Lally's Alley: AND NOT SO COMIC

Monday, November 19, 2007

AND NOT SO COMIC

Many friends have sent me either the text for this Keith Olberman editorial, or a link to various sites that feature it, so for those of you who haven't seen it: here it is.

5 comments:

Unknown said...: Keith should stick to sports. He is a little lite on intellect for serious subjects.

Pls see article under previous comments for a more adult and researched view of waterboarding.

It is:

On the Care and Feeding of Terrorists
By Paul Greenberg
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

It is under heading of "Either you get it or you don't."; November 19, 2007 at 3:05:00 PM EST
Unknown said...: Lal:

As you know, I'm a huge fan of Olberman, having posted a few of his rants on my blog. Thanks for the link to this one because I missed it, and it is one of his best, even for a guy who is "lite" on intellect (yeah, sure). I'm tempted to flame James' preceding comment but that would lead us into endless, narcissistic exchanges at the expense of your excellent blog.

So, I will make an observation that hit me hard while I was watching that clip, an observation that James may even endorse: It's somewhat of a miracle that: a) the original broadcast was public and emanated from a mainstream media source, and b) that we are able to watch it "on demand" on the Internet with no subsequent restraints. Of course, if things were the way Bush and his Orcs would like it, Keith would be releasing grainy tapes from some undisclosed location, lest he be arrested for fucking with the State.

Out...

Willy; November 19, 2007 at 8:00:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: They're talking about this topic in WNYC Radio right now...; November 20, 2007 at 12:13:00 PM EST
Unknown said...: Once you get past Oberman's "Bush derangement syndrome" rant, his charges are: Bush criminal conspiracy, myth of war on terror, phony secrets for phony war, illegal and ineffectual use of water boarding and that Bush administration is equal to the Japanese Military fanatics of the 1930's.
I believe the roots of the current Islamic War against the West or anything non Muslin goes back to the Qu'ran. I think you can make a case, that the modern resurgence actually started with Siran Siran in 1968 with the murder of RFK. It continued unrecognized in the West with : Lebanon bombing of marine barracks 1980 or so,1993 attack on World Trade Center, Kobar tower bombing of US military in Saudi Arabia (mid 1990's), USS Cole bombing 1999 in Yemen and of course 9/11. They have an ideology that is extremely powerful that boils down to Islam good everything else bad. There are approx 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. A rough estimate of fundamentalist Muslims are 10%. With a rough estimate of those Muslims open to holy war against the West at 1% , one can be begin to estimate the size of the problem.

The Constitution is some what vague on executive power. Oberman could reasonably argue that there have been excesses and reasonable people have done so. Criminal conspiracy is a stretch. Myth of war, phony secrets follow if you do not accept that we are engaged a war. Islam was spred by the power of the sword in the 600's until Charles Martel stopped its expansion in France in the early 700's. I suspect Keith would have a hard time accepting "W" as a modern day Charles Martel.

"Torture does not get people to talk". Reasonable people can disagree, but relatively recent experience with KSM and other high value prisoners would suggest otherwise.

"The Bush administration is equal to the Japanese military fanatics of the 1930". The Japanese attacked Korea, Mongolia and China in the 30's with little or no provocation. The Bushida(sp) culture encouraged the officers to practice their sword strokes on captives. That sword practice continued through and beyond Bataan. I do not believe Keith has accused Bush of promoting decapitation by sword yet. Bush went to war in Afghanistan with provocation that even most liberals agree with. Iraq is a different matter. Bill Clinton the UN, the UK and most others in authority believed that Sadam was attempting to get Nukes. In a recent airing of the debriefing of Sadam by FBI agent Piro, Sadam said he deliberately tried to maintain the myth that he had the weapons to better maintain power and respect in the region. Either way he planned on acquiring nukes within a year and would have if 9/11 had not happened. It is an unpleasant fact that the world runs on oil. Sadam armed with nukes in violation of agreements after the Gulf War was unacceptable in such a sensitive part of the world.; November 20, 2007 at 2:52:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: I wasn't aware of this, so thanks. And I agree it's amazing that it appears "a) the original broadcast was public and emanated from a mainstream media source, and b) that we are able to watch it "on demand" on the Internet with no subsequent restraints." according to your learned pal James.
HOWEVER....for most people, if it didn't subsequently appear on the cover of the NYT or the WP, it didn't happen.
Someone made a great comment about what happened in New Orleans on WBAI (sorry I can't remember who).

It's not that we don't have enough information or proof of the current administrations's crimes. It's abundant. It's in the public record.

It's that we have no leader, in the Democratic or Republican party, or elsewhere, in the Intl. community for instance, or a strong, effective and dedicated grass-roots movement, leading the charge to impeach and ultimately imprison these sons of bitches.

But I haven't given up yet.; November 20, 2007 at 4:11:00 PM EST