Ants, Grasshoppers, the Election Parable
January 18th, 2008 by 5cents
With the US firmly entrenched in the political process ahead of their general elections, it’s easy to get swept up in all the hyperbole and propaganda. The Clinton-Obama Race Wars, the McCain-Romney Bore Wars and so on. What we have noticed, however, is that a lot of people are simply fed up with the Bush administration and current state of everything (economy on the verge of recession, never-ending war on terror, paranoia everywhere, etc.). Indeed, several people we got in touch with mentioned that regardless of the candidates, they were going to vote Democrat so as to remove from office a power-hungry, elitist, misguided administration. Well, we think it pays to be discerning and that both major parties should be considered regardless of the current Republican track record. A little parable to illustrate, yes? Read On! »
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Editor’s Note: Please welcome our newest author, Woland, to the BackWomb. A refreshingly opinionated thinker and budding writer, Woland can also lay claim to some stellar taste in music. A fitting start, then, as he opines about the state of race relations & “blackness” in his first article.
In a further confirmation that the so-called allies in the “War Against Terror” are a manipulative and simultaneously mindless bunch of fear mongers, the 
Propounded by the founding fathers of the United States of America and then later codified into the Bill of Rights, the right to bear arms has become a touchy subject as of late. The latest event to stimulate this debate were the Virginia Tech shootings. Since I personally know people on both sides of this issue, I thought I’d take a stab at it.
I’m a little behind the curve here since this is almost old news now but a couple days ago, the BBC website (as well as CNN, Fox News and the others) was plastered with news that Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind to the 9/11 attacks, had confessed to his crimes. I was a little tickled to see this as the man was arrested some four years ago. Arrested perhaps isn’t the right word since it generally applies if the suspect is in custody awaiting his day in a court of law. In this case, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed (KSM henceforth) had been held at undisclosed locations (by US intelligence in former East Bloc countries, Pakistan and some Arab states, a process lovingly called extraordinary rendition) for some 1400+ days before news of his confession broke forth.
One has to wonder who exactly plans wars these days. It used to be master tacticians, legendary strategists, brilliant field marshals and the like that were tasked with the tricky but dirty business of going to war. These days, any tool with the right political connections and sufficient standing in Congress can rustle up a backyard brawl… one that will claim several thousand lives (I am of course referring to the Iraq conflict but other examples are plentiful). Furthermore, the enlightened individuals (Senators, Representatives, etc.) tasked with oversight are just as clueless as the decision makers (read: the Democrats are as responsible for this as the Republicans).
You knew this was coming. By now you all know that Saddam is with his 40 virgins… or roasting in hell, whichever. He was executed by hanging on the 29th of December after an Iraqi court sentenced him to death for the killing of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail in 1982. Rule of law, right? End of a regime, right? He got what he deserved, right? Wrong, now let me explain.