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SOTU : SO WHY WASN'T THERE SILENCE ?
Of all the G.W. Bush 2007 SOTU address related pieces we've read during the last 24 hours, here's the one we most wish we had written ourselves. Since it mirrors most closely our own innermost sentiments. And we mean that most sincerely.
But before we go further, here's a huge public hat-tip to our regular reader/commentator Tom V. for the original heads-up on this excellent article. Thanks a million, Tom. Keep 'em coming.
Now, here's the header plus opening para(s).
There Should Have Been Silence…..We could not agree more;our own feelings exactly.
Tonight, George W. Bush was cheered and applauded by members of Congress as he approached the dais to present his sixth SOTU address.
He was applauded regularly throughout his address to the nation. That response was an unforgivable, yet predictable disgrace.
The members of Congress applauded the words of their failed and incompetent leader.
They applauded when there should have been total silence.
(snip)
There should have been silence for the thousands of dead American and coalition troops, and for the maimed and blinded and limbless soldiers who have been sacrificed for nothing more than greed and hubris.(snip)
There should have been silence for the hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded Iraqis whose nation will never recover from its wounds.
There should have been silence for the victims of Katrina whose plight has been ignored and forgotten in Louisiana and Mississippi, and who know first hand that their President is a professional liar who cares nothing at all for their continued suffering.
And, last but not least, there should have been silence for the Constitution of the United States that is now on its deathbed. There should have been total silence, and yet, there was applause.
In my private scenario, I would have placed a photo of a dead soldier or marine to be held aloft by every honorable and enraged member of Congress.Here at 'TV News Lies' you should read the whole heartfelt piece.
*
posted by Richard at Wednesday, January 24, 2007
15 Comments:
Agreed! And beautifuly said.
Agreed again. I wish I'd written that too. That writer put my own personal thoughts into words better than I ever could myself.
Thanks to ALL concerned here.
Well the feelings are truly mutual Richard.
I feel very much at home in this blog, among friends and under the gentle guardianship of a man, who even I can look-up to as a wise old father figure. :-)
But seriously, I very much like and appreciate, both the wonderful eclectic selection of your daily themes, as well as your writing style, which is intelligent, but never snobishly 'intellectual', instead it is interesting and accessible, frequently endowed with humor including self-depreciating humor and laced with veritable English linguistic colorization.
Indeed, often you have journalistic pieces with such quality combined with heart-to-heart honesty and passion, that it takes my breath away. Just one late example, was your memorable article for the occasion of Saddam's execution.
The other source of attraction, is that you draw wonderful personalities and good quality commentators. I hope you will not feel lessened if I say, that they are in unison about half the attraction.
I very much appreciate all the regular ones, namely:
griffon,
mark from Ireland,
enigna4ever,
rosemary, (Oh how many times, I would've thanked and even kissed rosemary for who she is.)
and some others whose name I foolishly forgot, and probably will be my enemies forever.
And there are constant re-newals observable with recent commentators, such as
musings and lesley.
To all these people and of course you Richard, I heartily thank you, for your continuous self-less effort!
Hear, hear. (or is it here, here?)
Makes no difference really. I'm sure you all know aht I mean.
(And I don't care if I do get called a ditto head.)
The author of that excellent article is so right. It was a shameful performance - and I do mean 'performance'. They are more interested in impressing (or trying to) by 'playing the part' than actualy 'doing the job'. They should be ashamed. Bodes well for their future 'insincere' performances doesn't it? (/snark).
Goodonya, Tom. And goodonya, Richard.
I agree with Bootlian that these wimps don't have the cojones but I believe it's because somebody else has them .... in their firm grip.
Knowing how the evil bastards that control things from behind the scenes operate, I am sure everyone of those congressmen are thoroughly compromised and blackmailed. And that is why I believe every sitting member needs to be campaigned against regardless of party affiliation.
They are incapable of doing their job as the applause so clearly showed - coiffured slaves on a short leash performing without shame for their masters.
Right!!!!!! They have no shame. Americans deserve better than either party have to offer.
Thanks for this. It will be passed on widely. Guaranteed!
As a person who voted Democrat, my only thought is "How can we make them pay for it?" (the performance of clapping like Soviets, not daring to be the first one to stop clapping).
The idea is this: the voters wanted someone to stop the war, to hold Bush to account, and to acknowledge that Americans were badly served in the Katrina disaster, while money and men flowed into Iraq, with more to go there. Everyone knows the incumbents, whoever they are, are in trouble.
But so far the public has been doing things in a very absentee way, not putting on the pressure.
You could see that this SOTU was different from last year's. Boy were they playing it safe! The cameras hardly dared venture into what was surely a very carefully vetted audience. Cindy Sheehan was notably absent this time!
It is time for the public to turn up the heat and to make the Democratic leadership of the Congress squirm... after all, they hold a wafer thin majority.
Who does the Congress serve? The pleasure of the "king"? Does it feed from nosebags filled by the rich? Or does it exist to serve the People?
