Bombings in London
My condolences to all impacted by this tragic event. Billmon has some fond things to say about London, but fearing the inevitable making-it-worse by the media, advises his American readers:The next few days would probably be a good time to stay away from the TV. On top of the televised gore and the stunned faces of the survivors, we'll have to endure the canned Churchillian rhetoric of Messrs. Blair and Bush. Blitzes will be remembered; blood, sweat and tears promised, ultimate victory predicted. The babbling heads of cable news will babble even louder. Conservative con artists will figure the angles and work out the attack lines to use against the liberals -- whatever it takes to drown out the fact that, nearly four years after 9/11, Bin Ladin still lives and Al Qaeda is back in business. Mission unaccomplished. That's a good statement but puts too much emphasis on the al Qaeda threat. (The implacable Islamofascist enemy.) The problem is the cycle of violence we're in because many in the developing world believe we're trying to extract their natural resources by force, stomping all over local traditions to do so. The Iraq war as a response to "terrorism" does nothing to assuage this, especially with the stories about Iraqi oil field maps spread out on the table during Cheney's energy task force meetings. The conversation we should be having is "Are we taking their resources by force and crapping all over their local traditions, so we can lead our wonderful lives?" and if so, "Isn't terrorism in our cities an expected consequence of that?" And if this sounds like America-hating to you, sorry.
I caught a bit of El Gasbo this AM on hatetalk radio. He was pontificating about how liberals are soft on terror. In Limbaugh's world, an effective response is weak, but a visceral response is strong.
This constrasts with Barbara Boxer (carried by Pacifica) this AM talking about how she's been pushing to harden the mass transit infrastructure since 2001 without being able to get the House to follow up on any action taken by the Senate. I guess we're too busy turning Iraq into an urban terror training ground to worry about taking steps to prevent and mitigate urban terror.
Further, we can fight this, as you suggest, by being less dependent upon "our" resources which are located in volatile regions. In response to this attack, I may finally get off my ass and start pricing out solar.
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Bombings in London
My condolences to all impacted by this tragic event. Billmon has some fond things to say about London, but fearing the inevitable making-it-worse by the media, advises his American readers:That's a good statement but puts too much emphasis on the al Qaeda threat. (The implacable Islamofascist enemy.) The problem is the cycle of violence we're in because many in the developing world believe we're trying to extract their natural resources by force, stomping all over local traditions to do so. The Iraq war as a response to "terrorism" does nothing to assuage this, especially with the stories about Iraqi oil field maps spread out on the table during Cheney's energy task force meetings. The conversation we should be having is "Are we taking their resources by force and crapping all over their local traditions, so we can lead our wonderful lives?" and if so, "Isn't terrorism in our cities an expected consequence of that?" And if this sounds like America-hating to you, sorry.
- tom moody 7-07-2005 7:47 pm
I caught a bit of El Gasbo this AM on hatetalk radio. He was pontificating about how liberals are soft on terror. In Limbaugh's world, an effective response is weak, but a visceral response is strong.
This constrasts with Barbara Boxer (carried by Pacifica) this AM talking about how she's been pushing to harden the mass transit infrastructure since 2001 without being able to get the House to follow up on any action taken by the Senate. I guess we're too busy turning Iraq into an urban terror training ground to worry about taking steps to prevent and mitigate urban terror.
Further, we can fight this, as you suggest, by being less dependent upon "our" resources which are located in volatile regions. In response to this attack, I may finally get off my ass and start pricing out solar.
- mark 7-07-2005 11:00 pm