I didn't think I would be all that interested in Air America Radio, but I was wrong. I couldn't believe it -- there is actually ONE liberal talk radio station amid the sea of bombastic conservative crap now. And it's funny, and it's fun and informative.
http://www.airamericaradio.com/
It also is a welcome contrast to NPR -- I mean all these people who say that NPR is "liberal talk radio" can now see what a real liberal talk radio station is like. NPR is more objective than most of the news sources out there. It just looked liberal because the right-wing sources were so slanted right.
Do I really need to air my thoughts online? Does the world need another blog? Ah, what the hell. I can always abandon it later. I'm a quitter anyway.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Yuck. My conservative uncle sent me Zell "Zig Zag" Miller's statement about the 9/11 commission ...
http://miller.senate.gov/floor/03-30-04sept11com.html
At the risk of poisoning some future family gatherings, I responded to this crapola and CC'd my aunt. You see, my uncle will forward Newsmax and Drudge-type stories all day long, but he doesn't actually WRITE anything, so I guess he thinks it's OK. I on the other hand don't lean on fwd:s to share my own thoughts, so I probably come across to him as some liberal nut, whereas he is a good, conscientious patriot.
p.s. Miller DID NOT raise good points. I said that so he might read further.
My response:
Miller raises some good points. Every administration for a couple of decades shares some blame, and our troops do deserve respect and support. However, he's wrong on a couple of things.
He says "we did nothing" when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993. That just isn't true. A month after the blast, four people were in custody, went on trial nine months later and all were sent to prison permanently. That's not nothing; that's pretty darn swift. The WTC was attacked not by a country but by individuals, and those individuals were all rounded up and tried.
He says we did "nothing" about the Khobar Towers. Wrong again: 13 Saudis and a Lebanese were indicted for murder and conspiracy. Those suspects were directed by Iranian government. Just because we didn't invade IRAN or SAUDI ARABIA doesn't mean we didn't do something about it.
See also: http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/khobar/ . The tragedy was reviewed carefully, problems were identified and targeted for fixing, and persons were held accountable. That's exactly what the 9/11 commission is doing.
Miller's statement about America being full of only "wimps" and "warriors" is simple namecalling. Just because you don't think a war is justified, or don't think your president is telling you the truth about that war, does not make you a wimp. If we're going to namecall, I would classify it not as "wimps" and "warriors," but "smart kids" and "bullies."
Also, this stuff about "our enemies are laughing because we are divided, so we should all stop arguing" is ridiculous. We are divided because of the we have divisive leadership that does just what it wants and ordinary people be damned, and because we are embroiled in a war with no sign of planning or forethought or exit strategy.
We spent 6 million dollars and hundreds of hours and impeachment proceedings investigating a blowjob. Talk about fingerpointing. Talk about bickering. Talk about partisan. The events since 9/11 have been far more grave and EVEN IF they weren't preventable, we need to at least examine them to find out how to better protect ourselves. That's the point of the commission. Just because the Bush Administration isn't coming out looking so heroic is no reason to quash the investigation.
The people who died in September 11 deserve at the very least apologies and answers about who was responsible, because they sure ain't gonna get justice the way that it's being handled. If one of my sisters had died in NYC, I would be in Washington demanding answers and apologies from our government too, not a crusade in Iraq. That's my take on the commission, anyway.
-- end of my diatribe --
http://miller.senate.gov/floor/03-30-04sept11com.html
At the risk of poisoning some future family gatherings, I responded to this crapola and CC'd my aunt. You see, my uncle will forward Newsmax and Drudge-type stories all day long, but he doesn't actually WRITE anything, so I guess he thinks it's OK. I on the other hand don't lean on fwd:s to share my own thoughts, so I probably come across to him as some liberal nut, whereas he is a good, conscientious patriot.
p.s. Miller DID NOT raise good points. I said that so he might read further.
My response:
Miller raises some good points. Every administration for a couple of decades shares some blame, and our troops do deserve respect and support. However, he's wrong on a couple of things.
He says "we did nothing" when the World Trade Center was attacked in 1993. That just isn't true. A month after the blast, four people were in custody, went on trial nine months later and all were sent to prison permanently. That's not nothing; that's pretty darn swift. The WTC was attacked not by a country but by individuals, and those individuals were all rounded up and tried.
He says we did "nothing" about the Khobar Towers. Wrong again: 13 Saudis and a Lebanese were indicted for murder and conspiracy. Those suspects were directed by Iranian government. Just because we didn't invade IRAN or SAUDI ARABIA doesn't mean we didn't do something about it.
See also: http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/khobar/ . The tragedy was reviewed carefully, problems were identified and targeted for fixing, and persons were held accountable. That's exactly what the 9/11 commission is doing.
Miller's statement about America being full of only "wimps" and "warriors" is simple namecalling. Just because you don't think a war is justified, or don't think your president is telling you the truth about that war, does not make you a wimp. If we're going to namecall, I would classify it not as "wimps" and "warriors," but "smart kids" and "bullies."
Also, this stuff about "our enemies are laughing because we are divided, so we should all stop arguing" is ridiculous. We are divided because of the we have divisive leadership that does just what it wants and ordinary people be damned, and because we are embroiled in a war with no sign of planning or forethought or exit strategy.
We spent 6 million dollars and hundreds of hours and impeachment proceedings investigating a blowjob. Talk about fingerpointing. Talk about bickering. Talk about partisan. The events since 9/11 have been far more grave and EVEN IF they weren't preventable, we need to at least examine them to find out how to better protect ourselves. That's the point of the commission. Just because the Bush Administration isn't coming out looking so heroic is no reason to quash the investigation.
The people who died in September 11 deserve at the very least apologies and answers about who was responsible, because they sure ain't gonna get justice the way that it's being handled. If one of my sisters had died in NYC, I would be in Washington demanding answers and apologies from our government too, not a crusade in Iraq. That's my take on the commission, anyway.
-- end of my diatribe --
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