No, I Didn't
Vote for Bush. Even though I pulled his lever.
I was voting against the other clown. The one who invented the Internet. The one whose wife wants the government in charge of popular music.
I was wrong.
When the Democrats left office they left behind them at least one strong and effective policy against terrorism. Hijacked aircraft were to be intercepted and forced down. Immediately. No discretion. No exceptions. No excuses. And the world knew it.
On June 1, 2001, Rumsfeld's Pentagon trashed it. Now there would be no interceptions. Except on the order of Donald Rumsfeld. And on September 11 there was no such order. None that we know of. And nobody cares.
So one bright Tuesday morning I stood behind the glass walls of a Manhattan office tower and watched a neighboring tower burn. And then another one.
I don't like Kerry any more than I liked what's his name. But I don't think I'll make the same mistake twice.
I was voting against the other clown. The one who invented the Internet. The one whose wife wants the government in charge of popular music.
I was wrong.
When the Democrats left office they left behind them at least one strong and effective policy against terrorism. Hijacked aircraft were to be intercepted and forced down. Immediately. No discretion. No exceptions. No excuses. And the world knew it.
On June 1, 2001, Rumsfeld's Pentagon trashed it. Now there would be no interceptions. Except on the order of Donald Rumsfeld. And on September 11 there was no such order. None that we know of. And nobody cares.
So one bright Tuesday morning I stood behind the glass walls of a Manhattan office tower and watched a neighboring tower burn. And then another one.
I don't like Kerry any more than I liked what's his name. But I don't think I'll make the same mistake twice.
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An even better one is why not vote -- for something you believe in?
No Libertarians on the Upper West Side. But maybe on the ballot.
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I vote for whomever I ca se *most* eye to eye with....and mostly just so I have the right to complain about things when they don't go the way I wanted them to.
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I didn't know they had trashed that policy. I was confused as to why they didn't implement it that day, since I knew it had been active only a year before. The mind boggles at such a level of incompetent stupidity...
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http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/cjcsidirectives.htm
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Unhappy Is the Head
Re: Unhappy Is the Head
In a democracy, though, people can do more than complain, they can vote one disappointing politician out and another one in. It largely depends on how you prefer to be disappointed, I think. I'd rather be disappointed by lack of "progress" than by deprivation of liberty, for example.
Damned
How can even the most well-meaning of those in a democratic society ever break out of that sort of pattern - of producing leaders more concerned about "safety" than anything else?
Re: Damned
How can a democracy break out of the grip of demagogues? Good question. Education might help, but can it ever be sufficient? Who knows?
Education
If you try to please everyone, because you believe everyone to have equally worthwhile opinions, you wind up pleasing no one. Democracies have certain basic contradictions. People who grow up in democratic societies, and embrace their myths, often have trouble challenging themselves away from those ideals - even when they need to.
Some leaders don't really believe in the ideals they are supposed to lead with. They aren't very challenging. This makes them poor leaders.
Re: Education
Bush
2) Bush surrounded himself with people presenting one basic, and seriously flawed, view of the world. Those dissenting from this view were frozen out - i.e., Colin P., and the ones now writing tell-all books about how messed up his administration was/is. All leaders who surround themselves with yes-men and lickspittles run into this sort of problem. The people he promoted into positions of power were crooks like Chalabi, but he failed - and fails - to see how his own poor understanding contributed to his own problems. He cannot be "wrong" because he's morally right.
3) The Bush government is all about keeping secrets and hiding from pulic accountability. Rather than hold itself accountable for its many errors and flaws, they attempt to cover things up and retreat into more secrecy. This, of course, backfires when the secrets all come out in public. All governments need a certain amount of secrecy, but when leaders are tempted to use a culture of secrets to cover-up their own errors and lapses, they misuse the privilege for ignoble ends.
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I, too, am extremely disappointed with the Democrats' choice...
your fellow man on this planet, you MUST vote for Kerry, the "douchebag."
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I think you'd be surprised to see how consistant Kerry has been, vs. how the media has portrayed him. No, he's not my favorite candidate, and I think others, like Dean, got railroaded, but then again, my perfect candidate would be a full-on Green, and then none of y'all would vote for him. Or her.
here it is: http://www.issues2000.org/John_Kerry.htm
Read that, then read about some of the other people, like Bush, who we have now. I can point out in a millisecond who *I'M* voting for.
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In an unrelated note, it sounds as if you wish to hold Bush and/or Rumsfeld responsible for the WTC incident. The only fault I find, is with whomever flew those planes into the buildings...the blame lies with them.
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Or just wait for the next attack, and then go find another brown country or two to invade?
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Of course we should examine the policy, but policy doesn't stop planes, getting fighters in the air stops planes, and that may or may not have happened even WITH the old policy in place.
We can Monday morning quarterback this all we want, but it happened, and nothing can change that. The blame for it lies with those who committed the act, pure and simple.
Yes...let's go invade brown countries...you'll forgive me if I don't repond to that gem.
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I oversimplified, because you did.
And maybe you are right about the brown country bit, because we can't forget American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002 which authorizes us to invade the Netherlands.
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It's good to know that if we are ever attacked by the Netherlands, we can deal with them swiftly.
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We do need to debate these policies, in order to know what demands to make of our government.
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As for Kerry, God help us. If he ever makes up his mind, he'll be flat out dangerous. Not that Bush is doing such a sterling job. I wish there were a more clear-cut choice. The only thing that's clear is that Kerry isn't "it".
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But the attack was also the natural consequence of policies I, along with the Catholic Church and the entire civilized world, regard as utterly evil. I refer to the coddling of the most egregious elements in Israeli politics, and the (then) continuing sanctions against Iraq.
If that makes me a terrorist I am in good company because then the Pope is one too.
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What the heck is going on here? Somebody must like these insipid company men or else they wouldn't be on the ballot. Who is really steering the boat? Is it some sort of oligarchic conspiracy or is it really just brainless democracy at work?
I repeat: what the heck is going on here?
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I think it's quite a bit of both. They facilitate each other quite well. The media "horserace" technique of preempting the primaries, etc etc...
(personally, I don't even think Reagan could get on the ballot these days. He would be considered too radical/"unelectable".)
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My regrettable vote in 2000
(Anonymous) 2004-05-26 09:50 am (UTC)(link)It was the worst vote I ever made ... even though it did not affect the outcome, since California went for Gore by a huge margin.
Next time, it's back to my usual custom of "vote for what you want, even if you can't get it" .... so I will resume voting for Libertarians.
Lee, the not-anonymous poster
LeePenn at aol dot com
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Then, Bush went off and started killing thousands of innocent people to get his buddies rich.
I won't be falling for that again. I'll go back to voting for 3rd party candidates when one of the first two isn't the fucking Antichrist.
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As far as Likudniks, Bush's endorsement of Sharon seems to be based on his religious advisors, who have convinced him that Israel needs to control the Temple before the Rapture can begin. The fucker is trying to immenantize the Eschaton.
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Now you know as well as I how often, when a president enters office, he often pushes through legislation of his own liking. It is conceivable that had our popular president actually got into office, rather than the current military/oil complex fascists, 9/11 might never have happened...
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Please don't call these people Fascists. It gives Benito a bad name.