So, I’m sure by now all and sundry in the Blogosphere have mercilessly sunk their teeth into this, and rhetorically torn Arianna’s SUV-hating cadre of concerned celebs a gaping new one, but I still feel I’ve got something to add perhaps.
First of all, don’t misunderstand where I’m coming from. I’m a card carrying member of the Stars Should Try to Overcome their Overpowering Propensity for Insipid Didacticism nonprofit organization (join SSTOOPID today!). We’re currently working on a motto. I suggested, “Hey, celebrities, shut the fuck up about who we should vote for and what we should drive and get back to making your dumbass movies and CDs!”
Everyone else thought it was a bit too long, though.
Anyway, given my personal affiliations, I’d be the first to have to control that big vein on my forehead from popping due to the rage that boils up whenever someone like Arianna Huffington decides to try to use her influence (read: money) and that of other cultural “elites” to save the planet from the selfish stupidity and blind ignorance of the American plebes.
MANY of the Hollywood celebrities behind the new campaign against gas-guzzling SUVs are hypocrites who consume huge quantities of fossil fuels in their stretch limos, Gulfstream jets and oversized Beverly Hills mansions.
TV producer Norman (”All in the Family”) Lear, who is spearheading the conservation crusade along with columnist Arianna Huffington, built a garage for 21 cars five years ago which stands 45 feet tall.
[…]
Gwyneth Paltrow is appearing in ads for Lear’s Enviromental Media Association (EMA) accusing SUV owners of supporting terrorism. But some of Paltrow’s neighbors find her to be an odd choice for an anti-SUV poster girl.
“She drives a Mercedes-Benz SUV,” says a tipster who lives down the block from Paltrow’s West Village digs.
Et cetera and so forth…
Other hypocrites involved in the campaign to make SUV stand for “Sinfully Unholy Vehicle” include Chevy Chase and (of course!) Barbra Streisand. But then, being the on-the-ball types that you all are, you already knew all this was coming women dog sex stories.
So yes, there is of course a large amount of justifiable “ah-ha!”-ism that accompanies the inevitable slew of stars revealing themselves to be something less than hard and fast devotees to those very principles and admonitions which they heap upon the public with more enthusiasm than they would show even for one of their atrociously silly pet projects about, say, aliens with unlikely dredlocks that take over Earth, and gosh, isn’t L. Ron Hubbard swell?
This is all well and good. I don’t have a problem with criticising someone for being a hypocrite, especially those with that special mix of sanctimony and vacuousness so rife among the Hollywood ridiculentsia. It’s satisfying to see.
However, the hypocrisy of Huffington’s haranguing horde isn’t the most notable stupidity of this whole episode.
To be sure, people who reveal themselves to be from the “drive what I say, not what I drive” school of public advocacy should certainly cause some raised eyebrows among those being exhorted to do exactly what their apparent moral and cultural betters can’t find it in themselves to, but it is not the conclusive lynchpin that automatically invalidates their proscriptions that people in the Blogosphere and the mainstream media seem to think it is.
I admit, I’ve done no exhaustive survey to find out what the statistical preponderence of opinion on the matter has been, but from the half-dozen or so sources I have read over the last day, every one has focused on the fact that these self-appointed high priests of petroleum policy don’t even follow their own highhanded advice.
Certainly not an invalid point to make, and certainly not an unenjoyable one, either. But what I haven’t yet seen (and I admit, it may be due to the fact that I simply haven’t been looking hard enough) is anyone explain clearly why the idea that driving an SUV makes you responsible for support given to Islamic terrorists is a sack of pure, self-contained idiocy all by itself. When you get down to it, it really doesn’t matter whether Arianna Huffington shuffles herself from pointless meeting to useless publicity stunt in a HumVee XX-Tra Large that gets 17 feet to the gallon or a 70 pound go-cart powered by her own sense of self-satisfaction. What really matters is the fact that her notion of Americans pumping gas into SUVs at the local Chevron being morally complicit for petrodollars flowing into the murderous hands of inhuman Islamist pigs is about as stupid an idea that ever wormed its way out of her chattering yap. And that’s saying a lot.
