No Enemies

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

SB 7.5.10: O best of your family, has this pollution of your intelligence been brought about by you or by the enemies? We are all your teachers and are very eager to hear about this. Please tell us the truth.

SB 7.5.11: Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose external energy has created the distinctions of "my friend" and "my enemy" by deluding the intelligence of men. Indeed, I am now actually experiencing this, although I have previously heard of it from authoritative sources.

SB 7.5.12: When the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased with the living entity because of his devotional service, one becomes a paṇḍita and does not make distinctions between enemies, friends and himself. Intelligently, he then thinks, "Every one of us is an eternal servant of God, and therefore we are not different from one another."

[Murali_Mohan_das]

I quoted the above passage in a reply to my (Christian) uncle who forwarded me the following:

 

THE SPEECH GEORGE BUSH SHOULD GIVE

 

We all have our disagreements with President Bush. Immigration, U.S. Attorney firings, Iraq, Darfur, etc. are all hot topics these days. The following "speech" was written yesterday by an ordinary "Maineiac." While satirical in nature, all satire must have a basis in fact to be effective. An excellent piece by a person who does not write for a living. Sent with the author's permission.

 

The speech George W. Bush SHOULD give:

 

Normally, I start these things out by saying "My Fellow Americans", not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

 

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you, there's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.

 

The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

 

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high.

 

Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton Administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.

 

Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.

 

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this "blood for oil" thing. If I was trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied People Died' crap either. If I was the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

 

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to outspend and out-tech them.

 

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you. And the bastards are all over the globe.

 

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States si nce September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor'.

 

Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

 

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dammit, you might just as well Fedex a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

 

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol.

 

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching. I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

 

So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self- sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

 

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President . You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there're just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

 

So that's it. God bless what's left of America. Some of you know what I mean.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Since I posted the letter to which I was responding, and since the letter contains many "factual" errors in addition to theological errors, I am including a response from another recipient of the letter, and my own response to that response:

 

 

 

 

I am actually going to take time out from work to respond to this email. We are extremely fortunate to live in a country where any type of information you may need is right at your fingertips ... in numerous ways. Whether we chose to be ignorant or, just plain lazy, reflects who we are in so many ways. Including responses to this letter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me just make mention I work in New York City and remember the details of September 11, 2001 quite clearly. I work in a building where we were able to see the twin towers destruction very clearly. To witness those two planes crashing into the towers and to see individuals jumping out of the windows not knowing what else to do or, where else to go ... was unimaginable. I learned on that day and for the coming weeks just what we really know in this country and how very uninformed we are compared to our surrounding neighbors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember those many conversations I had with various individuals after September 11th and since those people who lost their lives will forever be with me ... so will the comments I heard and the people I was able to speak with -- most importantly, listened to. So, my question is .... whatever happened to the hunt for Osama? How did we get so poorly and badly mislead into a war with Iraq? Was it because papa Bush hated Sadam so much (a comment he made numerous times while president as well as when his son took office) he had to make his statement by destruction?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe if this country had sufficient jobs in the mid-western states as well as down south, our very young men and women wouldn't be jumping to go into the military so quickly for that $400 a month pay check. How many times on CNN have I seen young adults crying they would not have done this if they knew what it was really all about? Too many! There is a cable news called BBC News that is on WLIW 21 in New York ... don't know what channel in other states ... watch it and become informed. You will be greatly surprised at what we are not told on "our" news networks. Don't be afraid ... check it out. Try news.bbc.co.uk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahh, yes. What about housing, employment, the stock market, our economy. Well, we have many people losing their homes because, they paid far to much for them to begin with and now, with jobs being lost (gosh, we have sooo many of them!) and salaries being decreased (on all levels -- I work with an executive retained search firm) generously, mortgages are becoming a nightmare rather than the American dream come true. Fuel to heat homes cannot be met. The average middle class family can barely make it living in a city environment anymore because our economy has sky rocketed. I don't know about you but, I've made and have numerous investments trying to prepare for a retirement I'm not sure I'm going to see, and have been hit very hard in the stock market -- not in a good way I might add. For every gain, within a month or two, I end up losing. My financial advisor keeps telling me to "hold on" and I keep telling him, "I turned 48 this year!, I'm a hold' in!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has the average individual grown impatient ... you're damn right! And, for good reason. Listen, we all have our sob stories and, most importantly, our opinions and, this is only mine. I read this letter and reacted because, too many people are struggling. Too many people are living hand to fist (pay check to pay check). Too many people cannot buy that first home never mind a second. Too many families are without medical insurance. Too many senior citizens cannot make it day to day in this country for various reasons. Isn't government supposed to serve/benefit the people?

 

 

 

 

 

 

If there was ever a time for Mr. Bush to resign, it would have been yesterday when he asked the Queen of England ... "So, why are you visiting with us? To celebrate 1776?" Naturally she looked at him as if he had lost his mind. No, actually, it was to celebrate Independence Day in West Virginia. Sad, very sad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, my time is up. I could go on however, I'm sure most of you either closed this before reading it in it's entirety or, is asking me to shut the $%#@ up already. In any case, remember, this is only MY opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading. -d.

 

Here's my further response:

 

 

No. I *thank* you very much for standing up and letting your voice be heard. Your points were almost all things that had occurred to me. I did not have the patience to write them all down, and took the spiritual approach instead.

There's nothing more repugnant to me than to use the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks as justification for perpetrating atrocities many times larger in scale ("depleted uranium" munitions anyone? See "Beyond Treason" to hear in the Vets own words the effects of the substances to which we deliberately exposed them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McVhrnSb5wY)).

It's very easy to "cook the books" (remember Enron) to make the economy look like it's doing well. Judging by the number of "For Sale" signs I seen in front of homes in my area, folks are not doing as well as some would like us to believe.

Thanks, Donna, for helping to restore my faith in the intelligence and perspicacity of my fellow Americans! We can't accept anything our leaders tell us (both sides of the aisle) without healthy skepticism.