April 16, 2004, Random Friday Night Rant
Well, I actually shouldn't be all that strident in my rant; after a month of relying on the dole for my living, I have a sweet temporary gig at a midtown Manhattan law firm, which is theoretically indefinite, and as I previously indicated, there are harbingers of my getting a rather prestigious, and I would hope, enjoyable and fulfilling, public sector job in the pretty darned near short term. In short, despite that month of unemployment (and nearly TWO HORRIBLE YEARS in a rather miserable job that put undue pressure on my body, my spirit, and everything else, largely because the economy sucked and there really was nowhere else to go), things are looking up, so ain't things in the Bush economy just wonderful?
Um, no. The stats are barely moving; no-- at least jobs aren't hemmoraging-- but why is "the ship stopped sinking" considered a sign of PROGRESS? Get the damned water out of the hold, and we'll talk.
So from our economic steward-ship, we'll move right along to our ship of state. War, you see, being the health of the state. In which case, man is our state healthy, even as very shortly, the first casualties of those on involuntary extended tours in Iraq will begin to come home via Dover AFB-- some in caskets, others in wheelchairs.
And then we can ask the question-- we can-- warbloggers and unapologetic fools can think what they want-- but WE can ask, God damn it. Simple question. We have way, way over-shot our wad militarily on Iraq (largely because our SecDef's dream of war of the future didn't include the idea of any human beings in the present-- just lots of high tech shit for which large contracts could be let and large kickbacks paid. But any rational planner knew that a lengthy occupation was inevitable, and we lacked the manpower (and thanks to brilliant diplomacy, weren't getting it from anywhere else)). So... in short... What was this about? JUST... WHAT... THE... FUCK... WAS... THIS... ABOUT?
The President's answer (as late as, unbelievably, this week) was "September 11th, September 11th, September 11th... (BTW-- if you listened carefully, he mentioned 50 tons of mustard gas under a turkey field-- in Libya apparently-- more than once; a certain Ranting Granny shared an unconfirmed report out of Basra that American forces are off-loading mis-labeled WMDs, for burial and "discovery" in Iraq. Any hint of confirmation of this story from anywhere would be most welcome).
Well, Mr. President, regarding September 11th-- you weren't there. In fact, Sir, you took yourself out of it, chosing, rather than acting as a decisive Commander in Chief acting to serve the nation at its dire moment, you were advised of the situation, AND THEN YOU CHOSE-- chose to enter a third grade classroom at Booker Elementary School in Florida for your photo-op, and read a story about a goat. Indeed, you not only weren't "there", you made SURE you weren't there. And then, IIRC, AND I DO, you were in-fucking-visible for a critical next twelve hours-- when we learned that Karen Hughes was actually President of the United States, and you were on an air base to air base joy-ride, while your handlers made up a story about Air Force One being a target.
Me? Oh yes. I WAS fucking there. Does this give me superior virtue as a human being? No. Does it give me a certain moral authority? Yes. OH FUCKING YES. It does. (BTW--I don't suppose a single, fucking war-blogger was there. If so, I'm not aware of them.) Some warbloggers have wrapped themselves in the flag over it-- but I'm not sure they were in downtown Manhattan that day, (For one thing, it would involve coming out of their parent's basements). I'm not sure how many people with the misfortune of being in lower Manhattan that otherwise lovely morning are inclined to support this President--on Iraq or on anything-- but my guess is-- it ain't a big number.
BTW-- I've ALSO had it with hearing about "the September 11th families". People have tragedies every day. Only a few are blessed to have a compensation program set up for them, making their tragedy turning them into tax-free millionaires. A colleague of mine who represented one of the 9-11 widows pro bono COMPLAINED to him about her PALTRY $750,000 tax free award (for her late spouse, who never earned more than $30K; I suspect that level of callow greed is, ahem, not unusual in this group.) Well-- that's it, folks. You suffered, you were compensated. The governor even pandered to you and pretended like you should-- or did-- have anything to say about how the site got redeveloped. Nice. I don't want to trade places with you for all the money you're going to get. But... the families of lost loved ones in Oklahoma City, as I recall got... what was that word? Oh yes. Shit. No compensation scheme was set up for them. So-- you folks-- I don't begrudge you your compensation. But at this point, I think we've all heard enough from you.