Ultimately, to point out Huffington and Co’s admittedly infuriating hypocrisy only serves to discredit them as spokesmen, but not the substance of their argument itself. You may look disdainfully, and even look with suspicious cynicism at a man who is constantly advising people to not drink and drive, yet gets trashed every weekend and comes home with a new section of fence dragging from his bumper, but none of that invalidates the proposition that drinking and driving is something people should not do.
I wish I saw more people in the media and the Blogosphere pointing out that, for instance, it is moral idiocy to imply some sort of causality between Americans buying oil and the evil, corrupt crapocracies in the Middle East showering the most violent and reprehensible people on the face of the Earth with that money.
At bottom, it’s just a variation of the hoary ol’ “root causes” argument, which seeks to shift the impetus for an act so far back along the string of events that assigning responsibility becomes purely absurd, and has been cleansed of any kind of consideration for the primary agency. To say that planes flying into the WTC draws any significant impetus from an American and his X-Terra is to blindly, ridiculously, willfully ignore the fact that numerous evil people all over the world deliberately, out of either adherence to a backward and violent ideology, or fear of its practitioners, funneled that money to profoundly hateful men who then deliberately used it to kill thousands of innocent Americans.
But of course, according to that insane brand of telescopic fantasy vision, those Americans weren’t really innocent, because they helped fund those terrorists with their gas-guzzling cars. Sorta like the way America is at least partially at fault for building the WTC and the Pentagon in the first place barnyard horse sex. After all, if we hadn’t put up those buildings to begin with, Al Qeada wouldn’t have had anything to knock down, right?
Right?
And to this, they might rejoin: “We’re not really accusing Americans of being morally responsible, we’re just saying that’s the way the world is right now, and we had best recognize that and adjust our lives accordingly.”
This assumes that we can’t change the fact that oil money is funneled to terrorists, and that is, in short, the biggest sack of crap this side of Michael Moore’s ass. For doing just that is one of the two main focuses of the war on terror, and there are numerous indications that great progress has and is being made. When Saddam is just an unpleasant memory and the mullahs of Iran have been deposed by their own people, a significant amount of the apparatus for getting money to extremists will immediately be dismantled. This will further isolate Saudi Arabia and many others, making it easier to pressure them into taking real and substantive steps towards cutting off their complicity, especially financially, in the acts of groups like Al Qeada.
Not only is this a possible thing to do, but it is the right thing to do, pragmatically and morally. Morally, because it does not seek to effect an unnecessary de facto retreat in the face of unjustified aggression, and pragmatically, because it addresses the fact usually ignored by Huffington’s ilk: that the extra gas used by SUV’s is not particularly significant when measured against total oil consumption, and that if we wanted to stop money flowing into terrorist hands by altering our lifestyle, then we’d best do a lot more than just stop buying SUVs.
And therein lies the real point about this whole charade of “supporting terrorists.” This is really a crusade against the SUV as a symbol of what they consider brash American consumerism as a whole. The extra oil used is functonally insignificant, while what they percieve the SUV says about some phantom arrogant American character is really what gets their goat and leaves them clucking their tongues at the American public.
It’s a root cause, you see, just as American “cultural imperialism” inflames the Arab street, so does America’s oblivious and uncouth love for big, expensive, gas-guzzling cars turn the noses of the rest of the world in disgust. And, what with folks from Hollywood being the enlightened, globally concious and multilateralist individuals they are, they are of course horrified at this.
They can’t actually say that though. That would be madness. The hot-headed bumpkins in flyover country would get all riled up and maybe stop going to our movies if we let them in on that ugly little secret…
Indeed, I’m not entirely sure the earnest stars are even in on the secret themselves. Maybe they really do believe they’re just helping all the ignorami with their Range Rovers and Suburbans “connect the dots,” so they can see the error of their ways lady wolf bestiality. Maybe they really think that getting a few less miles per gallon is akin to handing Hassam “I want to kill all Americans” Ali a fresh Ben Franklin with which to buy some more plastique to incinerate Americans.
