"Last I checked the US military wasn't running over the citizenry with tanks."
dear chop.. perhaps you should widen your sources for news input.
while we do not run over citizens with tanks inside our boarders... we do other things that have killed as many or more. A few examples:
-involuntary sterilization (yes our government did that) -tests of drugs on citizens without their knowledge (yes we did that) -tests of radiation and chemical toxins on citizens without their knowledge (yes we did that) -wiretapping and capturing of all internet traffic including domestic without a legal basis to do so... so that we could find "divisive" people (yes we did that)
ooh and outside our boundaries: -crushed civilians with our tanks in Iraq (yes we did that) -genocide in central america. entire villages and entire tribes eliminated by burning them to death with napalm so that our corporations could take over their land and grow bananas or coffee.. establishing dictatorships to protect our corporate interests. Yes, 10's of thousands of dead due to our active support for these practices in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Hondurus, etc. (yes we did that)... -we, yes "us", killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of native american indians forceably taking their land and resources via invasion. Oh you might whine that this is history and we should get over it. It is easy to forget that the advantages most of us "white people" have in this country and the advantages most newer immigrants have (chinese, indian, middle eastern, etc.) in this country is largely because our predecessors invaded and took this land by using genocide. Our good fortune is largely based on the bleeding of earlier residents of this land. - there is more, but I think you get the picture.
What we do have is more freedom to move about and live where we want than the chinese have.
We also have more freedom to post on these blogs.
But make no mistake, our government is no more altruistic than the chinese. Most of our "leaders" are about concentrating more and more power and wealth into the hands of a few. Pushing us closer and closer to an oligarchy and doing their best to limit and eliminate the middle class. Our liberties are rapidly being eroded and taken from us. each month we come closer to the chinese standard... they become more open and we become more closed and limited.
This slide in America's situation and status as moral leader puts all of us at risk.
re: Moral 'Pygmies'"Well said - This hits a nerve with me. Maybe it's enough to make the stragglers get off their duffs and actually vote for once in their lives. At least I hope it is!"
So most of the incidents listed by sailboat happened pre-Bush Jr. What makes things any different now? You have to vote at every opportunity, not when some threshold has been crossed.
On the other hand, while the US may have done all those things, I look on the bright side and think there are not just opportunities for activism, but the freedom to object as your conscience leads.
You don't get shot or beaten like in most other places.
Americans are just as human as the rest of the world, and just as capable of greed, corruption and hypocrisy. It's just that more people can and do hold up a light to those issues and force people to re-examine them.
In some sense, that is America: the country that allows itself to examine itself.
(Which is not the same as the country that is morally upright or correct or that makes the right decisions.)
re: Moral 'Pygmies'Some of you seam to be putting all Governments into one bucket. ItGÇÖs completely absurd of you phony intellectual cynic Ameri-brats. IGÇÖm referring to posts that put the reporting of info. to homeland security on an equivalent footing with the reporting of info. to the Chinese Government. You are wrong. And I'm sorry your daddy didn't care enough to beat your ass when you deserved it.
It's an unfortunate burden on a majority (thank God) who are stuck patrolling the border line between freedom and a slow national suicide due to the post 80GÇÖs greed epidemic from Wall-Street obsessed asses that would sell their mothers for a nickle.
"Last I checked the US military wasn't running over the citizenry with tanks."
dear chop.. perhaps you should widen your sources for news input.
while we do not run over citizens with tanks inside our boarders... we do other things that have killed as many or more. A few examples:
-involuntary sterilization (yes our government did that)
-tests of drugs on citizens without their knowledge (yes we did that)
-tests of radiation and chemical toxins on citizens without their knowledge (yes we did that)
-wiretapping and capturing of all internet traffic including domestic without a legal basis to do so... so that we could find "divisive" people (yes we did that)
ooh and outside our boundaries:
-crushed civilians with our tanks in Iraq (yes we did that)
-genocide in central america. entire villages and entire tribes eliminated by burning them to death with napalm so that our corporations could take over their land and grow bananas or coffee.. establishing dictatorships to protect our corporate interests. Yes, 10's of thousands of dead due to our active support for these practices in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Hondurus, etc. (yes we did that)...
-we, yes "us", killed hundreds of thousands if not millions of native american indians forceably taking their land and resources via invasion. Oh you might whine that this is history and we should get over it. It is easy to forget that the advantages most of us "white people" have in this country and the advantages most newer immigrants have (chinese, indian, middle eastern, etc.) in this country is largely because our predecessors invaded and took this land by using genocide. Our good fortune is largely based on the bleeding of earlier residents of this land.
- there is more, but I think you get the picture.
What we do have is more freedom to move about and live where we want than the chinese have.
We also have more freedom to post on these blogs.
But make no mistake, our government is no more altruistic than the chinese. Most of our "leaders" are about concentrating more and more power and wealth into the hands of a few. Pushing us closer and closer to an oligarchy and doing their best to limit and eliminate the middle class. Our liberties are rapidly being eroded and taken from us. each month we come closer to the chinese standard... they become more open and we become more closed and limited.
This slide in America's situation and status as moral leader puts all of us at risk.
sailboat