The American Nightmare

[indigobusiness]

From the bogus to the outrageous to the illegal, we are now living the American Nightmare.
By Steve Fowle

It has been another of America’s special, sacred Januaries: The American Dream itself has been wheeled out of storage, washed and waxed, and buffed to a high quadrennial shine. Once again we have demonstrated to the world (as if we really cared what they thought) that anyone -- any white male, anyway -- can become president.

This year, we actually improved on that old, traditional American value. We have shown that anyone can do it a second time, even if they used their first term to wage an optional war, at terrible expense in blood and treasure, on grounds that proved to be, as many said before the shooting started, completely bogus, and put the nation in far greater peril than it was before the pre-emptive shooting started. And, instead of a dream, we have a nightmare.

Nothing Succeeds Like Excess

A lot of people apparently found the president’s ambitious inaugural address, which all but vowed to expunge the word tyranny from the world’s dictionaries, a bit startling. They expected a more restrained approach from a man who had just barely won the election (and that only through massive fraud and voter suppression) and whose war on terror, according to the CIA’s own in-house think-tank, is creating more terrorists than it’s killing.

A sentence from a Seymour Hersh article in The New Yorker resolves this conundrum: Bush’s election is regarded within the Administration as evidence of America’s support for his decision to go to war. In other words, on Planet Bush, if you can fool enough of the people enough of the time, your lies must be the truth.


http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1015

[Erika]

1. Great post

Bush should have never been president in the first place. It is obscene that anyone voted for him a second time. You can almost understand a rich person without conscience voting for him a second time, but why anyone else? Oh, he scared the sheep into believing only he could protect them...from whatever.

OBL is alive. Never caught.

[AuntiBush]

3. I agree with you.

Thanks for stating exactly how I feel on this issue. All of us on this side of this sad coin have one thing to be grateful for and that is that we're not a part of the followers, not a part of the "sheep," rather we are the "sheep amidst the wolves."

[Psephos]

2. In chaos lies opportunity

According to Lao-tsu, anyway.

Nightmare? Yes.

Nightmare from which we can never awaken? Hell no. With repugs running Congress and the WH, there will be nowhere to hide next election. Which is why we need to ease off a little on the sturm and drang, and instead, put our energy into seizing the coming moment.

I have a wee bone to pick with the article, btw:

"Once again we have demonstrated to the world (as if we really cared what they thought) that anyone -- any white male, anyway -- can become president."

My money is on Hillary vs. Condi in 2008. The article has some good things to say, but that line isn't one of them.

[AuntiBush]

4. And I agree with you, as well!

Thank you for the "Lao-tsu" reminder. Nightmarish, yes but not without hope. I refuse to allow this abusive power rip me of anymore dignity, as they rob us of our freedoms, and our vote. The world is watching in deed, but more importantly, I honestly doubt our country (if it survives the next 4 years which is what my biggest fears are based on) will ever elect another Republican into the WH ever, ever again.

I just hope we can make it another 4 years under this dictatorship.

[indigobusiness]

5. I think you missed the point of that statement.

It was a sarcastic indictment of our system and the channels of power, not saying women can never be elected.

Where did Lao Tsu say that? I'm sure it's in the Tao, as the Chinese charater is the same for both, but do you know, precisely, where it says as much in the Tao? I'd like to make a note of it.

[Old Mouse]

6. We are the ones who are awake

we need to awaken those who still sleep.

As those who recognize the scope of maleficence approaches critical mass, Bush becomes more reckless in his attempt to permanently consolidate power. All the while nature grows ever more uncontrollable, destructive, and unpredictable. Quite an interesting three way race.

Confucianism is best for these times. Joyful participation!

[Wright Patman]

7. Neither of those two women

will be nominated by a major party--ever.

I would say, though, that a matchup with Condi Rice is the only way Hillary Clinton could ever be elected. Even then, it's not a sure thing.

If those were the two major party nominees, we'd probably see more than a few stirrings of civil unrest in large parts of the country as well as a credible Southern racist, anti-feminist white guy third-party challenger. And he'd make a stronger showing than Wallace did in 1968.

These Hillary fantasies would make more sense if the Confederacy had survived and she had remained in Illinois. But even though she married a Southerner and spent most of her adult life there, she is literally viewed as a female devil incarnate practically universally. It is too late for her to rehabilitate this image. You've had nearly 20 years of Limbaugh and his ilk creating the "HillaryMonster."

[CrispyQ]

8. And don't for the the 'feminazis'

I believe we'll see a minority man as president before we'll see a woman.

For all the discord that racism causes, the first division of the species is female/male.

[indigobusiness]

10. I agree, no chance...and the propaganda stinks.

Politics in America is a mess.

[autorank]

9. Great post! This article about sums it up. Unbelievable yet true.