Pity The Nation.......

[McGyver]

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation—oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti on DN--12/24/07

[Notus Lotus]

No, he's full of pity for the nation.
Much like we pitied the poor Iraqis their brutal lives under Saddam, so we invaded their country, killed all kinds of their people, and made everything better for them. Were we full of self-pity? No, we had pity for someone else. Just like Ferlinghetti feels for our nation.
Didn't you read the poem?

[Notus Lotus]

We killed men, women, children.

In my opinion that's all kinds of people.

I think your take on the poem reveals a decided lack of empathy for someone who feels pain because of the way our nation has been trashed and sullied on the world front by the Bush group. I share Ferrlinghetti's distress.

Mark Twain was prescient when he wrote the following. In my opinion, your conscience has been soothed. and you can't recognize the process of grotesque self-deception.

"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." Mark Twain. The Mysterious Stranger 1916

[Notus Lotus]

ALL Iraqis (Muslim, Christian, men, women, children) were targeted by US forces when we dropped bombs on their cities.

Don't know about the Muslims. You tell me.

I love Mark Twain too, and if you've read his works, you understand that he would be just as anti- "preemptive" invasion and killing of innocent people as I am.

[Drivesme]

I love Mark Twain, but I fail to use his work as a propaganda tool for facist muslims. I don't think ole Mark had that in mind when he wrote it or do you have some information contrary to that? I don't think you do. This is no more than your opinion of a Mark Twain piece of work and emotions manipulating you, not me.

As to the USA killing men, women, and children.....

I'd like you to tell me how many Iraqi civilians have been targeted by the US military and how many have been targeted by fascist muslims. Thanks.

If they weren't 'targeted' are they still dead?

[Notus Lotus]

I think you're mistaken. Do you have a link to your information that the US military targeted Iraqi citizens when we dropped bombs on their cities? Thanks.

The link is called brain cells. If you drop bombs on cities, you aren't targeting terrorists. You're targeting whoever is there. That's very simple. I'm sure you agree.