...killing our servicemen and women, whereas Ted Bundy very personally killed those women." True. But murders—even serial ones—are similar to traffic accidents. They're going to happen, and whether you're in one depends on where you are, when, under what circumstances.
But in our system of government what Bush has been doing isn't supposed to happen. When a president (I'm stretching the term to include Bush) goes to war because HE has an agenda1, and misleads the Congress and Us the People to do so, then persists out of a pathological need to be seen as strong and steady (or maybe just because his Turd Weed says to), it's no accident. In fact, in our system of government, sending military personnel to war is supposed to be done Constitutionally, subject to checks and balances. For it to happen any other way is a serious abuse of power.
The Bushevik majority in Congress has collaborated in that abuse, too. And maybe, if we don't speak out, we collaborate as well? As Edward Abbey says, "A patriot must be ready to defend his country against [its] government." And, perhaps, from its greedy supporters? Bush's crimes are white-collar—the kind preferred by the powerful, whose license in our society is lubricated by the liquidity of money. (Bush is reported this morning to have raised $2.3 million dollars for his party yesterday.)
And Bush's war has significantly more bad consequences than 2,700+ wrongfully dead military personnel. He has seriously damaged America. Bob Woodward reports in his new book that General Jim Jones, the NATO commander, in midsummer 2005 told his old friend General Pete Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that "U.S. prestige was at a 50- to 75-year low in the world." Jones wondered "if he himself should not resign in protest."
Bush has seriously rent the office that he occupies—an office, as I've pointed out on several occasions, he couldn't even win fairly, in either 2000 or 2004. And he has continued to rent the office ever since. (How appropriate that "to rent" means both to rip and to get the use of by paying money.)
And I'm not even getting into how his war is said by that NIE report to be "stok[ing] the global terrorist threat, generating recruits for increasing acts of terror across the globe" (that is, making Americans—and other people—less safe).
Bush is no laughing matter, even though one of my readers commented on yesterday's post: "Jokes are the only way I can take this, um, administration." It may help us to laugh at Bush (and his administration) occasionally, but he's so far beneath contempt that he doesn't deserve to be found funny.
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1...to paraphrase Secretary Snowjob on Bob Woodward's latest book, which, by the way—in case you haven't seen the latest issue—is featured on the cover of Newsweek.
This Administration is so rent that it's beyond repair. Anything coming out when they move their lips from now on is going to be nothing but damage control.
ReplyDelete21 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq so far this month. It's only the 4th. That makes me sad. And angry.
It's not Bush "jokes" that make me laugh. It's more of an involuntary reflex on my part every time he opens his mouth. He is a joke. The tripe that flows out of his mouth has to be written by demented script writers, don't you think?
Yes, Serena, I have also long understood that BUSH is himself the joke. But when such a man can be "elected" president (with a lot of help from his brother Jeb, the sanctimonious botox babe Katherine Harris, and, oh yeah, Cheenie's buddies on the U.S. Supreme Court--not to even get into what happened in Ohio four years later), who's the joke on?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you run into any of my other 78,999 readers, you might suggest that they make their presence known occasionally by following your example and leaving a comment. I SO appreciate YOURS....
I'm glad you put "elected" in quotes. That was the beginning of this joke.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of readers to try and track down. I can't even find my 5 or 6 when they go AWOL. A good cry always works for me when I've been deserted. You probably don't want to do that.:)
Oh, I've benefitted from a good cry on a few occasions....
ReplyDeleteWouldn't you, though, like to have a few hundred readers or so? I sure would. I tried something new the other day. After reading Professor Stanley Fish's blog on the New York Times two days ago and finding it somewhat of a joke, I appended the following comment (the 70th!): 'Professor Fish, your article reads like a joke, extoling
“President Bush” as it does and comparing his greatness with your puniness, but it isn’t funny. See why in today’s post on my blog.' The last four words linked to my post about why Bush jokes aren't funny.
I haven't had anyone new leave a comment, however <frown>. Maybe I was a little too coy, should have "teased" 'em a bit more....
Fish used to live one street over from me, by the way. It was fun having an intellectual celebrity in the neighborhood. He was at Duke at that time.
Somehow, I manage to pick up 100 or so a day. Most of them don't comment, though, so yeah, I could benefit from a program.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had an intellectual celebrity in my neighborhood. -sigh-
Do you have a way of counting visitors to your blog (even silent ones)?
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to run into "celebrities." My wife was sitting in her obstetrician's office one day (back in 1969, I think) when she noticed a familiar-looking man sitting nearby. "Excuse me," she said, "are you Timothy Leary?" Mr. Leary, perhaps in an LSD stupor? replied, "Sometimes."
And one beautiful day in 1976, I came to the corner on 42nd Street in Manhattan where I would turn and cross. I looked up and immediately recognized George McGovern approaching me from the other side of 42nd. And I noticed that he was watching the same very attractive woman whom I had been watching as I walked along the street. "Senator McGovern," I said and introduced myself. "I see that you and I share a basic interest." Nice "man-to-man" moment....