Dear America: This is a difficult letter to write, because I'm no longer
sure who you are.
Some of you may be having the same trouble. I thought I knew you: We'd
become well acquainted over the past 55 years. You were the Mickey Mouse and
Donald Duck comic books I read in the late 1940s. You were the radio
shows -- Jack Benny, Our Miss Brooks. You were the music I sang and danced
to: the Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, Elvis. You were a
ton of fun.
You wrote some of my favourite books. You created Huckleberry Finn, and
Hawkeye, and Beth and Jo in Little Women, courageous in their different
ways. Later, you were my beloved Thoreau, father of environmentalism,
witness to individual conscience; and Walt Whitman, singer of the great
Republic; and Emily Dickinson, keeper of the private soul. You were Hammett
and Chandler, heroic walkers of mean streets; even later, you were the
amazing trio, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, who traced the dark
labyrinths of your hidden heart. You were Sinclair Lewis and Arthur Miller,
who, with their own American idealism, went after the sham in you, because
they thought you could do better.
You were Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront, you were Humphrey Bogart in Key
Largo, you were Lillian Gish in Night of the Hunter. You stood up for
freedom, honesty and justice; you protected the innocent. I believed most of
that. I think you did, too. It seemed true at the time.
You put God on the money, though, even then. You had a way of thinking that
the things of Caesar were the same as the things of God: that gave you
self-confidence. You have always wanted to be a city upon a hill, a light to
all nations, and for a while you were. Give me your tired, your poor, you
sang, and for a while you meant it.
We've always been close, you and us. History, that old entangler, has
twisted us together since the early 17th century. Some of us used to be you;
some of us want to be you; some of you used to be us. You are not only our
neighbours: In many cases -- mine, for instance -- you are also our blood
relations, our colleagues, and our personal friends. But although we've had
a ringside seat, we've never understood you completely, up here north of the
49th parallel.
We're like Romanized Gauls -- look like Romans, dress like Romans, but
aren't Romans -- peering over the wall at the real Romans. What are they
doing? Why? What are they doing now? Why is the haruspex eyeballing the
sheep's liver? Why is the soothsayer wholesaling the Bewares?
Perhaps that's been my difficulty in writing you this letter: I'm not sure I
know what's really going on. Anyway, you have a huge posse of experienced
entrail-sifters who do nothing but analyze your every vein and lobe. What
can I tell you about yourself that you don't already know?
This might be the reason for my hesitation: embarrassment, brought on by a
becoming modesty. But it is more likely to be embarrassment of another sort.
When my grandmother -- from a New England background -- was confronted with
an unsavoury topic, she would change the subject and gaze out the window.
And that is my own inclination: Mind your own business.
But I'll take the plunge, because your business is no longer merely your
business. To paraphrase Marley's Ghost, who figured it out too late, mankind
is your business. And vice versa: When the Jolly Green Giant goes on the
rampage, many lesser plants and animals get trampled underfoot. As for us,
you're our biggest trading partner: We know perfectly well that if you go
down the plug-hole, we're going with you. We have every reason to wish you
well.
I won't go into the reasons why I think your recent Iraqi adventures have
been -- taking the long view -- an ill-advised tactical error. By the time
you read this, Baghdad may or may not look like the craters of the Moon, and
many more sheep entrails will have been examined. Let's talk, then, not
about what you're doing to other people, but about what you're doing to
yourselves.
You're gutting the Constitution. Already your home can be entered without
your knowledge or permission, you can be snatched away and incarcerated
without cause, your mail can be spied on, your private records searched. Why
isn't this a recipe for widespread business theft, political intimidation,
and fraud? I know you've been told all this is for your own safety and
protection, but think about it for a minute. Anyway, when did you get so
scared? You didn't used to be easily frightened.
You're running up a record level of debt. Keep spending at this rate and
pretty soon you won't be able to afford any big military adventures. Either
that or you'll go the way of the USSR: lots of tanks, but no air
conditioning. That will make folks very cross. They'll be even crosser when
they can't take a shower because your short-sighted bulldozing of
environmental protections has dirtied most of the water and dried up the
rest. Then things will get hot and dirty indeed.
You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that
will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people
produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few
megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside
your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the
prison system? Let's hope not.
If you proceed much further down the slippery slope, people around the world
will stop admiring the good things about you. They'll decide that your city
upon the hill is a slum and your democracy is a sham, and therefore you have
no business trying to impose your sullied vision on them. They'll think
you've abandoned the rule of law. They'll think you've fouled your own nest.
