(Terry Jones) An invitation to Bush from the World League of Despots

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

Dear President Bush,

I write to you in my capacity as secretary of the World League of Despots.

It is with great pleasure that I am finally able to extend an official invitation to you to join our ranks. For many years, we have watched your efforts to fulfil the requirements necessary to join our number. From the start, we were greatly impressed by your disdain for democratic principles - the way you wrested power from the democratically elected candidate in the 2000 election, and again in 2005 when you managed to swing what was clearly going to be a victory for your opponent.

Contempt for human life has always been a priority requirement for membership of the league, and I and my fellow adjudicators were well aware of your record as governor of Texas when you quadrupled the number of state executions. But your record since seizing power has surpassed even our expectations. The thousands of innocent people in Iraq, who have died so that you could fulfil your declared political objective of establishing "an American force presence in the Middle East", attest to your eligibility to join our ranks.

I cannot, however, disguise the fact that we adjudicators were extremely anxious when you announced your intention to remove from office one of our most stalwart members, Mr Saddam Hussein. However, we need not have worried. According to a recent UN report, you have ensured that there are now even more human rights abuses in Iraq than there were under Saddam. No less than 10% of those in custody are being physically or psychologically abused. Well done!

Of course, your unstinting efforts to make torture an internationally accepted aspect of human life have surpassed everything we could have ever hoped for. I don't think there is a single member of the league who could have imagined, six short years ago, that our activities in tormenting our fellow creatures would once again be recognised as acceptable, civilised behaviour, as it once was in the middle ages.

(...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1891707,00.html

[Richard Steele]

1. K & R

[Patsy Stone]

2. So good.

:loveya:, Terry. K&R.

[ixion]

3. Terry Jones Rocks

'nuff said. :yourock:

[Divernan]

4. Bush now enjoys same arbitrary arrest/torture powers Saddam had.

More from the article:

Officially the legislation is restricted to "enemy combatants", but you have skilfully adapted this definition to include anyone who has "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the US". This presumably means that anyone who publicly criticises your conduct can be defined as supporting hostilities to the US. You are now free to arrest and imprison anyone you don't like. You've got it in the bag!

It is with great pleasure that we in the World League of Despots note that YOU HAVE NOW APPROPRIATED TO YOURSELF ALL THE POWERS OF ARBITRARY ARREST AND TORTURE THAT SADDAM ONCE ENJOYED. You are now one of us. Congratulations!

· Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python www.terry-jones.net

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. That is pure wonderment! Nicely done, Mr. Jones!

Thanks for posting it.

[YOY]

6. One of my favorite Welshmen

[myrna minx]

7. Thank you Mr. Jones.

:bravo:

[mogster]

8. Waters said it like this

The Fletcher Memorial Home (Waters)

Take all your overgrown infants away somewhere
And build them a home, a little place of their own.
The Fletcher Memorial
Home for Incurable Tyrants and Kings.

And they can appear to themselves every day
On closed circuit T.V.
To make sure they're still real.
It's the only connection they feel.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Reagan and Haig,
Mr. Begin and friend, Mrs. Thatcher, and Paisly,
"Hello Maggie!"
Mr. Brezhnev and party.
"Scusi dov'è il bar?"
The ghost of McCarthy,
The memories of Nixon.
"Who's the bald chap?"
"Good-bye!"
And now, adding colour, a group of anonymous latin-
American meat packing glitterati.

Did they expect us to treat them with any respect?
They can polish their medals and sharpen their
Smiles, and amuse themselves playing games for awhile.
Boom boom, bang bang, lie down you're dead.

Safe in the permanent gaze of a cold glass eye
With their favorite toys
They'll be good girls and boys
In the Fletcher Memorial Home for colonial
Wasters of life and limb.

Is everyone in?
Are you having a nice time?
Now the final solution can be applied.

[civildisoBDence]

9. Reminds me (again) of the assinine title of Sean Vannity's book:

Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism

Who are the terrorists? Who are the despots?

And can you tell me with a straight face that Jesus wasn't a progressive?

Newsprism

[jhrobbins]

16. Jesus was without question a progressive and it is amazing to me..

that conservative evangelicals have the temerity to argue this point. His teachings as exemplified by his whole life were about helping the poor and downtrodden, but the new American Evangelical movement has completely rewritten his intent in order to serve their own narrow agenda of intolerance and exclusionary values. Shame on them.


BTW - I am new to DU , so what does K&R mean?

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

19. Welcome to DU!

K&R means 'kicked and recommended'.

When you post in a thread, it 'kicks' it back to the top of that forums' page which stops it from disappearing into the archives.

If you recommend a thread -- by clicking 'Recommend Topic for Greatest Page' on the bottom of the first post (often called the OP and in this case, mine) you are voting for it to appear on the 'Greatest' page which is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=greatest_threads

(you can access it by the star at the top of the forum)

Hope this helps.

[go west young man]

10. It's "Brazil" all over again!

Regardless of Tony Blairs lapdog antics I believe the majority of Englands people understand Bush and company are bungling evangelical nutjobs with no real respect for their fellow man and a desire to control the world. Recently out of England we have seen a number of documentaries much more revealing of whats going on in America than what the MSM let's us know. They include "The Doomsday Code", "Jesus Camp", and " The Power Of Nightmares". Information Clearinghouse has many others there as well but these 3 here give us a very different picture than the MSM here does. Robert Greenwald's "Iraq For Sale-The War Profiteers" is also a must see.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/video1037.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15032.htm
http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/

[John Gauger]

11. Wonderful

Always good to know that there's a Python on our side. Brilliant man and asset to the British people.

[ninkasi]

12. I love Terry Jones

I also enjoy reading the comments from readers. Some of them are almost as witty as the article.

[Maestro]

13. OMG, satire. It will make *'s head explode, plus Jones used

some mighty big words.

[ClusterFreak]

14. Right on Mr. Creosote!!!

I'll have the lot!!:toast:

[daveskilt]

15. funniest if spoken out loud with Terry Jones voice

did anyone see his history channel series on british history - hifrakkinlarious.

[catzies]

17. That is indeed the best way to read it to oneself.

I did and enjoyed it immensely.

[illinoisprogressive]

18. They should send this

However, with juniors limited i.q. he may not get it. He may think it's for real and get all excited.

[Vidar]

20. Wildly applauding Terry Jones & the rest of the Pythons.