Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

We interrupt this political campaign silly season for a needed reality slap

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If you only read one article in the Globe today, make it this one:

http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

Kevin Cullen is a gift. He shakes us awake and brings us back to the point.

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  1. Poor child.  Prayers for him.

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    p>Beyond that, what can we do?  Who can we blame for this tragedy?

    <

    p>(1) “the Bush/Cheney regime” for getting us into Iraq?
    (2) the US military brass for lax rules of engagement?
    (3) the boots on the ground for shooting the approach vehicle with Rakan and his family in it?
    (4)  the sick bastards that blew Rakan up?

    <

    p>I pick #4.  I know this is likely to be contrary to the sentiments of most BMGers. But what sort of people do this?   Answer here.

    <

    p>They should be hunted down. I’m sorry this sounds harsh.

  2. I read the article and it is a heart breaker. It also underscores that we never should have invaded Iraq.

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    p>A week ago at a garden party I had a long conversation with an Iraqi doctor who is now a graduate student here and living in Cambridge. He said the irony of this whole thing is that the last years before the invasion, Saddam Hussein had become compliant and almost a benevolent dictator knowing that his power was waning and eventually he would have been overthrown from within — but that the
    american people were not being told the truth about this.

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    p>In this political season we have two candidates: one who had the judgment to oppose this war from the beginning and one who supported it.

    <

    p>The McCain campaign tries to center the dialog around the fact that he supported the surge and that it “worked” what ever that means when the point should be driven home that we never should have fought the war in the first place, that it has wrought untold tragedy and destruction, not to mention the ravaging of our economy.  

    <

    p>General Wesley Clark like Obama, had the wise judgment to oppose the war from the beginning, unlike Hillary or Evan Bayh.

    <

    p>No one is more qualified to make this case than General
    Clark, and as I argued in my post yesterday — the Obama campaign needs to step back and seriously consider putting Clark on the ticket.

  3. Lets not make this political. Iraq was a tragic place under Saddam Hussein who was far from benevolent. Remember he tortured people in Abu Gharib and in far worse ways long before our soldiers did and his sons raped and pillaged little girls. He was a barbarian. And certainly the country in anarchy like this, soldiers ill prepared for fighting an unconventional urban street war and probably real anxious on the trigger after seeing so many of their friends die, and of course the innocent people that get caught in the crossfire.

    <

    p>Iraq was and remains an endless tragedy and the only thing that I take away from all of this is a mixture of tragedy and hope. The boy could’ve stayed here in the US, could’ve had his choice of happy families willing to adopt him, could have become a Red Sox fan, ate East Boston pizza, had Brighams ice cream, and become a real Bostonian and have great friends here while getting the best medical treatment in Americas best hospitals. Yet the boy had the courage and the hope to go back to Iraq hoping that his homeland would be better. And we ought to forget about the politics of this war, and focus in on the tragedy, that hope was defeated by fate in a literal sense, but that fate in many respects will not defeat hope in the long run since as long as Iraq has true patriots like this boy and many others who are willing to sacrifice the comfort and safety of the US and elsewhere for the hazards of returning and maybe improving their homeland, the end result of this whole tragic fiasco might actually be a hopeful light at the end of this long, dark, tragic tunnel.

  4. <

    p>There was a little Peabody get together on Saturday, August 2nd.  

    <

    p>Folks were very direct!

    <

    p>There is a war on!  People have to work two jobs to make ends meet!

    <

    p>One lady with her grandchild, in a stroller, meekly picked up an O’Reilly flyer.  When offered a Kerry flyer too, she staunchly replied she didn’t need one of those!

    <

    p>A young lady, gleefully, took a Kerry bumper sticker.

    <

    p>A gentleman said he knew whom he was for and said sternly, “John Kerry is out for himself and always has been!”  He said he was for O’Reilly and already had a sticker and didn’t need to take one because he hoped someone else could use it.

    <

    p>Obviously, John Keery has some heavy lifting to do if he wants to make ammends.  I hope John Kerry’s paid staffers can count!

    <

    p>On the VP front, the consensus was that Obama is just getting a taste of what the GOP has in store for him.  People strongly felt if Barack is the nominee, he needs Hillary to take on the Republicans.  She has experience with them!

    <

    p>That’s the message from Peabody on Saturday, August, 2.

    <

    p>Kaine, Biden, and Bayh; three boring guys!  Kaine is the best of them because he is an outsider.  But still; it is in our party’s best interest, and the nation’s, for Hillary to be vice president.

    <

    p>Not that anyone asked!

    <

    p>Note to file:  When canvassing in New Hampshire aand Maine it may teach the Harvard and MIT folks something about how working people think if you don’t segrigate!

    <

    p>Reality is sometimes unflattering!

    <

    p>Does the word “elitist” apply here?

    <

    p>

      • Yes, I put in a purposeful spelling eror with “segregate.”  There are numerous places for you to comment about style, grammar, and even punctuation.

