An interesting slant on things....

[theoddz]

Saw this article today and thought it interesting:




A mean-spirited America

"Today, I fear my own government more than I do terrorists."

By Jill Nelson
MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR


NEW YORK, May 2 ? These days, a sense of apprehension and foreboding lurks in the back of my head and the pit of my stomach. It?s a gut-wrenching reminder that something very bad has happened and is about to happen anew. It is an anticipation of the next insult and injury in an America that has been defined under the Bush administration by a profound meanness of spirit.

THE EVIDENCE OF this overwhelming meanness of spirit is everywhere, abroad and at home. Even the administration?s efforts to justify the war in Iraq as one of liberation and declare victory cannot mask the human costs to American troops and their families. How many thousands of Iraqis are dead? Where are the ridiculously named ?weapons of mass destruction? that Bush used to justify this invasion? Witness the looting of priceless antiquities, kitsch and cash from Iraqi museums and Saddam Hussein?s palaces and homes, allowed and participated in not only by Iraqis but members of the American armed forces and their ?embedfellows,? the media.
Yet to question this war and its aftermath is characterized as at worst treason and at best anti-American cynicism. And woe unto those who criticize Halliburton, Kellogg Brown & Root and the rest of the corporate sponsors of the Bush administration as they line up at the trough of government contracts to rebuild Iraq and control its oil. Now, the armed forces in Iraq have turned to shooting Iraqi demonstrators, the very people they supposedly came to ?liberate? with democracy.


UNDER SIEGE AT HOME

Here on the home front, our e-mail communications, bookstore purchases, and even our public library withdrawals are open to government surveillance. The attorney general lengthens the arm of government repression every day, seeking the right to revoke an American?s citizenship if he alone decides their words or deeds fall within his definition of treason. Slowly chipping away at our civil and democratic rights.
The Internal Revenue Service announces that it will scrutinize the returns of the poorest taxpayers, those claiming the earned income tax credit. This is a credit offered to taxpayers who earn under $35,000 for a family of four, and it averages less than $2000. The Bush administration wants to spend $100 million to go after these working-poor Americans in search of fraud rather than concentrate on corporations who, according to some estimates, defraud the government by tens of billions of dollars every year.

And what of the move in many states to curtail or severely cut back Medicaid benefits to the 50 million people that program currently insures, a move that will result in the loss of insurance, cuts in benefits, and an increasingly unhealthy population? And unemployment, and the awful school system, and systemic poverty, and gun violence? The list goes on.
This as President Bush crisscrosses the country like a snake-oil salesman in an effort to sell his tax-cut program, one that will again reward the wealthiest Americans and increase the tax burden on the poor and middle class. This after already pushing through a tax cut two years ago that failed to stimulate the economy but succeeded in resurrecting a deficit that, at the end of the Clinton administration a year before, was a surplus.

LIVING IN FEAR
I feel far more vulnerable and frightened than I ever have in my 50 years on the planet. It is the United States government I am afraid of.

Meanwhile, here in our great democracy, Americans go along with the program or remain silent, too afraid of the Muslim bogeymen thousands of miles away to recognize the Christian ones in our midst. Fearful that we will be verbally attacked, or shunned, or lose our livelihoods if we dare question the meanness that characterizes our government and, increasingly, defines our national character.
I do not feel safer now than I did six, or 12, or 24 months ago. In fact, I feel far more vulnerable and frightened than I ever have in my 50 years on the planet. It is the United States government I am afraid of. In less than two years the Bush administration has used the attacks of 9/11 to manipulate our fear of terrorism and desire for revenge into a blank check to blatantly pursue imperialist objectives internationally and to begin the rollback of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and most of the advances of the 20th century.

RECIPE FOR CHANGE
It is none too early to begin organizing for the 2004 elections. Each of us must take a hard look at the changes that have been wrought by this administration internationally and domestically and ask ourselves: Is this the democracy we cherish? We must hold our elected officials accountable and make them take a stand against what increasingly looks like fascism. If they will not, we must vote them out of office.

