I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve been kind of freaked out all day today thinking about war. I haven\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t gotten much work done, and I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m too busy reading up on current events. I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m going to have to bill sick time today, I think.<\/p>\n
I remember the gulf war, when I was ending middle school. Or was it high school? I remember trying to get people to meet me by the flag pole for a last minute protest during homeroom, but no one would. Those ubiquitous yellow ribbons. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cSupport the soldiers, not the war.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac?<\/p>\n
These are things I thought after last night\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s speech by GWB:<\/p>\n
* We’re going to war.<\/p>\n
* We’re going to war, supported by a potentially fictitious \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201ccoalition.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac?<\/p>\n
* We can’t even afford to educate or feed our children. I know of teachers that have to panhandle for classroom supplies for their students. We\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re going to finance the entirety of another gulf war by ourselves?<\/p>\n
* There\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a sneaky large tax cut being pushed through the senate right now, and we\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re going to finance the entirety of another gulf war by ourselves?<\/p>\n
* We are the aggressors in this war. We are attacking another country with little reason. We are attacking another country because:<\/p>\n
* Bush is ushering in a super-aggressive future where it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s called \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201csuicide\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac? (his word!) to wait and see if your neighbors won’t attack you, and one should just go ahead and attack them, just in case.<\/p>\n
* I have a sneaking suspicion that Bush is trying to coax Armageddon in, to force the end of the world to come in his lifetime.<\/p>\n
* The Bush administration has been systematically redefining who is allowed to disagree with the government and still be considered \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153American\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2, and has been systematically demonizing dissenters, since September 11th. And now people are disagreeing and protesting, there\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s no response. Our elected representatives seem to be lost, running in circles and avoiding the immediate and real issues. Many of our rights have been tossed \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 and all in the name of security. As Michelle said last night, if we really have to discard so many essential American freedoms, ones the country was built on, in order to preserve security, than it means the system isn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t working.<\/p>\n
Remember during the last gulf war? When we had to really convince Israel not to return the attack, because of the frightening potential for a Jewish-Muslim war developing? How the heck are we going to prevent that from happening now? Especially now that the Israeli government is taking a \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153hard-line\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 stance on Palestine, and is driving bulldozers over unarmed, peaceful protesters. <\/a>You know, while they knock houses over in the Gaza Strip. An American woman died, and the war talk has kept us from asking, where did these bulldozers and tanks come from? Whose money was spent on this? Was it mine, from my 2001 taxes? 2002? And American woman died and it hardly made the news. What chance did the some-dozen other Palestinians (as young as 4 years old) have to make the news?<\/p>\n This is our \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201ccoalition\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac?:<\/a><\/p>\n Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan (post conflict), Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n (I guess it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a shame that Spain\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s once invincible armada is no more. (Thanks a lot, Queen Elizabeth!) Though if we\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re fighting in a desert it wouldn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t do much good anyway.)<\/p>\n Here\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s another thing I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve been thinking about. The singer from the Dixie Chicks criticized GWB and was immediately demonized: people drove over their CDs, and the fact that she wouldn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t support our president was denounced. She stuck to her guns for a couple of days, and didn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t apologize until her record company made her. Why wasn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t she allowed by American society to speak her beliefs?<\/p>\n I am a patriot. I believe strongly in the American way of life. I love my country, despite her faults. But I don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t understand at what point I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m supposed to just suck it up, to realize the severity of the situation and to not speak my mind. When is that appropriate? And when do you think our founding fathers would have thought it be appropriate? Our elected representatives are hiding behind the \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201csupport the soldiers\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac? tenet \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 they don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t have to say anything hard, or bad, or dissenting about this war, because they are busy supporting the soldiers. I know a lot of veterans. I know lots of people who went to war, and wish we hadn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t, and also wish we wouldn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t now. I also know many people who joined the military for the wrong reason, not because they want to fight, but because they felt they had to. Will they understand if we speak out against war that we aren\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t speaking out against them? Won\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t they understand that we speak out against war because we want them home, safe, and with their families? <\/p>\n I don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t want a war, y\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve been kind of freaked out all day today thinking about war. I haven\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t gotten much work done, and I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m too busy reading up on current events. I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m going to have to bill sick time today, I think. I remember … Continue reading