George Bush should take a lesson from Pinochet—hounded to the end of his days by people seeking to put him on trial for his crimes against humanity. Pinochet avoided the criminal dock, except for that bit of bother when he went to Britain. Will George be so lucky? Or will humanity be?

41747 “Fascism with a smiley face, or, in Thatcher’s case, with a facade of civilized manners, both superficial personnas disguising very dark and cruel secondary impulses that define their real selves in the world.”

Your analysis was perfect--smiling cruel hearted scumbags.

Thatcher is sort of a mirror into the soul of the British ruling class. We must remember that a large percentage of the British elite admired Hitler too, some even bankrolling the Nazis as they rose to power. And a lot of them admire Bush now, as pathetic as that sounds.

Actually, who has caused the murder and torture of more humans, Pinochet or Blair? Numerically speaking, combining the casualty tolls from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Blair’s obstruction, with Bush, of UN efforts to curtail the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, I think Blair wins rather handily. Blair, however, smiles and talks glibly, as opposed to the scowling Pinochet: Fascism with a smiley face, or, in Thatcher’s case, with a facade of civilized manners, both superficial personnas disguising very dark and cruel secondary impulses that define their real selves in the world.

It’s interesting that Pinochet and two of his cohorts died within a few weeks of each other.  Former UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick said right wing dictatorships (but not left wing) had a chance of becoming democracies.  Economist Milton Friedman unabashedly called Chile an “economic miracle.” It certainly wasn’t a human rights miracle.

It is amazing to find that she has forgotten the death squads of the dictator.

Thank goodness, UK is an empire no more. Ireland and Scotland are the only remaining colonies, plus a rocky island near Argintina.

The world knows that their queenie is saved by the US. But english continues to say it was god saved the queenie. Go figure.

Hey, Maggie

What are you waiting for ? Just keep going along with him so you could have a best friend in hell. Your husband was a cuckold. We feel sorry for him.

Murderer cries for murderer !

When I read this story I immediately thought of Elvis Costello’s song about Maggie’s eventual death:

Tramp The Dirt Down

I saw a newspaper picture from the political
campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously
in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young child’s
face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice
coming down on that child’s lips

Well I hope I don’t die too soon
I pray the Lord my soul to save
Oh I’ll be a good boy, I’m trying so hard to behave
Because there’s one thing I know, I’d like to live
long enough to savour
That’s when they finally put you in the ground
I’ll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down

When England was the whore of the world
Margaret was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as
the black tarmacadam
Well I hope that she sleeps well at night, isn’t
haunted by every tiny detail
‘Cos when she held that lovely face in her hands
all she thought of was betrayal

And now the cynical ones say that it all ends
the same in the long run
Try telling that to the desperate father who just
squeezed the life from his only son
And how it’s only voices in your head and
dreams you never dreamt
Try telling him the subtle difference between
justice and contempt
Try telling me she isn’t angry with this pitiful
discontent
When they flaunt it in your face as you line up
for punishment
And then expect you to say “Thank you”
straighten up, look proud and pleased
Because you’ve only got the symptoms, you
haven’t got the whole disease
Just like a schoolboy, whose head’s like a tin-can
filled up with dreams then poured down
the drain
Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being
blown to bits or beaten and maimed
Who takes all the glory and none of the shame

Well I hope you live long now, I pray the Lord
your soul to keep
I think I’ll be going before we fold our arms
and start to weep
I never thought for a moment that human life
could be so cheap
‘Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They’ll stand there laughing and tramp the
dirt down

Pinochet escaped justice, but he didn’t escape history.

His arrest in 1998 and the ensuing furore brought him out of relative obscurity for the education of a younger generation who might not have known that people like him, and their admirers, really exist.

Quoting Roger Burbach in Counterpunch.org:

“The Pinochet affair has shaped a whole new generation of human rights activists and lawyers. They are determined to end the impunity of public officials, including that of the civilian and military leaders in the United States who engage in state terrorism and human rights abuses while violating international treaties like the Geneva Conventions.”

A small win, but win all the same.

The fact that Thacher is saddened by the death of a murderer, who is responsible of thousands of deaths, it speaks volume about her than about Pinochet.

And I will be saddened by Maggie’s passing. I am hoping to shed some tears soon…

Women the world over must cringe just hearing the name Thatcher. Here’s a smart, feisty, decisive woman who completely squandered her opportunity to PROVE that female leadership could somehow be more compassionate and effective than the males at solving the world’s problems.

All she proved was that the aggressive, stubborn, mean-spirited, cunning and untrustworthy behaviour attributed to males the world over, exists also in females.

Evidently being a murderer is profitable occupation, Pinochet and his wife Lucia, had multimillion-dollar bank accounts--I wonder why Thatcher is so “touched” by this rogues departure.

Crocodile’s tears !