Making Witness
 

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. Thers a war and a depression going on. Everybody is scared of losing their job by being outsourced. The dollar only seems to buy a nickles worth of gasoline. Crime is everywhere, and nobody seems to know what to do about it. And theres just no end to this war. We all know the air and water are unfit to breath or drink. Yet we sit at home watching our TV's and the local newscaster tells us we had 15 more troops killed in Irak and 63 were killed in Israel by a suicide bomber, as if thats the way things should be. We know things are bad, worse than bad, it's crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy all at once. We sit in our homes and slowly the world we're living in gets smaller. We all say "Please leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster, and my TV set, and my steel belted radials. I won't say anything...just leave us alone." Well I am not going to let you alone...I want you to get angry....I don't want you to protest or write your congressman. I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about Terrorism or the Economy....All I know is that you've got to say is "I'm a human being and my life has value.

So, I guess the glass is half empty over in Nevada?


Geez... I can't beleive I just responded to a Tabism.

Tabs: I think you just summarized the entire Marvin Gaye "What's Going On?" album.

Great song. Great album. Would have been better if he ditched Tammy Tyrell in the early years.

"Mercy, mercy, me."

I just wanna come over there and hug you, my liberal, liberal friend.

Yeah, the world is goin' to hell in a hand basket. Thats exactly why the great nations on this earth like NUMERO UNO - the US have to show leadership now more than ever.

The US has all the economic, cultural and military marbles - it has a wonderful opportunity to be a real world leader and example in the things that count in the long term.

Like:

(1) Start loosening up on foreign trade policy - give those third world countries a chance to get a few economic marbles of their own. Trade embargoes/punishing duties on things like rugs from Pakistan or huge subsidies to farmers that stop third world producers from being able to compete do nothing but guarantee that the third world remains the third world. And nothing encourages dictators and religious zealots like a third world economic environment.

(2) Take a leadership role in reigning in polution. Hell, hundreds of countries have ratified the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse gases - even Russia (like they can afford it) is thinking about it. Yet the US says no - the cost is too high. If the richest amongst us refuse to do anything about pollution who will?

(3) Stop slapping people and nations around because their politics or activities don't align with the best interests of the US. Tyrants and zealots will all fall by the wayside in due course. The obvious recent lessons of Iran, Syria, USSR, Lybia et al show us that. Give people economic hope and information and the dictators will soon disappear. Violence just perpetuates the cycle of violence.

1) Funny the same individuals that complain about outsourcing of jobs in their homeland want foreign trade policy slacked up...sort of a double standard, eh?

2) 122 countries to date have ratified or accepted Kyoto. Interesting to note that about 2/3 of those countries are not major producers or exporters of anything (check their GNP if you like), so why not ratfiy it? Kind of like saying "sure, I'll never drive over 55 mph, but hell I don't even have a car or a driver's license..."

3)The US has all the economic, cultural and military marbles because we don't bend to the will of the world and live like the rest of them. Deal with it.

Wasn't exactly the leadership I had in mind. Sounds like more of the same to me. But then, we're just one of the three top trading partners of the US that DID ratify Kyoto - so what do we know?

What you can't discern the difference between is going with the flow/appeasing everyone else in the world/doing it how everyone else thinks it should be done (what you want) and our own course of action that we will act on when we want, and where we want.

yee haw!

Why didn't ya say so in the first place - it all makes perfect sense now...

So, going back to Tab's inflammatory openning remarks, you mean that:

You acknowledge the unacceptability of the status quo - but we'll damn well make changes when we damn well feel like it - on our own agenda. No one is going to ram their damn agenda down our throats. So the status will remain quo until we damn well decide otherwise?

Can you live with that Tabs?

Interesting to note that about 2/3 of those countries are not major producers or exporters of anything (check their GNP if you like),

Total GNP is not that relevant. Living standards etc are related to GNP/capita, and I'd expect that (as a total generalisation) the higher the GNP/capita the greater a country has to lose from Kyoto. Well, ok, the higher the polution in relation to GDP, the more difference it makes.

What was it Bush said? "The American way of life is not negotiable". Thanks pal - way to be a world citizen.

beauty, eh Cam.

Best quote of the day on this board (ignoring JP's usual tidbits - but you have to count him out of best-quote-of-the-day competitions - his brain is hard wired funny).

Hey, if NZ wants to be a good "world citizen" then it should immediately relax it's immigration standards. Maybe we'll give you a big statue that says; "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses . . .

. . .Just so NZ can be a good world citizen; doncha know. ;)

:D

Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses . . .

As long as they aren't too old, and are skilled, and qualified, and don't want to live in Auckland, and are proficient in English. Preferably already have a job in NZ.

Actually, you just need to be some of these things, but it can be harder than I think it should be.

heh-heh. So you have noticed even NZ will put its best interest ahead of being "a good world citizen".

Oh we do plenty of being a good citizen, we have sooo many people who can't speak English, travel accross the world (instead of the next country) to flee injustices against them and we give them the dole and a house. Plus we send troops to all countrys to back up other guys wars. For instance, our SAS front line in Afganistan, troops rebuilding and being shot at in Iraq, paying for Pacific islands that get hit by huricanes and cyclones. It's like asking the city of Cleveland to contribute billons to every war and every worthy cause, as we are about the same population.

I'd be surprised if we didn't take our fair share.

Making Witness
 

Re-gearing some old Paddy Cheyefsky, huh, Tabdulla?

<i>"The American way of life is not negotiable". </i>

Hadn't heard that one. But I like it. It's good to be the King. Well, other than the Serfs are always b!tchin' at ya. :D