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- "Outside, even through the shut window pane, the
world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling
dust and torn papers into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the
sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters
that were plastered everywhere"
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- "Existing records show that Oceania has always been
at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been
at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith's job involves
the constant 'correction' of records. 'Who controls the past, ran the Party
slogan, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory
still functions. He knows the offical image of the world is a fluid fiction."
1984-George Orwell
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- Former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, is making
the rounds with President - elect Hillary Clinton. She's pretty excited
just thinking about catching the 'brass ring' for a second time. If things
work out, why they'll be a Bush - Clinton team in the White House for
almost thirty years. Nobody under thirty in the U.S.A. can recall when
the name in the White House wasn't a Bush or Clinton. Already they're
discussing plans on the former senior President Bush and former President
Bill Clinton becoming a traveling ambassador team to heal the image of
America.
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- Ali Abbas was one of the first victims of America's 'surgical
strikes' during 'Shock and Awe'. Their family farm outside of Baghdad was
not seen from computerized bombers thousands of feet above (beyond the
clouds).
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- People get upset for a short while and forget the victims
of war. Little Ali now lives in the UK where he's learning to function
in a world absent touch and hugs.
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- Things happen in war. Homes, farms, and wedding ceremonies,
get blown up by mistake. Strangers (Americans/Iraqis) are ordered to kill
one another, with nobody having a grasp, of just why they're killing?
Not knowing the culture or language - fear rules the day. A family on their
way home from a birthday celebration doesn't understand the commands being
shouted in English to STOP. Shots ring out and the parents die. The five
children left as orphans become mere statistics. Madeline Albright doesn't
have a problem with this death and destruction. On Jan 8, 2000 (60 min
- Leslie Stahl) she was asked about the half million children who'd died
under President Clinton's sanctions - and was it worth it? She replied,
"The price - we think the price is worth it."
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- On a lonely airstrip somewhere tonight a family will
wait alone for the return of their young son. He was a child of the clouds
. He loved the misty morning, the moose hiding in the foliage, and the
rush of a mountain spring. He will be buried in a lonely village plot -
and none will remember (save family/friends) his name. Perhaps a bridge
will be named for him?
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- Luis at age 22 is now completely paralyzed. Paul Bremer
received the Medal of Freedom for his well paid job in Iraq (losing 9 billion
dollars) Luis is not even eligible for a purple heart. He was paralyzed,
when a statue of Saddam, that he was ordered to pull down fell on him.
Medals - cheap tawdry medals. What good is a medal? It won't buy back one's
health. It won't support a person in today's rising costs of taxes - home
heating oil - food etc. Better than a medal - would be a tax free, handicapped
accessible home.
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- With a photographer on hand, President Bush thanks young
Rick and Brandon for protecting America from the threat of 'invading
Arabs' - and 'weapons of mass destruction'. Most likely he won't relate
to them his spoof (slide show) at the 2004, Radio and TV Correspondence
Dinner. He was shown in the Oval Office - looking under tables and his
desk for the elusive WMDs! "These weapons have got to be here somewhere.
No weapons over here. Maybe they're under here?" It was a gala affair
with men done up in tuxedos (wives in gowns) where eveyone could laugh
at a war a half a world away.
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- Much ado was made over Tony Snow, Press Secretary, leaving
some months back. There were all kinds of good wishes, cards etc, wishing
him the best in his fight against cancer. Tony remarked that his treatment
was excellent. He went on to remark that the job of Press Secretary didn't
pay him enough ($170,000 - full medical coverage) to keep his family in
the life style they were accustomed to. Tony had made millions working
for Fox where he plans to return. When asked at a June 15, 2006 Press Conference
about the deaths in Iraq, Tony replied: "It's only a number".
I imagine Tony wouldn't have felt the same, had his cancer been identified
as "just another statistic". Thankfully Tony (tax payer subsidized)
will receive the best treatments available ( as all of our elected officals
are) at Georgetown University Hospital, a special floor at Walter Reed,
etc. Unlike our wounded veterans he won't be required to PROVE (even those
badly burned) his disability and spend a life time begging for help (long
trips to VA hospitals).
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- When the President travels its in a Cadillac Presidential
Limousine. This has an entertainment center, massage - hand tooled leather
seats, night vision, and armor that (including underneath) that can withstand
an rocket propelled grenade . It also is sealed to protect from biological/chemical
attacks. Hmm - remember after 911 when we were advised to buy duct tape
and plastic?
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- Now if our soldiers in WAR had the President's limousine
perhaps they (thousands) wouldn't end up like Rick and Brandon (or dead)?
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- Time Magazine, December 20, 2004 "Army Specialist
Thomas Wilson, asked Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld why soldiers are
being sent to war in humvees and trucks so vulnerable that troops must
forage for 'rusted scrap metal to put on our vehicles to take into combat".
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- Rumsfeld replied, " You go to war with the Army
you have not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
Rumfeld compounded the gaffe by adding that you can have all the armor
in the world in a tank, and a tank can be blown up." Note it is now
2008. We are longer at war (really a conflict) than WWII and still the
troops lack the needed armored vehicles - weapons - trucks etc. This is
all excused as being a 'miscalculation'. Nobody realized that there would
be a 'real war'! But then when you have former CEOs and Foggy Bottom bureaucrats,
who've seen nothing more violent, than a buddy striking a golf ball -
you can expect such a blithe disregard for the troops. Seems to me we've
(according to Rumsfeld) wasted a lot of money armor plating the President's
limo?
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- Shortly before the conflict (Shock and Awe) Barbara Bush
remarked on Good Morning America that she didn't want to hear about body
bags and death - they weren't 'relevant'. With perpetual war death and
carnage is soon seen as 'irrelevant'. War desensitizes and dehumanizes.
'Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia. JM
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