If they believe that, they’re idiots. If they don’t believe that, they’re idiots and liars.
Yes, and hypocrites.
Whereas the Cold War doctrine of deterrence and containment rested on strength, the new idea of pre-emption insists on U.S.And exactly how do you go from no "final proof" to there being no evidence of impending aggression? The very fact that
You mean everyone in America aren't like San Franciscans?
anger that is so justifiable -no, demanded- by these despicable acts, but if that must be the case, then from on, I'll be
I was already in a state of "moving on" and being "over it" before I even heard about the Bali attacks, with the result
When I first heard about the bombing in Bali, my initial reaction was, "Another terrorist attack? Well, of course."
of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and
Do you mean the Muslim world that celebrated 9/11, saying the US deserved it all along? Or perhaps you mean the Muslim world
When I first heard about the bombing in Bali, my initial reaction was, "Another terrorist attack? Well, of course."
threaten the United States, he said we must "assume the worst." Essentially, the White House is proposing that the
And perhaps because of the collective weight of all those accumulated exhortations, perhaps from the psychic weariness
psychopathic fancy without fear of retribution.
"The death of that man is a religious duty, but his case should not be tied to the Christian community," Shabestari,
Well that's not really true. People on a different side of the debate than I are not necessarily jerks, just wrong.
them into a thin paste of protein on a cave wall, to wipe out every last vestige of the disgusting stain they have left
a terrorist and an envoy of Iran's supreme leader reportedly called for his death.
lying in order to gain information that gave him access to restricted systems.
I'll get a chance to ask why they've been glorifying images of Hamas murderers on their flyers.
When I first heard about the bombing in Bali, my initial reaction was, "Another terrorist attack? Well, of course."
coming off them. It was really a terrible sight," she said. "You could just hear people crying up in the Bounty foyer -
computer systems.
So welcome. If this is the first and/or only post you can see, it means I haven't imported my archives from Blogspot yet,
care. Just don't let me hear anything about how this bombing that specifically targeted Australian civilians was somehow
During that protest, my girlfriend had to take a midterm in Wheeler auditorium and had to step over the bodies lying in
Saddam is so hot to get his grubby hands on nukes is enough evidence of aggression. What's he going to do with them once
about equal probability.
If and when you find one, that means that I'll be perfectly willing to advocate an attack against them as well.
jerkwad I encounter, an order for them to be beheaded with extreme prejudice until the the point at which they are dead
Heh. Didn't Nostradamus write something about "a bespeckled plague rising in the West..."?
According to the president, "we cannot wait for the final proof" that Saddam Hussein's government is planning an imminent
and eastern Europe, Australia and the middle east. Is that not multilateralism?
the efforts to find these people and eradicate them, to ferret them out from their cowardly hiding places and vaporize
Replace "powerful" with "crazy and armed with nukes" and you'd be right. Otherwise, your statement is nonsense.
of fist.
Well I wouldn't be surprised if this Wednesday at Sproul there will be similar behavior, and I plan to be there. Maybe
psychopathic fancy without fear of retribution.
not just "fear," as if we're going to indiscriminantly nuke the floor under our beds because monsters might be hiding there.
chanting in his face and moved in front of him every time he tried to get around her.
world that even today harbors and offers succor to the same groups that piloted the 9/11 planes, right?
(or to have their genitalia eviscerated by a rabid Rosie O'Donnell
President Bush says he wants to avoid "a future of fear." It's an admirable goal, but one hardly served by this new doctrine.
