My first son is going to be borned in two months, you can be sure that you will be one of the examples when he grows up.

Best regards

Christian Maciel
Sao Paulo, Brazil

I hear all the time from people here “down south” that complain about the US because of people such as that “Joe”, that type of guy and President Bush are the present examples of the US politics

What I do when that happens is to demonstrate ( look for science here ) that there is people in the US such as you that look “trought the smoke” to see what can come from such a bill that goes against the basic rights of the people and against international laws ( such as the Geneva convention).

A question to ask to anyone that supports that bill, if the US decided that doesn’t have to respect the Geneva convention. Do any enemy have the same right ?

When I as what we see when such a bill passes I remember my childhood, you see I was borned in Argentina, my family was one of the many that had to leave the country because the military regime in power at that time considered that anything could be valid to “bring peace and security”.

Personal liberties were suspended, special courts and secret courts created, laws about special “jailing” created.

Does it seem bad ? I would ask Joe something, would he agree in being the guy that goes to Jail, or the US G.I. that has go throught interrogation after capture.

I always enjoyed your site because of the science involved, please, keep the GREAT work.

Best regards

Christian Maciel
Sao Paulo, Brasil

Joe & other right-wingers if you think bombing peopel and invading nations and all this isn’t evil .. but Janet Jackson showing part of a mammary gland for half-a second gets you frothing at the mouth then I suggest you take a long hard look at things and try to recall a few words the Bible (among other sources) says like : Do unto others

Do Unto The Iraqis as ye’d be done by .. Imagine Iraq has invaded America, toppled Bush, bombed the living daylights out of New York or Bible Belt whereever you live ..

Do unto the Palestrineans .. Imagine if someone else had turned you into second class citizens in your own land, killed half your family then blown up your house because another family member or friend chose tofight back even at the cost of their own life..

Much as Americans wish to believ it tehsepeople aren’t mindless, stereotypical fanatical barbarians doing what theydo because they want todestory The good of US of A.

They’re doing unto you over what yopu’ve being doing unto them and te sooner you realise that & change course the better. Stop supporting the murder, torture and oppression of so many in the Muslim world for once and you just see if that doesn’t make a huge difference!

10 quotes & their sources to consider for whatever its worth :

1) ” ..the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. We [the USA] are only 6% of the World’s population – we cannot impose our will upon the other 94% of mankind.”
- John F. Kennedy. (Quoted by Phillip Adams, Page 11, ‘Weekend Australian’ magazine. Dec. 13-14, 2003.)

2) Quote from President Eisenhower (quoted in ’The Guardian weekly’, 2005 Jan 28th – Feb. 3rd .) : “We cannot consider that the armed invasion and occupation of another country are peaceful or proper means to achieve justice and conformity with international law.”

3) ‘Since it is impossible to coerce thought, the way to social harmony is to discuss conflict and pursue truth; the more people speak their minds freely, the more they are likely to be loyal citizens.’
– Jewish Dutch 17th C philosopher, B. Spinoza.

4) “.. the very best defense against terrorism would be the example of the world’s strongest nation leading the world in the moral battle against poverty, disease, intolerance, and oppression.”
- Jim Wallis, head of the ‘Sojourner’s’ Christian Anti-War movement.

5) “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” – Dom Helder Camara

6) “Wherever our armies have marched, wherever they have encamped, every species of barbarity has been executed. We planted an irrevocable hatred wherever we went, which neither time nor measure will be able to eradicate.”
- Col. Charles Stuart during the American War of Independence, 1778.

7) “There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies against despots – suspicion.”
- Demosthenes, Phillipics-2. [Collins Concise Dictionary of Quotations, P.108.]
“Protest : the alternative to complicity”
Senator Bob Brown, quoted in ‘The Age’, 2004 May 15th.

9) The Earth should not be cut up into hundreds of different sections, each inhabited by a self-defined segment of humanity that considers its own welfare and its own “national security” to be paramount above all other considerations. … I am not a Zionist, then, because I don’t believe in nations … There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don’t come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.”
- Isaac Asimov, Pages 419-421, ‘ I Asimov : A memoir’ chapter 7 ‘anti-Semitism’, Bantam Books , 1995.

& 10) “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

If USA, the nation that used to call itself the beacon of reason, justice and compassion, falls to Fascism and degenerates to the level of the indisciminate mass-murderers we claim to despise, all of the people of Earth will face truly horrible times. USA is still, despite the terrible damage done to it by years of Bush madness, the best hope humanity has to survive.

And here you are on that same soap box and it isn’t even yours. Perhaps you failed to notice.

As to your perspective that they’re all bad and we’re all good, it lacks one important dimension and the rationale you conclude from it leaves out one important fact.

The missing dimension, they and we are only a fraction of the people involved. If you think the USA rules the world, then don’t be surprised when in the process of violating the sovereignty of our allies’ countries they call such a position into question. Don’t be surprised when our allies don’t come to our aide. Don’t be surprised when the incredibly egocentric position as you describe it leads to many many more joining the forces that oppose us. Just as we would oppose any other country that held that attitude toward us.

Which brings me to the important fact you left out of your version. Regardless of how self righteous you feel about your position, and how justified you feel, that doesn’t equate to your position actually being effective. Great, you feel justified, while even more people join the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Watching Frontline last night, I saw Bush express your very attitude and make public demands in Pakistan that Musharif should do more. Bush acted like an ignorant bully. His lack of common diplomacy only served to push Pakistan one step closer toward destabilization.

You may feel justified but all the while WWIII looms ever larger. Doesn’t it make more sense to be smarter than to be tougher? Or do you not think humans are really at the top of the food chain with brains over brawn taking the clear advantage?