Middle East? What would be the reaction of other countries? What are your counter actions? If you capture real terrorists, what do you do with them?
I don’t want to argue or trap anyone. I just want someone describe the alternative path. People sound so hopeless. What possible series of US/world events leads to people sounding hopeful?
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