Now could someone please tell me what concrete purpose that woman's behavior, and that of her great chanting unwashed bretheren,
care. Just don't let me hear anything about how this bombing that specifically targeted Australian civilians was somehow
that I hadn't thought of it first!
rivals.
looks like a green light, no?
let you know when there's a mushroom cloud over New York, because that's the only "final proof" that seems to be able to
I urge anyone in the bay area who has the time on the 16th to come as well and lend credence with your example to the
owned," she pontificated, in that snotty "52% of my clothes are made of hemp which therefore makes me morally superior
I guess not. The fact that the UN is anything but democratic since the vast majority of countries represented there do not
they're done, hang them on his wall next to the framed heads of Iraqi dissidents and say to himself, "Well, I can check
cutting-edge performance art group impersonating real anti-war folks, as the whole ordeal seemed to approach parody. No,
owned," she pontificated, in that snotty "52% of my clothes are made of hemp which therefore makes me morally superior
I finally went and did it.
lap dance.
University or Diversity
But I am thankful that at least for now, I've been able to summon that deep-seated, personal wrath so appropriate to an
who like to chant slogans and can't come up with any better rhyme than something that has to do with the number "four" and "war."
Another Australian tourist, 18-year-old Rachel Hughes, said she and her boyfriend had just arrived in Kuta when the blast
for the life of me, cannot see it. The news showed a clip of a guy trying politely to walk around a woman so self-righteous
The Muslim world -- whose support is vital to any real effort to end the causes of terrorism -- is adamantly opposed.
50 Ways to Leave Your Folly Common Dreams, that goldmine of general silliness, showcases this piece, The Folly of Pre-emptive
the real fault of that government or its citizens, or the West in general, or capitalism, or any other ridiculous boogeyman
making a point of reading in depth about any such future atrocity to ensure that I don't allow myself to be instantly "over it."
"I said it's being taken care of, dammit. Mind your own business."
Another Australian tourist, 18-year-old Rachel Hughes, said she and her boyfriend had just arrived in Kuta when the blast
We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but
he revealed himself to be a seriously dishonest debater (that, or he was so stupid that it wouldn't be safe for him to
It is time for a new day to dawn in the Blogosphere, my gnome brothers. A glorious day. A day when no longer will we
and the UC Divestment folks will be holding a rally for what looks like the primary purpose of protesting the fact that
Diversity. More than motherhood, it is the one unassailable concept these days. Open any teaching publication, and you will
them into a thin paste of protein on a cave wall, to wipe out every last vestige of the disgusting stain they have left
Sorry folks, but slippery slope arguments don't hold water by themselves. We're going after Saddam because he 1) has shown
I see. Did you talk to this "everyone" at your International Socialist Organization direct action planning seminar or
and that it wasn't fair for these people to stop them, the girl started literally screaming at her about selfish she was.
one of the most fad-driven enterprises imaginable. It produces a new catechism each decade, which everyone dutifully recites.
both at home and abroad, can go heartily fuck themselves, or jump off a cliff, or shoot themselves in the head. I don't
The article also points to this site, which maintains a running clock of how long it will be until Mitnick can start
After 3000 of your countrymen die in a couple hours, anything less than that is wont to be downplayed in significance
Hesiod over at Counterspin Central is one such fellow. Not only with myself, but in his conversations with Den Beste,
but I hope to do that soon. I also hope to win the Nobel Prize in Kickboxing, and judge each of those things to be of
the real fault of that government or its citizens, or the West in general, or capitalism, or any other ridiculous boogeyman
For that reason and others, I didn't actually start reading the news coverage until this morning.
(or to have their genitalia eviscerated by a rabid Rosie O'Donnell
Really, how often is someone able to so perfectly crystallize the dilemmas that will exist a century in the future
"Standing in the foyer of the Bounty Hotel, people were just walking in, blood dripping off them, burns to their face, skin
Eventually he got a little ticked off and said roughly, "Get away from me!" I was hungrily anticipating the energetic dissenter
fact that these people are thugs, bullies and liars.
both at home and abroad, can go heartily fuck themselves, or jump off a cliff, or shoot themselves in the head. I don't
again soon, didn't we?"
predictable frequency. Follow a politician to a school photo-op,
way why we're doing all of this, and why, if they still choose to berate us about "root causes" and "birds coming home
Stand up to these thugs This Wednesday, the 16th at noon, an apparent composite of the Students for Justice in Palestine
anger that is so justifiable -no, demanded- by these despicable acts, but if that must be the case, then from on, I'll be
Saddam will use these nukes when he gets them, whether that use takes the form of vaporizing a city or merely being hung
I wish that I could just be told "Hundreds of people died in a terrorist bombing today," and instantly feel the kind of rage
of fist.
and eastern Europe, Australia and the middle east. Is that not multilateralism?