That means that September 11th is actually owned by the rest of us, I've just decided. The people whose reward for it was having their lives (not to mention their sleep) disrupted. The hundreds of thousands of people who lost their jobs (such as myself, albeit for a short time) for example, or got to watch without benefit of a t.v. screen. Or realized we were in a plane's trajectory had the towers not held. The millions who had to breathe in the shit. Thousands and thousands whose apartments were contaminated. Those traumatized IN NEW YORK for fear that bridges and tunnels would be mined, or truck-bombed.
You know what? THIS WAS ABOUT NEW YORK, AFTER ALL. And New York says that Mr. Bush can kiss its collective ass. Because you and your actions have made us less safe. And we know it.
And 9-11 is NOT owned by warbloggers; shall we say, to warbloggers (and to be fair, ANY loudmouth supporters of this Administration and its Iraq policy) in, oh, Tennessee, or California, who had NOTHING FUCKING TO DO WITH ANY OF IT, GOD DAMN IT and GOD DAMN THEM-- I'll just say this: GOD DAMN YOU.
Because thanks to you giving succor to the incompetent mass murderers in the White House (by that, btw, I don't mean they are incompetent AT mass murder--merely at everything else), they went ahead and pretended that they had the support of the American people. And we as a nation engaged in mass murder on the people of Iraq, and on a certain group of people in America. (As to the question-- would you rather have Saddam still in power? If it meant my Daddy-- or Mommy-- or sister or brother or cousin or son or friend, who came back to Dover AFB in a casket-- were still alive and at his job as parks commissioner-- then FUCK YES, AND FUCK YOU FOR ASKING.)
Us in New York? How do we feel-- knowing, for example, that Saddam is in custody (and we all know how safer all Americans-- especially in the military-- are since his capture), but OBL is clearly not? I'll tell you: we feel like the vic watching the jury who KNEW the cops just saw the perp escape so they grabbed the guy standing next to him and the jury went ahead and hanged that guy ANYWAY-- 'cause someone had to pay (and hey, they're all swarthy turban wearing furrners anyway, right?)
And that particular innocent schmuck has been the people of Iraq (and several hundred American people, and counting). So... Mr. "I Can't Even THINK Of Something I Regret Or Will Say I'm Sorry For Or Can Even Think I Did Wrong" President... fuck you, Sir.
Enjoy your evening.
Comments
Most excellent rant, my young friend.
Ah'm clear out here in Oregon... there is no way I could even begin to be empathetic to your experience.
I did a Tour of Duty in 1972.
I am appalled. At the turn our nation has taken.
Rant on.
Posted by ThomasWare at April 17, 2004 12:19 AM
Dog,
While I feel your pain,
all I can say is Decaf, Man.
Decaf.
Posted by Rick Blaine at April 17, 2004 06:44 PM
Whew! Tough but it's the truth. Could not figure out why this dimwit of a commander would go to Iraq and pull my cousin out of
Afghanistan. Ran across more than one comment regarding Saddam beginning to trade oil for euros rather than petrodollars. Same old shit. I used to have a former marine who was at My Lai working for my firm. Told me our foreign policy is simple "Choke them if they can't take a fuck." Never ever thought it was worth it. He's still living with the bodies of over 400 dead and did not get the Congressional Medal of Honor like our war "heros" of old like Smedley Butler killing 200 Haitains back around 1917.
The folks that put our Constitution together knew the problems we could get into by giving war powers to a single ruler. The Constitution says that Congress has the authority to declare war not the jerk in the White House because war is serious shit. I don't like Bush and his lying since day one but what I even like less are those sorry SOB's in Congress who voted to give him these powers. They all should be impeached, those who assented and did not do the people's work. Better yet we should round up all their sorry asses and send them for a tour of Iraq with a one way ticket and no body armor.
