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Posted December 8, 2001
Destroying America
[Regarding Rep. Ron Paul's guest column of December 4, "Keep Your Eye on the Target":]
Well written, accurate and easily documentable for the dubious, and frightening to the nth degree. What can I or another American citizens do to stop, and reverse, the multiple attacks of all these ongoing and proposed laws and executive decrees? They are more affective in destroying American ... than terrorists attacks can ever achieve.
Cheney's Brain
Am I the only one wondering where the heck our vice-emperor Dick Cheney is? Is his robot suit in for repairs? Maybe his brain is floating in a jar of liquid, as it quietly runs the country.
Russia and Serbia
Regarding Sergej's response of December 5 to Nebojsa Malic's column "Republic Day": "Serbia should stop dealing with Russia." Does that mean that Serbia should start paying for Russian gas? Russia was the only country which gave Serbia any kind of support during the NATO aggression. I don't even mention World War I
...Has Russia ever bombed Serbia?
Foreign Policy
Berfer X. ("Divide and Conquer") claims that the USA only supports Israel so as to keep the Middle East destabilized rather than as a result of Jewish lobbying. Two things I can think of back up this hypothesis. One is that the Polish lobby didn’t stop Yalta, the Irish lobby hasn’t reunified Ireland and now that the USA is ready for a rapprochement with Cuba, that lobby has found the limits to its effectiveness. Second is the 1973 war in which a somewhat anti-Semitic US President almost obliged Israel to accept US military assistance – without which, Israel would have lost its war. Therefore, it may well be that the Jews, like the Palestinians, are being played around with in the interests of US foreign policy.
Long on Common
[Regarding Rep. Ron Paul's guest column of December 4, "Keep Your Eye on the Target":]
It is great that there is one congressman out of 535 ... in the beltway who has got some common sense. The other 534 are long on common and short on sense.
Boulez and Conservatives
A friend of mine e-mailed me, referring to an item on the BBC site. Pierre Boulez, the 75-year-old conductor and composer, was arrested in Switzerland on suspicion of terrorist activities for offhand comments he made in the '60s. He was pulled from his bed and taken in for interrogation. In Switzerland! He was later released, but just in case you get feedback that you are overreacting to Ashcroft's plans, this is a good item to point to. The hysteria is mounting by the day.
On another point, I appreciate the editorials by Raimondo regarding the conservatives' capitulation to the expanding State. Conservatives have honed the rhetoric of limited government, but it is pure propaganda. When given the opportunity to actually limit government they have not done so. The dispute between left and right in the U.S. is not over the size of the government, or even if it should be expanded. Both camps are in full agreement that government should be huge, the bigger the better. The disagreement is only where the expansion should take place, who should be interfered with, what specific areas should be controlled, manipulated or outlawed. What I am getting at is that the current wave of conservative enthusiasm for expanded government power and authority, including enthusiasm for secret trials, is completely consistent with their past behavior, if not completely consistent with some of their rhetoric.
Arafat Should Resign
With the apparently unending upward spiral of violence in Israel, I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Arafat should resign. It seems that Mr. Arafat has no capability to stop Palestinian suicide bombers. Furthermore, he has become a whipping boy for Mr. Sharon and a rallying point for Israeli violence against the Palestinians. If Mr. Arafat decided to announce his "retirement" (he is certainly old enough), Mr. Sharon must undoubtedly support the decision, as it is clear that there are many others who are well prepared to lead the Palestinian people.
~ LJL