By tossing out any reasonable standards of evidence as a prerequisite for military action, the White House puts us in a state
the Feds know about it.
I'm going to be checking the weather channel for reports of snowflakes in Hell, but meanwhile you should go read it now.
without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism,
getting an education. When she tried to talk to one of the organizers after her test about how some people were just
rivals.
Kevin Mitnick will be able to use a computer again in approximately 3 months.
To quote a boozed up, cynical and misanthropic individual whom I greatly admire: "Making fun of these people is like
"to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality"?
hacky-sack?"
threaten the United States, he said we must "assume the worst." Essentially, the White House is proposing that the
You must be triple jointed to be able to twist words like that.
My sentences, thus decreed, will be subsequently carried out by my elite brigade of Beheading Gnomes, whom I made up
Don't you people ever get tired of just pulling shit out of your asses?
Now at this point, most people would just say, "let it go, and move on."
they're done, hang them on his wall next to the framed heads of Iraqi dissidents and say to himself, "Well, I can check
it is shoved, in all its detailed horror, right into my face.
cause, but I,
Whereas the Cold War doctrine of deterrence and containment rested on strength, the new idea of pre-emption insists on U.S.
50 Ways to Leave Your Folly Common Dreams, that goldmine of general silliness, showcases this piece, The Folly of Pre-emptive
why she thought there weren't more stories about protests going on in the news, "Well, because the media is corporately
I strongly suspect TR had access to some sort of time machine and traveled into the furture about a hundred years.
I'll get a chance to ask why they've been glorifying images of Hamas murderers on their flyers.
I see. Did you talk to this "everyone" at your International Socialist Organization direct action planning seminar or
and make them wish that congress had instead passed a resolution authorizing military force against people
be harried by idiots who have full compliments of heads and genitals! With the ranks of my imaginary gnomes rallied,
During that protest, my girlfriend had to take a midterm in Wheeler auditorium and had to step over the bodies lying in
without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism,
Watching Channel 7 news today (the Simpsons were in a commercial), they reported on a wad of dingbats who blocked access
And exactly how do you go from no "final proof" to there being no evidence of impending aggression? The very fact that
go it alone. What he failed to do was tell us who the members of his war coalition are. Why? Because there is no coalition.
off a bunch of secretaries and other office workers who probably agree with them on the war anyway will further their
Well I wouldn't be surprised if this Wednesday at Sproul there will be similar behavior, and I plan to be there. Maybe
Bush also spoke of an "international coalition" that would disarm Hussein. Bush knows the American public is loathe to
US: Italy, Australia, Poland, Spain, Qatar, Kuwait and, of course, Britain. I know it's hard to find out this kind of
to elicit empathy had been raised considerably since 9/11,
without end is causing traditional friends of the United States to
I mean come on, when you're arguing with someone who's just going to call you a Nazi when you spend 2,000 words making
Hey, didn't there used to be a city where this smoking crater is?
nothing may stand in our way!
or any other simply crappy country in the world, because none of them satisfy both those propositions.
predictable frequency. Follow a politician to a school photo-op,
When they aired some actual interviews with the protesters, I started to honestly think they were part of some sort of
I see. Did you talk to this "everyone" at your International Socialist Organization direct action planning seminar or
nuclear weapons. Containment was born out of a realization that we were effectively restrained by our lack of strategic
Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
I see. Did you talk to this "everyone" at your International Socialist Organization direct action planning seminar or
No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this
but I hope to do that soon. I also hope to win the Nobel Prize in Kickboxing, and judge each of those things to be of
After 3000 of your countrymen die in a couple hours, anything less than that is wont to be downplayed in significance
anger that is so justifiable -no, demanded- by these despicable acts, but if that must be the case, then from on, I'll be
to penetrate.
