Clay
06-06-04, 10:20 PM
I received the following via e-mail from someone that, let's just say that I've known them all my life. I wouldn't say that I know them very well though. Anyway, I'm curious to see what kind of responses it receives. More specifically, I'm interested in reading some intelligible and rational rebuttals. ;)
The War to End All Wars... Didn't!
What is this War in Terror? What nation is threatening us? Do we make every kid a soldier just to go around the world looking for "terrorist" who are no more or less than thugs? Why don't we just make ALL kids policemen and policewomen so we can eliminate ALL crime in our own country? We are losing far far more citizens everyday, mostly our young, to gun and other forms of violence. Why don't we just hunt all these "potential" criminals down and eliminate the problem. These last two cynical questions are, of course, absurd suggestions.
Bush and this administration along with some bamboozled Democrats have lead a relentless campaign of FEAR. We are dealing with thugs, yes organized and malicious, but they are not a nation's army! They have nothing that approximates the war machines that truly threaten the US and other major nations.
To let these terrorists rule our lives as they have done this administration since 911 is to play perfectly into their hands. While we are on endless witch hunts around the globe, nations like North Korea, China, Russia, Japan, Mexico (yes Mexico) and a host of other nations we have either stifled or massacred in the past are just waiting for the moment in history when we, The United States of America, is spread so thin and is so preoccupied with thugs that we cannot possible react to their sudden onslaught of coordinated attacks.
We must face this hard fact. THE UNITED STATES IS FEARED.... NOT RESPECTED as we all love to believe. The Bush administration, beginning with its withdrawal from the Kyoto Treaty and continuing as it presently ignores Geneva Convention rules in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay has turned even some of historical allies against us.
One cannot follow world news, not as the US news media presents it but as each nations presents their own perspectives, without realizing the Bush administration has infuriated many world leaders and the bin Laden's of the world are simply flash points of that fury.
Sure Bush.... make everyone hate you and you had better have a captive army (young boys and girls) to protect you!
It is clear, I detest this selected president Bush. He is delusional and has surrounded himself with a band of vigilantes convinced they are instruments of God. Yes, these guys do not pace back and forth with sinister smiles on their faces and wringing their hands in greedy anticipation of total world domination. No, these guys pray every night.... and blindly answer their own prayers the next day as if God himself was subject to their suppositions.
I consider myself an instrument of God, or should be... but in spite of my human limitations and not so perfect ways. Bush to Ashcroft and Rove to Card these crusaders are as barbaric as the Conquistadors of old. Only their military sophistication with its smart technology and their advanced malevolent use of mass psychology distinguishes this sinister group from earlier manifestations of Manifest Destiny. They war with the most deadly "Weapons of Mass Destruction," words, words that tickle our ears while letting our blood. Karl Rove is the high priest of political "double-entendre." It sickens me to admit this but it it true. Rove is the best.....the best of the worst .
Bush and Ashcroft have all but stated, "they know God is on their side." As if it's not disgusting enough when professional athletes claim God is on their teams side, our leaders are taking it a step farther. Christians believe, as do I, we are God's chosen people..... I make no apology for this belief. Yet, this belief in based in a spiritual context..... having nothing to do with my nationality, race, gender, or any other physical trait or political ideology.
Everything else about being Christian demands I love my neighbor as myself; that I pray for my enemies; that I turn the other cheek.
War-hawk Christians..... show me one example where Jesus encourages war or even excuses war for any reason! Show me. Don't give me any of the numerous wars described in the Old Testament books. They are presented as biblical history.... not even these wars are addressed by Jesus as "holy wars." All humans are free moral agents..... that means God allows us to war if we choose. God may use wars to eventually and ultimately bring about His will. But nowhere in all the Bible does God or His son condone war. Nowhere. Justification for war; it's just not there Christians. War is bad.... period. War is so much a part of human history humans accept war as an inevitable fact of life..... failing to even imagine a world without war or even the threat of war.
Christ imagined a world without war..... and we who are supposed to struggle to be "like Him" must do the same.
War is a means to eliminate those who don't either look like us, think like us, act like us, consume like us, pray like us, or have stuff we want that they either charge us too much for or simply won't give or sell to us.. War is to force change on others or kill them..... period.
