MDMD-related "the picture of America"--Most surely NP

[Richard Romeo]

ed sed sed:>
>
>"[...] I have come to deeply resent the notion that I must accept the
>picture of America as being involved in a "just war" against something
>unilaterally labeled as terrorism by Bush and his advisers, a war that has 
> >assigned us the role of either silent witnesses or defensive immigrants 
>who >should be grateful to be allowed residence in the US.
---------------
beats chucking brittle masonry on the west bank, ed. I am most grateful to 
be living in this country (as are most of us, imho, arab-americans 
included), its faults, farts, and all. The war is just, it's the tactical 
decisions, the means, that are questionable, and worthy of debate.
------
>Constitution does not provide for different levels of Americanness, nor 
> >forapproved or disapproved forms of "American behaviour," including 
>things >that have come to be called "un-" or "anti- American" statements or 
> >attitudes. That is the invention of American Taliban who want to regulate 
> >speech and behaviour in ways that remind one eerily of the unregretted
>former rulers of Afghanistan.
--------
the american taliban, for the most part, are discredited, the religious 
right, e.g. It's the war mongers in the gov't we have to worry about, the 
unilateralists, those bent on specific, tangible worrisome action, not so 
much the ideologues and academics espousing, underpinning those hawks I 
admit, intellectual fodder. Some are in both camps.
__________

>And even if Mr Bush insists on the importance >of religion in America, he 
>is not authorised to enforce such views on the >citizenry or to speak for 
>everyone when he makes proclamations in China and
>elsewhere about God and America and himself. The Constitution expressly
>separates church and state.
-----------------------------
One of the things about M&D is its refusal, despite the evidence included 
within, to give up on what America can still represent. We can agree it's 
quite a pessimistic view, but there are small avenues to hope for, to find 
some small redemption, if anything represented by its children.
>
>There is worse. [...] as Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) said 
> >in a  magnificent speech given on 17 February, the president and his men 
> >were not authorised to declare war (Operation Enduring Freedom) against 
>the >world without limit or reason, were not authorised to increase 
>military >spending to over $400 billion per year,
------------
this is quite a valid point, but I think it brings us back to what proper 
means do we employ to fight this "war".

rich




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