Katrina, Iraq, & Bush: How much worse can it get?
Bush now wants to nominate Roberts to be Chief Justice? Gimme a break from this craziness already!!! I can't take it anymore! Bush's fascist ways have just exploded all over!
I'm really shocked with the aftermath of Katrina. Never have I ever seen discussions of race and class and poverty injected into the mainstream discourse and media in such a way as it has since the storm hit the South. I am amazed. My partner's aunt, who is very OTL (out to lunch) and a bible thumper lives in Houston and has been volunteering at the Astrodome. She does not get shit, but even she is calling for regime change at home and for bringing the troops home from Iraq. That's astonishing to me. If she can get this, and trust me she's a good person but dumb as rocks when it comes to her analysis of anything cos she can't see past her bible, then I wonder if the veil that has been covering so many American's eyes is also lifting. I can't see how it could not. What do folks think?
I am a bit concerned though that the tragedy known as Katrina will be used as an excuse to bring the troops home from Iraq. Don't get me wrong. I am not about the occupation at all and never supported the invasion or war. And I do think that having more troops here and using them efficiently could have helped spared some of the castrophe that has occured in the South post-hurricane. However, I think a complete withdrawl from Iraq would be devastating to the country and people there.
Why do I think this? Well, Iraq in some ways is just like the Philippines. After the Spanish American War, the U.S. engaged the Philippines in the Philippine-American war where the U.S. took over the country and occupied it as a territory in the early 1900s. The U.S. helped build up infrastructure in the PI and was set to give the PI it's own soverignty in the 1940s, but then WWII hit and the PI was invaded this time by the Japanese. After WWII was over, the U.S. should have stuck around with the PI to help rebuild after the Japanese decimated the country. However, the U.S. just up and left, and the PI never really recovered.
It took about 40 years to get the PI running after the U.S. occupied it in the early 1900s. After starting the war in 2003, I cannot see how the U.S. could just up and leave Iraq after two years when it took so long to get a war torn PI up and running. It's a mess there in Iraq. And not that the people there are incapable of taking care of themselves or handling their shit, but I don't see them as having enough of the resources to do it themselves. And if the U.S. were to completely withdrawl, I'm worried about how/if Iraq would collapse and how further devastating the conditions could get there. It's all just such a bloody mess--both in the South and Iraq. There needs to be real aid and capacity building in both places and not just the continued fuck ups that our government and administration are perpetuating.
I'm really shocked with the aftermath of Katrina. Never have I ever seen discussions of race and class and poverty injected into the mainstream discourse and media in such a way as it has since the storm hit the South. I am amazed. My partner's aunt, who is very OTL (out to lunch) and a bible thumper lives in Houston and has been volunteering at the Astrodome. She does not get shit, but even she is calling for regime change at home and for bringing the troops home from Iraq. That's astonishing to me. If she can get this, and trust me she's a good person but dumb as rocks when it comes to her analysis of anything cos she can't see past her bible, then I wonder if the veil that has been covering so many American's eyes is also lifting. I can't see how it could not. What do folks think?
I am a bit concerned though that the tragedy known as Katrina will be used as an excuse to bring the troops home from Iraq. Don't get me wrong. I am not about the occupation at all and never supported the invasion or war. And I do think that having more troops here and using them efficiently could have helped spared some of the castrophe that has occured in the South post-hurricane. However, I think a complete withdrawl from Iraq would be devastating to the country and people there.
Why do I think this? Well, Iraq in some ways is just like the Philippines. After the Spanish American War, the U.S. engaged the Philippines in the Philippine-American war where the U.S. took over the country and occupied it as a territory in the early 1900s. The U.S. helped build up infrastructure in the PI and was set to give the PI it's own soverignty in the 1940s, but then WWII hit and the PI was invaded this time by the Japanese. After WWII was over, the U.S. should have stuck around with the PI to help rebuild after the Japanese decimated the country. However, the U.S. just up and left, and the PI never really recovered.
It took about 40 years to get the PI running after the U.S. occupied it in the early 1900s. After starting the war in 2003, I cannot see how the U.S. could just up and leave Iraq after two years when it took so long to get a war torn PI up and running. It's a mess there in Iraq. And not that the people there are incapable of taking care of themselves or handling their shit, but I don't see them as having enough of the resources to do it themselves. And if the U.S. were to completely withdrawl, I'm worried about how/if Iraq would collapse and how further devastating the conditions could get there. It's all just such a bloody mess--both in the South and Iraq. There needs to be real aid and capacity building in both places and not just the continued fuck ups that our government and administration are perpetuating.