The tsunami that hit nearby last week seems likely to end up causing more deaths even than the United States, or perhaps I should say the Coalition Forces, will manage in Iraq before they finally throw in the towel and depart. Hopefully sometime before the arrival of the next century.
In times of such large disasters (the tsunami, not the invasion of Iraq) a lot of people ask why. "Why is God doing this to me?" asks a Hindu woman in Tamil Nadu. "Its because of all the evil in the world" says a priest in England. "God likes to remind people of His power" replies a rabbi from the safety of his schul in Scandinavia. A much more intelligent rabbi (in my opinion), in Oregon, says God doesn't do things like this - go with the scientific explanation instead.
For the most part its easy to predict what some of our more prominent leaders will say. Here goes.
Pat Robertson: It's because of all the homosexuals and abortionists.
Osama bin Laden: It's because of all the Christians and Jews.
President Bush: It's because of Saddam Hussein.
Tony Blair: It's because people aren't listening to President Bush.
Colin Powell and Crown Prince (Jeb) Bush, the two special experts on disasters who are visiting the stricken area, will doubtlessly return a verdict of... WMD. It was WMD that caused the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
WMD - a term so bandied about that it is almost certain to become the punch line for an entire generation of bad jokes.
"Timmy is sick today; he has a fever and diharrea." "He probably ate too many WMD last night."
"The US economy unexpectedly shrank last month." "Economists blame it on an 18 per cent drop in consumer purchase of WMD."
"I lost my job, and can't find a new one." "That's probably because the WMD manufacturers are moving production overseas, to India, China and, of course, Iraq."
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
End 'o year blues...
Well, once again I seem to have made myself too busy. I plead time'0'year. Also work stuff is occupying a lot of my time. Still, there are lots of interesting things going on in the world out there. Some need commenting on; most really don't. Here's one that doesn't, but I am going to comment anyway ---
Once again it appears that form is more important than substance, at least to the American public (sometimes referred to as the Boobocracy for obvious reasons). There is a loud public outcry over the discovery that Secdef Don Rumsfeld failed to actually, personally, in his own hand, sign the letters of condolence he has been sending to families of the soldiers who are dying in Iraq. No outcry over the fact that he sent them there to die! Just anguish over his lack of sufficient sincerity in condoling over the deaths he has caused! "Oh My Oh My", he might exclaim; "these liberals are getting awfully shirty for a group that can't even win an election." "You should just shut up", he might well further exclaim.
Am I to infer from this hullaballoo that it's okay for one to send people out to die for a pointless purposeless demonstration of raw military power, as long as one apologises sufficiently abjectly for doing so?
So it would seem; so it would seem.
Merry Christmas!
Once again it appears that form is more important than substance, at least to the American public (sometimes referred to as the Boobocracy for obvious reasons). There is a loud public outcry over the discovery that Secdef Don Rumsfeld failed to actually, personally, in his own hand, sign the letters of condolence he has been sending to families of the soldiers who are dying in Iraq. No outcry over the fact that he sent them there to die! Just anguish over his lack of sufficient sincerity in condoling over the deaths he has caused! "Oh My Oh My", he might exclaim; "these liberals are getting awfully shirty for a group that can't even win an election." "You should just shut up", he might well further exclaim.
Am I to infer from this hullaballoo that it's okay for one to send people out to die for a pointless purposeless demonstration of raw military power, as long as one apologises sufficiently abjectly for doing so?
So it would seem; so it would seem.
Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Voting For Moral Values
I've been seeing a lot of mention in the news that a huge number of people (20%?; 22%?; 25%?; 40%?) voted for Candidate Bush based on "moral values". Not sure what that means, but hey, polling questions are notoriously opaque.
Stunned Democrats everywhere, checking the sheep's innards, are calling this a sure sign of The End Of Civilization. This is nonsense. If you want a sign that Civilization As We Know It has ended, I ask you to note that at the same time the votes were being counted a music CD was being released under the title "Britney Spear's Greatest Hits". If this little manufact of MTV-meets-pedophilia can emit a product called greatest hits, we are certainly at the End Time.
In any event, having myself stared at the sheep's entrails, I've seen something quite different than the conventional wisdom. First, understand that someone's motive for an action, and the proclaimed motive, may be quite different. In this case (the election I mean, not BS's greatest hits), it seems likely to me that for many voters who cited moral considerations as the basis for their vote, the actual reason was simply that they didn't like John Kerry. Sory John - you're just not cuddly and lovable.
The encouraging thing about all this is that the voters who chose to disguise a bad motive with a good one were at least not so badly misguided as to claim that they voted for the incumbent based on his record on: the war on terror, the war on Iraq, taxes, the economy, the environment, education. They didn't claim to vote for Bush based on his intellectual reach.
On the down side, the number of voters who profess to believe that recognition of same-sex marriage will be more destructive of their own, personal, marriages than will divorce, which is far far more common than gay relationships, is a little disheartening. The boobocracy, as my favorite cynic labelled it, is alive and well, as ever.
But, Be Of Good Cheer, as my parents used to say. Democracy Is On The Move, the President has told us. I believe that when we have exported it all to the Middle East, and none is left for us here, the Middle East will generously return it to us - largely untouched.
Autocracy appears to be the governing principle of the moment. I'm hopeful that the autocrats, being fundamentally flawed, and destuctive in nature, will run out their welcome and be duly swapped out for a more progressive set of governors.
Hopefully in my lifetime.
Stunned Democrats everywhere, checking the sheep's innards, are calling this a sure sign of The End Of Civilization. This is nonsense. If you want a sign that Civilization As We Know It has ended, I ask you to note that at the same time the votes were being counted a music CD was being released under the title "Britney Spear's Greatest Hits". If this little manufact of MTV-meets-pedophilia can emit a product called greatest hits, we are certainly at the End Time.
In any event, having myself stared at the sheep's entrails, I've seen something quite different than the conventional wisdom. First, understand that someone's motive for an action, and the proclaimed motive, may be quite different. In this case (the election I mean, not BS's greatest hits), it seems likely to me that for many voters who cited moral considerations as the basis for their vote, the actual reason was simply that they didn't like John Kerry. Sory John - you're just not cuddly and lovable.
The encouraging thing about all this is that the voters who chose to disguise a bad motive with a good one were at least not so badly misguided as to claim that they voted for the incumbent based on his record on: the war on terror, the war on Iraq, taxes, the economy, the environment, education. They didn't claim to vote for Bush based on his intellectual reach.
On the down side, the number of voters who profess to believe that recognition of same-sex marriage will be more destructive of their own, personal, marriages than will divorce, which is far far more common than gay relationships, is a little disheartening. The boobocracy, as my favorite cynic labelled it, is alive and well, as ever.
But, Be Of Good Cheer, as my parents used to say. Democracy Is On The Move, the President has told us. I believe that when we have exported it all to the Middle East, and none is left for us here, the Middle East will generously return it to us - largely untouched.
Autocracy appears to be the governing principle of the moment. I'm hopeful that the autocrats, being fundamentally flawed, and destuctive in nature, will run out their welcome and be duly swapped out for a more progressive set of governors.
Hopefully in my lifetime.
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