Staggering Swaggering
Sooooo. Are you as sick to death of all this machismo BS as I am? It’s one thing to be tough. It’s another thing to be a bully. Bullies do what this administration and its supporters are doing. Anyone who voices dissent, and is heard, is batted down – perhaps not with fists at first, but with false accusations, misquotes and defamation. Their concerns are minimized and dismissed. The eight second sound bite theory is a constant. Slap and dash is a continuous approach to anyone voicing legitimate queries into illegal acts. Attacking the messenger is always effective. The thing is, people don’t want to deal with this sort of stuff. It’s so…well, messy.
I finally understand how entire German villages could go on with their daily lives while concentration camps existed within walking distance. The villagers were given official answers to their questions – what is that place? Detention camp. Oh dear! Who is being detained? Enemies of our beloved country. Oh my! That’s good that you have all the enemies where you can keep an eye on them! By the by, what is that odious stench? Unfortunately, some of these anti-German scallywags (aka terrorists) die from disease and in order to keep the surrounding villages safe from epidemic, the bodies are burned. Sorry. Has to be done. Oh, thank you so much for keeping us safe, heil whoever. Couple this with a very threatening uniform and disposition and the unwary citizens are satiated. It’s so easy to look back at that time with all the information before us, with all the atrocities laid bare for all the world to see, and judge the citizens. How could they not know? How could they let this guy rise up and inflict this kind of damage? There were warning signs everywhere!
So what’s our excuse now? There is so much skewing of facts because of partisan politics that it is easy to overlook what is really happening. There is a president that swore twice to uphold the constitution so help him God, and it was a bald face lie. We were misled into war. Why is that being dismissed now? Why is the response, we’re there now, so shut up about it, you are undermining the operation?
I finally understand how entire German villages could go on with their daily lives while concentration camps existed within walking distance. The villagers were given official answers to their questions – what is that place? Detention camp. Oh dear! Who is being detained? Enemies of our beloved country. Oh my! That’s good that you have all the enemies where you can keep an eye on them! By the by, what is that odious stench? Unfortunately, some of these anti-German scallywags (aka terrorists) die from disease and in order to keep the surrounding villages safe from epidemic, the bodies are burned. Sorry. Has to be done. Oh, thank you so much for keeping us safe, heil whoever. Couple this with a very threatening uniform and disposition and the unwary citizens are satiated. It’s so easy to look back at that time with all the information before us, with all the atrocities laid bare for all the world to see, and judge the citizens. How could they not know? How could they let this guy rise up and inflict this kind of damage? There were warning signs everywhere!
So what’s our excuse now? There is so much skewing of facts because of partisan politics that it is easy to overlook what is really happening. There is a president that swore twice to uphold the constitution so help him God, and it was a bald face lie. We were misled into war. Why is that being dismissed now? Why is the response, we’re there now, so shut up about it, you are undermining the operation?
Hmmm. The police raid your house because of reports that you are torturing your wife, children and pets, and there has been additional information that reveals that you have an arsenal of (gasp) chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. The police storm the house, take you captive, kill two of your kids (sorry, collateral damage), destroy almost all of what you own……and stay there. It soon comes to light, that, the arsenal is actually cooking spices. But hey! The part about you being abusive was true! It is a good thing that you were removed from the home because you are not a good leader, but was it worth the death of the two kids? Was it worth the destruction of life and property? And, gosh, wasn’t there a better way of doing this? And please tell me, why the heck the police are still camped out there?
It doesn’t matter what our representatives and senators did in response to the information – although the vote that keeps being used against them regarding going to war was in fact a vote to use force if necessary. The big deal at the time was that we had to trust our leaders, they were privy to more information than us. They had intelligence…….can’t seem to find it now….but they had it! They had operatives. They had information. Information that we didn’t know about. So, a lot of people said, you know what, they know better, we have to trust our leaders. So they did. When no WMDs turned up, the focus was on the badness of Saddam. Yup. Bad guy. Kept terrorists out of his country, but certainly, a bad guy.