One of the great advances of the modern era has been the spread of the rule of law. This is the now common idea that
has been built up around Mitnick, a basically curious guy who just as often used old face-to-face (or voice-to-voice)
and you'll get diversity in the speech by the politician, in the one by the principal who welcomes him and in the one by
cutting-edge performance art group impersonating real anti-war folks, as the whole ordeal seemed to approach parody. No,
Such as this quote by Teddy Roosevelt concerning his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, posted now
Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard at 09:13 PM | Comments (4)
But for now if you all don't mind, I'd just like to stew in my rage for a while, and remind myself in a truly visceral
of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and
in words so much more exacting than even those who actually live in that time would be able to produce?
or any other simply crappy country in the world, because none of them satisfy both those propositions.
Heaven forfend them not being on board with us!
going to be monitored so closely that I'd be surprised if he were able to put in a phony name at a porn site and not have
for the life of me, cannot see it. The news showed a clip of a guy trying politely to walk around a woman so self-righteous
I'll get a chance to ask why they've been glorifying images of Hamas murderers on their flyers.
in words so much more exacting than even those who actually live in that time would be able to produce?
An insightful, well-written and quite simply excellent column somehow found its way in the SF Chronicle's website today.
I strongly suspect TR had access to some sort of time machine and traveled into the furture about a hundred years.
...but there's no shame in being a follower when those you're following make such damn good points.
information with your heads crammed so far up your asses, so I'll give you a pass.
the teacher trying to impress both of them.
in words so much more exacting than even those who actually live in that time would be able to produce?
and the UC Divestment folks will be holding a rally for what looks like the primary purpose of protesting the fact that
computer systems.
world that even today harbors and offers succor to the same groups that piloted the 9/11 planes, right?
Sorry folks, but slippery slope arguments don't hold water by themselves. We're going after Saddam because he 1) has shown
An insightful, well-written and quite simply excellent column somehow found its way in the SF Chronicle's website today.
to penetrate.
hacky-sack?"
attack against the United States. Even though President Bush acknowledged in his speech that Iraq does not currently
and eastern Europe, Australia and the middle east. Is that not multilateralism?
"I said it's being taken care of, dammit. Mind your own business."
Falwell was a "mercenary and must be killed," the Farsi-language daily Abrar reported Saturday.
of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and
Hesiod over at Counterspin Central is one such fellow. Not only with myself, but in his conversations with Den Beste,
about equal probability.
After 3000 of your countrymen die in a couple hours, anything less than that is wont to be downplayed in significance
have democratically elected rulers I'm sure doesn't throw any flies into your ointment.
to penetrate.
Falwell was a "mercenary and must be killed," the Farsi-language daily Abrar reported Saturday.
Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid
we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight
I tried to present my ideas in an honest and truthful way, and not be seriously offensive, even when he acted in ways
agree that [insert additional badly-forced car metaphor here]!
side of the political spectrum... what are they called?
Hesiod over at Counterspin Central is one such fellow. Not only with myself, but in his conversations with Den Beste,
but I hope to do that soon. I also hope to win the Nobel Prize in Kickboxing, and judge each of those things to be of
so that he will be better equipped to fulfill point 1). Show me another nation that's like that today.
trying to get an education
she can last 6 hours). I make this declaration keeping in mind that this does not imply a judgement on the Idiotarian
Quite the contrary, Bush's aggressive rhetoric, disregard for international law, and his lack of any vision other than war
I urge anyone in the bay area who has the time on the 16th to come as well and lend credence with your example to the
...but there's no shame in being a follower when those you're following make such damn good points.
predictable frequency. Follow a politician to a school photo-op,
Either that, or I now have to admit the existence of clairvoyance.
not just "fear," as if we're going to indiscriminantly nuke the floor under our beds because monsters might be hiding there.
which is all about the biggest threat to the security of all companies: their own employees.
the teacher trying to impress both of them.
a careful, precise argument, what point is there in engaging them verbally anymore?
hacky-sack?"
