:: Event Horizon ::

:: Thursday, April 24, 2003 ::

Who Stands Alone?

Eleven thousand soldiers lay beneath the dirt and stone,
All buried on a distant land so far away from home.
For just a strip of dismal beach they paid a hero's price,
To save a foreign nation they all made the sacrifice.

And now the shores of Normandy are lined with blocks of white,
Americans who didn't turn from someone else's plight.
Eleven thousand reasons for the French to take our side,
But in the moment of our need, they chose to run and hide.

Chirac said every war means loss, perhaps for France that's true,
For they've lost every battle since the days of Waterloo.
Without a soldier worth a damn to be found in the region,
The French became the only land to need a Foreign Legion.

You French all say we're arrogant.
Well hell, we've earned the right--
We saved your sorry nation when you lacked the guts to fight.
But now you've made a big mistake, and one that you'll regret;
You took sides with our enemies, and that we won't forget.

It wasn't just our citizens you spit on when you turned,
But every one of ours who fell the day the towers burned.
You spit upon our soldiers, on our pilots and Marines,
And now you'll get a little sense of just what payback means.

So keep your Paris fashions and your wine and your champagne,
And find some other market that will buy your aeroplanes.
And try to find somebody else to wear your French cologne,
For you're about to find out what it means to stand alone.

You see, you need us far more than we ever needed you.
America has better friends who know how to be true.
I'd rather stand with warriors, who have the will and might,
Than huddle in the dark with those whose only flag is white.

I'll take the Brits, the Aussies, the Israelis and the rest,
For when it comes to valor we have seen that they're the best.
We'll count on one another as we face a moment dire,
While you sit on the sideline with a sign "friendship for hire."

We'll win this war without you and we'll total up the cost,
And take it from your foreign aid, and then you'll feel the loss.
And when your nation starts to fall, well Frenchie, you can spare us,
Just call the Germans for a hand, they know the way to Paris.

:: Joel 10:19 PM [+] ::
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Simpson Has No Plans for Reality Show
I think this has promise. What about a reality show that tracks OJ as he hunts down the real killer. The final episode can be the one where he finally comes face to face with the killer...seeing himself in a mirror. Gotcha!

:: Joel 3:23 PM [+] ::
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Dems Call for Santorum to Quit Leadership
There was a time when conservatives stood for individual liberty. The idea of a government powerful enough to pass laws telling people what they can and can't do in their own homes, and with whom, and enforcing those laws, would have been abhorrent to true conservatives. But there are no more conservatives in the Republican Party, they've all left to become Libertarians while the social conservatives took over. Imagine if Lincoln had been a social conservative? Anyway, back to Santorum, here is what he said according to the AP: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything," I think the key phrase there is "within your home." Whatever happened to a mans home is his castle? I do have the right to anything in my own home, thank you very much.

:: Joel 2:53 PM [+] ::
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France Calls for Ending Iraq Sanctions
What really bothers me about this is that France, Germany, and Russia called for ending sanctions months and even years before the war. They wanted sanctions ended before the weapons inspections process was completed, which is to say they wanted a quick end to inspections so that sanctions could be lifted and they could get back to business with Iraq. In looking at how the Iraq crisis in the UN unfolded, it’s clear that they miscalculated American motives. They assumed that the Americans, being the good capitalists that they are, would understand, and accommodate their desire to end the decade long charade of inspections and get back to business. They forgot that Americans are also idealists and would not allow Saddam to ignore his obligations under the Gulf War ceasefire agreement. It’s a shame that the French, Germans and Russians were willing to sacrifice the integrity of the Security Council system for the sake of their commercial ties to Saddam. Now they want to structure the post-war system to allow them a share of the spoils. Back to business, back to oil contracts and probably back to weapons sales. It was only weeks ago that coalition forces found French-made missiles and Russian anti-tank rocket launchers in a residential neighborhood in Baghdad. I don’t see any reason at all to reward this anti-Coalition axis with a share in the spoils of war. Let it be clear to them that they have marginalized themselves and that their greed has shaken the world political system, a breach that may take years to repair.

:: Joel 2:41 PM [+] ::
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Jazz Great Nina Simone Dies at 70
Another passing to note, one of my favorite jazz singers, Nina Simone, will no longer be making new music. I was introduced to her at a young age from listening to my parents record collection, yes, actual LPs, not CDs. She has since been a guilty pleasure, once I've had to explain to those whose taste in music is based more on generations than on styles.

:: Joel 3:44 PM [+] ::
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HERE WAS A MAN
Johnny Bond & Tex Ritter, 1963

Here was a man
a man who was born in a small village
the son of a peasant woman
He grew up in another small village
Until he reached the age of thirty he worked as a carpenter
Then for three years he was a traveling minister
But he never traveled more than two hundred miles from where he was born
And where he did go he usually walked
He never held political office
he never wrote a book
never bought a home
Never had a family
he never went to college
and he never set foot inside a big city
Yes here was a man
Though he never did any of the things usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
he had nothing to do with this world
Except through the devine purpose that brought him to this world
While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him
Most of his friends ran away one of them denied him
One of them betrayed him and turned him over to his enemies
Then he went through the mockery of a trial
And was nailed to a cross between two thieves
And even while he was dying his executioners gambled
For the only piece of property that he had in this world
And that was his robe
When he was dead he was taken down from the cross
And laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate friends
More than nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today he's the centerpiece of the human race
Our leader in the march to human destiny
I think I'm well within the mark when I say that
All of the armies that ever marched
All of the navies that ever sailed the seas
All of the legislative bodies that ever sat
and all of the kings that ever reigned
All of them put together have not affected the life of man on this earth
So powerfully as that one solitary life
Here was a man

:: Joel 3:17 PM [+] ::
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