The British used to have a myth about King Arthur. He wasn't dead, but
sleeping in a cave, it was said; in the country's hour of greatest peril, he
would return. You, too, have great spirits of the past you may call upon:
men and women of courage, of conscience, of prescience. Summon them now, to
stand with you, to inspire you, to defend the best in you. You need them.
Margaret Atwood studied American literature -- among other things -- at
Radcliffe and Harvard in the 1960s. She is the author of 10 novels. Her
11th, Oryx and Crake, will be published in May. This essay also appears in
The Nation.
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
Mr.Cut&Paste has returned from his court appointed vacation and electric
shock therapy at Alberta hospital! Obviously these Alberta health care cuts
effect treatment for those diagnosed mentally insane.
Blow it out your ass. You and Margaret would make good buddies--you can eat
her yeast-encrusted genitals to your heart's delight. Margaret is another
LIEberal symp who has long profitted from the LIEberal cultural handouts,
rewarding incompetence and mediocrity.
>By Margaret Atwood
>April 21, 2003
What can you expect from a lesbian?
Mark
Top POSTER <T...@Poster.com> wrote in message news:bX1pa.6$XO.82@localhost...
Again Sharx asshole sex problems?
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
Sharx. <sha...@nospam.ca> wrote in message
news:mHfpa.98051$dh1.1...@news0.telusplanet.net...
>
> "Top POSTER" <T...@Poster.com> wrote in message
> news:bX1pa.6$XO.82@localhost...
> > By Margaret Atwood
> > April 21, 2003
> >
>
> You ignorant LIEberal voting asshole, why are YOU in such deep denial
about
> how the LIEberals have ruined this country?
American Caesar <kissmyam...@oldglory.org> wrote in message
news:264bav8bq1tkdrj5j...@4ax.com...
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
Mark <do...@spam.me> wrote in message news:uKkpa.21$MW.4269@localhost...
>
> "Top POSTER" <T...@Poster.com> wrote in message
> news:bX1pa.6$XO.82@localhost...
>> By Margaret Atwood
>> April 21, 2003
>>
>
> Blow it out your ass. You and Margaret would make good buddies--you can eat
> her yeast-encrusted genitals to your heart's delight. Margaret is another
> LIEberal symp who has long profitted from the LIEberal cultural handouts,
Oh, the wit and wisdom of Densa man. Pathetic.
> rewarding incompetence and mediocrity.
The same way we reward your incompetence and mediocrity by continuing to
reply, keeping alive a vain hope that you are still relevant in here. If you
had any skill whatever, you'd have something more to offer than word
pictures describing the contents of your family album.
--
VVV
His Shadow
"[Spammers] have come to court not because their freedom of speech is
threatened but because their profits are; to dress up their complaints in
First Amendment garb demeans the principles for which the First Amendment
stands."
US Federal Judge Stanley Sporkin
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 20:37:42 -0600, "Top POSTER" <T...@Poster.com>
Has a better haircut than Sharx?
--
VVV
His Shadow
"Most creatures prefer a warm lie to a cold truth. If you make them feel
good, the masses will love you. If you make them think, they will hate you.
I warn you: He who dares disturb the sleepwalk of masses, prepares for
nightmare."
"Sly Fox" in _The Running Dogs of Loyalty: Honest Reflections on a Magical
Zoo_, by Richard Walker
> On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 17:15:34 GMT, "\" KATO \"" <urban war...@shaw.ca>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Mr.Cut&Paste has returned from his court appointed vacation and electric
>> shock therapy at Alberta hospital! Obviously these Alberta health care cuts
>> effect treatment for those diagnosed mentally insane.
>>
>
> Why is it that anyone who disagrees with you is either insane or a net
> kook?
Keeps everything nice and simple.
--
VVV
His Shadow
"[W]hat pro-church militants are demanding is exemption from challenge to,
or even criticism of, their claim to a privileged role in shaping social
values. With no sense of contradiction, they presume the right, even the
obligation, to attack secularists' worldview while feeling entitled to
unquestioned 'respect' (which is to say suffocating reverence) for their own
beliefs."
Bill Bennetta
> One thing is immediately noticable in this letter - a lack of facts.
Not as pathetic as your lack of imagination.
