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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: ]
    #3408741 -

Here's the whole thing. I've never seen this guy so indignant and sarcastic as here. I guess something got his goat.


In my next life, I want to be Tom DeLay, the House majority leader.

Yes, I want to get almost the entire Republican side of the House of Representatives to bend its ethics rules just for me. I want to be able to twist the arms of House Republicans to repeal a rule that automatically requires party leaders to step down if they are indicted on a felony charge - something a Texas prosecutor is considering doing to DeLay because of corruption allegations.

But most of all, I want to have the gall to sully American democracy at a time when young American soldiers are fighting in Iraq so we can enjoy a law-based society here and, maybe, extend it to others. Yes, I want to be Tom DeLay. I want to wear a little American flag on my lapel in solidarity with the troops, while I besmirch every value they are dying for.

If I can't be Tom DeLay, then I want to be one of the gutless Republican House members who voted to twist the rules for DeLay out of fear that "the Hammer," as they call him, might retaliate by taking away a coveted committee position or maybe a parking place.

Yes, I want to be a Republican House member. At a time when 180 of the 211 members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq who have been wounded in combat have insisted on returning to duty, I want to look my constituents and my kids in the eye and tell them that I voted to empty the House ethics rules because I was afraid of Tom DeLay.

If I can't be a Republican House member, I want to be Latrell Sprewell, the guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves. I want to say with a straight face that if my owner will only give me a three-year contract extension for a meager $21 million, then he's not worth working for, because "I've got my family to feed."

Yes, I want to be Latrell Sprewell. At a time when N.B.A. games are priced beyond the reach of most American families, when half the country can't afford health care, when some reservists in Iraq are separated from their families for a year, including this Thanksgiving, I want to be like Latrell. I want to make sure everyone knows that I'm looking out for my family - and no one else's.

If I can't be Latrell Sprewell, I want to be any American college or professional athlete. For a mere dunk of the basketball or first-down run, I want to be able to dance a jig, as if I'd just broken every record by Michael Jordan or Johnny Unitas. For the smallest, most routine bit of success in my sport, I want to be able to get in your face - I want to know who's your daddy, I want to be able to high-five, low-five, thump my chest and dance on your grave. You talkin' to me?

I want to be able to fight on the court, off the court, in the stands and on the sidelines. I want to respect no boundaries and no norms. And when I make your kids cry, I want to be able to tell you to just "chill" - that my coach says "stuff happens" and that my union rep is appealing my punishment in the name of the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. Yes, in my next life, I want to be The Man.

If I can't be The Man, then I at least want to be the owner of a Hummer - with American flag decals all over the back bumper, because Hummer owners are, on average, a little more patriotic than you and me.

Yes, I want to drive the mother of all gas-guzzlers that gets so little mileage you have to drive from gas station to gas station. Yes, I want to drive my Hummer and never have to think that by consuming so much oil, I am making transfer payments to the worst Arab regimes that transfer money to Islamic charities that transfer money to madrassas that teach children intolerance, antipluralism and how to hate the infidels.

And when one day one of those madrassa graduates goes off and joins the jihad in Falluja and kills my neighbor's son, who is in the U.S. Army Rangers, I want to drive to his funeral in my Hummer. Yes, I want to curse his killers in front of his mother and wail aloud, "If there was only something I could do ..." And then I want to drive home in my Hummer, stopping at two gas stations along the way.

If I can't be any of these, then I want to be just a simple blue-state red-state American. I want to take time on this Thanksgiving to thank God I live in a country where, despite so much rampant selfishness, the public schools still manage to produce young men and women ready to voluntarily risk their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to spread the opportunity of freedom and to protect my own. And I want to thank them for doing this, even though on so many days in so many ways we really don't deserve them.

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: ]
    #3408750 -

:smile: i've read a few books of Milton Friedman's (one he co-authored with his wife) and I wouldn't expect to see him writing for the Times, either. How do the libertarians here feel about him? For me, his policies on education just seem absurd in today's America, what with the level of inequality that we currently have... but I will certainly grant that he is a very intelligent man.


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: Krishna]
    #3408755 -

d33p, you are the most selective idealist I have ever seen.


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Oh cmon, I'm a fun guy.

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: EchoVortex]
    #3408780 -

From my reading of that article, the last paragraph isn't sarcastic at all - it's quite serious. From my prior readings of Thomas Friedman's editorials, that seems to match his opinion - he has been one of the few writers for the NY Times that has been in outright support of Iraq.


