800,000 dead???

[Tom]

From CNN-
On a brief visit to look at HIV/AIDS projects in the central African country, Clinton laid a wreath at a museum commemorating victims of the 100-day massacre by extremists from the Hutu majority which took place during his presidency.

"I express regret for my personal failure," he said before touring the museum, which features graphic images of people being decapitated and bodies twitching on the road.

"I think it faithfully, honestly, painfully presents the truth of the Rwandan genocide," he told reporters after seeing the museum which his Clinton Foundation partially funded.

"It is an important contribution to the history of the world, that the world cannot afford to forget," he said.

Clinton apologised on a previous visit to Rwanda in 1998 for not recognising the crime of genocide.

Clinton administration officials avoided the word in public for fear it would spark an outcry for action they were loathe to take, six months after U.S. troops were killed by Somali warlords in Mogadishu.

Rwanda was the last leg of Clinton's six nation African tour to see how the AIDS pandemic is affecting children on the world's poorest continent.
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Comment-
I never realized how many people actually died in Rwanda. Now-we all know that I'm a PA through and through. Ie-I like Clinton, I don't like Bush. But I do believe had the above events happened during Bush's presidency we would attack him to no end ......yet-Democrats somehow find a reason to say Clinton 'made a mistake'. We somehow don't get the same 'FUCK YOU' sentiment that we have for Bush. I find that fascinating...

We have become a nation of 'us' against 'them'. And I don't mean terrorism. I mean blue vs red. We tend to forgive the mistakes of our own tribe, and vilify the other when the same ones are made. This is not right.

Let's not forget that Clinton attacked Sudan after Al Qaeda striked the Navy .....and America killed a lot of innocents during his strike. We bombed medicine warehouses and tried to say they were something else.

Imagine Bush getting his cock sucked by some young intern and then lying about it-On national TV no less. I wonder what we would all say about Bush given the same scandal. Would we all REALLY as democrats say what we said then-"oh-it's just sex. Stop prying into poor Bush's sex life".

I don't know-I guess Sloth's America story had me thinking about it all.....mostly because I tend to play devil's advocate...it's just what I do.

But I guess I find more good in America than bad.

And whilst I don't disagree with pointing out what's bad about America (and god knows there is a lot), I have trouble comparing what's bad about America to what's good about Europe. ....because I can easily write a story about the good in America compared to the bad in Europe and make it sound like Bush has a twin and is running things over in Europe.

As far as culture and life as we know it in America on the decline-I don't agree. We have a president a lot of us don't like. We dont' like the war in Iraq. But war-just and unjust, has always been with us. This is nothing new. Lame presidents are nothing new. Fear and a bad economy and unrest are nothing new. Everything ebbs and flows....but ultimately I believe things get better and better every decade. I am a true believer that progress is made all the tiem. But every decade presents new problems to replace the old ones. I don't believe we should look at new problems and come to the conclusion that society is doomed. They are just the same hurdles in a new package. Problems, even with progress made will always exist.

Life/death. Happiness/Sadness. Creative/destructive. Ying/Yang. One can not exist without the other. Artists would not BE artists unless middle america and suburbia existed. Rebellion creates expression. We need each other....how can any of us know what joy is without pain?

[mccutcheon]

Bush would just lie about it-- and never give money for a museum in Africa.

[Tom]

I just worked 32 hours....somewhere in there I can home to sleep for 2hours.

I am going to bed and Bush can suck my kiss.

[mccutcheon]

sleep tight pretty boy.

[mccutcheon]

“Today I had to defend the Bush Administration in France again. They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American President for Africa. But it's empirically so.�--Bob Geldof

[Maverick]

Well put, Tom. Things always look terrible to those living through them. We do have to remember that there have always bee nthae same problems. And I agree, each generations' leaders tend to solve some problems, and open up the door to others. We have to hope for(and vote) the best leaders that we can to tryto get a few of the most pressing problems solved, before the next ones pop up.

[Sloth]

Well Tom, its a well known fact that Bush used to visit mexican hookers, get wildly drunk, dodge his military commitments, and powder his nose with cocaine.

If Bill had done that... he would never have been elected president. Remember how the Republicans crucfied Gary Hart and tried to crucify Clinton over marijuana?

