Gee Dubya: An essay in pictures (dialup warning)

[WilliamPitt]

Once there was a guy named George.



He was a white guy from a white family that happened to be quite powerful. Important forces were at work that would one day affect his life. Mossadeq had been assassinated in Iran...



...setting the stage for the Shah. A guy named Saddam was getting his feet wet in politics...



...and a family named Saud was setting up shop in a big desert.



As he grew older, George came to like his Jack and coke...



...but that was really nobody's business. For a while he defended the coast of Texas from invasion...



...but that wasn't really anyone's business either. He tried politics early and got beat. He tried business...



...and, well, it didn't work out. He tried baseball and finally made some money, but...



...he traded Sammy Sosa. Bad decisions became something of a theme later in life. After a while, he decided to run for Governor of Texas, and with the help of some very scrupulous friends...



...he beat Ann Richards. While in office he made some new friends...



...who talked him into running for president so he could rewrite the energy code and basically privatize the whole country. Neat!



After a meticulously fair election in 2000...



...and an excellent decision from the high court...



...George was in the catbird seat, and the nation rejoiced.



Things were totally cool. The tax cuts were passed, ushering in a new era of prosperity...



...and a new guy was put forth as the true leader of the United States...



...in an attempt to end this whole church/state separation nonsense.

For a while, things were rough. George's approval ratings were in the tank. His programs were going nowhere. He looked like a one-termer like his dad...



...and then...











It was the best thing that ever happened to him. He got to pretend he was a hero...



...and never mind the facts.



The disaster helped hide a number of embarrassing things...



...and soon enough, everyone was behind him. The perpetrators were going to be gotten, dead or alive...



...someday...



Meanwhile, great things were afoot...



...and old scores had to be settled...



...and we were all willing to pay that price...



...because freedom was on the march.



Accusations were made...



...but whatever...



...we do what must be done...

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/image/0,1587,1210664_6,00.jpg





...for our friends, the Iraqi people...



You're either with us or against us...













...and nothing else matters.

[Heidi]

1. Oh, man.

Thank you, Will. The truth hurts us all. Nominated.

[XemaSab]

2. Wow

Intense stuff....

Thanks for putting this together...

[alittlelark]

3. OK., it was all disturbing... but the last 2 -3 were

Too much! I'm gonna check out again.

[WilliamPitt]

4. Heh

This is what I see in mjy head 24/7/365. Enjoy your check-out. Wish I could.

[tavalon]

33. I don't know which I'm feeling more of

impressed or appalled. Nice to see that you can do pictorial essays as well as you do the written ones but damn, that's just appalling.

[texpatriot2004]

5. The truth hurts sometimes but we must look and see because

it's the right thing to do and God knows we need to do something right.

[BikeWriter]

6. Heavy duty! Recommended.

[ClayZ]

7. .

:cry:

[anarchy1999]

8. Will, this has to go down as one of your best EVER!

Damn, thank you and Peace.
Sherry

[WilliamPitt]

9. Thanks

:(

Get it out of my head.

[anarchy1999]

12. Peace, dearest, please, peace. Look to Johnnie Wolf at the Peace House

he has been our direction these last few years along with many others I know you met in your time in Crawford. Peter Johnson comes to mind along with Kay.

You know Scott R and so many others, you are a powerful force and thank you for being so.

S

[willing dwarf]

24. Hang in there...

Myself, I think that the voice of conscience and the heart of prayer are one. That furious voice, ringing in your head is one of our greatest hopes to make real change.

It's hard in these times to hold our heads up and act to create open circles of caring when there's so much that's been made so wrong.

But you do reach out, you do connect, you do make a difference in what you say and how you say it. Don't loose sight of that. Hearing your outrage and seeing your determination to hold these slime balls feet to the fire has given hope and courage to thousands of us. It eases some of the pain, but also galvanizes the heart to hear your determination to make America live up to its promises and be "America again."

[oxbow]

41. It's possible to have compassion without losing sleep

remember the words of the Buddha, that "this too shall pass." It's helped me through many hard nights. It reminds me that All suffering and all joy are transient, so continue seeking for higher things.

Thanks for this Will. It's real powerful stuff, and a credit to your Avatar.

[Pierre Trudeau]

10. Nice!!... one question:

Is there more to that comic strip panel about "Supply Side Jesus?"

Where can I find the rest of it?

Thanks for this comprehensive photo essay!

[WilliamPitt]

11. Here

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/09/17_franken.html

It will melt your face off.

[Pierre Trudeau]

13. Thank you!

That's a great satire. It really sums it up succinctly:

"No, James. Leprosy is a matter of personal responsibility."

How apropos!

Reminds me of those Jack Chick tract parodies.

I think I should print this strip into a little booklet and give it to every religious proselytizer who tries to hand me their literature on the street...

"... but have you heard the Good News about Supply Side Jesus?"

:7

[pnorman]

14. Outstanding. I'll definitely save it.

But Mossedeq wasn't assassinated. He was deposed. In those days, the CIA had no compunctions about boasting of their exploits, and they certainly didn't hide their light under a bushel in this instance.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadeq

pnorman

[QC]

15. One small point: Mossadegh wasn't assassinated.

He died of cancer in 1967.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Excellent But, Why does everyone forget what George did to Haiti??? nt

[Ninga]

17. Dearest Will.........Bless you......but clearly you are cursed with

caring and consciousness.

