Holiday Bushism (Peace On Earth and Good Will Towards Men)

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
George W. Bush, June 18, 2002

7 Things To Do During the Holidays(USA version)

As the holidays approach we decided to lighten the load and share some of the things we enjoy. This is my list of things to do in Nebraska, which except for the first example, works for the rest of the nation. Enjoy!

1. Ski! That's right we can ski here in Nebraska, although its cross-country not the mountain type.

2. Go to Movies! Every family's favorite holiday event. However, in Lincoln we can't watch any controversial films so your options are limited to Passion of the Christ, Chronicles of Narnia, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. Last year, Christmas Story was banned for being too "secular".

3. Drink and Drive! Every Christmas Eve after hours and hours of drinking eggnogg to dull the pain of family arguments, Dad gathers the kids into the minivan in order to drive around town and look at Christmas lights. Rarely are there any accidents, however, many trees, mailboxes, and nativities enjoy their last Christmas.

4. Watch Football! Need a reason to get out of family get togethers? What better way to ditch out than to watch a football game! It sure beats the excuse of having to work.

5. Go to church. Notice, no explanation point. This is the equivalent of attending a surprise birthday party for your girlfriend's best friend. You don't want to be there, there's no booze, and it lasts way too long! At least it's only once a year! (notice explanation point)

6. Open Presents! It's your birthday for the second time this year! (Very unfortunate if your birthday is Dec 25...unless your name is Jesus) Even if you only get underwear and scarves, it's free! It saves you the time and money of buying that crap. Only possible downfall: you may realize that someone else's 2nd birthday is more important than yours because they received more presents.

7. Rest! On the seventh day the lord rested and for our seventh thing to do in Nebraska during the Holidays, so should you. After all, that stress from church about going to hell was almost enough to make you go every Sunday, it's true people actually do it. Next thing you know your behind bars for some hate crime an you just thought you were doing God's will by killing that gay man. Religion and booze just don't mix. See, it's safer to just rest.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, to everyone in the world...enjoy your religious and non-religious day(s)! May peace be with everyone.

Best Music of 2005

End of year Music Spectacular
Here are the 13 best albums of the year described in 6 words or less!
13. Ladytron-the witching hour
-Destroy everything you touch
12. The Go! Team-Thunder, Lightning, Strike
-Belle and Sebastian meet Sesame Street
11. Stars-Set yourself on fire
-indie pop leaves you warm, fuzzy
10. M.I.A.-Arular
-refugee from Sri Lanka raps war
9. Bright Eyes-I'm wide awake it's morning
-oberst at his folkiest
8. Devendra Banhart-cripple creek
-hippie folk
7. Bloc Party-Silent Alarm
-indie kids can dance too!
6. Sleater-Kinney-the woods
-sold soul to Rock Gods
5. sufjan stevens-Illinois
-48 states to go
4. antony and the Johnsons-I am a bird now
-second coming of Boy George
3. Bob Dylan-no direction home
-Masters of War=Neo Cons
2. Wolf Parade-apologies to the queen mary
-theramins and keyboards rock
1. Okkervil River-black Sheep boy
-a wiser bright eyes

So that's it. The best music of this year. Discuss.

Syriana, entertainment meets education

If you haven't gone to see Syriana yet, I suggest that you do soon. Although I believe that it should have been under a more experienced director, the film had a lot to say and said it well. I think it there is an obvious distinction between this work and Traffic in terms of pacing and putting the story together. I think it could have drawn more attention with, say Sorderbergh at the helm because he obviously better known and more experienced. Usually, I would not mind, however, I would have liked to see this film do better. It still has a chance.

Curious as to where Syriana came from and what it means? Wikipedia says:

"Some have suggested that it comes from Pax Syriana, as an allusion to the necessary state of peace between Syria and the U.S. as it relates to the oil business. In a December 2005 interview, Baer told NPR that the title is a metaphor for foreign intervention in the Middle East, referring to post-World War II think tank strategic studies for the creation of an artificial state (such as Iraq, created from the elements of the former Ottoman Empire) that would ensure continued U.S. access to crude oil."

I was lucky enough to see an interview with Stephen Gaghan (the writer/director) on PBS. The most amazing thing about this film is that it is based on actual events that have happened in our history involving the CIA and large corporations. That's not to say everything is based on oil companies and the Middle East, but all over the world. For example, take the overthrow of Guatemala's freely elected government in 1954. United Fruit Company had owned much of the unused land that Guatemala's new president began to take back and redistribute to the actual people of the country. Previously, only 10 % of the land was available to 90 % of the people. Obviously United Fruit Company was scared and pressured the US government into overthrowing the government. With the CIA's help the government of Guatemala with a right-wing dictatorship that did whatever United Fruit Company wanted. The CIA has been involved in nearly every dictatorship born in South America. If you don't think that the oil companies pressured our government into invading Iraq, then why was there the claim that the oil would pay for the war? Where's that money now?

Our government claims to support freedom yet too often forces dictatorships upon countries who HAD elected governments. The President still sees nothing wrong with eavesdropping on people within the US, without warrants. If this is such a threat to our safety, then why would it be so hard to get warrants? He says he is doing everything he can to protect our civil liberties. Taking away civil liberties seems to be a weird way of protecting them. I guess it's like taking away the votes from Florida's minority population to protect them from misusing their right to vote (as was done in the 2000 election).

