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At least 40% of Americans are mean-spirited, racist, homophobic religious zealots who have ZERO compassion for their fellow man. Oh, sure, they pay lip service to their "Christian" ideals, and think that they're annual fifty bucks to the Red Cross or Salvation Army makes them "generous." They decry biological Darwinism, preferring to believe a five thousand year old Jewish fairy tale, but lavishly endorse social Darwinism in all its ugly glory.
"Poor people are poor because they're lazy! Homeless people can't keep a job because they're ALL just a bunch of alcoholics and druggies, dontchaknow? If black people wanted to raise themselves out of poverty, all they have to do is work harder. After all, MY immigrant ancestors were poor, and look at me today!"
Disgusting.
I've NEVER seen such a large portion of a nation devote their collective efforts to making the rich richer, and keeping the poor "in their place." Who needs institutionalized segregation when economics can play the same role?
Take for example, the impending changes to U.S. Bankruptcy law. Congressional Republicans have decided that it's not OK to respect the hallowed American tradition of a fresh start, and freedom from debt. Creditors who extend loans understand that they are taking a risk on an individual, and that some of those individuals won't meet their obligations. Said companies have managed to amass immense wealth under the previous system, and now I'm to understand that they need even MORE protection from the unruly consumer who would try to hurt these massive financial institutions? A consumer who knowingly racks up thousands in debt that he or she never intends to pay is doing damaging the credit card companies precisely as much as a child with a pail is damaging the ocean. Even is you have thousands of children with thousands of pails, the ocean is still, well, the FUCKING OCEAN!
Under the new law, ANY debtor who is potentially able to pay his or her bills will be forced to do so. Thus, unless one is unemployed and totally destitute, one's wages will be forcibly garnished. A simple solution, 20 years ago, would have been a mass consumer boycott against the credit card companies. Twenty years ago, that would have been peachy keen, but in the society we live in today, a credit card of some sort isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Besides, Americans twenty years ago weren't so goddamn apathetic as they are today, at least I think they weren't. I was only four years old, so...
What other gripes do I have today? Oh God, I could go on and on and on... I'll start with Iraq. I have several friends in the military, one just got back from Iraq about a month ago. It's a different war now than it was in March 2003. We've gotten to the point that no one knows who is friend, and who is foe, so the killig has become arbitrary, indiscriminate. It's a matter of safety for American soldiers. Is the guy who won't move his car out of the road for a U.S. convoy a terrorist, stubborn, or simply confused? You can't take the chance that he's got an IED, so you take him out.
As I'm sure you can imagine, this kind of behavior isn't winning the hearts and minds of your average Iraqi. As my recently returned friend said, "At first, you could tell that you were fighting militants, the average townspeople would leave you alone out of fear. But as more and more of their family members got killed for no reason, they started attacking us too. For every person that we kill, we make two more insurgents."
It's going to be tough to "win" a war where the number of enemy forces increase exponentially. But, remember, Iraq is "hard work", rebuilding after Katrina is "hard work", spreading the "freedom" to get killed meaninglessly, and a building "democracy" that's more loyal to the U.S. than the Iraqi people is "hard work". You know, for once I actually agree with Bush; it IS hard work. It's hard work for American soldiers, hard work for residents of the devastated South, and hard work for the Iraqi people, but certainly not "hard work" for George W. Bush.
Oy Vey, enough is enough already... OK, rant off. :rant:
MojoXN
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