I started caring around 1971 or so, and haven't found much of a reason to stop.

Although I thought Bill Clinton might give me a reason to return to hope, (so to speak).....then came the Clinton welfare bill and NAFTA and darn it.....my caring returned...big time....then along came george.

I am haunted, exhausted, and fraught with worry at the thought of the debate de jour, with right wing neighbor's and their smugness.

I am waiting for the hero on the white horse, and he/she is no where to be found.

We will lose the war of words, surely as I write this, Dem cowards are eating breakfast and gearing up for the Roberts hearings....

What next??????

[marions ghost]

18. kick

:kick:

[peacebuzzard]

19. Incredible montage.

Nominated. Thank you for your work, Will Pitt.

[halobeam]

20. The truth.

Hurts.

[AzDar]

21. Well done. n/t

[ultraist]

22. sad, sad times...

nominated

[Lowell]

23. Great Photo Essay

This is definately going to be bookmarked and reviewed often. Powerful stuff. Thanks.

[stevedeshazer]

25. KICK

[SillyGoose]

26. Wow. Great work, Will. n/t

[tyedyeto]

27. This was worth the wait and several refreshes with my dial-up.

Best pictoral timeline of the Chimp! Kudos, Will!

As they say... a picture is worth a thousand words.

[WilliamPitt]

28. .

[CatWoman]

29. Will

exceptional job.

very, very well done.

[EnfantTerrible]

30. Thanks Will

More fuel for the fire in my belly.

[WilliamPitt]

31. .

[Southpaw Bookworm]

32. Awesome recap.

Those are images that will be burned into the American memory.

[kliljedahl]

34. You've spent some serious time on this

Thank you very much.

[WilliamPitt]

35. Welcome

[Nothing Without Hope]

36. I am hoping very hard that that was a doll and not a baby's body in

the mud. I have heard many stories about the dead babies in the hurricane aftermath, but if someone was cleaning up while a body lay there like that - that's too much to take in.

[WilliamPitt]

39. It's a doll

I'm pretty sure.

[Nothing Without Hope]

40. Thank you, Will. That one was haunting me. Now, though there may be

nightmares because there WERE so many dead children, a least that image won't star in them.

And be well. :hug:

[WilliamPitt]

42. I'm sorry

if I disturbed you too much. You know the score, and don't deserve to have your nose rubbed in anything.

:hug:

[Nothing Without Hope]

43. No, you didn't disturb me beyond the level of anxiety that we all are

feeling over the horrors of the last weeks. Your photo essay is powerful - I hope people beyond us previously-converted faithful will see it and finally open their eyes. I haven't been able to sleep at nights since the night before the hurricane hit the Gulf coast, and I know plenty of other people who are having the same reaction.

May I take this opportunity to draw your attention to two other subjects?

The first is related to the Katrina disaster only in that the focus of attention on the storm aftermath may allow this unspeakable new policy to become approved without its being noticed: the new pre-emptive nuclear strike policy, which is nearing approval. This thread starts with the WaPo report of it; the better NYC report is posted near the end of the thread. If the original poster doesn't do it, I'll repost on this tomorrow. I am very afraid it isn't getting enough attention. Here's the existing thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1770759
I am showing you this in case you were not fully aware of it. It puts the Administration statements about Iran and Syria in exactly the light that we feared. We need to make the American people aware that there are all too good reasons to FEAR the Bush Administration. Maybe that will reach more of them than our anger will.

The second is much more positive and IS - I believe - directly related to the hurricane recovery. I need to do more research to bring together more links and information, but you can get the gist of it from this post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4736946&mesg_id=4746383
This is about the inventions from the think tank/village of Gaviotas, on the western plains of Colombia. I believe many of these inexpensive, earth-friendly, easily maintained, utterly practical inventions - developed for the poor of Columbia, to give them fresh, clean drinking water, solar and wind power, solar water heating and more - could help the people in the devastated South, especially those in rural areas, recover the basics of life and gain more independence from municipal sources. I highly recommend this little book to all progressives - it truly lifts the spirit and it has real solutions that WORK. I'll be posting more on the potential application of the Gaviotas inventions in the American South sometime in the next few days. I am mentioning this to you now because I hope you will think about this possibility and - if you come to agree with me about its potential - help to spread the word to people who can do something about it. My second reason for mentioning it to you and to everyone else who may be reading this is that in these terrible times, the Gaviotas story is a genuine source of hope for the future. Not just the inventions, but the whole ongoing (over 25 years now) story and how it has affected the people who have lived it. Just now, sources of true hope are especially precious.

And now, good night. :hi: Thanks again for keeping that potential nightmare away.

[Laurab]

37. Best.photo.essay.ever.

But, man is it heartbreaking.

[baldguy]

38. America would be alot better off

If bush cared about the country as much as he cares about his golf game.

[TheUnspeakable]

44. really, really great-Thank You Will !!!!

[OhioChick]

45. Thank You!

You did a superb job on this.

[Maraya1969]

46. Someone please tell me that is a fake baby doll - 3rd pic from end

[WilliamPitt]

47. I'm pretty sure it is

[northamericancitizen]

48. thank you Mr. Pitt nt