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the spork
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Well goddamn!
i was flipping about my TV the other day and came across one of several commercials from the ONDCP (office of national drug control policy) implying (thanks to the obvious things we know about the Afghan Heroin phenomenon) that when you buy drugs you are helping terrorists
i'm not gonna call that statement untrue... for example, in Mexico, Central and South America the phrase coined to describe the large scale campaigns of public intimidation by the major drug lords "narcoterror"
Various communist insurgencies in Latin America were quashed in some cases by tenuous alliances of drug lords and governments with a little money and ordnance from Uncle Sam
interestingly enough one of the most vital figures in the land traffic end of the cocaine trade in the 80's was Manuel Noriega whose reign in Panama was financed with American money since he was so virulently anti-communist...but of course since at least the 1950's we made a habit of throwing money and/or weapons and/or training to ANYBODY and their dog who proclaimed themselves anti-communist
[bear with me, i'm getting to the point here...sporks aren't always known for their points...i'm working on it though]
It hasn't just been drug money that has been financing terrorists...if you are a US citizen who has ever paid taxes in the last 50+ years, whether you wanted to or not, you have supported terrorists
If you drive around in a big gas-guzzling SUV which only helps maintain Western dependence on Middle-Eastern oil, think about this:
do you really believe that everybody represented by groups like OPEC really like us just because they do business with us, do you think that some portion of the personal fortunes of some of the people in the oil industry doesn't end up in the hands of people who would do some really intense shit (like, say, ....for example...oh...crashing jetliners into skyscrapers) in order to make a point?
and just to connect the middle east and central america a little more tightly - although in this case it was a more interesting version of the old Triangle Trade than drugs...
I've got two words for ya: IRAN CONTRA *ahem*
i see Excursions and Escalades and Grand Cherokees and Yukon Denalis and all of these other rolling diosaurs whose efficiency is measured instead practically in gallons per mile on the road with american flags in their windows and i wonder if they even have a clue
Yes, everytime you buy gasoline, you could be supporting terrorists
so, yes, the purchase of certain drugs does benefit terrorists, i won't discourage the ONDCP from making that point...but i guess it isn't sexy enough to tell the whole truth that sometimes being a good taxpaying american consumer helps terrorists too
and don't even get me started on this ubiquitous display of über-patriotism that has been on display since 9/11
if Osama bin Laden really wanted to rake in the bucks he'd have somebody on every street corner selling american flags to the people who want to wave them vapidly in every wndow and to everybody out there who wants to burn one and then he could laugh his weird ass all the way to the bank
f i'm gonna give my props to anyone in the media lately it's the guys who write the promo spots for The Daily Show on Comedy Central
"Here at the Daily show we have:
MORE serious and important sounding music
MORE words that appear on the screen, get blurry and then disappear
and of course we have MORE flags to pander to your newfound sense of patriotism"
Hallelujah
and before anybody gets their tits in a twist, let me say that i believe it is my patriotic duty as an american to do or say what i think is in the best interest of my country...those people who attack critics of the regime du jour and say that people who disagree with the decisions that come out of DC should go live in Iran or Afghanistan or Iraq are actually the ones who would make this place like those places.
I'll disagree with Dubya and Herr Ashcroft all i want, i am a voter, a taxpayer and someone whose bloodline on this continent predates the Mayflower
i may disagree with what you say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it
Now can i get an amen. brothers and sisters?
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020226
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