Who Needs Terrorists?

Who needs terrorists? We can scare the shit out of ourselves, thank you very much.

We have Bush's wet dream of an End Times scenario where he would like to usher in World War III before, according to him, the Persians, start some trouble in a few years.

We have Rudy Kazootie telling us that untold hoards of dark skinned demons are out to kill us all and we better elect him so he can incinerate them over the next eight years.

We have Michele Malkin, who prefers going house to house to threaten and scare the sneaky wretches who need assistance with exorbitant medical costs. How dare they!

We have the banks and credit card companies that make it easy to borrow and spend and allow people to obtain suspicious loans to buy houses only to discover to their horror that they are in over their heads and will lose everything and be indebted for forever.

Most people are afraid the country is going in the wrong direction. The Republican candidates only seem to care about a certain minority of people who are frightened by the secular world (and who, in turn, frighten the secular world). The Democratic candidates are scarily making no promises to end the Iraq occupation.

These are among the many reasons why foreign terrorist can just sit back and watch us scare the shit out of ourselves and each other. Thank you very much!

Comments

[MilwaukeeDan]

Richard, you are right, but I was never scared. I remember 9-11-2001, driving around that evening, all the gas stations had lines all the way out in the streets, and I remember thinking "where's one tank of gas going to get you, go f**king home and ask yourself, why did this happen". Of course, we went home and decided Iraq had something to do with it. I knew Bush was insane when he started saying he talks to god.

[PerryWhite]

Then there's that guy who says that the oceans will rise by 20 feet, devastating Florida and Manhattan, among other places.

[dotmafia]

You can't change the subject Troll... Your Dear Leader and your dead party are American Terrorists keeping the public in perpetual fear and paranoia, so don't bother to compare Gore with fearmongering. There is no comparison stooge.
_

[PerryWhite]

I see that the quality level of name calling hasn't increased since I was in high school.

[claytongrayum]

Bush is a terrorist- He is a dictator- He himself doesn't view the Executive Branch as a Co-Equal branch with Congress. Hes a dictator.

Gore on the otherhand is a private citizen that has the backing of the majority of Americans. He won the popular vote. Does that get under republican's skin? They awoke a sleeping Giant when they screwed Gore in the 2000 election- Now that he has a REAL Democratic body behind him, The U.N., he will be able to fight for lots of change that the world needs. Bush is a poser.

[jackbauer0396]

*Sigh*

Even Bill O'Reilly admitted last night that the environment "needed to be cleaned up" (while not acknowledging humans had an effect on the current state of the glove) and said that some people don't want it cleaned up, like coal and mining companies. My jaw dropped to the floor! Bill O'Reilly said something with a semblance of truth!!

[ljwaldron]

You hit the nail right on the head!

I find it laughable that one of his ditto heads from MSNBC, Tucker Carlson, insists the chicken hawk has no desire to attack Iran! Unbelievab­le...this is clearly a re-run of Iraq.

[ErrinF]

Scary true.

[Ilvfredum]

Freedom ain't FREE!

[jackbauer0396]

Freedom's not free... in fact, you can't buy it at all. Freedom is the price you pay to have a false sense of security. Freedom is the price of putting your own religious views (a cross between being able to quote the Bible and spewing crap about the free market, while shunning everything that your messiah actually taught (You think Jesus would veto S-CHIP??). Our freedom's already been sold, signed, sealed, and delivered too Haliburton. They've got the receipts to prove it.

The only freedom left in this world is the freedom for me to incessantly complain, but luckily we still have agencies like Cointelpro which will assure that this pesky freedom won't bother me anymore either.

[AdmNaismith]

So true. Actual events in the world are not nearly as scary as the ones W would have us believe in- or the events that would never have happened had W not made it possible.

[Yana7]

Who would have thought, 60 ml, and in a civilized western country!

[ApolloSpeaks]

When a constipated friend of mine learned of the president's speech it cured him of his problem.

