Monday, August 22, 2005
Terrorist Identified
Hm. Let's see. Someone advocates the assassination of a duly elected world leader, in order to keep their oil flowing. Sounds like a terrorist threat to me, and I would like to hereby inform the FBI that they should arrest the following individual for advocating the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez: Pat Robertson. He made his threats on TV, on The 700 Club.
But, anyway, tell me this: why are Robertson's comments any different than, say, a Muslim American who publicly advocated assassinating Tony Blair? In the latter case, you can bet your ass that said Muslim American would quickly be disappeared, and whatever mosque he happened to attend would be shut down and seized. Why should Robertson be treated any differently?
Simple point of fact: in his guise as a religious leader, he has advocated violence against a sitting head of state. He's a terrorist. He should be arrested, and the church to which he belongs shut down, all assets seized.
I mean, that is, if you're going to be at all consistent on the definition of terrorist. I'm not going to hold my breath, though. Because the war on (some) Terror(ists) has nothing to do with advocacy, and everything to do with religion and racial profiling.
The Christian Wingnuts can advocate anything they want, and short of actually killing someone while bombing an abortion clinic, the government isn't going to do jack to stop them. But, to be a Muslim in America nowadays means you can't even look cross-eyed at a WalMart clerk without being suspect.
And this is a sad, sad thing. This is not the America in which I grew up. This is not America at all. This is the Theocratic Empire of Amerika, under Supreme Ayatollah George W. Bush. The land in which someone like Pat Robertson can make terroristic threats in public, and nothing happens.
The land in which powerless brown people are screwed.
"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said.And I think Robertson deserves a quick one-way trip to Gitmo. Not only is he saying the kind of things that hurt America -- Chavez recently threatened to stop Venezuela's twice-a-day oil tankers because of W's attitude toward him -- but he's ignorant of history. He accused the US of failing to act when Chavez was overthrown in 2002 but, surprise surprise, it was the US that tried to overthrow him, and the people of Venezuela who made sure that this did not happen. Chavez is only a "strong-arm dictator" in the eyes of Venezuela's rich -- who would probably vote Republican if given the chance.
"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
But, anyway, tell me this: why are Robertson's comments any different than, say, a Muslim American who publicly advocated assassinating Tony Blair? In the latter case, you can bet your ass that said Muslim American would quickly be disappeared, and whatever mosque he happened to attend would be shut down and seized. Why should Robertson be treated any differently?
Simple point of fact: in his guise as a religious leader, he has advocated violence against a sitting head of state. He's a terrorist. He should be arrested, and the church to which he belongs shut down, all assets seized.
I mean, that is, if you're going to be at all consistent on the definition of terrorist. I'm not going to hold my breath, though. Because the war on (some) Terror(ists) has nothing to do with advocacy, and everything to do with religion and racial profiling.
The Christian Wingnuts can advocate anything they want, and short of actually killing someone while bombing an abortion clinic, the government isn't going to do jack to stop them. But, to be a Muslim in America nowadays means you can't even look cross-eyed at a WalMart clerk without being suspect.
And this is a sad, sad thing. This is not the America in which I grew up. This is not America at all. This is the Theocratic Empire of Amerika, under Supreme Ayatollah George W. Bush. The land in which someone like Pat Robertson can make terroristic threats in public, and nothing happens.
The land in which powerless brown people are screwed.
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