"Bombs Over Baghdad"

This U.S. war sucks! I hate the talk I'm hearing from some people. Pretty much I'm isolated from the outside world, I don't follow the news or anything like that. But occasionally I hear these people all proud to be Americans for the WRONG reasons! Bastids... I'm tired of warmongers. If there was really some kind of justice, it would be you fawkin' jingoists that we would send to the frontlines. Argh! So, hopefully, despite the fact that most of the world despises the arrogant American administration, they will get rid of Saddam this time. Gosh - why didn't they just take care of things in Gulf War 1? Stupids.

We were talking about in one of my classes how the U.S. was one of the countries originally pushing for an International Criminal Court. Yet they, along with Israel, refuse to be consignatories to such a court. The administration (Bush, Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Perle(?)) all cite international law. They talk about fighting fair and clean on the one hand, yet on the other, they do not accept the laws that the U.S. helped develop. This war that everyone says is an illegal one, the U.S. tries to justify. They say that a preemptive strike is allowed because we are living in a "new world." WTF?? Why does the oligarchy get to define everything? And only to their terms? (How do you think the colonized felt? They had a "new world" imposed upon them. >:-( ) This country also redefines how we can treat detainees, even including some amounts of torture. (Those Afghans in Guantanamo Bay are detainees, by the way, as opposed to POWs, which would mean the Geneva Convention could be applied to them).

Also in this class of mine, which is lectured by a professor well-known for his expertise on Islam and the like (he's an Italian-American from Brooklyn), we discussed the notion of "just war." The professor said that most mainstream religious leaders in this country say this war is not just. But if you take a poll of Americans, many will choose nationalism over their religious leaders.

I dunno... I think it would serve the U.S. right if the Middle East, which possesses about three-quarters of the world's known oil reserves, busted out the oil weapon, a là the 1973 Oil Embargo. Too bad all these governments the world over are tainted with corrupt leadership. My mom was complaining to me last night about her job; about a couple of her co-workers, specifically. She was tellin' me how some people act when they're at a certain level. That is, when they have higher ranks, like title of manager or superviser. They get these attitudes. They act like their position gives them the right to certain privileges and to disrespect people, and double standards and what-have-you. And I was thinkin' how this is at such a micro level. Imagine what goes through the minds of leaders of nations with all the power they wield. What potential differences they could make in people's lives in positive ways! Yet people get greedy and selfish and only work to benefit themselves and their friends and family. Just makes you sick. I guess a lot of it centers on part of a verse cited in the Bible: "For the love of money is the root of all evils..." (1 Timothy 1:6). Sad, but true, right?

And while I was looking for the exact location of this verse, I saw another that kinda made me shiver. Though we don't know exactly when this world will end, check this out: "But understand this: there will be terrifying times in the last days. People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, as they make a pretense of religion but deny its power. Reject them." (2 Timothy 3:1-5). I dunno... but I think that last verse of using religion as a pretense may be applicable to the likes of Bush and bin Laden and Saddam... :-/ But actually, many believe that Bush truly believes in what he says.

Ugh, I hate this crap... I once asked a professor of mine why is it that the U.S. supports Israel so much (it's only the size of Jersey or Vermont, with about 5-6 million friggin' people) versus 22 Arab countries. My teacher didn't have an exact answer, but he said other people have asked the same thing. Hmm... I wonder if I could do a research paper on it. I wasn't gonna do a thesis... But would this be a feasible topic? I mean, I don't plan to graduate this semester, although I ought to be done with all my coursework come May, so, I've still got time. I was gonna take the comprehensive exam (or "comps," as we call it). But since I don't think I'm ready for it, I'm delaying my taking it... And starting with my incoming class, the thesis option became available in lieu of the comps. That's something for me to think about...