Cicero on Bushco

[shiva2999]

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear." ~ Cicero

[Gibby]

the bush bots aren't that versed in Roman politicians/philosophers so explain to them why he is important.

[shiva2999]

the bush bots aren't that versed in Roman politicians/philosophers so explain to them why he is important.

Cicero was a smart guy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-rome_thinkjun10,0,763682.story?coll=chi-newsopinionperspective-hed

The new centurions
In showing ignorance of the outside world, America is doing as Rome did

By Cullen Murphy
Published June 10, 2007

The Rome and America comparison is very much in the air these days -- you have only to **** an ear. It's invoked by those who yearn for a worldwide Pax Americana, and also by those who wring their hands about an impending "decline and fall."

In truth, ancient Rome and modern America differ in a thousand ways. But a handful of parallels hold up.

One has to do with the way we view the outside world. Imperial Rome often knew little about the people beyond its frontiers. Disparaging those people, it underestimated their capabilities. America's motives in the world may be more well-meaning than Rome's, but our behavior is handicapped by the same disability. In our ignorance, we don't see what's coming at us -- or what we're hurtling toward.

The idea of American exceptionalism -- the notion that we represent "a shining city on a hill" -- is certainly one reason for lack of interest in the outside world. This indifference is long-standing, and confirmed with tedious regularity. A recent, particularly painful benchmark: A 2002 National Geographic study, which found that three-quarters of Americans age 18 to 24 could not locate Iran or Iraq on a map.

It may be that busy people in a sprawling nation simply have other things on their minds. But what about those you might call the elite? Throughout 2004, CBS News devoted all of three minutes to coverage of the genocide in Darfur. America's intelligence agencies have been criticized for lack of attention to militant Islam, but the underlying problem was hardly new. Three years before 9/11, a former CIA officer recalled that during his years at the agency, not one of the Near East Division chiefs could read or speak Arabic, Persian or Turkish.

"I once asked an American general in Vietnam if he had read anything about the French experience in Indochina," a veteran foreign correspondent recently wrote. "And he said there was no point because the French had lost, and therefore had nothing to teach us."
...more...

[Gibby]

Cicero was a smart guy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-rome_thinkjun10,0,763682.story?coll=chi-newsopinionperspective-hed

The new centurions
In showing ignorance of the outside world, America is doing as Rome did

By Cullen Murphy
Published June 10, 2007

The Rome and America comparison is very much in the air these days -- you have only to **** an ear. It's invoked by those who yearn for a worldwide Pax Americana, and also by those who wring their hands about an impending "decline and fall."

In truth, ancient Rome and modern America differ in a thousand ways. But a handful of parallels hold up.

One has to do with the way we view the outside world. Imperial Rome often knew little about the people beyond its frontiers. Disparaging those people, it underestimated their capabilities. America's motives in the world may be more well-meaning than Rome's, but our behavior is handicapped by the same disability. In our ignorance, we don't see what's coming at us -- or what we're hurtling toward.

The idea of American exceptionalism -- the notion that we represent "a shining city on a hill" -- is certainly one reason for lack of interest in the outside world. This indifference is long-standing, and confirmed with tedious regularity. A recent, particularly painful benchmark: A 2002 National Geographic study, which found that three-quarters of Americans age 18 to 24 could not locate Iran or Iraq on a map.

It may be that busy people in a sprawling nation simply have other things on their minds. But what about those you might call the elite? Throughout 2004, CBS News devoted all of three minutes to coverage of the genocide in Darfur. America's intelligence agencies have been criticized for lack of attention to militant Islam, but the underlying problem was hardly new. Three years before 9/11, a former CIA officer recalled that during his years at the agency, not one of the Near East Division chiefs could read or speak Arabic, Persian or Turkish.

"I once asked an American general in Vietnam if he had read anything about the French experience in Indochina," a veteran foreign correspondent recently wrote. "And he said there was no point because the French had lost, and therefore had nothing to teach us."
...more...

thanks Shiva.

[г]

Liz:
Pop.

Annie:
Six.

June:
Squish.

Hunyak:
Uh-Uh.

Velma:
Cicero.

Mona:
Lipschitz!

All:
He had it coming
He had it coming
He only had himself to blame.
If you'd have been there
If you'd have seen it

Velma:
I betcha you would have done the same!