IM Goes Global

I found a funny, satirical blog, nominally written by Kim Jong-il of North Korea. It’s only a few days old, so there isn’t much content yet, but the funniest bits are the transcripts of instant message chats he’s had with the shrub. Here’s one of the funniest:

Yesterday I wrote about why I believe that protesting the war is still important, and briefly explored the notion that being antiwar does not mean one doesn’t support the actual soldiers involved in the fighting.

Today I came across an interesting post over at will wheaton dot net. Will shared the thoughts of a friend of his, a US veteran, regarding soldiers and leaders, and who gets the blame for what. Here are some of the key thoughts, though the whole article (short) is worth reading:

Good question. I think what it boils down to is being able to separate the two things (the war and the people on the front lines fighting it) in your mind. Most people can’t get their mind around that: How can I support that guy that just dropped a bomb that went off target and took out a day care center?

I could say a lot more about this, but to my mind, you can protest the war, and at the same time, hang a yellow ribbon in the hope that the troops come home safely. Hoping for our folks to come home safe isn’t at all pro-war, to my mind. Writing a letter saying, “Hey, hope you guys are doing okay” doesn’t imply you hope anyone else (like the Iraqis) are being blown to smithereens.

Speaking of antiwar protests, I’m very pleased to link to local activist Lisa Rein, who has put together an excellent narrative of her experiences observing the antiwar protests in San Francisco these past few days. Along with the compelling writing and lots of photos, she’s provided some excellent videos of what she saw and heard. Chilling stuff, especially as tensions rise, and the police, not without provocation, but without excuse, start over-reacting in a very physical and intimidating manner.

I am opposed to the US use of military force in Iraq. I held this belief before the invasion started, and have not changed my mind.

What has changed is that I, personally, find it difficult to engage in antiwar protests at this point; once the battle has started, and before it’s clear that we aren’t going to achieve the desired results. In light of what I have to say below, I’m not sure why I feel this way, but there you go …

Despite my reluctance to engage in active, physical protest, it gives me chills to see those that are still capable of letting their antiwar feelings be known in a very public way taking to the streets; from New York, through Chicago, out here to San Francisco and around the world, peace loving and law respecting people are making a strong statement. As I’ve said before, those protests aren’t anti-soldier; they are antiwar. Of course we all support our troops; too many of us know or are related to people who are over there!

So why are the antiwar protests still important? The battle has been joined, and we’re not gonna stop it (not this soon anyway). Well, you see, the thing is, we initiated an unlawful, first-strike, act of aggression against a sovereign nation, without an immediate proximate cause*, and without the backing of the world for taking those actions. Actions with consequences.

The protests are simply one visceral way for people, world-round, to put the US government on notice that such acts are NOT acceptable, and to express the displeasure that we feel about the US having gone down this very treacherous path. There isn’t a free pass in the name of “support the president/support the troops”. It is in the finest American tradition, and is part and parcel of what previous generations of patriots fought and died for, that freedom loving people speak out, especially in times like this, when the government is acting in an unlawful manner!

*(Even if Sadaam is found to have been in major violation, as my mom always used to say, “two wrongs don’t make a right”. We should NOT have gone in there without much greater support from other nations of the world.)

This would be bad:

I remember these from when I was a kid:

We all love turtles:

See larger images of all the above, plus many, many more at crackerpacks, a site devoted to cataloging Asian firecracker artwork from the 50’s through the present times.