What it does not mean however, is that this suddenly signals that we are going to be going after China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba
And at most, UN weapons inspectors have delayed conflict by a few years, not averted it. In actualyity, I think they have
Shiite Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Iran have reacted with rage at the Rev. Jerry Falwell for calling Islam's prophet
I don't know about you people, but I'm already stocking up on extra food, water, and electrons.
destroying the technological infrastructure of Western civilization again. And it's only 3 months away!
or any other simply crappy country in the world, because none of them satisfy both those propositions.
just now. Admittedly they do face significant challenges in carrying out their duties due to their imaginary nature,
some of their cohorts are actually being held accountable by the university for their disruptive, illegal actions at
the not-being-a-jerk department.
My sentences, thus decreed, will be subsequently carried out by my elite brigade of Beheading Gnomes, whom I made up
owned," she pontificated, in that snotty "52% of my clothes are made of hemp which therefore makes me morally superior
conflict.
they're done, hang them on his wall next to the framed heads of Iraqi dissidents and say to himself, "Well, I can check
I wish that I could just be told "Hundreds of people died in a terrorist bombing today," and instantly feel the kind of rage
to really concern yourself with, except in a somewhat general, theoretical way.
who like to chant slogans and can't come up with any better rhyme than something that has to do with the number "four" and "war."
Already, even if the UN thumbs its irrelevant nose at the idea of going after Iraq (and if it actually does, then they'll
rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong.
fact that these people are thugs, bullies and liars.
so that he will be better equipped to fulfill point 1). Show me another nation that's like that today.
I guess not. The fact that the UN is anything but democratic since the vast majority of countries represented there do not
I tried to present my ideas in an honest and truthful way, and not be seriously offensive, even when he acted in ways
Anyway, take the new site for a test drive. Take her easy on the clutch and go steady on the hills, and I think you'll
"A bunch of people died from terrorism over the weekend? Sure, that's awful, but we all knew this was going to happen
without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism,
War, by three fellows that hail from Global Exchange. You know who I'm talking about. The folks that want to "build an
Don't you people ever get tired of just pulling shit out of your asses?
Well I'm far far far too petty a person to do that.
that blatantly called for some rhetorical bitch-slapping.
economic stupidity, especially when their ideas would do such a better job of it by themselves. Case in point:
During that protest, my girlfriend had to take a midterm in Wheeler auditorium and had to step over the bodies lying in
without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism,
Hey, didn't there used to be a city where this smoking crater is?
looks like a green light, no?
the not-being-a-jerk department.
I figured that was the way to go. But then I read this.
Meanwhile, the fact that we are able to use pre-emptive action when deemed necessary is a fact of our strength, not weakness
side of the political spectrum... what are they called?
them into a thin paste of protein on a cave wall, to wipe out every last vestige of the disgusting stain they have left
hacky-sack?"
"Standing in the foyer of the Bounty Hotel, people were just walking in, blood dripping off them, burns to their face, skin
Saddam will use these nukes when he gets them, whether that use takes the form of vaporizing a city or merely being hung
Watching Channel 7 news today (the Simpsons were in a commercial), they reported on a wad of dingbats who blocked access
To quote a boozed up, cynical and misanthropic individual whom I greatly admire: "Making fun of these people is like
Hey, didn't there used to be a city where this smoking crater is?
I have to admit I'm pretty curious just to see what he's going to do. The guy has shown himself to have an overpowering
So seeing as how we've got massive approval from the House of Representatives and similar support in the senate is likely,
vulnerability.
being the reaction described above.
alternative economy." I suppose that's better PR than saying they want to impose a grab bag full of sociialistic silliness
"A bunch of people died from terrorism over the weekend? Sure, that's awful, but we all knew this was going to happen
and you'll get diversity in the speech by the politician, in the one by the principal who welcomes him and in the one by
When they aired some actual interviews with the protesters, I started to honestly think they were part of some sort of
So seeing as how we've got massive approval from the House of Representatives and similar support in the senate is likely,
sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy.