The film also does, what is apparently Un-Patriotic, humanize terrorists. This is the one thing that our society needs to see. Our president constantly calls them the enemy, and says that we must kill "the enemy". Sure that makes everyone feel safe even though by using violence we are only instigating more tension and hatred. Instead, I believe that first we should educate the countries that breed terrorists. We should be very critical of our allies, like Saudi Arabia, which bred the majority of the 9/11 hijackers. And we should use political tactics not war to persuade these countries. Matt Damon's character has a great speech about how the Middle Eastern royalties are wasting away their money, not building infrastructure and educational systems. He says the business world is laughing at them because when the oil runs out they will be back to living in the desert chopping each others heads off. This is exactly the truth. The US does not care about the Iraqi people. We only care about keeping oil prices high. If there was no oil there then the US would not care, just look at Africa.

So go see the movie, write your opinions, and if you have time, write your state politicians and beg them to vote against the reinforcement of the Patriot Act.

Bushishm of the Week

"We had a chance to visit with Teresa Nelson, who's a parent, and a mom or a dad."
George W. Bush, Jacksonville, Florida, September 9, 2003.

True Axis of Evil: George Bush and the Neo-Cons

I hope people have still been coming back to visit my site, now that my finals are over I will be able to spend more time updating this page. I have missed so much, I only hope that I can catch up on everything in this entry.

President Bush gave a speech last week that detailed his master plan for "Victory in Iraq". How people can even believe anything he says is beyond me. However, those on Fox News, who a couple of weeks ago were criticizing him about his 36% approval rating are now again in love with him. It's not because of anything Georgie boy did however, rather because Senator Murtha took a stand that was in direct opposition to the Republican party. I have to give the Republicans credit because credit is due. They are political geniuses, they have spun Senator Murtha's proposal into their idea and at the same time discrediting him. They claim that he is controlled by emotion and thus made an uncharacteristic crazy plan. The Republicans are claiming that the Democrats want to leave Iraq and lose while they want to leave Iraq as well but they want to do it in victory. What victory? Is it taking down a country that was seeking to attain weapons of mass destruction? No. How about bringing safety from opression and terror of an evil dictator? Well, sort of. It's no longer from a dictator.

Back to President Bush, his administration, and the propaganda and lies they spit out. How smart is the Republican party? As we all know Bush has never said flat out that there are ties between September 11, Al Queda, and Iraq. However, what he and his cronies have done is often times put them in the same sentence. This allows the administration to thwart any attacks by democrats while still manipulating public opinion. The most common example is the percentage of Americans who believed Iraq had something to do with the attacks on September 11. Directly after 9/11, only 3 percent of Americans polled believed that Iraq and Saddam had any connection to the attack. In January of 2003, after Bush creatively claimed there was no connection, 44 % of Americans believed that "most" or "some" of the hijackers were from Iraq despite the fact that none of them were.

So you may wonder why this is important now. For one thing, Bush continues to claim that he is a leader that is protecting the United States, somehow he managed to prove this in the last election over a highly decorated Vietnam Vet. However, who is to say that if he read his Presidential Daily Briefs prior to 9/11 that the threat couldn't have been stopped. But even if it couldn't, it must be noted that invading Iraq has actually increased the rise of terrorism in the Middle East. And now, where there was little, if not any, terrorism taking place(Iraq) there now is. Secondly, just a couple of days ago the 9/11 commission came out and said that we are no safer today from terrorist attacks, and "God help us" when there is another attack. Notice that I said when not if, just as the commission did.

What's interesting is how the Republicans get the citizens to believe these lies. As I pointed out earlier, one way is to link ideas without delibertly connecting. Another way is to have your entire party go on different news channels and shows and spit out the same rhetoric and propaganda. For those of us, like myself, that do not have enough time to watch the news 24/7, thankfully the Daily Show usually sums them up once a week. Another trick they use is to demonize words and actions. For example, somehow the words "secular" and "liberal" have become associated with evil. The Democrats have actually aided them in the effort by changing their label to "progressives". They also label moral decisions as "flip-flopping". I don't know about you but when I make a mistake in judgement and realize it, I try my best to correct that mistake. If this is flip-flopping, then wouldn't all born again Christians be flip-floppers including our current President? Not to mention that Kerry along with many other democrats who allegedly voted for the war actually voted to give the President authority to go to war as a last result. The President said he would go as a last result and then did not. Thus, in response Kerry and those other Democrats called it an unjust war only to be labeled as a flip-flopper when it was the President who flip-flopped on his promise.

As if that wasn't enough for one missed week, then it was released that the government has been paying newspapers and journalists in Iraq to publish US-friendly articles. Apparently it isn't enough to lie to the American public about how well the war is going, now we need to tell the Iraqi's how great their life is, especially those with missing limbs or worse missing family members. It's interesting to see how upset we are that over 2,000 US soldiers have died in Iraq. Just think how upset the Iraqi's are that according to, "a military analyst at the Brookings Institution who has closely followed the war's casualties, said an average of 1,500 to 2,000 Iraqis have been killed each month." There was an estimated 30,000 deaths as of October.

Wow, and I didn't even talk about the secret torture jails, our acceptance and use of torture, or Bush's lie about why the Middle East hates us, because we're free and prosperous. I guess I'll have to come back tomorrow.