Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Cracking down
The Islamic Republic is cracking down on liberals in its universities. Once again, Islam devours its intellectuals.
Meanwhile, the United States is reinvigorating its campaign to stop Iran from moving money around beyond the gaze of our pryin' eyes.
17 Comments:
By 
Lanky_Bastard, at
Wed Sep 06, 01:27:00 AM:
College faculties: irking the hell out of conservative authoritarians the world over.
By RonB, at
Wed Sep 06, 05:10:00 AM:
That's what I was gonna say, LB; maybe David Horowitz can pick up a few pointers from him.
By The Mechanical Eye, at
Wed Sep 06, 05:16:00 AM:
You are correct, Lucky_Bastard. Conversatives from Califoria to Iran act quite the same.
But whatever you can say about the "evils" of George W. Bush's AmeriKKKa, one cannot say that you'll end up being on the wrong end of a "show trial" where you will be summarily humiliated, beaten, and possibily killed for your political beliefs. Nor will you be reduced to both non-personhood and likely death by the ruling government for your non-establishment beliefs.
But hey. So long as you're fighting The Right, Dude. Fuck Da Police, maaan!
DU
By cakreiz, at
Wed Sep 06, 06:33:00 AM:
Siruis, I hope your friend is alright. While we glibly mock Horowitz, Bush, et al, it's easy to lose sight of the reality of the dire consequences greeting those exercising the most basic intellectual freedoms. Comparing Ahmadinejad's Iran to Bush's US in this realm is beyond the pale.
By RonB, at
Wed Sep 06, 07:11:00 AM:
"While we glibly mock Horowitz, Bush, et al, it's easy to lose sight of the reality of the dire consequences greeting those exercising the most basic intellectual freedoms. "
What does this mean? Lose sight of the reality? As it has been and as it will be for the foreseeable future?
Neoconservatives. More liberal than liberals and will bomb you to show you how much they care.
By RonB, at
Wed Sep 06, 08:48:00 AM:
Could you be a lttle less oblique, sirius? Don't worry, I got it.
When did any of you start caring about Iranians? I suppose that's not fair, since Im sure all of you have your individual concerns. But still, there's suffering all over the world. Iran's government is repressive and no damn good, but I find this sudden care for the freedom of people by neoconservatives rather bemusing, since the political movements they support usually do nothing but dictate policy to the rest of the world and have no problem bloodying a nation for a FP goal. You wring your hands over intellectual repression in another country and the look the other way when we blow someone's home up from 25,000 feet in the air, or incinerate children with incendiary bombs. Love it.
You want to care about someone, care about the Iraqis, or the Lebanese. They lost more than their satellite dish recently. And yes, I am for pulling out of Iraq, and no, that doesn't mean I don't care about the Iraqis. Just so we can skip the "why do lefties want to leave Iraq if they want to help them?" BS. And we can also skip the "ooh, did I hit a nerve?" Yes, you did. Your dull claim to moral certainty gets on my tits.
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed Sep 06, 09:12:00 AM:
Hey RonB: lighten up Frances. You don't have a monopoly on morality, only an opinion. Pulling out of Iraq would be deeply immoral. Liberating 22mm Iraqis and 20mm Afghans from Saddam and the Taliban, respectively, is most definitely a moral act. It so happens that it also intersects with our strategic interests in the Middle East, which is why we act there and don't act in Darfur. It is at the intersection of moral and strategic interests that the US has always acted, and should always act. Typically, one can then debate how important something is strategically, or the tactics used to achieve your goals, but on the moral point, it really shouldn't be so confusing.
By Sissy Willis, at
Wed Sep 06, 05:25:00 PM:
If only we could crack down on liberals in our own universities. :)
By Sissy Willis, at
Wed Sep 06, 05:25:00 PM:
If only we could crack down on liberals in our own universities. :)
By K. Pablo, at
Wed Sep 06, 11:51:00 PM:
Hey RonB: lighten up Frances.
Haha, Sgt. Hulka in the hizzy!
By Gary Rosen, at
Thu Sep 07, 01:47:00 AM:
RonB:
When did you start caring about Iraqis? Apparently not when Saddam was butchering hundreds of thousands of them.
By RonB, at
Thu Sep 07, 07:09:00 PM:
Gary, I started caring when we started causing the suffering. I started caring when they sent tens of thousands of troops(like myself) over there, some to never come back, some to be maimed for life, for no good reason at all.
Answer your question?
By RonB, at
Thu Sep 07, 07:12:00 PM:
Sirius, as I have said before, we should never have gone in the first place and our presence is resented and probably making things worse. Leaving is the best of a host of horrid choices. I don't see the point of any more American soldiers dying for lies that George Bush told.
By RonB, at
Thu Sep 07, 07:22:00 PM:
Cardinal Park, you're too stupid to debate with if you can still recite the liberation of Iraqis and Afghans numbers with a straight face. Thanks for playing.
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Sep 08, 02:39:00 PM:
Hey Ronb, what outfit are you with? You sound seriously out of tune with most troops I know.
And just because you can't understand the reasons doesn't mean that they aren't good ones. You might want to rethink using intellectual insults as part of your 'debating' tactics...
By RonB, at
Sat Sep 09, 01:17:00 AM:
Most of the troops I talk to are quite in-line with how I feel. Why, you in the service, Dawnfire?
Dont get it twisted, I understand the 'reasons' well enough, I just dont think they pass the smell test.
I only call people idiots when they cant do anything more than repeat veeery stale talking points.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sat Sep 09, 05:36:00 PM:
Yep, active duty Army intelligence. Of all the troops I know, including Marines, sailors, and airmen, (almost all of whom are in signals and/or human intel of varying shades and types) I know of two sergeants in counterintelligence and high level analysis who opposes the President on domestic political grounds, (not foreign policy, and yes they've served in Iraq, one also in the Phillipines) and another Specialist in Psy Ops who is iffy and a bit gullible. (I've had to demolish two idiotic radical conspiracy theories he's presented me with in the last six or eight months. To his credit, he pays attention.) Three, out of well over a hundred.
If you're not in the Army or Marines, I'd recommend against saying things like "sent tens of thousands of troops(like myself) over there." It's misleading.
Also, please don't treat us like victims. i.e. the poor troops sent over to bleed and die for George Bush's oil. We're a volunteer force and we've all had ample time to evacuate if we didn't want to actually have to fight. It's been what, almost 4 years now since war was being seriously considered? And did you know that re-enlistment rates are at an all time high? We are, as a group, most upset with the lies and misrepresentations in the media and the panicky abandonment scenarios contemplated by the likes of John Murtha, not with getting shot at.