Three years ago, before the bloodless coup d?etat that made George W. Bush president, America was a far-from-perfect nation. Yet there was the possibility, almost gone now, that our country might evolve into a place that lived up to its loftiest democratic rhetoric. Today, I live in an America that makes my stomach hurt and fills me with terror. A nation run by greedy, frightened, violent bullies. It is time to take our country back before it is too late.

[nang]

It's America. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I just don't agree with the author, and that's my opinion.

[Arrow]

"These days, a sense of apprehension and foreboding lurks in the back of my head and the pit of my stomach. It?s a gut-wrenching reminder that something very bad has happened and is about to happen anew."

"I feel far more vulnerable and frightened than I ever have in my 50 years on the planet. It is the United States government I am afraid of."


"In fact, I feel far more vulnerable and frightened than I ever have in my 50 years on the planet. It is the United States government I am afraid of." "Today, I live in an America that makes my stomach hurt and fills me with terror. A nation run by greedy, frightened, violent bullies".

Heavy drama and pure bullshit...

"Now, the armed forces in Iraq have turned to shooting Iraqi demonstrators, the very people they supposedly came to ?liberate? with democracy."

Well, yes,that's what happens when live rounds are coming out of a crowd...

Reprehensible one sided commentary...

Take herpipe away from her and give the girl a one way ticketfor an airplane..

To France...

[MORTARDUDE]

lady ( the author of the article )... anytime you feel like this has turned into a "police state" why not move to a "real police state" like Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, China, Vietnam, many countries in Africa, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yasser Arafat's "paradise", and on and on....if you have something intelligent to say, do so..............many billions of people of this planet do live under repression and are hungry every day that rolls...contribute something positive to our great country....that is all I am saying !!

Larry

[Seascamp]

This Gal has a way low fear threshold and a Boy Scout with campout bean gas would have her hiding under the laundry for sure. Either that, or she is playing the fear card for political advantage. This war against brutal and vicious butchers has been a MF and it?s only going to get worse before it gets better. My critique with Bush and Co. is that they haven?t been forth coming enough on just how brutal things are and are sure to get in the future. But on the other hand if they told all, Gals like this would just seize up and go catatonic. Sorry she missed Tet 68, now that was something to be scared of I?d tell ya.

But alas, when the going gets tough the celebs get naked; the pissy hearts write stupid articles and some even run for President. It?s almost amusing how repeatable and predictable our culture has become. But a difference of opinion is our strength and why we will win this war. Great jumped up, can anyone imagine what it would be like if we couldn?t argue and scrap about things. I shudder to think.

Scamp

[Keith_Hixson]

She must have been high on drugs when she wrote this artlicle. Pure garbage!
We are safer now than before 9 - 11 - 01. Terrorists now think a second time before attacking America. Terrorists only understand retaliation, to bury our head under the sand makes for greater danger.

Keith

[reconeil]

CONTRIBUTED WHAT???

Hell, MSNBC couldn't even get old Jill's title right. I'll bet that if done on FNC (Fox News Channel), the billing would have been: Jill Nelson, DETRACTOR. Hell, and besides being more honest,...it even makes more sense. Don't you think?

Neil

[Arrow]

"Great jumped up, can anyone imagine what it would be like if we couldn?t argue and scrap about things. I shudder to think."

Me too Scamp, but as long as Ms Jill and her ilk continue crawling out from under their rock and pontificating you can count on me to be here practicin' managed anger.

[reeb]

You can post anything on here that you want, so Theo spoke her mind.

Now Why in the hell are you putting her down for that?????



I am speaking mine right now!!!

You spoke yours!!!!!!


There are alot of post on this thing here and different sites that would upset anyone, and you have the right to down or up them....!!!!!!!!!!!!

Retaliation or WMD?????

That is my thought>>>>>>>>

enough.........

[Seascamp]

Drat Reeb,
My comments were about the article author Jill, not Theo. Jasus, read in context Sailor.

Scamp