Ouch!  Go see for yourself; it’ll take all of 10 seconds to see what I mean.  Go!  Do as I say immediately.  You can come back when you’re done.

Did you go?  Are you sure?  Look, if you don’t go before reading the rest of this, none of it will make any sense to you.  Now don’t argue with me and get you little butt over there right now.

Okay, now I’ll continue.

It’s very harsh, I know, and I think he is generalizing overmuch.  I agree the sentiment can certainly be aimed at Dubya and his various handlers.  Similarly, it can be blamed on a great many Americans who fell prey to this régime’s use of FUD, not to mention outright lies, deceptions, and omissions.  But add to that all foreign citizens who likewise took the bait, and the world leaders who jumped on the war bandwagon with our vengeful president.  Yet others were told about and did not question a link between Iraq’s leadership and al-Qa’ida, and therefore 9/11.  And what of those who just wished to lash out after 9/11 and took Iraq’s continued refusal to adhere to UN demands as evidence that the country deserved a good wallop?

Believe me, they’re out there.  A great many supported the idea of war for various reasons.  Even if some of those reasons—or most—are in hindsight a vile, writhing mass of serpents, that does not negate responsibility for supporting Iraq version 2.0.  More amazingly, and in case you didn’t realize it, supporters of this fiasco came from all political affiliations, including the lack thereof.

There is blame, but let’s be sure we apply it gracefully and objectively.  It’s not just the Republicans who are to blame for the war, although they are doing a bang-up job of driving this nation into the ground while they strip it of all that made it glorious and wonderful.  No, poppets, the blame starts at the top and dribbles down from there, and its reach is global.

The United States of America is 230 years old today.  Happy Independence Day!

Friday Ark #93

Philosophers’ Carnival #32

10th Circle of the Spineless

Weekend Cat Blogging #56

73rd Carnival of Education

A tiny kitten with a huge dog: in photos.  I’m not sure what’s going through the dog’s mind…

Do you know what a liger is?  It’s the offspring of a lion and a tiger (hence the name liger).  Look at how big this one is!  Um, wow.  [via Biomes Blog]

Why did the toad cross the puddle?  To give the mouse a ride, of course.  When was the last time you saw a mouse getting a lift from a toad?

It’s a kitten in a shoe.  How cute is that!

News Flash: Noah’s ark has not been found despite what Texas idiots are claiming.  This is the umpteenth time the ark has been “discovered”, and this time it’s by people in Texas who claim to be archaeologists when in fact they are a church group out on a field trip.  Whatever.

Only America could piss off its greatest ally: Great Britain.  At least they can see it like it is; too many Americans are blind to the disaster that is the United States.

LONDON (AFP) – People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.

Want some highlights?  I knew you would.

Most “no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs”.

77 percent no longer see America as “a beacon of hope for the world”.

A mere 12 percent trust us “to act wisely on the global stage”.  Considering we haven’t and don’t…

83 percent said “the United States doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks”.  Can anyone offer of a reason why Britons should feel otherwise?

One percent rated Dubya a “great leader”.  They don’t get out much.  On the other hand, “77 percent … deemed him a ‘pretty poor’ or ‘terrible” leader'”.  I can relate.

“More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said America is essentially an imperial power seeking world domination.”  If it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck…

81 percent said “President George W. Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests”.  Uh huh.

Only 24 percent said “they felt that the US military action [in Iraq] was helping to bring democracy to the country”.  How can you tell either way with the cloud of death and mayhem obstructing the view?

“[A] majority of the Britons … described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.”  There’s a disturbing amount of truth in that list; likewise, there is a significant number of Americans who are vastly different, but they are serially marginalized by our public persona acted out by those driving agenda and activities.

The one saving grace?  “70 percent of Britons like Americans a lot or a little”.  At least there’s that, but I suspect more were at the “little” end of the spectrum than we’d care to admit.  I suppose it’s better than a majority who don’t like us at all.