Larry Devich
Saturday, September 11, 2004
9/11 and Ignorant Americans
Since I was already up I started browsing the news sites this morning, the three year anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. The massive and willful ignorance of the American people continues to astound me, although I don't know why I should still be shocked, they have proven to be gullible fools so many times over the decades that nothing they swallow should faze me anymore. This is yet another example of why democracy is a stupid idea. When nearly half of the population is literally delusional, well, should they really be allowed to vote?
NEW YORK (September 10, 2004) -- The latest Newsweek poll, released this week, revealed that 42% of Americans continue to believe that Saddam Hussein's regime was "directly involved" in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, despite all the evidence to the contrary. That's nearly as many as the 44% who disagree.
It seems to matter little that every official federal probe, most recently the much-lauded 9/11 Commission, has debunked this myth, in high-profile reports. Yet the percentage of Americans clinging to the Iraq connection has declined only slightly in the past year.
...another poll...suggested that Americans remain "woefully uninformed or misinformed about certain key issues relating to the war." One survey result: 35% still believe that Iraq had stockpiles of WMD when the U.S. invaded.
Ah well, what do you expect when most Americans can't even find Iraq on a map?
WHERE IN THE WORLD
Among 18- to 24-year-old Americans given maps:
87 percent cannot find Iraq
83 percent cannot find Afghanistan
76 percent cannot find Saudi Arabia
70 percent cannot find New Jersey
49 percent cannot find New York
11 percent cannot find the United States
¶ 9/11/2004 05:52:00 AM 1 Comments
NEW YORK (September 10, 2004) -- The latest Newsweek poll, released this week, revealed that 42% of Americans continue to believe that Saddam Hussein's regime was "directly involved" in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, despite all the evidence to the contrary. That's nearly as many as the 44% who disagree.
It seems to matter little that every official federal probe, most recently the much-lauded 9/11 Commission, has debunked this myth, in high-profile reports. Yet the percentage of Americans clinging to the Iraq connection has declined only slightly in the past year.
...another poll...suggested that Americans remain "woefully uninformed or misinformed about certain key issues relating to the war." One survey result: 35% still believe that Iraq had stockpiles of WMD when the U.S. invaded.
Ah well, what do you expect when most Americans can't even find Iraq on a map?
WHERE IN THE WORLD
Among 18- to 24-year-old Americans given maps:
87 percent cannot find Iraq
83 percent cannot find Afghanistan
76 percent cannot find Saudi Arabia
70 percent cannot find New Jersey
49 percent cannot find New York
11 percent cannot find the United States
¶ 9/11/2004 05:52:00 AM 1 Comments
I can't sleep
So here I am... Continuing on with yesterday's post in a way...
...What am I doing up this early in the morning on a Saturday? I am up this early in the morning because I'm afraid I don't really exist. I mean, sure I'm here physically, and I have some memories of the past, a few that go back pretty far even. But some things I thought I knew, well they are getting a bit "iffy" for me at the moment.
Did I really get confirmed at Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Novato or was that all a brilliant fantasy and take place only in my head? It is quite possible that I'm not here now. I could be in a mental hospital, or in hell. Or I could be laying in the gutter on the street somewhere, living this life in my head. I have no idea.
Actually I'm pretty sure I'm here. ;-) I really ought not to get so carried away. On the other hand the memories of the confirmation course I thought I experienced is a bit vague, more than vague, they are fragmentary, blurred, confused and hard to get a firm grip on. I do recall, barely, talking to Pastor Gjervik and going through a course and I think I recall a white robe and a ceremony at the church where I was confirmed. But really I don't have good memory of it.
My real worry is that I might have to stop taking the Eucharist with the congregation at Messiah Lutheran if I cannot prove I was confirmed. I don't know if that is the way things work or not. Man, this not having the paper trail is for the birds.
Really, all of this is the result of my own actions at one point in my life, 26 years ago, when I walked away from my apartment with my backpack full of clothes, a sleeping bag and a couple of small boxes in my arms, just what I could carry, and left every thing else behind. After all, I thought, they are just material things and I'm not attached to them. Well that is true, I wasn't attached to them, but some of them might have come in handy from time to time ;-)
To tell the truth though, I've been thinking recently that I have too much stuff again. That I really need to clear out most of the stuff that has accumulated around me. I've even made lists of what I think I could reasonably keep, it takes up about 2/3 of a page. Then there is the "what is the minimum I need" list and that one is very short. Really now, just where did all of this stuff come from? And what in the world do I think I'm going to do with it all? After all, it is just stuff, and stuff can get in the way at times, can come between me and Christ if I'm not careful.
Enough for now, I am just confusing myself I think. ;-P ¶ 9/11/2004 04:48:00 AM 0 Comments
...What am I doing up this early in the morning on a Saturday? I am up this early in the morning because I'm afraid I don't really exist. I mean, sure I'm here physically, and I have some memories of the past, a few that go back pretty far even. But some things I thought I knew, well they are getting a bit "iffy" for me at the moment.
Did I really get confirmed at Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Novato or was that all a brilliant fantasy and take place only in my head? It is quite possible that I'm not here now. I could be in a mental hospital, or in hell. Or I could be laying in the gutter on the street somewhere, living this life in my head. I have no idea.
Actually I'm pretty sure I'm here. ;-) I really ought not to get so carried away. On the other hand the memories of the confirmation course I thought I experienced is a bit vague, more than vague, they are fragmentary, blurred, confused and hard to get a firm grip on. I do recall, barely, talking to Pastor Gjervik and going through a course and I think I recall a white robe and a ceremony at the church where I was confirmed. But really I don't have good memory of it.
My real worry is that I might have to stop taking the Eucharist with the congregation at Messiah Lutheran if I cannot prove I was confirmed. I don't know if that is the way things work or not. Man, this not having the paper trail is for the birds.
Really, all of this is the result of my own actions at one point in my life, 26 years ago, when I walked away from my apartment with my backpack full of clothes, a sleeping bag and a couple of small boxes in my arms, just what I could carry, and left every thing else behind. After all, I thought, they are just material things and I'm not attached to them. Well that is true, I wasn't attached to them, but some of them might have come in handy from time to time ;-)
To tell the truth though, I've been thinking recently that I have too much stuff again. That I really need to clear out most of the stuff that has accumulated around me. I've even made lists of what I think I could reasonably keep, it takes up about 2/3 of a page. Then there is the "what is the minimum I need" list and that one is very short. Really now, just where did all of this stuff come from? And what in the world do I think I'm going to do with it all? After all, it is just stuff, and stuff can get in the way at times, can come between me and Christ if I'm not careful.
Enough for now, I am just confusing myself I think. ;-P ¶ 9/11/2004 04:48:00 AM 0 Comments