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: methikist]
    #3408785 -

Please explain.


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I'm a nihilist. Lets be friends.

bang bang

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: methikist]
    #3408795 -

Might I also mention that your point about America "setting up elections" is absolutely irrelevant. They are organizing the middle east in their interests. Nobody believes for 1 second that the elections would be a true democratic act. The US would limit the election to only those who cater to US interests, not to the interests of the common Iraqi civilian. They have done it before in Iran 1953, Zaire 1960, 1963 Dominican Republic, 1964 Brazil, 1965 Indonesia, 1966 Bolivia, Ghana 1966, 1967, Greece 1970 Cambodia, 1973 Chile. They installed such lovely characters as: Trujillo, Mobutu, Duvalier, Batista, Somoza, Castillo Armas, Pinochet, Fujimori, Noriega, Suharto, Sadam Husein, and the list goes on..

Think what you say before you say it. better yet, take your own advice and think d33p.. however fucking ridiculous that sounds.


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Oh cmon, I'm a fun guy.

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3408821 -

Are you thankful that "Your boys" dismembered that lady who had been helping Iraq forthe past 30 years? Or are they not in the collective of "your boys" that you mentioned? Should these people not be deemed terrorist?


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Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: methikist]
    #3408827 -

Whether they set up a legitimate government or not is yet to be seen. To obstruct that from occurring to just cause death and dismay is ludacris. I'm a realist. You see the beauty of the American governmental system is that its leader change as they are democratically elected. Those who made the decisions in past years are not those in power now so anything is possible. I just thought d33p and figured the insurgency is a joke based on this.

Imagine if there was no insurgency and by now the government could have set up and much more of Iraqi could have been set up. If it was not legitimate then the insurgency could have began and it would have been justified. And then of course i would have been on a different side in the argument.


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I'm a nihilist. Lets be friends.

bang bang

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: SoopaX]
    #3408842 -

I only offer my prayers to those who resist the occupation by legitimate means.


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3408844 -

And those that execute women who have been helping Iraqis? Do you condem them and wish them to be caught and tried?


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Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: d33p]
    #3408848 -

Actually, the insurgency is just a prank being played on the occupation. It's just a friendly hazing. Welcome to Iraq!  :grin:


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: SoopaX]
    #3408854 -

Of course, if it has been proven that they have done wrong.


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: EchoVortex]
    #3409001 -

EchoVortex said:
Uh, that entire piece is dripping with sarcasm. Reading Comp 101.



I have no background knowledge of the author but the last paragraph of the article does not sound at all sarcastic.


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?When Alexander the Great visted the philosopher Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for him, Diogenes is said to have replied: 'Yes, stand a little less between me and the sun.' It is what every citizen is entitled to ask of his government.?
-Henry Hazlitt in 'Economics in One Lesson'

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3409159 -

zahudulallah said:
Of course, if it has been proven that they have done wrong.



And do you believe that executing a non combatant on video camera is wrong? These specific executions that have occured of non combatants primarily the journalists and the women recently butchered.


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Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: SoopaX]
    #3409172 -

If someone was executed and they are innocent and were not linked to the occupation forces, then that execution would be a crime.


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3409184 -

The woman who had been living in and helping Iraq for the past thirty years through humanitarian efforts. Was her execution on camera a sin in your perception of Islam? Should the perpetrators be tracked down and killed?


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Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3409187 -

zahudulallah said:
I'm thankful to God for the brave young men from all over the Ummah who are united in their struggle against the invaders in Iraq. I am thankful that they are willing to give their lives for the security of the Ummah. I am thankful to God that under such a scenario, cultural differences are being put aside for a Greater Good to expel the invaders.



Iraq has a Shiite majority. Are you praying for them, too?

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3409202 -

Would you be able to describe why you wish for more chaos and death in that country rather than wishing for free elections, the removal of US troops from those lands and the new government to be able to rule and provide security for their people?


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Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: SoopaX]
    #3409235 -

Muslims have a right to self defense. Muslims are being attacked by a foreign invader so Muslims have the right to resist. If you don't like it, tough.


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Re: One thing to be thankful for... [Re: zahudulallah]
    #3409255 -

So having the killings of Iraqi's by other Iraqi's stop, having free elections, having a trained Iraqi security force and moving US troops back home would seem to be the best goal, correct?


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Jackie Treehorn treats objects like women, man

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