September 22, 2005

I just found an interesting quote in an article online. Here it is.

"We ought not to be astonished that that nation, wracked by a war of insurgency and beset by its neighbors to the north, has not already emerged, full-blown, as a perfect model of two-party democracy."

"What happens in [that country] is extremely important to the nation's freedom and it is extremely important to the United States' security,"

You may think this is a recent quote from G. W. Bush regarding the progress in Iraq. It is actually a quote from President L. B. Johnson during a speech about the progress in South Vietnam.

No comment.

September 10, 2005

People are not all that different. It's all at how you look at things. For example...

a democrat might say "the glass is half full," while a republican would say "who the f#@%k drank half my water?!"

an engineer would say the glass is twice the size it needs to be, and could be improved.

while one of my friends would say: "Al, what the f#$Tk you drinking?!"

...... I'll stop there

September 5, 2005

source: Non Sequitur

(if you are easily offended by political opinion – cover your ears and your eyes. For the rest of us….)

After seeing this cartoon, I started thinking about the role of language on government policy and public opinion. I am sometimes troubled by the use of rhetorical language by the government, which is many times simply echoed by the media. One sample of the exploitation of language is the use of the word “evil”.

I believe such terminology can skew public opinion regarding government policy, and here is why. It is well known that the ‘war against terror’ has been defined as a fight of ‘good versus evil’. This means that anything done against the ‘evil’ enemy is, by definition, ‘good’. Evil enemies do not need protection under human rights, since they are devoid of any humanity. Most importantly – evil people are basically just that, evil. They hate America because they are evil, and commit horrendous acts because they are evil.

Basically, I think this type of oversimplification of the problem of terrorism leads to the thinking that evil people are just born that way. No matter what happens around them, they will grow up to hate America. Sort of like some weird genetic disease that occurs in a small percentage of Middle Eastern men. The solution in this case is clear: eliminate the carriers of this ‘evil’ gene. The 'fight-them-over-there' mentality. Simple. Unfortunately, this viewpoint prevents any type of analysis regarding the political and social roots of the problem of terrorism.

This use of words is not new, however. In the 80’s we fought against the ‘Evil Empire’, a.k.a. the soviets. There is the ‘axis of evil’, etc......

I believe - the government needs to stop dealing with terrorism and poverty as if they were genetically transmitted diseases. They are not. They are symptoms of deeply rooted social problems. I think it would be much better to treat these underlying problems instead of trying to suppress the symptoms.

But again – that’s just my opinion

August 23, 2005

"Hey - I may be just a dog, but you don't see me cleaning up after your shit and carrying it in a plastic bag - do you?"

"I can read your mind -- look into my eyes"

August 22, 2005

OK --- first try at sending an image........

Just a duck hanging out in DC. It was pretty hot that day.

This site will hopefuly someday contain some news and pics from Alfonso (AKA The Spaniard) currently stranded in Cleveland, OH (don't ask how I got here - I'm still trying to figure that one out)

Dylan told me about his site, and asured me that I could make a blogging site even with my limited computer skills. I started this site in order to prove him wrong.

Maybe someone will find this stuff amussing.

Once I figure out how to post a picture I will do so.