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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me :
I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats.
I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality,
and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm
an idealist? I did, OK.)
I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with
practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand
with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
I'm Still Wrong About Bush
Damn! Who could've guessed that I'd still be wrong about George Bush!?
Here's the thing. I remember so well that night two years ago, when Bush stood up and delivered his Pre-Invasion Address 2003. I remember it like it was yesterday. He stood up resolutely and he said:
NO! None of that matters! Not when it's measured against our ideals! Dammit, didn't you hear the man? He said it was about Democracy, damn it! We're spreading democracy!
But I was so wrong about Bush! See, when I heard him speaking in January 2003, I only thought I heard him say a lot about Weapons of Mass Destruction! I thought I heard him link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaida. I thought I heard him say
(Now, I thought that was a crock of shit back then, and I was also 100% wrong about that, but that's a different story. I guess I just wasn't watching the right TV station for the State of the Union address, because I didn't hear Bush say anything about delivering Democracy to the Iraqis. But I suppose I'm one of those people who think that brown people can't run their own country, so maybe I wouldn't have heard it even if I'd tried.)
But just a few days ago, I found out what my problem is.
You see, my Memory Hole was clogged up. It seems I wasn't forgetting all the stupid things I was supposed to be forgetting. But now that we figured that out, everything's better, and boy am I sorry about all the shit I was spreading about George W. Bush. Now, repeat after me:
It was about Delivering Democracy. It was always about Delivering Democracy. There are no Weapons of Mass Destruction. There never were any Weapons of Mass Destruction. Bush never said anything about Weapons of Mass Destruction.
If you thought Bush told us we needed to invade Iraq as a matter of defending ourselves against terrorists armed with Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction, please do as I have done, and report to your nearest Memory Hole Cleaning Center (there are convenient kiosks in your local mall or Wal-Mart).
0 comments
Damn! Who could've guessed that I'd still be wrong about George Bush!?
Here's the thing. I remember so well that night two years ago, when Bush stood up and delivered his Pre-Invasion Address 2003. I remember it like it was yesterday. He stood up resolutely and he said:
"...We will invade Iraq in order to remove a tyrant from power over his people, and then, instead of installing an American puppet regime, we will hold elections so that the Iraqi people can participate in their own government."And so now, with the Iraqi vote behind us, does it really matter that the candidates in the election were anonymous? That whole swathes of the population were excluded from voting? That we have now spent 150 billion dollars (and counting) and 1,400 American servicemembers (and counting)? Does it matter that nobody seems to have any clue to getting out of Iraq?
NO! None of that matters! Not when it's measured against our ideals! Dammit, didn't you hear the man? He said it was about Democracy, damn it! We're spreading democracy!
But I was so wrong about Bush! See, when I heard him speaking in January 2003, I only thought I heard him say a lot about Weapons of Mass Destruction! I thought I heard him link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaida. I thought I heard him say
"Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."Invading Iraq was necessary to protect ourselves against terrorists! That's what I thought I heard him say in 2003.
(Now, I thought that was a crock of shit back then, and I was also 100% wrong about that, but that's a different story. I guess I just wasn't watching the right TV station for the State of the Union address, because I didn't hear Bush say anything about delivering Democracy to the Iraqis. But I suppose I'm one of those people who think that brown people can't run their own country, so maybe I wouldn't have heard it even if I'd tried.)
But just a few days ago, I found out what my problem is.
You see, my Memory Hole was clogged up. It seems I wasn't forgetting all the stupid things I was supposed to be forgetting. But now that we figured that out, everything's better, and boy am I sorry about all the shit I was spreading about George W. Bush. Now, repeat after me:
It was about Delivering Democracy. It was always about Delivering Democracy. There are no Weapons of Mass Destruction. There never were any Weapons of Mass Destruction. Bush never said anything about Weapons of Mass Destruction.
If you thought Bush told us we needed to invade Iraq as a matter of defending ourselves against terrorists armed with Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction, please do as I have done, and report to your nearest Memory Hole Cleaning Center (there are convenient kiosks in your local mall or Wal-Mart).