In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Greed, Evil Men, and Cold Mountain (and have times changed?)
Recently saw Cold Mountain, and while there are many pieces to discuss, I want to discuss one little piece:
All the suffering in the movie is due to greed.
Actually what I’m really saying is, the Civil War was about the greed of rich fat men who refused to give up their way of life and sold the concept of “states rights” to the masses.
It wasn’t about “state’s rights” it was about those born into wealth not wanting to suddenly have to earn a living, so rather than suffer the end of their plantations, they sold a war based on lies and bigotry to their poor neighbors who then died in the millions to defend a way of life they would personally would never even encounter. The poor of the south were fine enough to die for the plantation, but they were often not even allowed to work there, much less be invited over for dinner.
Let us now visit our own enlightened times. Executives of Halliburton, Bechtel, and any oil company you want to complain about rarely are folks that “worked their way up” but are unfortunate victims of cronyism, and tragically lack the self-confidence to compete in a true capitalistic market, so they turn to friends and create their own markets. They create war. Wars in which they and their families do not have to fight in, but in which they will profit dramatically, without competition.
Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terror, and it had no weapons of mass destruction, but Bechtel and Halliburton are making billions.
The leader of the local “home guard,” in Cold Mountain, ‘Captain’ Ashcroft -ooops- Teague is a sad pathetic evil man born into wealth and watches his advantages dwindle away as the people in his town become more independent, more “wealthy.” The war comes giving him the advantages back a dozen fold, he is now, basically, the dictator of the small town, his wealth now represented by a gang of thugs who push around the town’s folk at his bidding. Even as the war turns bad to worse, he does not weary of the war, it is not his life on the line.
You want to know tragedy? 500 plus killed for Halliburton’s stock price; Cold Mountain’s just a movie.
- rob 1:17 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
