Posted on 03/10/2003 8:25:59 AM PST by Mia T
Hamilton (or Madison) discussed the importance of wisdom and virtue in Federalist 57. "The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust."
(Contrast this with clinton, who recklessly, reflexively and feloniously subordinates the common good to his personal appetites.)
Because the Framers did not anticipate the demagogic efficiency of the electronic bully pulpit, they ruled out the possibility of an MTV mis-leader (and impeachment-thwarter!) like clinton. In Federalist No. 64, John Jay said: "There is reason to presume" the president would fall only to those "who have become the most distinguished by their abilities and virtue." He imagined that the electorate would not "be deceived by those brilliant appearances of genius and patriotism which, like transient meteors, sometimes mislead as well as dazzle."
Will Rogers
Theodore Roosevelt
Bertrand Russel
If the clinton debacle teaches us anything, it is this:
or a clinton-wannado as 'star'...
YOU & THE REST OF THE HAREBRAINED HOLLYWOOD WALLETS
THE PROXIMATE CAUSE OF 9/11
then why can't it get us out?
consists in being wise in time.
in fact, they do so.
By editing out clinton's culpability for 9/11, Hollywood edits out its own culpability for 9/11
Columbia Pictures' "Black Hawk Down," the holiday action adventure movie about the 1993 Somalia debacle that cost 18 U.S. soldiers their lives, was set to explicity blame ex-President Clinton for the 9/11 terrorist attacks before the film's director and producers decided to soft-peddle the connection.
In mid-November, before the decision to tone down the Clinton angle, the film was previewed for a handful journalists.
Before its final edit "Black Hawk's" closing crawl highlighted a series of events following the Somalia mission, including Clinton's humiliating troop withdrawal from the country, the humanitarian disasters in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo and, finally, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
"With what happened in Mogadishu, with the way that all came down, you end up with the terrorism we see today," the film's producer Joe Roth told the New York Times on Wednesday. "It's so obvious now, eight years later."
Roth said his partner Jerry Bruckheimer and "Black Hawk's" director Ridley Scott agreed with him that "we would be remiss in not making this connection to the general audience."
But ultimately the filmakers, along with Mark Bowden, author of the best-selling book upon which the movie is based, decided that blaming Clinton explicitly would be "unnecessary and too distracting."'
Q ERTY6 REALITY CHECK!
As Riefenstahl told it, editing-to-perfection was crucial....By editing out a shot of Hitler wiping his nose and including instead "more interesting expressions," by eliminating the human, Riefenstahl eliminated the inhuman.
Film Noir in the White House
"Read my future." - "You haven't got any."
--Exchange in Touch of Evil between Orson Welles and Marlene Dietrich (as a gypsy fortune teller)
Leni Riefenstahl, the film genius who outmaneuvered propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels to chronicle Hitler's 1934 Nuremberg rallies in perhaps the most notorious documentary ever filmed, Triumph of the Will, symbolizes the naïve actress and director who is induced to deal with devils -- NAZI-pantalooned then, NAZI-pantless--and pantsuited--now . . .
After the war, Riefenstahl excused her effort as pure documentary -- watch for Streisand, Spielberg, Geffen et al. to do the same one day -- yet she compiled one section, Hitler's motorcade to Munich, from several different events and shot the closeups of Nazi leaders at the podium in a staged studio sequence.
As Riefenstahl told it, editing-to-perfection was crucial. She insisted that the finished quality of Triumph of Will came from her editing, not from any imposition of "posed shots" or choreography on her part. With her innovative editing techniques, Riefenstahl deliberately and selectively aestheticized Hitler and the Congress' proceedings. By editing out a shot of Hitler wiping his nose and including instead "more interesting expressions," by eliminating the human, Riefenstahl eliminated the inhuman.
The only difference today, in this era of ubiquitous cameras, continuous news and the shameless auteur-tyrant, is that the useful-idiot Washington Press Corps, spun by and on the Hollywood-Arkansas Axis, edits out the clintons' inhumanity -- and ineptitude -- in real time. . .
Dead Hero's Father Tears into Clinton
It was the moment President Bill Clinton wanted to restore his tattered
He had just presented posthumous Congressional Medals of Honour, America's
To his astonishment the handshake was declined. ''You are not fit to be
The president reeled and the unprecedented onslaught continued for some
Shughart and his colleague, both sergeants, were killed trying to rescue
Although the president has tried to escape the blame, he is largely credited
''The medal doesn't help anything, other than that we are grateful that
by Mia T
by Mia T
LENGTH: 486 words
HEADLINE: Dead hero's father tears into Clinton
BYLINE: James Adams
reputation with the military before his departure for the D-Day celebrations
in Europe this week, James Adams reports.
highest military decoration, to the widows of two soldiers for valour in
Somalia. After inviting the families for a moment of quiet reflection in the
Oval Office, the president approached Herbert Shughart, the father of one of
the two soldiers, and offered his hand.
president of the United States,'' said Shughart Senior. ''The blame for my
son' s death rests with the White House and with you. You are not fit to
command.''
minutes. According to witnesses it was a ''highly charged emotional moment''
which resulted in Clinton trying to explain to Shughart,Sr. why the events
of that day last October were not his fault.
fellow rangers from a vicious fire-fight in which 18 died and 75 were
wounded. A later Pentagon investigation revealed that the troops had been
refused the ri ght equipment and there was no political or military plan to
justify the Americ an presence in Somalia.
with the failure of the whole American effort to bring peace to Somalia.
