MaxedOutMama
Friday, November 26, 2004
Upcoming elections in two countries
First, England. Elections there are scheduled for May, I believe. A while back Kingfish said he was going to be covering the election in England, and he's keeping his promise! (Thereby disqualifying himself for any future career in politics, I suppose.) This long post contains links to a number of articles, blogs, and columns, which present an interesting picture of what the real issues may be in the election across the pond.
Some of the blogs are very absorbing, and a lot of them have elements of that wacky British humor. If you only have time for one, you definitely want to read the Nanny Knows Best blog. Try this post on food rationing or this post on the nanny police. The British version of the mutawi makes me laugh every time. This is a sort of unofficial police force empowered to roam around like teachers patrolling the highschool halls. They can send you to the principal's office, hand out detention notices and confiscate your drinks. You know who volunteers for this sort of thing, right? The most annoying, obnoxious, petty little people with delusions of grandeur carefully superimposed over their inferiority complexes.
Now let us turn to Iraq, where some people are incredibly excited about the chance to participate in their first real election. This is what it's all about. In this long post an Iraqi describes forming his own political party, and if you read it carefully you get an idea of why this process was both thrilling and terrifying:
We thought we couldn’t and shouldn’t depend on anyone but ourselves. Many Iraqis fought Saddam and his regime with outstanding bravery even with understanding the horrible fate that was awaiting them and their families. Others, like us kept trying to gather support, encourage people to take a stand and educate them about their rights, that they should be the ones who decide the way their country is run. However in each time we tried to organize a larger group than just us and our closest friends, we failed to gather the support of more than 5-10 people.
Trusting others was almost impossible and very risky. We had to consider that we were not only risking our lives but also the lives of our family, close friends and relatives and the future of our relatives to the 4th degree! One of these days at Saddam’s time some friends were gathering in our house. We were just chatting and having fun. Our neighbor who is a Tikriti and worked for the intelligence knocked on the door and when I opened he asked me about the cars outside our house. I told him that these were our friends’. He said to me, “You know that gathering is against the law and if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re my neighbor and I respect your family, I would’ve sent you behind the sun. Be careful, as I understand but other people may not” He said it in a warning tone not as an advice!
and
We reached the government main headquarter and entered without much difficulty. We went to one of these offices as we didn’t know were to go as this was our first time there. One of the government employees asked us what was our need. We said our prayers and told him that we want to change the regime. He asked us to wait until he call for the man in charge and I said to myself, “that’s it, they’re calling the Mukhabarat” the guy came back with another man who, after greeting us asked about our group. We handed him a file that contained our goals and a list of the people who supported us. He took it and told us to come back in 3 days after they study it.
“Study it!?” I said to myself “ they’re not going to hang us? Maybe they are letting the small fish to capture the large one?” anyway we went back and spent 3 difficult nights full of worries and nightmares.
On the 3d day we went back to the same place and another man was waiting for us, “are you a representative of this group” the man asked Mohammed, “no, I’m their leader” (man, that was brave of Mohammed! Now he’s gone and I won’t have the honor of being the first martyr in the group!).
“Pleasure to meet you Sir! Have a seat please” said the man to Mohammed and the rest of us with a broad smile. ( a trap! Ok so be it!) Our friend was encouraged by this gesture and asked for tea! They brought us tea and some cockies! (Maybe a last wish grant) After few minutes the guy looked into a computer and asked us about the name of our group. We told him the name and the guy said “Congratulations! Your demand has been approved and you’ll have a chance to layout your plans in public and if enough number of people agree with you, the current government would step down and let you among others take the lead”
and
That was not a dream, it’s for real and it didn’t happen in the “free and independent” Iraq at Saddam’s time, it happened 3 days ago in “occupied Iraq”.
To summerize it and although many of you know that already but I would like to announce that the party we have formed, the Iraqi pro-democracy party is now officially registered and will have the chance to compete in the upcoming elections.
