www.gadgetguy.de The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys

Greg Palast rants on the state of fear issue:

“So, Osama Walks into This Bar, See? and Bush says, “Whad’l’ya have, pardner?” and Osama says, “Well, George, what are you serving today?” and Bush says, “Fear,” and Osama shouts, “Fear for everybody!” and George pours it on for the crowd. Then the presidential bartender says, “Hey, who’s buying?” and Osama points a thumb at the crowd sucking down their brew. “They are,” he says. And the two of them share a quiet laugh.”

Go read the full article to see how he gets to that punch line.

Joel Stein says he doesn’t support the troops. For an american, that’s a bold statement.

“And I’ve got no problem with other people — the ones who were for the Iraq war — supporting the troops. If you think invading Iraq was a good idea, then by all means, support away. Load up on those patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets the Chinese are making money off of.

But I’m not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken — and they’re wussy by definition. It’s as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn’t to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward.

Blindly lending support to our soldiers, I fear, will keep them overseas longer by giving soft acquiescence to the hawks who sent them there — and who might one day want to send them somewhere else. Trust me, a guy who thought 50.7% was a mandate isn’t going to pick up on the subtleties of a parade for just service in an unjust war. He’s going to be looking for funnel cake.”

About time somebody put it this way. I have been puzzled why a country that was once labelled “the land of the free” is ok with calling everybody who doesn’t think going to Iraq was a good idea “not a patriot”.

Oh, and to the commenter who was brave enough to attack me on this but needed to hide behind an anonymous email address: yes, of course I know that everyone is still free to say what he thinks in the US. That’s why the guy with the ‘SuicideBomber’ T-Shirt had so much fun on board of that airplane, and why a politician who’d say that he doesn’t support the troops had a real chance of being elected. Yeah, right.

Now things are getting completely out of hand: Today a former german defense minister said we’d need to think about getting nuclear weapons for germany because terrorists might get access to them as well.

It must be the unusually cold weather….