VIDEO: Swastikas smeared in beans found on Arizona state Capitol grounds

By GottaLaff

Vandalism like this isn't the answer, but it does provide a glimpse at what's in store when people-- and that's what they are, people-- feel persecuted, terrified, and pushed to the limit:



This country has a history of being driven by fear, anger, and hate, most recently, via BushCo's attempt to scare us into submission with their obsession with a war on a word (terrorism). Muslims became the enemy, even though only a fraction deserved the label "terrorist".

Now we have an African American in the White House. As a result, we also have hate-mongers and racists who are so terrified that their majority white comfort zone is being pulled out from under them that they attack anyone who is "different".

Dangerous armed militias are becoming more and more prevalent. Who will protect us from those nutcases? Pfft, it's much easier to target immigrants, make them the scapegoats. They don't "belong". They're "different". They must prove that they are American.

Now the "different" are starting to retaliate.

How about targeting illegal employers? How about writing constructive immigration laws that make sense rather than demanding birth certificates from anyone who strikes law enforcement as "illegal"?

Let's try to remember that we live in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, not the land of the harassed and the home of the cowardly. Let's remember that E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one"), was once considered our de facto motto... not, "Where are your papers?"

Afghan president wishes he could down U.S. planes

By GottaLaff

Things are not going well between Bush and the president of Afghanistan. According to Karzai, all he needs is some string and a rock to show Bush who's boss:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday he would bring down U.S. planes bombing villages if he could, in a sign of growing tension between Afghanistan and its Western backers as the Taliban insurgency grows in strength. [...]

In recent weeks, Karzai has repeatedly blamed the West for the worsening security in Afghanistan, saying NATO failed to target Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan and calling for the war to be taken out of Afghan villages.

"We have no other choice, we have no power to stop the planes, if we could, if I could ... we would stop them and bring them down," Karzai told a news conference.

He said that if he had something like the rock attached to a piece of string, known as a chelak in Dari, used to bring down kites in Afghanistan, he would use it.

"If we had a chelak, we would throw it and stop the American aircraft. We have no radar to stop them in the sky, we have no planes," he said. "I wish I could intercept the planes that are going to bomb Afghan villages, but that's not in my hands."

Not exactly a sign of a budding friendship.