Went thru the Wendy's drive through today and ordered a spicy chicken sandwich.

"Would you like Freedom Fries with that?" the person behind the panel asked.

"Uh..Freedom Fries?" I inquired.

An audible sigh, then almost a whisper. "You know... french fries?"

Oh...yeah, I forgot. We are boycotting the french fry. We can eat the deep fried, golden tuber, we just can't refer to them by name.

I think it bears mentioning that the FRENCH fry isn't french? They were created in Belgium. And until 1918 they were referred to as fried potatoes. GI's home from the war dubbed them French fries, because they ate these fried potatoes in France. The french had nothing to do with the name.

Now, if you want to boycott something french, try mayonaise. It's french. It's also disgusting.

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NOTE: if you are a "I love America, and you should too kinda person, you might want to stop reading now. The below post/commentary/rant might not sit well with you. Still reading? Consider yourself warned.

Not sure who said it, but sometime today, someone made the comment that the United States could never commit the atrocities that Saddam has against his own people.

Oh really? Let's examine the facts.

It was Americans that burned and hanged women and men because they were believed to practice witchcraft.
We lynched men and women and becuase of the color of their skin.
We herded over one hundred thousand Japanese away from their homes and posessions and put them in Internment Camps.
We let men be treated as Guinea Pigs for 40 years in the name of "science" (the Tuskegee Experiment).
Wanna talk biological and chemical terrorism? Think Love Canal, think Cuyahouga and of the other lakes, rivers and streams and people that have been forever poisoned for the sake of greed.

So, hell yeah, the United States is capable of committing atrocities against its own people.

Before you send me your hate mail, let me say this: I am not against any man or woman who is deployed in the Middle East. They are doing the job that was assigned to them. I have several family member and friends over there, and I worry constantly about their welfare. But for us as Americans to condem one person for doing the same things we are doing to ourselves is hypocrisy. If we expect others to be be honest and above-reproach, I believe that we should first start with ourselves and clean up our own backyard. Of course, then men and women in the Middle East are just cleaning up another mess and corralling another monster that we created.

But that is a subject of another post. Eh, what the hell, your already pissed at me, might as well go for broke.

Saddam Hussien is a monster we created, but he is the latest in a long list of "evil dictators" that we have helped put into power. Again, here are some examples:

Fidel Castro - appealed to the US for help to oust the "evil dictator" that was oppressing his people in Cuba.
Osama bin Laden - we trained him when we took sides with Afghanistan against the Soviets.
Manuel Noriega, Ferdinand Marcos...Japan...okay so Japan is now our ally...sorta...I won't lump them in there...

I can think of those off the top of my head. I am sure there are probably more. We just have the uncanny fortune of backing the wrong horse.

Well, I actually have real writing to do (not that this isn't real, but no one is paying me to write this..dammit) so I will leave you with these words:

Everyone wants the same thing: freedom to do what they want, say what they want, and be what they want. We all have the right to these things; American, Iraqi, British....and, okay even the French. I just hope that someday we can find a less voilent way to accomplish these goals.
- posted by Kim @ 1:48 AM