Interestingly, when we eliminate ALL our threats we predictably turn on each other as we begin, in the absence of more stark differences, to notice that my buddy over here is really getting on my nerves with his or her quirk(s). In the absence of much greater irritations I begin to fixate on my friends quirk(s). As the individual goes....so goes the nation. So you see, war to eliminate differences to great for us to accept just makes those once insignificant differences found even among friends suddenly significant. It is only a matter of time before these newfound differences become grounds for war. Hey, even these United States of America having just "won" a war against its parents, soon found itself to be intolerable.....north and south hated and fought yet another war, The Civil War.
Did good come out this war? Certainly. But is it a given that slavery and other economic differences could not have been rectified without war given our leaders had more patience, more genuine concern for fellow humans? Is it impossible to become, collectively, as humans more patient, more understanding and more willing to attend the good side of our species? If you answer no, that is to say it is possible to acheive these goals. So why is peacemongering received so poorly in these United States of America?
I often wonder with utter frustration, "how and when did being a peacemonger become so disgusting to the flag-waving masses and warmongering a popular social mindset?" Christ.... the Prince of Peace.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who some would called an elitist, uttered this well-known quote, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
Einstein also said, "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Drafting ALL kids, son(s), daughter(s), brother(s), sister(s), cousin(s), niece(s), nephew(s), and grandkid(s) is my friend, "preparing for war."
So what kind of world do we want for our own flesh and blood? One where the mightiest has its way with the rest. Before you answer, consider this questions.
Is God really an American? Is America really godly? Is it a given that the United States of America will alway be the mightiest? A century from now? A decade from now? A year from now? If you answered yes to these questions....please cite your source(s).
Oppose reinstating the draft. Our nation just celebrated our veterans. Many of them fought and died in the "war that ended all wars." How many times must humans recycle a myth before it is recognized as just that....a myth?
One war is simply a breeding ground for subsequent wars. Never has a war saved the soul of a single dead man, woman, or child. Never. Killing ones father, mother, or child does not win favor..... not for the murderer; not for the "victor."
Please do these two things.
1) Voice your opposition to reinstating the draft. (see message below)
2) Vote Bush out of office.
The third thing will then more likely eliminate itself. "WW III"
The War to End All Wars... Didn't!
What is this War in Terror? What nation is threatening us? Do we make every kid a soldier just to go around the world looking for "terrorist" who are no more or less than thugs? Why don't we just make ALL kids policemen and policewomen so we can eliminate ALL crime in our own country? We are losing far far more citizens everyday, mostly our young, to gun and other forms of violence. Why don't we just hunt all these "potential" criminals down and eliminate the problem. These last two cynical questions are, of course, absurd suggestions.
Bush and this administration along with some bamboozled Democrats have lead a relentless campaign of FEAR. We are dealing with thugs, yes organized and malicious, but they are not a nation's army! They have nothing that approximates the war machines that truly threaten the US and other major nations.
To let these terrorists rule our lives as they have done this administration since 911 is to play perfectly into their hands. While we are on endless witch hunts around the globe, nations like North Korea, China, Russia, Japan, Mexico (yes Mexico) and a host of other nations we have either stifled or massacred in the past are just waiting for the moment in history when we, The United States of America, is spread so thin and is so preoccupied with thugs that we cannot possible react to their sudden onslaught of coordinated attacks.
We must face this hard fact. THE UNITED STATES IS FEARED.... NOT RESPECTED as we all love to believe. The Bush administration, beginning with its withdrawal from the Kyoto Treaty and continuing as it presently ignores Geneva Convention rules in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay has turned even some of historical allies against us.
One cannot follow world news, not as the US news media presents it but as each nations presents their own perspectives, without realizing the Bush administration has infuriated many world leaders and the bin Laden's of the world are simply flash points of that fury.
Sure Bush.... make everyone hate you and you had better have a captive army (young boys and girls) to protect you!
It is clear, I detest this selected president Bush. He is delusional and has surrounded himself with a band of vigilantes convinced they are instruments of God. Yes, these guys do not pace back and forth with sinister smiles on their faces and wringing their hands in greedy anticipation of total world domination. No, these guys pray every night.... and blindly answer their own prayers the next day as if God himself was subject to their suppositions.