> Atwood is
> simply repeating the same left-wing opnions that left-wingers repeat so
> often that dimwits like Toilet Paper believe they are facts.
Great Googly Moogly it IS an opinion piece! Cripes, Mark your grasp of
literature is as tenuous as your grasp of science. If Atwood's article is so
easily countered then maybe it's time one of you bootlicking jackasses step
up and provided a counterpoint.
Or is being on the "right" side with the US position all about jingoistic
rhetoric and whining about "liberals"?
Face it. You are mostly about gutless posturing.
>> Dear America: This is a difficult letter to write, because I'm no longer
>> sure who you are.
>>
>> Some of you may be having the same trouble. I thought I knew you: We'd
>> become well acquainted over the past 55 years. You were the Mickey Mouse and
>> Donald Duck comic books I read in the late 1940s. You were the radio
>> shows -- Jack Benny, Our Miss Brooks. You were the music I sang and danced
>> to: the Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, Elvis. You were a
>> ton of fun.
--
VVV
His Shadow
The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work
and then gets elected and proves it.
P.J. O'Rourke
I must say here Sharky, your and absolute idiot! Why is it you can not make
a point in supporting your opinions, with out the vulgarity?? Maybe you
should look into taking an English class. Perhaps a better command over the
language would alleviate the need to use such Vulgar profanities.
Marcel
YOU made the claim that those supposed facts were RIGHT. It is up to YOU to
prove them RIGHT.
Why should I care? What are YOU going to do about it? I can afford to out
sue ANYONE in this bloody newsgroup in any courtroom in the world. Next!
>
>
Said Dave Bull, it is only cable TV he cannot afford
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
Sharx. <sha...@nospam.ca> wrote in message
news:YVopa.98944$dh1.1...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Only TP and Johnny Rottin are in my books as net kooks!
> **************************************
> Your enemy is anyone that can cause you to
> die, regardless of which side they are on
> **************************************
That's true! Getting off the subject and seeing your rather Knowledgeable
about sci-fi, did you know their was a Capt kirk doll manufactured quit some
time ago? The wife and I stopped in at the Antique store on 78ave and 103st
and low and behold there was Capt Kirk still in the original box! I never
inquired about the price or the date of manufacture but it looked old.This
shoppe is pretty cool, it's almost like a museum to the past of things we
took for granted growing up and that you don't see much of anymore.Quite a
selection of old toys/action figures/ ads/magazines/ vintage bottles and of
coarse furnishings.They also have a extensive collection of Star wars
material. The store is definately a blast from the past and a good way to
kill a hour or two going down memory lane!
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
" KATO " <urban war...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:9oqpa.37237$ja.18...@news2.calgary.shaw.ca...
Thanks to my having A LIFE, I have little or no time for TV. Peasant vision
suffices.
I can think of one other Canadian that has such trouble speaking and has
that same attitude, that nobody can do anything about it. You related to
Jean C. ??
Oh and on a law note here, you yourself do not need money in the
courtroom, they are no laws making stupidity an offence.
Marcel
Marcel
Now, THAT is hitting below the belt, Marcel.
>
> Oh and on a law note here, you yourself do not need money in the
> courtroom, they are no laws making stupidity an offence.
>
> Marcel
>
Look in the mirror, closely, before making such remarks.
>
>
>
When I read bullshit, I make the call.
>
>
stick to cut&paste!
>
>"Top POSTER" <T...@Poster.com> wrote in message
>news:aBppa.42$MW.5892@localhost...
>> > Why should I care? What are YOU going to do about it? I can afford to
>out
>> > sue ANYONE in this bloody newsgroup in any courtroom in the world. Next!
>> >
>>
>> Said Dave Bull, it is only cable TV he cannot afford
>
>Thanks to my having A LIFE, I have little or no time for TV. Peasant vision
>suffices.
>
A fitting thing for a pissant, BTW has no one noticed Sharx has no
life other than tormenting the english language, and common sense in
these newsgroups. Oh, and spewing profanities, inane comments, and
sexually based insults to one and all.
>
> "Top POSTER" <T...@Poster.com> wrote in message
> news:2ulpa.32$MW.4354@localhost...
>> WHAT FACTS ARE WRONG
>
> YOU made the claim that those supposed facts were RIGHT. It is up to YOU to
> prove them RIGHT.
Gads, you are such a lamer. The article was authored by Atwood. The article
was reprinted in full. Do you own homework by countering the article or
admit you have no literary skills whatever.