So now this group of people will start to build their nation. What we are doing in Iraq is not primarily a military battle. It's a process of protecting the people enough so they gain the confidence to realize they can and should take control of their country. In order to do that the people shooting and bombing those who "collaborate" with the occupation (by, for instance, participating in the political process) must be controlled.
This Iraqi blogger and party-builder understands that, but I don't know whether the American public understands how much courage it takes for this man and his friends to conquer their learned fears and step forward under the current situation. By doing so they are still making themselves a target, because by doing so they are giving the lie to the propaganda being spread by many. Let us wish him well and pray for him and all those risking themselves in Iraq to move that country forward. That includes our military forces, by the way.
And no, I will never, ever forgive John Kerry for calling Allawi a "puppet" of the United States. It was a knife in the back to people like the man above who organized his political party in Iraq. It was a betrayal of our troops. It was the most blatantly selfish and inhumane political statement of the campaign. If he didn't know the implications of what he was saying, his failure to inform himself disquailfied him for the presidency. If he did, he is a David Duke, a disrespecter of human endeavor and hope, a man seeking to prepare his alibi for abandoning the Iraqi people. I saw it as a reflection, decades later, of Kerry's disgraceful accusations against our soldiers while they were still in Vietnam. To me, then and now, it was an unforgiveable disloyalty.
That single comment will live in my memory as a disgrace to our body politic. I don't think John Kerry truly represents the Democratic party. I am glad he was not elected. As for those pundits who want to know why people like me are voting against their economic interests, I invite them to explain why they would ever consider voting for a man like John Kerry to be president of the United States in light of the above. Hint: the above would be the sort of thing I would be thinking about when I answered a "values" exit polling question.
If John Kerry is the Democratic nominee again in 2008, I won't be voting for him. You can slap all the fancy tackle you want on a pig and call it a saddle horse, but I am going to exercise my right to vote in a democracy by refusing to take a ride on it. I believe Ali, the blogger quoted above, would understand my position. Please guys, give me a Democratic option in 2008. There are tons of decent Democratic politicians out there. They may not be as flashy, but they'll get you moving, and you won't look half as ridiculous as you did this year, trying to ride to victory on top of a pig while it is rooting for garbage in the mud.
Some of the blogs are very absorbing, and a lot of them have elements of that wacky British humor. If you only have time for one, you definitely want to read the Nanny Knows Best blog. Try this post on food rationing or this post on the nanny police. The British version of the mutawi makes me laugh every time. This is a sort of unofficial police force empowered to roam around like teachers patrolling the highschool halls. They can send you to the principal's office, hand out detention notices and confiscate your drinks. You know who volunteers for this sort of thing, right? The most annoying, obnoxious, petty little people with delusions of grandeur carefully superimposed over their inferiority complexes.
Now let us turn to Iraq, where some people are incredibly excited about the chance to participate in their first real election. This is what it's all about. In this long post an Iraqi describes forming his own political party, and if you read it carefully you get an idea of why this process was both thrilling and terrifying:
We thought we couldn’t and shouldn’t depend on anyone but ourselves. Many Iraqis fought Saddam and his regime with outstanding bravery even with understanding the horrible fate that was awaiting them and their families. Others, like us kept trying to gather support, encourage people to take a stand and educate them about their rights, that they should be the ones who decide the way their country is run. However in each time we tried to organize a larger group than just us and our closest friends, we failed to gather the support of more than 5-10 people.
Trusting others was almost impossible and very risky. We had to consider that we were not only risking our lives but also the lives of our family, close friends and relatives and the future of our relatives to the 4th degree! One of these days at Saddam’s time some friends were gathering in our house. We were just chatting and having fun. Our neighbor who is a Tikriti and worked for the intelligence knocked on the door and when I opened he asked me about the cars outside our house. I told him that these were our friends’. He said to me, “You know that gathering is against the law and if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re my neighbor and I respect your family, I would’ve sent you behind the sun. Be careful, as I understand but other people may not” He said it in a warning tone not as an advice!
and
We reached the government main headquarter and entered without much difficulty. We went to one of these offices as we didn’t know were to go as this was our first time there. One of the government employees asked us what was our need. We said our prayers and told him that we want to change the regime. He asked us to wait until he call for the man in charge and I said to myself, “that’s it, they’re calling the Mukhabarat” the guy came back with another man who, after greeting us asked about our group. We handed him a file that contained our goals and a list of the people who supported us. He took it and told us to come back in 3 days after they study it.
