Bombing Disneyland

It's The Happiest Place on Earth!

I love days laden with a special irony Like today: the 53rd anniversary of the opening of Disneyland and the 63rd anniversary of the detonation of the atomic bomb in Alamagordo, NM. Perhaps it's the juxtaposition of the two that makes America seem so...schizophrenic. Unbridled love and unrelenting hate. One is more fantasy than reality while the other one is more reality than fantasy. And America not only revels in the dichotomy, it SELLS it! We build love-filled theme parks in other countries while selling missiles to their potential enemies. "Crazy Americans," used to get a jovial laugh, but now it instills fear and distrust.

Here is a very insightful snippet from the reaction to 9/11:
From the Shalom Center. Org

"Are they bombing Disneyland?": The Children's Truth

By Ched Myer

A friend of mine who teaches in the local public school reported that this was the first question asked her by third graders the morning of September 11th, as the news of the terrorist attacks filtered out across the social landscape of America.

Reflecting on that throughout the following days, I concluded that once again the children have pointed us to the truth.

Insofar as "the magic Kingdom" can stand in as a preeminent metaphor for the insular fantasy of American innocence and denial — our myth of the nation as Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland all at once, the happiest place on earth — then Disneyland truly did suffer indelible destruction. But what world lies outside our shattered dream of ourselves?

But even more penetrating is the quote from Chalmers Johnson included in the piece:

"Terrorism strikes at the innocent in order to draw attention to the sins of the invulnerable. The innocent of the twenty-first century are going to harvest unexpected blowback disasters from the imperialist escapades of recent decades. Although most Americans may be largely ignorant of what was, and still is, being done in their names, all are likely to pay a steep price — individually and collectively — for their nation's continued efforts to dominate the global scene."

Imperialism, however, can be apolitical in the sense that it can be a dream of theocrats. Yes, I'm bringing Reconstructionists into the picture because they go hand-in-hand with imperialism.

Pat Robertson once said "There will never be world peace until God's house and God's people are given their rightful place of leadership at the top of the world."

Sounds like imperialism to me.

Disney's Concept Art for Pirates of the Carribbean

The above graphic and accompanying rhetoric was posted on Flickr.

I just read the Guardian and feel sick again!!!!!To all the FUCKING love&peace&no-war-morons.FUCK your FUCKING worldview....This is not DISNEYLAND,this is the REAL life!!!!

"Some People Do Bad Things"

...And Just Who Is Responsible For Them?

From The Washington Independent:

Feith, the former undersecretary of defense for policy, testified that he was an ardent proponent of the Geneva Conventions, even though he approved of interrogation policies that no international lawyer has ever argued complies with Geneva protections. These "enhanced interrogation techniques" included 20-hour questioning sessions; the physical contortion regimen known as "stress positions"; the use of dogs for interrogations;
Man being "interrogated"
for wearing "non-Islamic
dress"

removing a detainee’s clothing, and exploiting detainees’ fears. He claimed that official administration policy was that detainees should never be tortured—though he conceded that under certain conditions the techniques approved by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could constitute cruel, inhumane and therefore illegal treatment. Feith conceded that detainees in U.S. custody had been tortured and, in some cases, murdered, but denied that there was any connection between that behavior and official policy. "Some people do bad things," he said.

Now Comes The Case of Omar Kadr: (from Rolling Stone)

His name was Omar Khadr. Born into a fundamentalist Muslim family in Toronto, he had been prepared for jihad since he was a small boy. His parents, who were Egyptian and Palestinian, had raised him to believe that religious martyrdom was the highest achievement he could aspire to. In the Khadr family, suicide bombers were spoken of with great respect. According to U.S intelligence, Omar's father used charities as front groups to raise and launder money for Al Qaeda. Omar's formal military training -- bombmaking, assault-rifle marksmanship, combat tactics -- before he turned twelve. For nearly a year before the Ab Khail siege, according to the U.S. government, Omar and his father and brothers had fought with the Taliban against American and Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan. Before that, they had been living in Jalalabad, with Osama bin Laden. Omar spent much of his adolescence in Al Qaeda compounds.

... [Upon incarceration] At that moment, Omar entered the extralegal archipelago of torture chambers and detention cells that the Bush administration has erected to prosecute its War on Terror. He has remained there ever since.

There are radical fundamentalists on both sides of this war. We hear the term used only in the Islamic context, and we certainly can not ever imagine equating even our most extreme Religious Right with the strictest tenets of Islam.

We've heard it said that a popular preacher has stated that America was created to "destroy Islam" It's the word "destroy" that carries just violent visions. On both sides, men are telling other men to kill.

Just a thought.