        <

        p>How predictable you are to take the bait!

        <

        p>”Can’t we all just get along?”

        <

        p>Maybe us poli. sci. majors from Salem State would be fortunate enough to learn from you Ivy Leaguers?  Heaven forbid you could learn something from us “lowly” mortals!

        <

        p>Notwitstanding, go Barack!  And treat Hillary and her people with pity!  Or try dignity and respect!

        <

        p>

  5. Remembering Rakim
       After Teasdales, “If Death is Kind”

    <

    p>Perhaps death will be kind, and Rakim and Brian;

    <

    p>will come back to the shore and gaze upon the waves,

    <

    p>And walk beside the rock strewn streams in Cambridge

    <

    p>with no sounds from cars, or crowds, but only the wind.

    <

    p>They will meet in dreams, among deeper shadows

    <

    p>and the endless waves along the shores of New England;

    <

    p>Amidst the high keening call of sea birds;

    <

    p>there for a single hour, hidden even from starlight

    <

    p>they shall be happy, for the dead are free.

    <

    p>In rememberance of a boy I never met, who experienced brief freedom in New England, but died young.  2008 D.S. Butler

    • When will we see the Globe do a story on the orphans of 9/11?

      <

      p>With all the tears and pleas and why questions from some other 12 year old brother or sister who lost a mom ,dad or other family member that day???

      <

      p>When will we see that??

      <

      p>You know, fair and balanced?

      <

      p>The Boston Globe makes me sick, as do all the BMG’ers who grovel over these tragic stories. Yes Tragic, because they engender sympathy for terrorists .

      <

      p>Amazing to read this especially

      <

      p>”the last years before the invasion, Saddam Hussein had become compliant and almost a benevolent dictator”

      <

      p>YES BECAUSE WE ISOLATED AND BOMBED HIS AIR FORCE AND DIDN’T ALLOW HIM TO GO TO THE NORTH OR SOUTH OF HIS OWN COUNTRY.

      <

      p>That still didn’t stop him from atrocities

      <

      p>Do you not remember??????

      <

      p>Or ere you too busy at a Cambridge garden party blaming the bad appetizers on Bush?

      <

      p>

      • Here’s the Globe page from the one year anniversary.  Every victim is listed, plus there are multiple in-depth profiles of survivors and families.

        <

        p>If you check the Globe archives, you’ll see that they have similar coverage every year at the anniversary.  That page just stands out for its thoroughness and thoughtfulness.

        <

        p>I’m proud to make you sick.  Kicking strawmen to death is un-American.

        • please, please let us know where Osama Bin Laden is!

          <

          p>You are so convinced he is alive……

          <

          p>Where is he?????

          • But, what reason do you have to think he’s dead?  Last I checked no one disputed the authenticity of his last video.

            <

            p>Oh wait, you were just being obnoxious.  Never mind.

      • If you still think Iraq had something to do with the 9/11 attackes, it’s likely due to your steady diet of “fair and balanced” news from Faux News Channel.

  8. story yesterday morning.   My first sentiment after sadness was like yours–this is a story of human suffering and hope that should snap us back from petty politics.   After tragedy, this story also says a lot about the empathy of the care-givers (and facilitators) and the strengths of the human spirit.    

    <

    p>Link to earlier story:   Rakan’s war
    “This is a story about a boy, and a war. About hatred and healing, pain and longing. About redemption, or the dream of it. About going home, even when home is just about the most dangerous place on earth. But mostly it’s about a boy. His name is Rakan. He is 12 years old. He got shot in Iraq. And for five months, a medical team in Boston tried to put him back together again.”

    <

    p>http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

    • I will never be surprised by the Boston Globe writing stories about any victim “but” the people most Americans care about. We have the convicted felons who are serving time for rape, A&B, robbery but have just passed their basket weaving test so the Boston Globe wants to give them a Gold medal. Or the gang banger who has inflicted untold pain and misery on people “in his own neighborhood” but has a skill for art so let’s give him a scholarship to Art School (while some law abiding poor bastard will have to pay for their tuition).

      <

      p>I read the Boston Globe almost everyday can’t believe they rarely side with the good’ole law abiding Americans. Why not write a story about some kid in the ghetto who didn’t break any laws and is a success, write one about the victims of crime in the US who need help, write about poverty in States like Alabama (vs. Timbuktu) so philanthropic Americans might help out other Americans before they send their charitable donations “outside” the US.

      <

      p>So I will blame #4, the suicide bomber who killed Rakan. It is too bad the Boston Globe decided to publish this story back in 2006 and make political hay out of it. Maybe if they has simple helped the boy and not paraded the story he would be alive today and $300,000 would have been spent on Americans in dire straights.

      • The enemy is at work in this country.

        <

        p>Many of them reside here with their twisted view of the World

        <

        p>It’s not some big f’ing joke like these guys make it out to be either.

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