“Study it!?” I said to myself “ they’re not going to hang us? Maybe they are letting the small fish to capture the large one?” anyway we went back and spent 3 difficult nights full of worries and nightmares.
On the 3d day we went back to the same place and another man was waiting for us, “are you a representative of this group” the man asked Mohammed, “no, I’m their leader” (man, that was brave of Mohammed! Now he’s gone and I won’t have the honor of being the first martyr in the group!).
“Pleasure to meet you Sir! Have a seat please” said the man to Mohammed and the rest of us with a broad smile. ( a trap! Ok so be it!) Our friend was encouraged by this gesture and asked for tea! They brought us tea and some cockies! (Maybe a last wish grant) After few minutes the guy looked into a computer and asked us about the name of our group. We told him the name and the guy said “Congratulations! Your demand has been approved and you’ll have a chance to layout your plans in public and if enough number of people agree with you, the current government would step down and let you among others take the lead”
and
That was not a dream, it’s for real and it didn’t happen in the “free and independent” Iraq at Saddam’s time, it happened 3 days ago in “occupied Iraq”.
To summerize it and although many of you know that already but I would like to announce that the party we have formed, the Iraqi pro-democracy party is now officially registered and will have the chance to compete in the upcoming elections.
So now this group of people will start to build their nation. What we are doing in Iraq is not primarily a military battle. It's a process of protecting the people enough so they gain the confidence to realize they can and should take control of their country. In order to do that the people shooting and bombing those who "collaborate" with the occupation (by, for instance, participating in the political process) must be controlled.
This Iraqi blogger and party-builder understands that, but I don't know whether the American public understands how much courage it takes for this man and his friends to conquer their learned fears and step forward under the current situation. By doing so they are still making themselves a target, because by doing so they are giving the lie to the propaganda being spread by many. Let us wish him well and pray for him and all those risking themselves in Iraq to move that country forward. That includes our military forces, by the way.
And no, I will never, ever forgive John Kerry for calling Allawi a "puppet" of the United States. It was a knife in the back to people like the man above who organized his political party in Iraq. It was a betrayal of our troops. It was the most blatantly selfish and inhumane political statement of the campaign. If he didn't know the implications of what he was saying, his failure to inform himself disquailfied him for the presidency. If he did, he is a David Duke, a disrespecter of human endeavor and hope, a man seeking to prepare his alibi for abandoning the Iraqi people. I saw it as a reflection, decades later, of Kerry's disgraceful accusations against our soldiers while they were still in Vietnam. To me, then and now, it was an unforgiveable disloyalty.
That single comment will live in my memory as a disgrace to our body politic. I don't think John Kerry truly represents the Democratic party. I am glad he was not elected. As for those pundits who want to know why people like me are voting against their economic interests, I invite them to explain why they would ever consider voting for a man like John Kerry to be president of the United States in light of the above. Hint: the above would be the sort of thing I would be thinking about when I answered a "values" exit polling question.
If John Kerry is the Democratic nominee again in 2008, I won't be voting for him. You can slap all the fancy tackle you want on a pig and call it a saddle horse, but I am going to exercise my right to vote in a democracy by refusing to take a ride on it. I believe Ali, the blogger quoted above, would understand my position. Please guys, give me a Democratic option in 2008. There are tons of decent Democratic politicians out there. They may not be as flashy, but they'll get you moving, and you won't look half as ridiculous as you did this year, trying to ride to victory on top of a pig while it is rooting for garbage in the mud.
