(no subject)

[gfish]

I kind of wish I was going to be in the States tomorrow for these ridiculous teabagging parties. I'd love to show up at one with a 'NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION' sign and try to keep a straight face. I never did get around to attending an Iraq war protest with a 'REMEMBER THE MAINE' sign.

Comments

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Don't get the joke with "Remember the Maine" and the Iraq war?

And the whole teabagging thing? Really don't get it. (Although I get your mockery.) Of course, these are probably the same folks who found the WTO protesters very objectionable...even though those protesters were close to the original spirit of the American Tea Party protest. (As a great deal of the objection to the WTO is regulation of trade without democratic representation, open governance, etc.)

-B.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

The sinking of the Maine was the casus belli to justify the Spanish-American War. Except it was just a boiler explosion, not enemy action. It was as trumped up and baseless as the Gulf of Tonkin incident, or 'Saddam was behind 9-11'.

...we really don't have a very good track record, do we?

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Ah, the quick web check I did on the Maine implied the cause was unknown and suspected to be sabotage/enemy action.

No, just about every war we've been drug into within American history had a trumped-up excuse for entry. Even on WWII, the government was waiting for a confrontation in the Pacific as the excuse to enter the war--they were just surprised by what the actual incident/attack was.

-B.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Hrm, not a boiler explosion, a coal fire. And maybe not as clearcut as I remembered. Still, would have been funny. :)