I consider myself an instrument of God, or should be... but in spite of my human limitations and not so perfect ways. Bush to Ashcroft and Rove to Card these crusaders are as barbaric as the Conquistadors of old. Only their military sophistication with its smart technology and their advanced malevolent use of mass psychology distinguishes this sinister group from earlier manifestations of Manifest Destiny. They war with the most deadly "Weapons of Mass Destruction," words, words that tickle our ears while letting our blood. Karl Rove is the high priest of political "double-entendre." It sickens me to admit this but it it true. Rove is the best.....the best of the worst .
Bush and Ashcroft have all but stated, "they know God is on their side." As if it's not disgusting enough when professional athletes claim God is on their teams side, our leaders are taking it a step farther. Christians believe, as do I, we are God's chosen people..... I make no apology for this belief. Yet, this belief in based in a spiritual context..... having nothing to do with my nationality, race, gender, or any other physical trait or political ideology.
Everything else about being Christian demands I love my neighbor as myself; that I pray for my enemies; that I turn the other cheek.
War-hawk Christians..... show me one example where Jesus encourages war or even excuses war for any reason! Show me. Don't give me any of the numerous wars described in the Old Testament books. They are presented as biblical history.... not even these wars are addressed by Jesus as "holy wars." All humans are free moral agents..... that means God allows us to war if we choose. God may use wars to eventually and ultimately bring about His will. But nowhere in all the Bible does God or His son condone war. Nowhere. Justification for war; it's just not there Christians. War is bad.... period. War is so much a part of human history humans accept war as an inevitable fact of life..... failing to even imagine a world without war or even the threat of war.
Christ imagined a world without war..... and we who are supposed to struggle to be "like Him" must do the same.
War is a means to eliminate those who don't either look like us, think like us, act like us, consume like us, pray like us, or have stuff we want that they either charge us too much for or simply won't give or sell to us.. War is to force change on others or kill them..... period.
Interestingly, when we eliminate ALL our threats we predictably turn on each other as we begin, in the absence of more stark differences, to notice that my buddy over here is really getting on my nerves with his or her quirk(s). In the absence of much greater irritations I begin to fixate on my friends quirk(s). As the individual goes....so goes the nation. So you see, war to eliminate differences to great for us to accept just makes those once insignificant differences found even among friends suddenly significant. It is only a matter of time before these newfound differences become grounds for war. Hey, even these United States of America having just "won" a war against its parents, soon found itself to be intolerable.....north and south hated and fought yet another war, The Civil War.
Did good come out this war? Certainly. But is it a given that slavery and other economic differences could not have been rectified without war given our leaders had more patience, more genuine concern for fellow humans? Is it impossible to become, collectively, as humans more patient, more understanding and more willing to attend the good side of our species? If you answer no, that is to say it is possible to acheive these goals. So why is peacemongering received so poorly in these United States of America?
I often wonder with utter frustration, "how and when did being a peacemonger become so disgusting to the flag-waving masses and warmongering a popular social mindset?" Christ.... the Prince of Peace.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who some would called an elitist, uttered this well-known quote, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war."
Einstein also said, "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Drafting ALL kids, son(s), daughter(s), brother(s), sister(s), cousin(s), niece(s), nephew(s), and grandkid(s) is my friend, "preparing for war."
So what kind of world do we want for our own flesh and blood? One where the mightiest has its way with the rest. Before you answer, consider this questions.
Is God really an American? Is America really godly? Is it a given that the United States of America will alway be the mightiest? A century from now? A decade from now? A year from now? If you answered yes to these questions....please cite your source(s).
Oppose reinstating the draft. Our nation just celebrated our veterans. Many of them fought and died in the "war that ended all wars." How many times must humans recycle a myth before it is recognized as just that....a myth?
One war is simply a breeding ground for subsequent wars. Never has a war saved the soul of a single dead man, woman, or child. Never. Killing ones father, mother, or child does not win favor..... not for the murderer; not for the "victor."
Please do these two things.
1) Voice your opposition to reinstating the draft. (see message below)
2) Vote Bush out of office.
The third thing will then more likely eliminate itself. "WW III"