Then there was the Downing Street Memo. There was Richard Clark. There was the lack of proper supplies for our troops – making them vulnerable to attacks. There was the outing of a CIA operative in retribution for not backing this administration. There were bills passed for bridges to nowhere, pork oozing from every orifice during war time, taxes cut for the rich, safety net programs cut for the poor, states scrambling to make up for budget shortfalls, attempts to drill in the artic refuge, lobbyists and ceos heading up key positions in the monitoring agencies of which they were a part, cronyism, cutting of EPA restrictions, and now spying. Spying of anti-war grannies and Quaker groups. Contracts with Georgian database companies with billions of personal records. Hey! But they say they are only spying on the bad guys! Now after all this….you believe that? If you do believe it, then you have no right whatsoever to judge anyone who sat by and allowed evil to flourish. Those German villagers are you. Life is busy. Life is complicated. It is hard to stop what you’re doing and get involved with something messy. It’s easier to get on with your life. To get the kids to their activities. To do your job well. To maintain your relationships, your health, your home, your car, you life. It is a full time job. Does it have to seep into your neighborhood before you do anything? Isn’t it too late then? If you had a filthy toxic sludge seeping into the community next to yours would you continue about your business until it began to ooze into your area? Isn’t it better to deal with things as they happen instead of waiting until the last possible moment when it will cost more time, money and effort? Do you wait for the weeds to completely take over your yard before you address the issue or do you go and pull the first weed and spread weed and feed to prevent infiltration? Being an American means keeping a constant vigil. What we have is precious. What we have is dear to each and every one of us. Why are you willing to allow someone to screw with it? Is it because it doesn’t affect you personally? Is it because you are dealing with your own issues, your own life which is so much complicated than anyone realizes? If you were made aware that your child is being molested would you delay action? Our country’s values and constitution are being molested. Right now. What are you going to do? It doesn’t make you a wimp not to side with george “john wayne” bush. It does not make you unpatriotic to say that people in power are abusing the power we gave them. How is that un-American? Those who speak out are the most patriotic of all. They want the constitution to apply to everyone. They want America to stand for the things that the citizens stand for, not the corporations. We are individuals, unique, quirky, strong and principled. We get things wrong sometimes and we get things right. We screw up. We fall flat on our face. But we get up and try again. Our true nature is evident in our response to crisis. Not our government’s response, but our peoples’ response. We rise up over and over again showing everyone that we are kind and generous and compassionate. The outside world views the American individual this way, for the most part. But their patience is wearing thin. We are being represented badly, and allowing it. We have got to stand up and say that’s it. You can twist and spin all day long, but what you are doing in my name is no longer acceptable. We need an inquiry, an investigation and we need charges. We need to be represented as a people not as business. It is time. Like I have said from the very beginning, give me a president that gets screwed in the Oval Office over a president that screws over the entire country any day!
It doesn’t matter what our representatives and senators did in response to the information – although the vote that keeps being used against them regarding going to war was in fact a vote to use force if necessary. The big deal at the time was that we had to trust our leaders, they were privy to more information than us. They had intelligence…….can’t seem to find it now….but they had it! They had operatives. They had information. Information that we didn’t know about. So, a lot of people said, you know what, they know better, we have to trust our leaders. So they did. When no WMDs turned up, the focus was on the badness of Saddam. Yup. Bad guy. Kept terrorists out of his country, but certainly, a bad guy.
Then there was the Downing Street Memo. There was Richard Clark. There was the lack of proper supplies for our troops – making them vulnerable to attacks. There was the outing of a CIA operative in retribution for not backing this administration. There were bills passed for bridges to nowhere, pork oozing from every orifice during war time, taxes cut for the rich, safety net programs cut for the poor, states scrambling to make up for budget shortfalls, attempts to drill in the artic refuge, lobbyists and ceos heading up key positions in the monitoring agencies of which they were a part, cronyism, cutting of EPA restrictions, and now spying. Spying of anti-war grannies and Quaker groups. Contracts with Georgian database companies with billions of personal records. Hey! But they say they are only spying on the bad guys! Now after all this….you believe that? If you do believe it, then you have no right whatsoever to judge anyone who sat by and allowed evil to flourish. Those German villagers are you. Life is busy. Life is complicated. It is hard to stop what you’re doing and get involved with something messy. It’s easier to get on with your life. To get the kids to their activities. To do your job well. To maintain your relationships, your health, your home, your car, you life. It is a full time job. Does it have to seep into your neighborhood before you do anything? Isn’t it too late then? If you had a filthy toxic sludge seeping into the community next to yours would you continue about your business until it began to ooze into your area? Isn’t it better to deal with things as they happen instead of waiting until the last possible moment when it will cost more time, money and effort? Do you wait for the weeds to completely take over your yard before you address the issue or do you go and pull the first weed and spread weed and feed to prevent infiltration? Being an American means keeping a constant vigil. What we have is precious. What we have is dear to each and every one of us. Why are you willing to allow someone to screw with it? Is it because it doesn’t affect you personally? Is it because you are dealing with your own issues, your own life which is so much complicated than anyone realizes? If you were made aware that your child is being molested would you delay action? Our country’s values and constitution are being molested. Right now. What are you going to do? It doesn’t make you a wimp not to side with george “john wayne” bush. It does not make you unpatriotic to say that people in power are abusing the power we gave them. How is that un-American? Those who speak out are the most patriotic of all. They want the constitution to apply to everyone. They want America to stand for the things that the citizens stand for, not the corporations. We are individuals, unique, quirky, strong and principled. We get things wrong sometimes and we get things right. We screw up. We fall flat on our face. But we get up and try again. Our true nature is evident in our response to crisis. Not our government’s response, but our peoples’ response. We rise up over and over again showing everyone that we are kind and generous and compassionate. The outside world views the American individual this way, for the most part. But their patience is wearing thin. We are being represented badly, and allowing it. We have got to stand up and say that’s it. You can twist and spin all day long, but what you are doing in my name is no longer acceptable. We need an inquiry, an investigation and we need charges. We need to be represented as a people not as business. It is time. Like I have said from the very beginning, give me a president that gets screwed in the Oval Office over a president that screws over the entire country any day!
Comments
But unless America wakes up and smells the coffee,we are going to get more of the same,I mean look how the "right"upholds the tyrant on this spy issue,it's like they're living in never never land. But having said that I will say,keep on blogging...