Clinton wasn't perfect but if by some miracle he would have remained in office it is possible 9/11 could have been averted. If it had occured under his watch, no doubt his being a liberal and thereby "sucking at all things military" would have been the story from the neocons.

I don't think the Republicans are much better than the terrorists they are fighting. As for Bush doing anything for poverty in Africa that Clinton wouldn't have done, I'll believe it when I see it.

One of the most frustrating things that happened to me during my last days in the States was that I found myself agreeing more and more the politics of hatred that the neocons espouse.

My story was an attempt to break down the life versus money argument. There is no study ever done which links money to happiness and yet everyone makes that connection because that's what the TV programs us to believe.

Thanks for reading it... love from London!

[Tom]

Slothie-
Ya know it was not an attack on your story or ideas. Which is why I didn't reply in your story itself. Was more of a tangent idea that came about after reading your story-but certainly no reply to it or commentary on the story itself. (as always I think you're a great writer...that's a given).

Interestingly enough-you're comment on Bush being a drunk, sleeping with mexican prostitutes , dodging the military and doing cocaine make his a true PA-no? j/k.

I actually think Clinton would have gotten elected given the same thing..the country was ready for him...regardless.

I love the fact that we can say things like "I don't think the Republicans are much better than the terrorists they are fighting". I disagree to no end-but shit-that's the beauty of this country-we can say and think however we feel".

I don't think the Republicans are different than the 'general population' of Islamic countries. The ones who hate America and think we are evil.

But I do think that BOTH sides are better than terrorists. The ones who blow up buildings and behead people.

I think it's a bit like high school. (Democrats vs Republicans). The preppy kids against the artists. They both hate each other-and they both think they are right because the other side treats them like shit and doesnt accept them. But what always struck me as funny growing up is that when the artists hung out they made fun of the preps and treated them the same way they didn't want to be treated.

We all want to get away and leave and build our own community of people who only think like we do. Kinda boring to me.

In the end the republicans and democrats are harmless kids who bicker.

It's the weird kid who builds pipe bombs in his parents basement and dreams of blowing everyone up that is scary. And that kid is neither democrat nor republican.

There are scary kids like that who call themselves Islamic, Democratic, and Republican. Simply put-they are not.

[Sloth]

Yeah the weird ones are the ones to watch. Unfortunately they are normally the ones who join the military.

Tom, I guess we disagree which is okay. The least violent solution would be to apologize, pull out of Iraq, re-install Saddam or some new asshole as President, and impeach Bush for wasting 200 billion of our tax dollars.

That would be fair.

What I fear will happen is that Iraq will split into three parts and hatred of the West will increase in the Middle East and other muslim regions. The Gulf War II as fought by Bush and Blair seems nothing more than an Al Quaida recruiting drive.

Scary scary shit.

[Tom]

Well-no disagreement here about the war.

I do think the afghanistan invasion was......ok? Not sure what word I want to use there.

But Iraq-obviously we were lied to and the whole thing is just a disaster. No reason for us to be there and indeed-it's become a recruitment video for terrorisim.

Disgaree about who joins the military....I actually think most are pretty decent, sane, and upstanding. Now-the fact that most of the lower ranks are full of minority kids with no education and no moral compass is another story. But they are bred not by the military or the government...when does society become the blame and not the gov't??? We all are guilty if we live here and contribute nothing to development and awareness.

[Sloth]

Yeah I guess the military recruits all kinds... the weird kids would probably get court marshalled go bananas like in Full Metal Jacket. Starve, steal, or join the military seems to be the choice in many countries, including the US and Iraq.

I also hesitantly agree with the invasion of Aghanistan 100% and the attempt to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.

Iraq still leaves me bewildered. Officially we went in because of bad intel and we are staying because we need to spread liberty. The real reasons are very dark but its all about money and power in the end. More and more the conservatives everywhere are made to look like righteous tough guys and the liberals are made to look like girly men who have impossible ideals.

The world needs some love drugs. Chemistry and music can help us more than politics.

That awful Live 8 crap comes to mind. I really love how Damon Albarn and Bobbie G stood up against overwhelming criticism and called them a bunch of losers. People say it was because they weren't invited but mixing politics and music in such an official feel good way does seem a bad idea. And in the news a millions babies a year are dying in Nigeria. I hope they get to hear Coldplay and U2 before they die... it'll make the death more welcome.