"The Crazies"

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GC03Ak03.html

-snip-

But Bush administration policy toward the Middle East is being run by men - yes, only men - who were routinely referred to in high circles in Washington during the 1980s as the "crazies". I can attest to that personally, but one need not take my word for it.

According to James Naughtie, author of The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency, former secretary of state Colin Powell added an old soldier's adjective to the "crazies" sobriquet in referring to the same officials. Powell, who was military aide to defense secretary Casper Weinberger in the early 1980s, was overheard calling them "the f---ing crazies" during a phone call with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw before the war in Iraq.

-snip-

The very same men who, acting out of that paradigm, brought us the war in Iraq, are now focusing on Iran, which they view as the only remaining obstacle to American domination of the entire oil-rich Middle East. They calculate that, with a docile, corporate-owned press, a co-opted mainstream church, and a still-trusting populace, the US and/or the Israelis can launch a successful air offensive to disrupt any Iranian nuclear weapons programs - with the added bonus of possibly causing the regime in power in Iran to crumble.

-snip-

An earlier American warned:
A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation facilitates the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, infuses into one the enmities of the other, and betrays the former into participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification ... It also gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens, who devote themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country.
- George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

In my view, our first president's words apply only too aptly to this administration's lash-up with the Sharon government. As responsible citizens we need to overcome our timidity about addressing this issue, lest our fellow Americans continue to be denied important information neglected or distorted in our domesticated media.
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I wouldn't call them crazy, I call them criminals.

[slor]

1. LOL...

I thought this was a discussion of the Romero film.

[Tummler]

2. Me too

Amazon.com review:

During the 10 years between Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, director George Romero had a string of box-office flops--some of which were actually quite good. For example,there's The Crazies, in which a military plane carrying biological-warfare agents crashes near Evans City, Pennsylvania. The virus gets into the town's water supply and has two effects on the infected: death or irreversible insanity. The military moves in to contain the situation, but the local populace regards the army as a menacing force and things rapidly spin out of control. Soon the highly contagious virus infects the whole town and the soldiers as well, while a government scientist races to find an antidote. The Crazies features some great set pieces as the virus spreads: a little old lady smiles sweetly and stabs a soldier to death with a knitting needle; a young woman placidly sweeps with a broom while soldiers and locals have a bloody firefight around her; a soldier swings his rifle wildly at his comrades until they shoot him.

Made in the shadow of both Vietnam and Watergate, The Crazies contains plenty of allegory: an invasion by military force, government cover-up and duplicity, madness and eventually genocide (all set, of course, in Romero's beloved Pennsylvania). The President only appears on television, and then only the back of his head is shown as he speaks in detached, almost bored tones. Like Night of the Living Dead, this film offers no hope, no comfort, and sure as hell no happy ending. Keep an eye out for Romero in a somewhat gassy role as Evans City's mayor. --Jerry Renshaw

[donsu]

3. how very interesting - they say there is no such thing as coincidence

nt