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Commentary - Sep 22, 2004 - Printable Version
- US Thwarts Major Terrorist Attack
by Mark Faulk
(Editor's note: This was originally posted on our blog ("BlogFest 2005") this morning, but it has received so much attention that I fleshed it out with a couple of extra paragraphs and viola!, instant article. That's just how lazy I really am.) It's Wednesday morning, and the US has just successfully thwarted another potential terrorist attack on our country. It was just announced that "a London to Washington flight was diverted to Maine when it was discovered that passenger Yusuf Islam was on a government watch list and is barred from entering the country." Homeland Security spokesman Dennis Murphy said "He was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on grounds of national security."
Whew, that was close. We really dodged a bullet on that one. It's a good thing we've got the Department of Homeland Security to keep our country safe. By the way, Americans might remember Yusuf when he performed as a musician in the 70's, going by the name Cat Stevens. That's right, we can't find Osama bin Laden, illegal immigrants are pouring over our borders in record numbers, and we're busy deporting Cat Stevens. Maybe I missed the hidden message in his song "Peace Train". Or maybe it was this statement, issued right after the 9/11 attacks, that got him placed on the potential terrorist list: ''No right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action: The Quran equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity.''
A statement posted on a Cat Stevens fan site this morning put it this way: ''It's a very sad state of affairs when a man best known as a peace loving pop star can be grouped into the same category as Osama Bin Laden just because of his chosen faith.''
Amen to that.
One more thought: In the seventies, President Nixon tried to deport John Lennon for speaking out against the Vietnam War, his song "Give Peace A Chance" is still sung at anti-war rallies throughout the world. Now, thirty years later, our government is deporting another musician whose main "crime" is writing songs about peace and speaking out against an unjust war. Do I see a pattern here? This isn't the first "flashback" to the Vietnam War era I've had in the past year, and unfortunately, it probably won't be the last.*
And yet another random observation: the Republican Party has embraced Arnold Schwarzenegger as their next superstar, even introducing a new constitutional amendment so that he can run for president (hasta la vista, US Constitution). Arnold's main qualifications? He has said that he admires Hitler (that's not a surprise, considering the fact that his father was a member of the Nazi Party), referred to homosexuals as "fags",and has bragged about joining in on "gangbangs" with other bodybuilders, receiving oral sex backstage from complete strangers before bodybuilding contests, and picking up random women just for sex and then dumping them. Oh yeah, he was also a movie star and is the current Governor of California. Here's an interesting article about our "next President" (Caution: this link contains naked pictures of Governor Schwarzenegger, and a picture of him posing with a naked woman's breasts pressed up behind him. Enjoy.)
www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/actors/arnold-schwarzenegger/
So there you have it, Ahnuld is embraced as a hero by the Rupublican Party, and John Lennon and Cat Stevens are threats to our natoinal security. It's a wacky, topsy-turvy world that we live in.
Okay, I'm off to work, assuming of course I don't get arrested leaving my house and deported back to where I was born. Of course, since I was born in the Army hospital at Fort Gordon, Georgia, that might pose a bit of a quandry for Homeland Security officials. And if they find my Cat Stevens Greatest Hits CD, well, all I can say is, save me a bunk at Guantanamo Bay. Wish me luck.
I'll close with the lyrics from "Peace Train". If anyone can decipher the hidden message that advocates the overthrow of America and violates the Patriot Act in this song, let me know:
Peace Train
by Cat Stevens
Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun
Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come
Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again
Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun
Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train
Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too
Cause it's getting nearer, it soon will be with you
Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true
Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss
Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again
*Sidebar: I just heard that the reason that Cat Stevens was deported is because one of the charitable organizations that he is affiliated with allegedly gave assistance to Hamas, a suspected terrorist group. Since the entire Bush family has had financial dealings with Osama bin Laden in the past, does that mean we can expect to see them all rounded up and exiled to Saudi Arabia in the near future? Probably just wishful thinking on my part.
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