--
VVV
His Shadow
We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that
could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures ... We may yearn for a
'higher' answer--but none exists.
Steven Jay Gould, Life magazine December 1988
>
You have to be able to outthink them first, wanker.
--
VVV
His Shadow
I'm a creationist -- I firmly believe that gods are created by people.
>>> Why is it that anyone who disagrees with you is either insane or a net
>>> kook?
>>
>> Keeps everything nice and simple.
>
> That's true! Getting off the subject and seeing your rather Knowledgeable
> about sci-fi, did you know their was a Capt kirk doll manufactured quit some
> time ago?
I've seen pics of them in several sci-fi mags. There was even an original
phaser/tricorder kit. Not many of them around.
> The wife and I stopped in at the Antique store on 78ave and 103st
> and low and behold there was Capt Kirk still in the original box! I never
> inquired about the price or the date of manufacture but it looked old.This
> shoppe is pretty cool, it's almost like a museum to the past of things we
> took for granted growing up and that you don't see much of anymore.Quite a
> selection of old toys/action figures/ ads/magazines/ vintage bottles and of
> coarse furnishings.They also have a extensive collection of Star wars
> material. The store is definately a blast from the past and a good way to
> kill a hour or two going down memory lane!
Oh, man, they probably want some serious coin for it if it's original
packaging. All those old toys and trinkets weren't produced with collectors
in mind, and some are quite scarce. Today, every piece of "collector" crap
comes off assembly lines in lots of tens of thousands, for an industry
entirely devoted to collectibles: not much of which is worth having.
--
VVV
His Shadow
When there is evidence, no one speaks of faith. We do not speak of faith
that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith
when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.
Bertrand Russell
>
>>
Yeah. Always one to bitch and moan about netiquette, Sharx routinely brings
up lawyers to counter the major flameage he receives in here.
--
VVV
His Shadow
"Blah, blah Gaia. Blah, blah Moon. Blah, blah menstrual life-force power
thingy. Bunch of WannaBlessedBees. You know, nowadays, every girl with a
Henna Tattoo and a spice rack thinks she's a Sister of the Dark Ones."
Willow- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
>
> "Prodec" <pro...@netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:%kwpa.46792$zt4....@news.primus.ca...
>>
>>>
>>> YOU made the claim that those supposed facts were RIGHT. It is up to YOU to
>>> prove them RIGHT.
>>>
>>>
>> Sharx's goal in life to be a newsgroup monitor lol
>>
> When I read bullshit, I make the call.
Your own posts must make you sound like a carnival barker.
--
VVV
His Shadow
If God is your Co-Pilot, why don't you get Him to work the turn signals?
Unlike YOU, I can both *afford* them and have the balls to USE them.
Here's a hint , you call your lawyer, Tell him or her, or it, that you
want to sue mommy and daddy for reproducing, tell him or her or it, that
there was no lifegaurd in the gene pool. Then write him a big check. After
that do the world a favour and grab your bottom lip, pull it over your head
and swallow!
Marcel
>>> Sharx's goal in life to be a newsgroup monitor lol
>>
>> Yeah. Always one to bitch and moan about netiquette, Sharx routinely brings
>> up lawyers to counter the major flameage he receives in here.
>
> Unlike YOU, I can both *afford* them and have the balls to USE them.
Bullshit, wanker. Bring it on.
--
VVV
His Shadow
"Geology shows that fossils are of different ages. Palaeontology shows a
fossil sequence, the list of species representing changes through time.
Taxonomy shows biological relationships among species. Evolution is the
explanation that threads it all together. Creationism is the practice of
squeezing one's eyes shut and wailing "does not!".
Never had to actually FILE a Statement of Claim. The preliminaries always
were sufficient.
>
> Clueless fucktard, that you are.
>
> --
> "I have balls like atom bombs, two of them, 100 megatons each. Nobody
fucks
> with me." - Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury
You are what they call "judgement proof", meaning that you have no assets
worth pursuing.
Exactly. What facts?
Mark
>
> --
> Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
> they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear.
If
> a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
> should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded,
but
> the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the
erroneous
>
> Mark <do...@spam.me> wrote in message news:uKkpa.21$MW.4269@localhost...
> > One thing is immediately noticable in this letter - a lack of facts.
