chicagotribune.com — In a new afterword to his memoir, 1960s radical William Ayers describes himself as a "family friend" of President-elect Barack Obama and writes that the campaign controversy over their relationship was an effort by Obama's political enemies to "deepen a dishonest narrative" about the candidate.
Nov 13, 2008 View in Crawl 4
ozel01Nov 14, 2008
No dear, I do not for one second believe that ST believes that. When I addressed what sanctions against Iraq had accomplished in terms of causing the death of over half a million children, ST tried to argue we installed Saddam. Then he tried to argue we caused more death and destruction in the war than the sanctions did. That is arguable. And the point of that argument apparently is that we should have left Saddam in place, still under sanctions, hoping that he wouoldn't somehow devise ways to hit us and hit us hard. In the process Iraq lose how many more children? At that rate, probably well over 1,000,000. My point is sanctions don't do anything to dictators. Let me see, we found $660 million in cash, in boxes stashed in a dog kennel behind one of his homes. Yep, sanctions were causing some serious problems for Saddam. He couldn't find adequate space to store all of his spare cash so he just threw it in a dog kennel. Yes, I know he withdrew it from the bank a few days before the invasion. I just couldn't resist that one. The point is, the sanctions did nothing to change anything in Iraq. If they accomplished anything it made them more determined to do whatever it took to get out from under the sanctions through befriending nations like France and Russia with sweetheart oil for food deals to get them thrown off. Back to bin-Laden. We did install him. It can arguably be said bin-Laden's turn on the USA was a direct result of our turn against him after Russia was expelled from Afghanistan. And I can point to more US meddling. The US installed the Shah of Iran who was overthrown in the late 1970's while Carter was in office. Carter chose to do nothing about it. Now we have the Iran Carter left us. Again, what should we do about it? Impose sanctions that will kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions, from starvation? I saw a story the other day from a leading Mulsim cleric in Egypt. He supported McCain for the presidency. FTA: "In a fatwa published on the eve of the U.S. elections, Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi expressed his preference for Sen. John McCain as president: "Personally, I would prefer for the Republican candidate, [John] McCain, to be elected. This is because I prefer the obvious enemy who does not hypocritically [conceal] his hostility toward you... to the enemy who wears a mask [of friendliness]." Al-Qaradhawi added: "Whoever thinks that the Democrats are less hostile to [the Arabs] than the Republicans should know that the number of Iraqis killed during the siege [of Iraq] by the Democrat Bill Clinton is twice as high as the number of [Iraqis] killed by the Republican [George] Bush."This is a perception in the Muslim world, not ours and not mine. So, our enemies view sanctions as more deadly than war. Isn't that rather intriguing?
anomaly100Nov 14, 2008
I'm glad they were bad at their appointed tasks. They didn't do too well if Obama is getting ready to be sworn in. .
johnnr2Nov 14, 2008
FTA:"I never actually said that I 'set bombs,' nor that I wished there were 'more bombs.' ... I killed no one, and I harmed no one, and I didn't regret for a minute resisting the murderous assault on Viet Nam with every ounce of my being."He was particularly disturbed by a newspaper headline published in 2001: "No regrets for a love of explosives.""That's neither my narrative nor my sentiment," Ayers wrote, "but the idea was seized upon by the neocon media machine: I was an unrepentent and violent terrorist."
ozel01Nov 15, 2008
Yes, we certainly need to continually examine what we have done, weed out what doesn't work or works counterproductively, and do things that do work. What upsets me with history, civics and soicial science books is all too often I see much misrepresentation in what has happened. For instance, rather than acknowledging that Reagan's "Peace Through Strength" motto, and his military buildup bankrupting the Soviet Union brought an end to the Cold War, many simply dedicate a paragraph or two on Reagan and then a couple of pages on how Gorbechav implemented Glastnost and Peristroika, that resulted in the end of the Cold War. It leaves the impression of something along the lines of Yes, Reagan was a President in the 1980's. But, Gorbechav really ended the Soviet Union on his own without the US doing anything. So, what is the purpose of giving more and grander exposure to Gorbechav than Reagan? Especially when the exposure is used to shine a brighter light on Gorbechav than Reagan. My former step-daughter brought home a worksheet from school one time that was dealing with the Constitution. This worksheet came from the course material, it was not generated by the teacher. I forget the exact verbage of the question now as it was several years ago. I read the thing and knew they were referring to the first amendment. The manner in which they asked the question begged of negativity toward the guarantee of freedom of religion. So, the teaching has taken a negative tone toward that part of the first amendment. When will it turn completely against it? It is all the slow motion destruction of the conscience of this country. The day is coming when we will no longer have a national conscience. At that time, we will be doomed of our own doing.
barriepegg1Nov 15, 2008
The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilization. I really don?t see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult bereft of reason and hostile to facts.The newspapers which recorded Obama?s victory have become valuable relics. You may buy Obama picture books and Obama calendars and if there isn?t yet a children?s picture version of his story, there soon will be. Proper books, recording his SORDID associates, his cowardly voting record, his astonishingly militant commitment to unrestricted abortion and his blundering trip to Africa, are little-read and hard to find.
barriepegg1Nov 15, 2008
The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilization. At least Mandela-worship – its nearest equivalent – is focused on a man who actually did something.I really don’t see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult bereft of reason and hostile to facts.The newspapers which recorded Obama’s victory have become valuable relics. You may buy Obama picture books and Obama calendars and if there isn’t yet a children’s picture version of his story, there soon will be. Proper books, recording his SORDID associates, his cowardly voting record, his astonishingly militant commitment to unrestricted abortion and his blundering trip to Africa, are little-read and hard to find.
dblock916Nov 17, 2008
"How does it feel to not be able to even have a real argument? You're not smart enough for that." You were the one mocking me and not putting up an argument. Looks like you're eating your own words. And how are you going to admit that you're a dick, then get sad and say "you can keep your empire of dirt?" Well, you can keep your empire of dick, dick.
Closed AccountNov 21, 2008
"By the by, I had to produce an ORIGINAL birth certificate in order to serve."Funny, I didn't.