Sunday, September 10, 2006

My country, right or wrong

Cheney speaks:
Vice President Cheney offered a veiled attack yesterday on critics of the administration's Iraq policy, saying the domestic debate over the war is emboldening adversaries who believe they can undermine the resolve of the American people.
This is the second member of this administration in the past couple of weeks who has made it clear that he does not tolerate debate in this country, as Rumsfeld made the same statements during a speech in Colorado last week, which were condemned in brilliant, incisive commentary by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC:



This kind of no dissent speech coming from this administration is rather frightening, given the fact that we don't know the extent to which the NSA is spying on people and the fact that no Supreme Court decision seems to stop these people from doing whatever the hell they want. The infallibility perception of this country is astounding. History repeats itself because of human nature, because greed and power are lusted after time and time again, because our all too short existence means humans believe "it won't happen to me." Who does it happen to, then? Do you fools who blindly support this administration honestly believe that Germans in the thirties were evil, stupid people? Supressing dissent is the behavior of fascists and dictators.

A timeless classic from Midnight Oil, My Country, sums it all up:

was it just a dream, were you so confused
was it just a giant leap of logic
was it the time of year, that makes a state of fear
methods, were their motives for the action

and did i hear you say
my country right or wrong

did you save your face
did you breach your faith
women, there were children at the shelter
now who can stop the hail
when human senses fail
there was never any warning, no escape

did i hear you say
my country right or wrong
my country oh so strong
my country going wrong
my country right or wrong

i hear you say the truth must take a beating
the flag a camouflage for your deceiving
i know we all make mistakes

Cross-posted at Rox Politix

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