" 'To initiate a war of aggression,' said the judges in the Nuremberg trial of the Nazi leadership, 'is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.' In stating this guiding principle of international law, the judges specifically rejected German arguments of the "necessity' for pre-emptive attacks against other countries."
BUSH in the 2004 presidenial debates: Let me -- I'm not exactly sure what you mean, "passes the global test," you take preemptive action if you pass a global test.
My attitude is you take preemptive action in order to protect the American people, that you act in order to make this country secure.
My opponent talks about me not signing certain treaties. Let me tell you one thing I didn't sign, and I think it shows the difference of our opinion -- the difference of opinions.
And that is, I wouldn't join the International Criminal Court. It's a body based in The Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecutors can pull our troops or diplomats up for trial.
BUSH: And I wouldn't join it. And I understand that in certain capitals around the world that that wasn't a popular move. But it's the right move not to join a foreign court that could -- where our people could be prosecuted.
My opponent is for joining the International Criminal Court. I just think trying to be popular, kind of, in the global sense, if it's not in our best interest makes no sense. I'm interested in working with our nations and do a lot of it. But I'm not going to make decisions that I think are wrong for America.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Nervous Laughter
“We here at the Whitehouse are anxious to move beyond the Vice-President’s unfortunate hunting accident, that’s why we encourage the press to report other important issues the American people need to know about:
Like the Vice-President’s leaking of the name of a CIA operative… (laughtrack)”
The stonewalling of federal prosecutors...
His shady Halliburton dealings…
His sweetheart tax giveaways to fat cat contributors…
His call for extended drilling to benefit oil buddies...
His efforts to block campaign finance reform…
His being in the pocket of big business…
His allowing lobbyists to author energy legislation…
His secretly crafted healthcare proposal which benefited pharmaceutical companies…
And his manipulation of intelligence which led to an unnecessary war… (laughtrack)”
- The Late Show with David Letterman 2/20/2006
In this 21st century the major source of comedy that seems to get our generation, and most of the American populace to laugh, is a humor that pokes fun at our society and especially our politics. We often laugh because we are uncomfortable. What is someone to do when confronted with information such as the above facts concerning our current Vice-President?
Some people dismiss these verifiable truths and label them false; liberal media lies they call them. What they suffer from is actually called cognitive dissonance, a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you strongly believe, and contradictory information or interpretation. The portion of society that recognizes the hypocrisy and blatant corruption at the highest levels of government can do nothing but laugh or lose their minds trying to understand. This nervous laughter is heard often in front of televisions tuned to the likes of the Daily Show, its spin-off The Colbert Show, and other late-night shows.
These last couple weeks the big news item that caused quite a bi-partisan stir was the $6.8 billion sale of United States port operating facilities used for the import and export, loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports to a United Arab Emirates government owned firm known as Dubai Ports World.
This is startling for a number of reasons, most notably: Al Qaeda warned the government of the UAE more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, al Qaeda funding went via UAE banks, and two of the Sept. 11 hijackers came from the UAE. Didn’t we attack Afghanistan for such relations to Al Queda? Why should we trust our port security to a state owned company that seems to support those we are at “war” with? Why did the Bush administration, the one that ran on a homeland security platform, allow, in fact push this deal, even threatening to veto any congressional bills concerning it?
According to a section of the Sept. 11 commission's report the US missed an opportunity to kill the al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden when he was visiting with the UAE royal family because an attack would have killed half of the family. A country with such close relations to our supposed enemy should at least be kept away from our port security details.
It is these illogical pieces of government hypocrisy which fuel the comedy of John Stewart and David Letterman. Why do we laugh when faced with these things? Might it often be a nervous laughter, a telling sign of uneasiness? We laugh and live, so as to remain in a comfortable environment. While some may acknowledge such truths, few ever act on them… so what can one do but laugh?
Like the Vice-President’s leaking of the name of a CIA operative… (laughtrack)”
The stonewalling of federal prosecutors...
His shady Halliburton dealings…
His sweetheart tax giveaways to fat cat contributors…
His call for extended drilling to benefit oil buddies...
His efforts to block campaign finance reform…
His being in the pocket of big business…
His allowing lobbyists to author energy legislation…
His secretly crafted healthcare proposal which benefited pharmaceutical companies…
And his manipulation of intelligence which led to an unnecessary war… (laughtrack)”
- The Late Show with David Letterman 2/20/2006
In this 21st century the major source of comedy that seems to get our generation, and most of the American populace to laugh, is a humor that pokes fun at our society and especially our politics. We often laugh because we are uncomfortable. What is someone to do when confronted with information such as the above facts concerning our current Vice-President?
Some people dismiss these verifiable truths and label them false; liberal media lies they call them. What they suffer from is actually called cognitive dissonance, a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you strongly believe, and contradictory information or interpretation. The portion of society that recognizes the hypocrisy and blatant corruption at the highest levels of government can do nothing but laugh or lose their minds trying to understand. This nervous laughter is heard often in front of televisions tuned to the likes of the Daily Show, its spin-off The Colbert Show, and other late-night shows.
These last couple weeks the big news item that caused quite a bi-partisan stir was the $6.8 billion sale of United States port operating facilities used for the import and export, loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports to a United Arab Emirates government owned firm known as Dubai Ports World.
This is startling for a number of reasons, most notably: Al Qaeda warned the government of the UAE more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, al Qaeda funding went via UAE banks, and two of the Sept. 11 hijackers came from the UAE. Didn’t we attack Afghanistan for such relations to Al Queda? Why should we trust our port security to a state owned company that seems to support those we are at “war” with? Why did the Bush administration, the one that ran on a homeland security platform, allow, in fact push this deal, even threatening to veto any congressional bills concerning it?
According to a section of the Sept. 11 commission's report the US missed an opportunity to kill the al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden when he was visiting with the UAE royal family because an attack would have killed half of the family. A country with such close relations to our supposed enemy should at least be kept away from our port security details.
It is these illogical pieces of government hypocrisy which fuel the comedy of John Stewart and David Letterman. Why do we laugh when faced with these things? Might it often be a nervous laughter, a telling sign of uneasiness? We laugh and live, so as to remain in a comfortable environment. While some may acknowledge such truths, few ever act on them… so what can one do but laugh?
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