Anyone out there who can tell me how we the people can impeach those who took a shit on the Constitution?
Posted by Stevo at April 19, 2004 11:04 PM
Whew! Tough but it's the truth. Could not figure out why this dimwit of a commander would go to Iraq and pull my cousin out of
Afghanistan. Ran across more than one comment regarding Saddam beginning to trade oil for euros rather than petrodollars. Same old shit. I used to have a former marine who was at My Lai working for my firm. Told me our foreign policy is simple "Choke them if they can't take a fuck." Never ever thought it was worth it. He's still living with the bodies of over 400 dead and did not get the Congressional Medal of Honor like our war "heros" of old like Smedley Butler killing 200 Haitains back around 1917.
The folks that put our Constitution together knew the problems we could get into by giving war powers to a single ruler. The Constitution says that Congress has the authority to declare war not the jerk in the White House because war is serious shit. I don't like Bush and his lying since day one but what I even like less are those sorry SOB's in Congress who voted to give him these powers. They all should be impeached, those who assented and did not do the people's work. Better yet we should round up all their sorry asses and send them for a tour of Iraq with a one way ticket and no body armor.
Anyone out there who can tell me how we the people can impeach those who took a shit on the Constitution?
Posted by Stevo at April 19, 2004 11:05 PM
Whew! Tough but it's the truth. Could not figure out why this dimwit of a commander would go to Iraq and pull my cousin out of
Afghanistan. Ran across more than one comment regarding Saddam beginning to trade oil for euros rather than petrodollars. Same old shit. I used to have a former marine who was at My Lai working for my firm. Told me our foreign policy is simple "Choke them if they can't take a fuck." Never ever thought it was worth it. He's still living with the bodies of over 400 dead and did not get the Congressional Medal of Honor like our war "heros" of old like Smedley Butler killing 200 Haitains back around 1917.
The folks that put our Constitution together knew the problems we could get into by giving war powers to a single ruler. The Constitution says that Congress has the authority to declare war not the jerk in the White House because war is serious shit. I don't like Bush and his lying since day one but what I even like less are those sorry SOB's in Congress who voted to give him these powers. They all should be impeached, those who assented and did not do the people's work. Better yet we should round up all their sorry asses and send them for a tour of Iraq with a one way ticket and no body armor.
Anyone out there who can tell me how we the people can impeach those who took a shit on the Constitution?
Posted by at April 19, 2004 11:06 PM
Whew! Tough but it's the truth. Could not figure out why this dimwit of a commander would go to Iraq and pull my cousin out of
Afghanistan. Ran across more than one comment regarding Saddam beginning to trade oil for euros rather than petrodollars. Same old shit. I used to have a former marine who was at My Lai working for my firm. Told me our foreign policy is simple "Choke them if they can't take a fuck." Never ever thought it was worth it. He's still living with the bodies of over 400 dead and did not get the Congressional Medal of Honor like our war "heros" of old like Smedley Butler killing 200 Haitains back around 1917.
The folks that put our Constitution together knew the problems we could get into by giving war powers to a single ruler. The Constitution says that Congress has the authority to declare war not the jerk in the White House because war is serious shit. I don't like Bush and his lying since day one but what I even like less are those sorry SOB's in Congress who voted to give him these powers. They all should be impeached, those who assented and did not do the people's work. Better yet we should round up all their sorry asses and send them for a tour of Iraq with a one way ticket and no body armor.
Anyone out there who can tell me how we the people can impeach those who took a shit on the Constitution?
Posted by at April 19, 2004 11:09 PM
2/3 or either house can get together to expel its own member (IIRC), though they would not deign to do so absent something like a criminal conviction.
The PEOPLE can impeach any House member eery 2 years; or any Senator every 6, or even the President every 4. Our "elected leaders" only crap on the Constitution because we haven't been eternally vigilant for a while...
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