From: BigBooster (fm1@amug.org)
Date: Sun Sep 23 2001 - 18:00:14 MDT
>Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 08:57:55 EDT
> From: toolgt@aol.com
>Subject: Bush's Orwellian Address
>
>http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0922-07.htm
>
>Published on Saturday, September 22, 2001
>
>Bush's Orwellian Address
>Happy New Year: It's 1984
>
>by Jacob Levich
>
>Seventeen years later than expected, 1984 has arrived.
>In his address to Congress Thursday, George Bush
>effectively declared permanent war -- war without
>temporal or geographic limits; war without clear goals;
>war against a vaguely defined and constantly shifting
>enemy. Today it's Al-Qaida; tomorrow it may be
>Afghanistan; next year, it could be Iraq or Cuba or
>Chechnya.
>
>No one who was forced to read 1984 in high school
>could fail to hear a faint bell tinkling. In George Orwell's
>dreary classic, the totalitarian state of Oceania is
>perpetually at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia.
>Although the enemy changes periodically, the war is
>permanent; its true purpose is to control dissent and
>sustain dictatorship by nurturing popular fear and
>hatred.
>
>The permanent war undergirds every aspect of Big
>Brother's authoritarian program, excusing censorship,
>propaganda, secret police, and privation. In other words,
>it's terribly convenient.
>
>And conveniently terrible. Bush's alarming speech
>pointed to a shadowy enemy that lurks in more [than] 60
>countries, including the US. He announced a policy of
>using maximum force against any individuals or nations
>he designates as our enemies, without color of
>international law, due process, or democratic debate.
>
>He explicitly warned that much of the war will be conducted
>in secret. He rejected negotiation as a tool of diplomacy.
>He announced starkly that any country that doesn't knuckle
>under to US demands will be regarded as an enemy. He
>heralded the creation of a powerful new cabinet-level police
>agency called the "Office of Homeland Security." Orwell
>couldn't have named it better.
>
>By turns folksy ("Ya know what?") and chillingly bellicose
>("Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"),
>Bush stepped comfortably into the role of Big Brother,
>who needs to be loved as well as feared. Meanwhile,
>his administration acted swiftly to realize the governing
>principles of Oceania:
>
>WAR IS PEACE. A reckless war that will likely bring about
>a deadly cycle of retaliation is being sold to us as the
>means to guarantee our safety. Meanwhile, we've been
>instructed to accept the permanent war as a fact of daily
>life. As the inevitable slaughter of innocents unfolds
>overseas, we are to "live our lives and hug our children."
>
>FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. "Freedom itself is under attack,"
>Bush said, and he's right. Americans are about to lose
>many of their most cherished liberties in a frenzy of
>paranoid legislation. The government proposes to tap
>our phones, read our email and seize our credit card
>records without court order. It seeks authority to detain
>and deport immigrants without cause or trial. It proposes
>to use foreign agents to spy on American citizens. To
>save freedom, the warmongers intend to destroy it.
>
>IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. America's "new war"
>against terrorism will be fought with unprecedented
>secrecy, including heavy press restrictions not seen
>for years, the Pentagon has advised. Meanwhile, the
>sorry history of American imperialism -- collaboration
>with terrorists, bloody proxy wars against civilians,
>forcible replacement of democratic governments
>with corrupt dictatorships -- is strictly off-limits to
>mainstream media. Lest it weaken our resolve, we
>are not to be allowed to understand the reasons
>underlying the horrifying crimes of September 11.
>
>The defining speech of Bush's presidency points
>toward an Orwellian future of endless war, expedient
>lies, and ubiquitous social control. But unlike 1984's
>doomed protagonist, we've still got plenty of space to
>maneuver and plenty of ways to resist.
>
>It's time to speak and to act. It falls on us now to
>take to the streets, bearing a clear message for
>the warmongers: We don't love Big Brother.
>
>Jacob Levich (jlevich@earthlink.net) is an writer,
>editor, and activist living in Queens, New York.
>
> SPY NEWS is OSINT newsletter
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At 12:14 AM 09/24/2001 +0100, J Corbally <icorb@indigo.ie> wrote:
>>------------------------------
>>Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 11:20:55 -0700
>>From: "Michael M. Butler" <butler@comp-lib.org>
>>Subject: Re: George W. Bush's Speech on September 20, 2001
>>We love you too, E. Shaun! :)
>>"E. Shaun Russell" wrote:
>> > Regardless of what happens in the next number of years, I am truly
>> proud to
>> > have witnessed this moment in history, and it gives me ever so much more
>> > longing to be a citizen of the greatest nation.
>>Let me know your swear-in date, I'll do my level best to be there.
>>Mike
>
>Like anyone here cares of late, but the opinion of this Europhile
>regarding Bush's speech is WORRIED. It may be a "golden" moment in
>history, but I doubt it'll be for the better. His words were much more
>ominous than reassuring for someone "on the outside" ie. Europe.
>
>Plus, this talk of "exporting our values" is highly dubious. What values
>in particular? Respect for the flag? Be a real patriot and "serve your
>country"? Pray to your God? Don't use bad language? And if we don't
>find these particular "values" to our taste?
>
>Have you any idea how many times I've heard "god" in the last two
>weeks? Everything from blessing the tragicallly lost to the "righteous"
>war to come.
>
> From Greg;
>>Last night, an unmistakable
>>line was drawn between things that are good and right and things that are
>>evil. Although it was done in a distinctly American way in a distinctly
>>American voice, the call went out to the world to make a clear-cut choice
>
>Oh really? Between "good" and "evil", so sayeth the U.S. of A.? And if
>we, in our democratic right, decide not to choose? What then?
>
>I'll be taking a break from posting for the next week or so. The
>Nationalistic stench around here has been a little too strong for my taste.
>
>Shaun, I wish you the best of luck in your quest for citizenship.
>
>I'm ashamed to say it, but I really thought I knew this list better than
>to fall into the jingoism trap.
>
>What a damn waste.
>
>James...
>
>"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and
>crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures
>to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."
>-Q, Star Trek:TNG episode 'Q Who'
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