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 The horror of last November has finally faded enough to allow me to write again.
On Election Day, I felt like a warrior. I had trained for months. I'd studied my opponent to learn his weaknesses. I had fed the bloated body politic with a sizable chunk of my hard earned cash. In American politics, money talks. I'd even rubbed elbows with some of the political elite. I had touched Kennedys. I was one of the anointed. We could not be defeated, even if our champion had feet of clay. The enemy's clay feet reach all the way up to his chin.
On the day after Election Day, I felt like a whipped cur. I fully expected children in brown shirts with shoulder patches saying "Rove's Raiders" to come knocking at my door. They'd tie a thick rope around my neck and lead me off to a "reeducation camp" with a burlap sack over my head, after which I'd never be heard from again. I still take a vicious 15" double-bladed ceremonial knife with me to the door if the bell rings unexpectedly.
The Bush Barbarians have been busy living down to my lowest expectations.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a pathetic toady who values personal loyalty to our Clueless Leader above the truth. And when Senator Barbara Boxer said, "I personally believe - this is my personal view - that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell this war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth", Condi took umbrage and claimed her dubious credibility and integrity were being impugned. You need to watch the tape of yourself in "Fahrenheit 9/11", baby.
The new Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, is the same man who said that for physical abuse of prisoners to be considered torture, it "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." So a good, old fashion beating is aces with Alberto. It just has to be necessary, because "necessity and self-defense could provide justifications that would eliminate any criminal liability". Sorry, Abdulah, but this cattle prod is necessary…
Bush's nominee for the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, once said that, "there is no such thing as the United Nations." He also said, "If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference." So he seems like an ideal choice to negotiate in our best interest within that organization.
Paul Wolfowitz, Bush's nominee for president of the World Bank, an organization that has been described as "the agency dedicated to relieving global poverty" has been quoted as saying, "These people are not fighting because they're poor. They're poor because they fight all the time." They don't call him The Prince of Darkness for nothing.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: After posting this, I realized that it is, in fact, Richard Perle who is referred to as the Prince of Darkness. - JG 4/2/2005
Bush makes no effort to hide the fact that only big business, the ultra-rich and those with extreme personal loyalty to his family matter to him. None of his decisions fail to make absolute sense when viewed through that lens. Not sure how a new social program will help the poor? Look deeper and you'll probably find that whether or not it actually does help the poor, a large Bush campaign contributor will make millions implementing it.
Political Correctness and the Bush Mindset of Unquestioning Loyalty to Authority is turning the country into an ugly place. Colleges, where the young traditionally go to learn to really think, are growing intolerant of controversial opinions. Don't say anything that a fellow student might consider offensive or you'll get your walking papers.
In a Marvel comic called "Inhumans", a young character is chastised for questioning the wisdom of his king's plan. He's told, "Enough. In questioning your king, you insult our entire civilization." He accepts this and backs down. What a nice lesson to teach our children. Yet this statement reflects current attitudes in our society. It's The Emperors New Clothes combined with a kind of modern McCarthyism. Question your leaders and you're being subversive, or at least obstructionist. It cost Tom Daschle his seat in the Senate.
Another page from the Bush playbook, imposing your will by force, is becoming more acceptable in the minds of some Americans. A federal judge in Chicago had her husband and mother murdered by a man whose lawsuit she dismissed as not having merit. He felt he had been wronged and, when legal channels failed, he weighed his options and resorted to an application of illegal force. The evildoers must be punished. It's the Bush approach to conflict resolution.
Thirteen fascist states passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Fuck tolerance. Fuck acceptance. Fuck equal protection under the law. We can't have them faggots goin' crazy, thinkin' they're normal folks. We gotta defend our moral values.
A brave judge recently declared similar bans in California to be unconstitutional. He said, "The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional." Fuckin' A, bubba. So much for "marriage has always been between a man and a woman." If any state stands a chance of not having its gay population shoved back into the closet like demons back into Pandora'a Box, it's California. But the ignorant masses, wielding amendments like horrific clubs, may yet beat more enlightened minds into a crippled pulp that's no longer capable of opposing them and the Forces of Righteousness.
The Democrats have been keeping a realtively low profile since the election. The common wisdom is that they're saving themselves for The Big Fights, like U.S. Supreme Court appointments. The risk is that rolling over is becoming a reflex for them. If they allow the High Court to fall, it will probably mean the end of Civil Rights as we've known them for the last forty years.
In the mean time, our country celebrates hollow victories in places like Iraq like a doting mom treating her child's kindergarten "graduation" like he's at the top of his class at Harvard Law. And the failures? They're just minor bumps in the Liberty Highway. You risk becoming "a person of interest" if you say otherwise.
Now if you'll excuse me, some kids are knocking on my front door. I think I heard a whispered mention of getting the rope ready. Selah.
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