More reasons why bush is a scary, scary man.................

[Trollax]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_32982.asp

Bush moves into election mode

George W Bush says the danger of terrorism has not passed. Listen to Audio

AFP - US President George W. Bush swung his reelection bid into high gear Tuesday, defiantly defending the invasion of Iraq and urging voters to keep the war on terrorism on track by giving him a second term.

"We face a choice. We can go forward with confidence and resolve, or we can turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat to us," he said in his annual State of the Union speech.

Addressing a joint session of Congress and millions of television viewers three years to the day after taking office, Bush hoped to snatch the spotlight from opposition Democrats vying to challenge him in the November 2 election.

The result was a wide-ranging speech in which he signalled support for a possible effort to ban homosexual marriage, claimed credit for the reviving US economy, and fiercely defended the US-led March invasion of Iraq.

But while Bush unveiled a doubling of monies aimed at promoting democracy in the Middle East, he did not once mention the conflict pitting Israel against the Palestinians or reassert his support for creating a Palestinian state.

On Iraq, he charged that those who pushed for explicit UN approval of the war or worried about opposition from traditional allies like France and Germany would have imperiled US security over "the objections of few."

"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country," said Bush, who also brushed aside the embarrassing failure of US-led forces to find the weapons of mass destruction.

Scaling back the more explicit charges he made in last year's State of the Union, Bush said investigators had found evidence of "mass destruction-related program activities" and insisted that "we are seeking all the facts."

But "had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day," he insisted, as veteran Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy shook his head in disbelief.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi later countered that Bush "has pursued a go-it-alone foreign policy that leaves us isolated abroad and that steals the resources we need for education and health care here at home."

Bush explicitly tied US military action in Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya's surprise pledge last year to give up its unconventional arms programs after nine months of secret talks with the United States and Britain.

"One reason is clear: For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible. And no one can now doubt the word of America," he said. "Because of American leadership and resolve, the world is changing for the better."

Bush said Washington was working with the US-appointed Iraqi interim Governing Council to draft laws, starting with a bill of rights, and hailed Council President Adnan Pachachi, who was present as Laura Bush's guest.

The president made passing mention of diplomatic efforts to disarm North Korea and Iran, which he lumped with Iraq in an "axis of evil" in his 2002 speech.

"Different threats require different strategies," he said. "America is committed to keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world's most dangerous regimes."

Recent polls have shown Bush's approval ratings slumped from their sky-high levels after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, amid growing skepticism about his domestic programs and concern about the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Some 500 US troops have been killed there, roughly half since Bush announced the end of major combat in a May 1 speech, and US troops have yet to find the weapons of mass destruction at the core of Bush's case for war.

"The work of building a new Iraq is hard, and it is right. And America has always been willing to do what it takes for what is right," said Bush, who has argued that democracy and prosperity in Iraq will transform the Middle East.

To push that process along, Bush announced that he was asking lawmakers to double funding for the National Endowment for Democracy in order to spend more than $US40 million ($A52.18 million) on new projects in that region.

He also urged Americans not to become complacent despite progress in the global war on terrorism he declared after Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"It is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us," Bush said. "That hope is understandable, comforting - and false."

Recent polls have shown that the US public is divided, trusting Bush more than Democrats when it comes to Iraq and fighting terrorism but believing that the opposition can do more on the economy and the health care crisis.

As a result, much of Bush's speech was to focus on domestic initiatives, like expanding job training, battling soaring medical costs, and making permanent the 10-year tax cuts he credits with spurring growth.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

[Trollax]

bows to the master of one hand tasting.....
   

[Rev Thwack]

Repent and be saved!

[EvilPoet]

The real power, the power we have to fight for night and day, is not power over things, but over men.' He paused, and for a moment assumed again his air of a schoolmaster questioning a promising pupil: 'How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?' Winston thought. 'By making him suffer,' he said. 'Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating?

[Trollax]

The real power, the power we have to fight for night and day, is not power over things, but over men.' He paused, and for a moment assumed again his air of a schoolmaster questioning a promising pupil: 'How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?' Winston thought. 'By making him suffer,' he said. 'Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating?

indifference tyo pain and suffering is liberation then? or not?
I suppose it depends on whether or not you feel if it's indifferenc to your personal suffering or the suffering of others.

[Horab Fibslager]

reason numero uno bush is scary:

nto even our covert assasin disguised as a pretzel coudl take him down. he was our best man too damnit!

jim is mourned by his wife and 17 children.

[EvilPoet]

indifference tyo pain and suffering is liberation then? or not?

Do you consider this liberation?

[Trollax]

That was what I was precisely my point...

Weishaupt hit on an interesting point didn't he?

"Shall we not use every means at our disposal for good?"

If control is enforced through pain where is freedom? Cause pain... freedom leaves... or does it? that's what I want to know?

[EvilPoet]

If control is enforced through pain where is freedom?

It would be in the hands of the enforcer, wouldn't it?

Cause pain... freedom leaves... or does it? that's what I want to know?

REMEMBER: WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. AND KING KONG DIED FOR YOUR SINS.

[Tobias]

Ha. Pretzels.

Memorable Doco. Bowling for Columbine.

Moore - Genius.

[Trollax]

Cause pain... freedom leaves... or does it? that's what I want to know?

REMEMBER: WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. AND KING KONG DIED FOR YOUR SINS.

Damn... I miss ho chi zen          

[Z³]

Ha. Pretzels.

Memorable Doco. Bowling for Columbine.

Moore - Genius.

Sure. The way he ambushed mr. heston is golden, really. Though his rhetoric is golden, he fails to realize one crucial detail... he's canadian.

Americans should never relinquish their right to own firearms, and the reasons are all explained in writings by our founding fathers. Remember, we are a country that won our independance from an oppressive empirical government by force, and all of the founding fathers knew that the dynastic cycle was doomed to repeat itself.

I gladly risk the possibility that I will get shot, on a street corner, just because thats the price I pay for having the right to defend myself.

[Guido Finucci]

Americans should never relinquish their right to own firearms... I gladly risk the possibility that I will get shot, on a street corner, just because thats the price I pay for having the right to defend myself.

Fuck me! You actually believe that, don't you? I thought that was just a caricature of Americans.

Edit: would you really risk being shot on a street corner to allow you to own small arms to allow you to defend yourself against an oppressive government when you let your current crowd vote in the Patriot Act version II and go to war on spurious grounds? How much worse do they need to get before you'll start shooting them? If they have to shoot first, don't you think that small arms are going to be, well, a little ineffective?

[Z³]

Americans should never relinquish their right to own firearms... I gladly risk the possibility that I will get shot, on a street corner, just because thats the price I pay for having the right to defend myself.

Fuck me! You actually believe that, don't you? I thought that was just a caricature of Americans.

It is... and yes I do believe it, but I'm a violent barbarian. I disagree with somethings (a good portion of things, actually) that you also disagree with, but I agree with some things (also a large portion of things) that you dont.

To summarize, I will put it thusly. Gun control, when its been successfull, hasnt been successful at all. Also, being that it was the second of the major rights promised to american citizens (right after free speech) by the original draftees of the bill of rights (all of whom were revolutionaries prior) to deny it would be to set a precedent by which all of those rights can be stripped away. Dangerous.

Impossible to do without cataclysmic change... and in this country, I assure you any cataclysm will involve violence. Major cities go into riot after football games here, imagine what happens when you fuck with the very root of our society.

Thirdly, stripping guns away from the citizens does not take them away from the government and police. I'm more scared of them then I am of gang members. (I'm serious).