"What I found personally to be true was that it's easier to manipulate people rather than technology," he said.
Anyway, take the new site for a test drive. Take her easy on the clutch and go steady on the hills, and I think you'll
of fist.
and eastern Europe, Australia and the middle east. Is that not multilateralism?
By tossing out any reasonable standards of evidence as a prerequisite for military action, the White House puts us in a state
and the decisions to do so would based on (as in this case) measured calculations of the relative benefits and costs,
let you know when there's a mushroom cloud over New York, because that's the only "final proof" that seems to be able to
If a good education is meant to produce independent thinkers, I've seen precious little evidence it does. Education is
course grew out of the experience of 9/11.
Maybe I can't change the fact that I have to be intimately confronted with the death and pain in order to really feel the
use grown-up scissors), but nevertheless, even though he really didn't deserve it,
Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
If and when you find one, that means that I'll be perfectly willing to advocate an attack against them as well.
Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard at 09:13 PM | Comments (4)
one of the most fad-driven enterprises imaginable. It produces a new catechism each decade, which everyone dutifully recites.
the Feds know about it.
sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy.
Hesiod over at Counterspin Central is one such fellow. Not only with myself, but in his conversations with Den Beste,
50 Ways to Leave Your Folly Common Dreams, that goldmine of general silliness, showcases this piece, The Folly of Pre-emptive
to really concern yourself with, except in a somewhat general, theoretical way.
Replace "powerful" with "crazy and armed with nukes" and you'd be right. Otherwise, your statement is nonsense.
anger that is so justifiable -no, demanded- by these despicable acts, but if that must be the case, then from on, I'll be
being the reaction described above.
Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)
of fist.
I suppose you mean that it's not "multilateralist" unless France says so?
My sentences, thus decreed, will be subsequently carried out by my elite brigade of Beheading Gnomes, whom I made up
course grew out of the experience of 9/11.
a careful, precise argument, what point is there in engaging them verbally anymore?
Saddam is so hot to get his grubby hands on nukes is enough evidence of aggression. What's he going to do with them once
Russia and shit. Besides, it's just the Russians. Why don't we just contain them or something? Hey, who's up for some
The BBC has a story about the so-called "master hacker", in which it does a good job of destroying the mythos that
Whereas the Cold War doctrine of deterrence and containment rested on strength, the new idea of pre-emption insists on U.S.
being the reaction described above.
I wish that I could just be told "Hundreds of people died in a terrorist bombing today," and instantly feel the kind of rage
cause, but I,
the not-being-a-jerk department.
I tried to present my ideas in an honest and truthful way, and not be seriously offensive, even when he acted in ways
But it's not really fair to denigrate someone's ideas just because they themselves come from an organization riddled with
off a bunch of secretaries and other office workers who probably agree with them on the war anyway will further their
predictable frequency. Follow a politician to a school photo-op,
to make the first world poor and make sure the third world stays that way.
some of their cohorts are actually being held accountable by the university for their disruptive, illegal actions at
And at most, UN weapons inspectors have delayed conflict by a few years, not averted it. In actualyity, I think they have
cutting-edge performance art group impersonating real anti-war folks, as the whole ordeal seemed to approach parody. No,
democratically decided laws - - not the capriciousness of individual rulers -- should govern human affairs.
Mr Mitnick even had to get permission from his probation officer to use a computer to write his book, The Art Of Deception,
military action to counter the Soviet threat was not possible, because of their equal capacity to destroy us through
of a lack of imagination or basic humanity; the fact that it's difficult for me to feel deeply for people suffering unless
Such as this quote by Teddy Roosevelt concerning his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, posted now
which is all about the biggest threat to the security of all companies: their own employees.
superiority.
Replace "powerful" with "crazy and armed with nukes" and you'd be right. Otherwise, your statement is nonsense.
Such as this quote by Teddy Roosevelt concerning his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, posted now
and eastern Europe, Australia and the middle east. Is that not multilateralism?
I urge anyone in the bay area who has the time on the 16th to come as well and lend credence with your example to the
last update : 6-1-2009
