Category Archives: WMDs

No weapons left behind…they were gone already!

Today, I’m posting something a little different than usual. A 12-year-old Xanga user asked me to post on his site why I hate Bush, and so I did. Then I felt the need to post it on my site as well. I welcome any comments/arguments you may have. After all, what is democracy if it does not allow for effective discourse?

When you’re done reading, don’t forget to check out yesterday’s post to see Tina Turner’s Hairdo Boots.

1) The “values voters” are wrong—what could possibly be morally right about killing innocent people? Isn’t that what the values voters are all about? How can someone find it morally repugnant to terminate the pregnancy of an unborn fetus, and yet support an unnecessary war that has killed tens of thousands Iraqis? And for what purpose—to find weapons of mass destruction? That lie has been clearly proven to be untrue. If ever there were WMDs, they were gone by the time the United States decided to “shock and awe” the city of Baghdad.2) If President Bush thinks that this sort of behavior is going to help with the war on terror, then he is sadly mistaken—and totally confused. Bombing a country into oblivion does not help eradicate terrorism. If anything, he has helped to produce a bastion of angry young terrorists. Terrorism is a new kind of ‘evil,’ to borrow his terminology. It is nationless and invisible—it has no conceivable locality. And since it is so different, we cannot use traditional methods to fight it. Bombing countries, for instance, does not help. It is not that kind of war anymore.

3) The whole “ownership society” is the most frightening thing I have ever heard. Sure, it’s easy for President Bush to say that he would like to privatize social security, but he’s so friggin’ wealthy that he doesn’t have to worry about his retirement. He probably could have retired at age 30 if he had wanted. Didn’t we learn anything from the Great Depression? To repeal the programs of the New Deal and the Great Society and institute a market-based social safety network is absurd. In theory, supply-side market economics work, but the problem is this: it isn’t profitable to run welfare systems. Not only that, but it is the government’s responsibility to provide an insurance network for its citizens, so that they can work, live, engage in the society to their fullest ability. In the long run, the costs go down: if you provide for your constituents, they are in turn more able to participate in the economy.

4) There is a reason why we have a separation of church and state. It is to protect the citizens of this country—in this case, gays and lesbians—from the tyranny of the beliefs of any one religious group. Everyone should have the right to practice their own religion—but to create an amendment to the Constitution that limits the rights on any one group is fundamentally (and morally, for those of you values voters) wrong. The Constitution should be about protecting rights, not limiting them, and to amend it to include an irrational fear that certain “[im]moral voters” can’t get over—to make homophobia not only legal, but encouraged—is very much overstepping the boundary between church and state. Not only that, but what does an evangelical Protestant from Minnesota care if two gay men get married in Massachussetts? This most certainly has no effect on the evangelist’s life, nor his or her ability to practice the religion. The evangelist would be better suited to be outraged about the real indecency: the growing inequality in this country, and the fact that our government isn’t doing anything about it.

The Day I Found Weapons of Mass Destruction

It was a cold January evening in Colorado Springs. I was sitting at my usual perch in the local coffee shop, my nose buried deep in readings about globalization and immigration. My mind, as it usually is, was wondering; my interest in studying ‘world systems theory’ could hardly trump my interest in the abandoned half-eaten hamburger on the table next to mine.

And then something caught my eye. It was my roommate, Lexie, at the window, signaling and waving and pointing with all her might. She was laughing–that roaring, suspicious laughter of hers–and pointing to the ground. I got up and reached for the door to find out what she was up to, and it was then that I noticed the little orange furball peering through the glass door.

Lexie was pointing to Weapons of Mass Destruction. He became our cat immediately, though Lexie announced that she hated cats and two of my other roommates were less than thrilled about his arrival. But it didn’t take long before he won everyone over–I mean, I hate cats too, but this little thing was simply adorable.


He’d rumble in the morning when you’d wake up (I’ve since learned that when a cat “rumbles,” it is actually “purring.” Who knew?) and circle around your ankles until you fed him. He was the only cat that I’ve ever met who put up with me petting him like he was a dog. He was never mean, and he faithfully kept me company during my late night thesis writing sessions. Sometimes, after a few hours of patrolling the neighborhood, he would try to get back in the house by jumping on the kitchen window, only to get stuck to the screen, and we’d find him there later meowing and barking and telling us that we should install a cat door.

The Day I Lost Weapons of Mass Destruction

Fast forward to today. Weapons, as he was commonly called (or Kiznat, or Gonads, or my personal favorite, Stoop, which was short for Stupid), had been living with my roommate Becca’s mother in Portland, Oregon. He adapted well to life in the rainy state, and quickly got used to his new neighborhood patrol.

I got the call from Becca a few hours ago. His neighborhood patrol took a turn for the worst. Somebody ran their car over Weapons of Mass Destruction. The poor cat. I like to think that Kiznat/Weapons/Gonads/Stoop is up there somewhere, chasing an eternal ball of yarn, patting his cute little paws in the sky. WMD went missing again, but at least, I think, he’s still happy.