> Atwood
> > is
> > simply repeating the same left-wing opnions that left-wingers repeat so
> > often
> > that dimwits like Toilet Paper believe they are facts.
> >
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > Top POSTER <T...@Poster.com> wrote in message
> news:bX1pa.6$XO.82@localhost...
> > > By Margaret Atwood
> > > April 21, 2003
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
you could read the thread
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
Mark <do...@spam.me> wrote in message news:9Pxqa.259$MW.30045@localhost...
>>>> Yeah. Always one to bitch and moan about netiquette, Sharx routinely brings
>>>> up lawyers to counter the major flameage he receives in here.
>>>
>>> Unlike YOU, I can both *afford* them and have the balls to USE them.
>>
>> Bullshit, wanker. Bring it on.
>
> You are what they call "judgement proof", meaning that you have no assets
> worth pursuing.
You being what we call a "braggart". A blustering useless fool, trumpeting
accomplishments and abilities that you know you can't be called on to
produce.
--
VVV
His Shadow
"Believe that there is a secret and you become an initiate. It costs
nothing."
Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
Let the record show that HDS doesn't deny that he doesn't have a pot to piss
in.
Are you also going to sue NASA when they have said that they went to the
moon when everyone in their right mind knows they didn't??
--
Christopher Moore
Brother of Peace, Love, Harmony and Free Spirit
Winner of the ALL TIME best Kraft Dinner Contest at Dewey Stevens
propan...@hotmail.com
BOYCOT PROPANE!! Do not use your BBQ's, only use naturals fire!
SAVE your future little brothers and sister babies -
PROPANE FACTIOD: The main effect from breathing levels
of propane is damage to the male's ability to reproduce.
http://www.cameo-intimates.com/
"Abdul Ramadan" <saddam-was-killed@during-the-second-.strike> wrote in
message news:MPG.19127b9cc...@news.telus.net...
> X-No-Archive:Yes
>
> Interrupting today's self-trepanation session for the second hole,
"Sharx." set
> the drill down and then bashed these important words into the ether:
>
> > Why should I care? What are YOU going to do about it? I can afford to
out
> > sue ANYONE in this bloody newsgroup in any courtroom in the world. Next!
>
> Bwahahahaha ! The next time you get your account cancelled because the
> complaints have once again piled too high resulting in your arrival at the
> special status of "uneconomical to maintain as a customer", will you take
Telus
> to court and sue their asses off for disconnecting you from the net?
>
> Fuck Sharx, you are pathetic slack jawed blow hard. ALL TALK. NO ACTION.
>
> Name ONE instance where you have sued anyone or any entity. Name it.
>
>>>>>> Yeah. Always one to bitch and moan about netiquette, Sharx routinely
>>>>>> brings up lawyers to counter the major flameage he receives in here.
>>>>>
>>>>> Unlike YOU, I can both *afford* them and have the balls to USE them.
>>>>
>>>> Bullshit, wanker. Bring it on.
>>>
>>> You are what they call "judgement proof", meaning that you have no assets
>>> worth pursuing.
>>
>> You being what we call a "braggart". A blustering useless fool, trumpeting
>> accomplishments and abilities that you know you can't be called on to
>> produce.
>>
>
> Let the record show that HDS doesn't deny that he doesn't have a pot to piss
> in
Let the record show that Sharx's head is a pot full of piss.
Man, what a fucking wacko you are, Chris.
I meant that in a very positive and friendly manner.
He may be a couple of cans short of a six pack, but nothing a
little S&M won't fix.
--
L.S.
That's your answer for everything, isn't it!
:-)
Think it would do any good for me?
>
> --
> L.S.
> > He may be a couple of cans short of a six pack, but nothing a
> > little S&M won't fix.
>
> That's your answer for everything, isn't it!
>
> :-)
>
> Think it would do any good for me?
You'll never know until you try.
--
L.S.
> Shark,
>
> Are you also going to sue NASA when they have said that they went to the
> moon when everyone in their right mind knows they didn't??
What?
--
VVV
His Shadow
Vote Cthulhu. Why settle for the lesser evil?
Like I said, what facts?
--
Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once
they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If
a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it
should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but
the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous
Mark <do...@spam.me> wrote in message news:iSUqa.357$MW.36545@localhost...
> He may be a couple of cans short of a six pack, but nothing a
> little S&M won't fix.
>
> --
> L.S.
No worse than a middle-aged loser posing as a woman.
He's not middle-aged.
>
>