[AmirBukfifti]

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

The Authoritarians are the fear mongers. This really speaks to your comment of the "minority of people who are frightened by the secular world (and who, in turn, frighten the secular world)". All the time I've been trying to wrap my head around what drives the "29%" (or whatever their real makeup of the overall American public they are) and Bob Altermeyer's research really discovers why these folks act the way they do and why they are so dangerous to American democracy.

Fear is what enabled Nazi Germany and fear is what is enabling what is happening with neo-conservative movement. Fear emboldens Authoritarians and disables the vast majority of those who could make real progress when they succumb to that fear.

In America, we really do only have nothing to fear but fear itself.

[mosh]

Capitalism thrives on fear. Just glance at the ad to your right - fear of imperfection, fear of not living up, fear of losing. Capitalism is based on fear (and, of course, therefore, selling products). So, yes, fear is easy to monger here, we do it all the time everyday, year after year. It is called the American way.

My only fear is that me thinks we are way too timid consumers to ever, ever think our way out of this.

Millions of animals everyday live in fear of us, so why not the rest of us?

[claytongrayum]

Word!-

[plainsman]

Reading this I was reminded of a passage from William Shirer's The Berlin Diary, where he recounts a conversation about "German ethics, honor and conduct:

For Germans a thing is right, ethical, honourable, if it squares with the tradition of what a German thinks a German should do; or if it advances the interests of Germanism or Germany. But the Germans have no abstract idea of ethics, or honour, or right conduct."

The way I see it, fear only works as a motivator or tranquilizer if it advances the interests of Americanism. The tradition of our country is not in line with our supposed or proclaimed values, but in line with whatever these interests may be. Unfortunately, these interests promote a central tradition of America: expansion. How sad that the 'value driven right has no abstract idea of ethics, honor, or right conduct.

[desmirl]

What's really scary, Richard, is that the folks on the far right think they are just doing the bidding of their favorite, personal deity. It doesn't matter--Christian, Jew, or Muslim--there are a lot of people who are trying to whip up a war they'll leave it to others to fight.

[sarahaw]

So, so true... glad to see I'm not the only one that sees this irony while others refuse to. Nice post, Richard, and thanks! Take care, S.A.W.

[darcy]

So true, Richard Belzer.

[DemandTruth]

A statement from John Edwards:

OUT OF IRAQ: I will end the war in Iraq – period. I believe we should begin withdrawing combat troops immediately and will ensure that we have withdrawn all troops within 10 months—leaving no permanent bases behind. I will end the outsourcing of military operations to unaccountable private contractors. And unlike other candidates, I will never equivocate about a potentially endless military involvement in Iraq.

To vote for him in the DFA poll, and put the full force of DFA's volunteers behind the ONLY candidate who cares about the poor and working poor of this country, go to:
http://www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/VoteEdwards

I'm just sayin'

[mosh]

"But I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war (WWII) might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened instead is that it was been taken over by means of the sleaziest low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d'etat imaginable­." Right in front of our very tired eyes. May we rest in peace and leave the planet to its own more civilized devices.

[nammy50]

Mosh: Like my Dad you are one of the guys I admire. My Dad fought in WWII- Europe and Pacific. In the 60's he demonstrated against the Vietnam War with me, his teenage son at his side.

I know quite reasonable people who voted for Bush in 2000. The ones who voted for Gore in 2000 then voted for Bush in 2004 are the ones that baffle me. Was there something in the water?

We fought against the big lie in WWII but now we are living it.

[darcy]

DemandTruth, thanks for the link. I cast my vote for John. I was amazed to see he's #1 in the poll. Where is the press getting this crap about HC being the frontrunner?

[Pdubya]

he says good things and i agree with his statement about the war and the poor. however, he did not get wealthy defending the poor, but by using the entitlement tax dollars we all pay to enrich himself on wall street.

He's against GUNS....go­od!

He will give us BUTTER....­bad!

Both are subsidized corporate welfarism and both are inherently corrupt and will bankcrupt us.

blue dog dem for ron paul

[gardengoddess]

Ron Paul wants to repeal the Social Security Act and ban ALL abortions.

RON PAUL WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!