The only way to answer that question is to stand there as the People and protest. Just as everyone is running for the next election, the People should be planning festivities for the next SOTU.
Right, all of you have good points, but I think griffon is the one, who scratches closest to the underlying hidden reality.
From the word 'scratch' I remember Canadian PM P.E. Trudeau quipped at one time:
"I scratch your back,
and you scratch mine,
but if you scratch my face,
I scratch your eye."
During the good all historical days, the business was along those lines in the Congress, and I guess that's the way of normal politics everywhere, as long as some fair exchange going on, in parallel. That's what it was designed for.
However it was never designed or wished for, what is going on nowadays in either the US Congress or the US Senate, where the representatives of a once great people behave like sheeples or intimidated schoolboys/girls.
I kindly recommend you to read the following written correspondence from James Abourezk former US Senator from South Dakota to Jeff Blankfort published -with permission from the Senator- by the Adelaide Institute.
Now there is really nothing earthshaking in the letter what we don't already know from the exhaustively documented research paper by Prof.-s John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, but still we can hear it again from a Senator, with more personal experience and closeness.
Richard the Lionheart, it is your option to allow the link. It is safe, but still it is you who have to fight off the pack of attack dogs baring their teeth again, at this blog-site. Whatever way you may decide, I understand.
The Lobby - that doesn't exist
Interesting article here by Gideon Rachman or the FInancial Times on the Herzliya Conference entitled "Israel's National Insecurity".
The comments are worth reading,too.
Gideon Rachman writes-
"It sounds like the stuff that conspiracy theories are made of. In a coastal resort near Tel Aviv, senior Israeli politicians and generals confer with top officials and politicians from Washington to discuss the threat of a nuclear Iran. In any good conspiracy theory, however, these talks would be going on in secret – preferably in an underground bunker. In fact the Herzliya conference on “Israel’s national security” is taking place perfectly openly in a smart hotel. And I am in the audience."
I would add that the comments are more than interesting. In fact, excellent and the links given are equally excellent.
I did not watch or listen to the speech because I never do.
Now I wish I could have seen and heard the applause. I would be looking for some very specific people .... Now I wonder if any of them dared to boycott the thing entirely?
tom - I agree Richard attracts a great bunch of commenters (and undoubtedly a great many more who don't leave comments). They all come for all the reasons you listed. That's why I come too, it is not just to support a good friend.
I only watched 'highlights' but I saw Kerry dutifully applauding. Ugh.
Worse still - Pelosi not only 'cheer-led' but it looked (to me and others I've spoken to) like she practically couldn't wait to jump up to do it. Double ugh!
Phew. It's as well I'm not on a video-cam. Blushes? Right now I look like a bloomin' beetroot. Thanks a lot just the same. You combined support, encouragement and individual (but so generously freely shared), reseach is what keeps me going. You'd better believe it.
Besides being a regular overdue 'catch-up' post there are a couple of things I want to point out.
The regulars as ever are as appreciated as ever, but I'm sure they already knew that.
The more recent reader/commenters (renewals, in Tom-talk), should know that they are too. And much more than merely welcome.
The quality and quantity of links provided to me never cease to amaze me - both those posted here and others sent via email (from those I know personally or from elsewhere online. In fact it's a constant cause of real frustration that I can't use every one them that warrants a blogpiece all of it's own. That's just one of the many binds of being a one man band.
Incidentally, though I don't give my email address for full public gaze, one of the beauties of the moderation facility is that personal/private messages/tips/info/etc can safely be sent in complete confidence. Simply mention that any particular comment is not for general viewing, and you rest assured it won't be.
And while on that subject: Tom and Griffon; that last lot you sent me haven't been published YET. But please don't panic - you've not been 'moderated' - perish the thought. I'm simply sitting on them for a while - for special reasons. But the right time will come - trust me.
I'd also mention that while I do not agree with censorship and as best I can, I always let through 'both sides. Though lately, there have been some comments definitely not fit for public consumption. I really don't know why some people take the time and trouble to post such hateful (almost criminal, occasionally) garbage - since it goes exactly wher it belongs;in the garbage.
Er ... anything/anyone I've forgotten? If so, please let me know.
Thanks Richard.
I'm sure you don't look bad even if you are 'beet-red', just make sure you wear a lilac shirt with it. :-)
Yeah, I was wondering, why don't we have any intelligent opposing view on this forum. While I fully agree, that any unsubstantiated, unreasoned assault, should be thrown into the garbage, since they don't do anything, but pollute the forum, I'm sure that doesn't include those, who raising their argument intelligently, in the great (and nowadays almost forgotten) Western tradition of Socrates. I personally love to hear and debate them.
(Of course, raising a debate in that way, presupposes respect to the opponent's view, and the willingness to be persuaded by a superior argument for the sake of higher Truth, which both sides supposedly looking for. - Indeed, a rare bird of honest persuasion nowadays.)
So anyone out there haters, you wasting your time with the immature, juvenile stuff! Either you come-up with something worthy, or it will never see the light of day.
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