According to witnesses to the Oval Office scene, the Shughart family
remained unconvinced by the president's arguments.
Randy will be remembered in such an honourable way,'' said Lois Shughart,
the soldier's mother.
Had George Will written Sleaze, the sequel (the "sequel" is, of course, hillary) after 9-11-01, I suspect that he would have had to forgo the above conceit, as the doubt expressed in the setup phrase was, from that day forward, no longer operational.
Indeed, assessing the clinton presidency an abject failure is not inconsistent with commentary coming from the left, most recently the LA Times: "Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastasize."
When the clintons left office, I predicted that the country would eventually learn--sadly, the hard way--that this depraved, self-absorbed and inept pair had placed America (and the world) in mortal danger. But I was thinking years, not months.
It is very significant that hillary clinton didn't deny clinton culpability for the terrorism. (Meet the Press, 12-09-01), notwithstanding tired tactics (if you can't pass the buck, spread the blame) and chronic "KnowNothing Victim Clinton" self-exclusion.
If leftist pandering keeps the disenfranchized down in perpetuity, clinton pandering,("it's the economy, stupid"), kept the middle and upper classes wilfully ignorant for eight years.
And ironically, both results (leftist social policy and the clinton economy) are equally illusory, fraudulent. It is becoming increasingly clear that clinton covertly cooked the books even as he assiduously avoided essential actions that would have negatively impacted the economy--the ultimate source of his continued power--actions like, say, going after the terrorists.
It is critically important that hillary clinton fail in her grasp for power; read Peggy Noonan's little book, 'The Case Against Hillary Clinton' and Barbara Olson's two books; it is critical that the West de-clintonize, but that will be automatic once it is understood that the clintons risked civilization itself in order to gain and retain power.
It shouldn't take books, however, to see that a leader is a dangerous, self-absorbed sicko. People should be able to figure that out for themselves. The electorate must be taught to think, to reason. It must be able to spot spin, especially in this age of the electronic demagogue.
I am not hopeful. As Bertrand Russell noted, "Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. "
*George Will continues: There is reason to believe that he is a rapist ("You better get some ice on that," Juanita Broaddrick says he told her concerning her bit lip), and that he bombed a country to distract attention from legal difficulties arising from his glandular life, and that. ... Furthermore, the bargain that he and his wife call a marriage refutes the axiom that opposites attract. Rather, she, as much as he, perhaps even more so, incarnates Clintonism
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Here's a simple quiz. Who said the following: "What if (Saddam) fails to comply and we fail to act, or we take some ambiguous third route which gives him yet more opportunities to develop this programme of weapons of mass destruction? . . . Well, he will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction. And some day, some way, I guarantee you he'll use the arsenal."
Full marks if you guessed Bill Clinton. It was 1998. But I wonder how many of you did. To read the papers, to watch the "anti-war" protesters, to listen to the BBC, you'd easily imagine that out of the blue a belligerent and new American administration had torn up the rule book and started a new foreign policy unconnected to the old one...
Clinton was a master of the European dialogue. He meant very few things he said but he said them very well. He was a great schmoozer. When he compared the Serbian genocide to the Holocaust, it sounded earnest but nobody, least of all the Bosnians, believed he meant it.
And he didn't. If he had, he wouldn't have allowed 250,000 to be murdered in Europe while he delegated American foreign policy to the morally feckless and militarily useless European Union. Ditto with Iraq and Al-Qaeda. A few missiles; some sanctions that starved millions but kept Saddam in power; and a big rhetorical game kept up the pretence of seriousness. But there was no attempt to match words with actions.
Bush's style couldn't be more different. He's blunt, straightforward, folksy, direct. Although his formal speeches have been as eloquent as any president's in modern times, his informal discourse makes a European wince. And his early distancing from many of Clinton's policies, his assertion of American sovereignty in critical matters, undoubtedly ruffled some Euro lapels. In retrospect, he could have been more politic...
Some have argued that Bush hasn't spent enough time schmoozing foreign leaders or reaching out to the broader global public like Clinton did. But Clinton never had to face the kind of tough decisions Bush has been presented with. It's easy to enjoy sweet relations with allies when no tough issues actually emerge.
In any case, Bush has spent many hours cultivating world leaders. Otherwise, how do you explain his remarkable relationship with Tony Blair, an ideological and personal opposite? Or the hours Bush spent bringing Putin around on Nato expansion and the end of the ABM treaty? Or the relationship with Pakistan's President Musharraf, which last week delivered the biggest victory against Al-Qaeda since the liberation of Afghanistan? And last December's 15-0 UN resolution against Saddam was a huge diplomatic coup for the White House. It is hardly the Americans' fault if the French and Russians refuse to enforce the meaning of the resolution they signed.
The truth is: Bush's diplomatic headaches have much less to do with his poor diplomatic skills than with the fact that he is trying ambitious things. Rather than simply forestall crises, Bush is doing the hard thing. He's calling for democracy in the Middle East. He's aiming to make the long-standing American policy of regime change in Iraq a reality. He wants to defeat Islamist terrorism rather than make excuses for tolerating its cancerous growth. When this amount of power is fuelled by this amount of conviction, of course the world is aroused and upset.
What the world is afraid of, after all, is not the deposing of Saddam. What the world is afraid of is American hyperpower wielded by a man of faith and conviction. Bush's manner grates. His style &emdash; like Reagan's &emdash; offends. But, like Reagan, he is not an anomaly in American foreign policy; he is merely a vivid representative of a deep and idealistic strain within it.
And history shows that the world has far more to gain from the deployment of that power than by its withdrawal. If the poor people of Iraq know that lesson, what's stopping the Europeans?
ANDREW SULLIVAN: Clinton talked a good war -- Bush has to fight it |
They say that the clear focus of American policy was to discourage the state sponsorship of terrorism. So persuading Khartoum to expel Bin Laden was in itself counted as a clear victory. The administration was "delighted".
Bin Laden took off from Khartoum on May 18 in a chartered C-130 plane with 150 of his followers, including his wives. He was bound for Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. On the way the plane refuelled in the Gulf state of Qatar, which has friendly relations with Washington, but he was allowed to proceed unhindered.
Barely a month later, on June 25, a 5,000lb truck bomb ripped apart the front of Khobar Towers, a US military housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The explosion killed 19 American servicemen. Bin Laden was immediately suspected...
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The Clinton administration "spun" America's terrorist problem when it re-emerged in February 1993, with the bombing of the World Trade Center, one month into Bill Clinton's first term in office. New York FBI believed that was a "false flag" operation run by Iraq, working with and hiding behind Islamic militants.
Laurie Mylroie , Another mistaken 'conceptzia' |
by Mia T, 1.06.02
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"The Liberation of Iraq is Imminent...it is imperative that the Iraqi folks who wish to be LIBERATED demonstrate to their American LIBERATORS that they are not supportive of Soddom'sInsane's TYRANNY by waving white flags with their hands in the air. White flags will display to All the World that the Iraqi People realize that America is NOT Conquering them, just FReeing them from Oppression!! We must INFORM the Iraqi people by whatever means necessary, "We are from America, we are here to HELP!!"
Spread the Word...MUD
Bush thwarted FBI probe against bin Ladens AFP
(London, November 7)
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FBI agents in the United States probing relatives of Saudi-born terror suspect Osama Bin Laden before September 11 were told to back off soon after George W Bush became president, the BBC has reported.
The BBC's Newsnight current affairs programme on Tuesday said that Bush at one point had a number of connections with Saudi Arabia's prominent Bin Laden family.
It added there was a suspicion that the US strategic interest in Saudi Arabia, which has the world's biggest oil reserve, blunted its inquiries into individuals with suspected terrorist connections -- so long as the US was safe.
Newsnight reported it had seen secret documents from an FBI probe into the September 11 terror attacks that showed that at least two other US-based members of the Bin Laden family are suspected to have links with a possible terrorist organisation.
The programme said it had obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of Bin Laden family members living in United States before, as well as after, the terrorist attacks.
Newsnight said Bush made his first million 20 years ago with an oil company partly funded by the chief US representative of Salem Bin Laden, Osama's brother.
Bush also received fees as director of a subsidiary of Carlyle Corporation, a little-known private company which in just a few years since its founding has become one of America's biggest defence contractors, and his father, George Bush Sr, is also a paid advisor, the programme said.
The connection became embarrassing when it was revealed that the Bin Ladens held a stake in Carlyle, sold just after September 11, it added.
Mia, you are MORE than welcome! Anything for the "queen of graphics"!! (damn! Wish I knew how to do such stuff as you do!)
Actually, the fact that Bush told the FBI "hands off the Bin Ladens" has been widely reported - you'll note that the Hindustan Times article was merely a paraphrase of a story that originally ran on the BBC.
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