> I often feel like this author...but then I think of
> my kids and
> grandkids and all the innocent little kids in this
> world and realize we
> have to stick up for their future...If not us, Who?
> If not now, When?
> So I continue to write our senators and
> representatives...hoping against
> hope that they will eventually slog their way out of
> the political mire
> and actually DO SOMETHING!
>
> EXCERPT: I'm tellin' ya, this fascism thing has got
> a lot going for it.
> No more sleepless nights worrying about things like:
> "nuclear options,"
> insolvent pension plans, the problems facing
> organized labor (no unions,
> no problem!), who to vote for, destructive
> nationalism, what religion
> the new addition to the family will be ('cause,
> under fascism, there's
> basically only one; one guess which), whether
> corporations will always
> stick it to the populace (they will, thus serving
> another basic tenet of
> fascism: the indistinguishable co-mingling of
> corrupt corporate and
> government interests), etc. Short of us going all
> Founding Fathers-like
> and whippin' up a second American R-word (unlikely),
> all of that stuff
> -- and more! -- has either happened, is happening,
> or is gonna happen.
>
> So why the heck stew over it?
>
> Can you imagine all the time we would save if we
> just figured it was a
> lost cause and quit fighting -- you know, like the
> Democrats in
> Congress? I get giddy just thinking about it. For
> instance, how many
> hours a day now do you figure you spend on the
> Internet or are otherwise
> similarly engaged, trying to ferret out just a few
> more kernels of
> truth? Under fascism, you can throw such cares away
> and watch the hours
> return to you like magic, thus making it possible
> for you to pedal your
> bike to your third job without worrying about being
> late or take that
> Mandarin class in anticipation of our eventual
> joyful liberation.
>
> Oh, the advantages of fascism! What in the U.S.
> military-dominated world
> took me so long to see them?
>
> 'Is fascism really all that bad?'
> May 20
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> By Mark Drolette
>
> Amidst all that's been written about Newsweak's
> agreement to now let the
> Bushies vet its reporting in the wake of the
> magazine's article about
> Guantanamo Bay interrogators' rather rude treatment
> of the Quran, a
> particular piece by Terence Hunt of the Associated
> Press about the whole
> unholy affair caught my widened orb. After carefully
> unsnagging it, I
> focused it as well as I could on a few quotes that
> were real eye-poppers
> (as if that's what I needed at the moment). To
> (nit)wit:
>
> Hunt quotes Scott McClellan, White House press
> secretary, thusly:
>
> "The report had real consequences. People [in
> Afghanistan] have lost
> their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged.
> There are some who are
> opposed to the United States and what we stand for
> who have sought to
> exploit this allegation. It will take work to undo
> what can be undone."
>
> You know, I think McClellan is the only guy almost
> alive who could make
> me miss Ari Fleischer. Each is a bald-faced liar,
> but watching
> Scotty-boy dissemble for the administration makes it
> all the more
> evident that Fleischer actually had a natural-born
> talent for
> prevarication. It was even somewhat entertaining at
> times, in a guilty
> pleasure sort of way, watching Ari lie through his
> teeth. With
> McClellan, I just want to punch him in them. Having
> said that (thank you
> for listening), the sickly laughable hypocrisy
> saturating snotty
> Scotty's admonishment of the wayward Newsmeek is so
> obvious, we'll just
> move on here to our next gem, as reported by Hunt:
>
> "McClellan said a retraction was only 'a good first
> step' and said
> Newsweek should try to set the record straight by
> 'clearly explaining
> what happened and how they got it wrong,
> particularly to the Muslim
> world, and pointing out the policies and practices
> of our military.'"
>
> So let me get this straight: the main function of
> American media is not
> to report facts, but rather to promote the gory
> glory of America's
> globe-straddling, imperialistic death machine,
> otherwise know as the
> United States military?
>
> Just so long as we're clear.
>
> This actually might be a good place to pause and
> ask: did Newspeak get
> the story wrong? Well, yeah, obviously they did. I
> mean, come on: Who
> other than an America-hating commie gay-lover would
> believe that a
> member of the honorable U.S. military could even
> consider throwing a
> Quran into a toilet? Yes, we all know America has
> gone to war under
> false pretenses, killed tens of thousands, wounded
> countless others,
> destroyed a country, tortured prisoners, murdered
> civilians outright (in
> addition to killing them, all in good faith, of
> course, as "collateral
> damage"), infuriated Muslims all over the globe,
> intentionally alienated
> longtime allies, precipitated a spike in terrorism
> worldwide, and ripped
> off millions of dollars from the Iraqis while
> purportedly helping them,
> but, really, now ... desecrate the Quran?
>
> Please! That would be over the line.
>
> Moving backward, er, sideways, uh, forward, here's
> Secretary of State
> Condoleezza Rice, according to Hunt: "It's appalling
> that this story got
> out there."
>
> "Appalling" is not the first word that comes to
> mind; "miraculous," maybe.
>
> Per Hunt, Rice again:
>
> "'I do think [the article has] done a lot of harm.
> Of course, 16 people
> died...'"
>
> So Condi weeps for 16 dead Afghanis. Touching.
> However, since the U.S.
> has slaughtered at least 100,000 Iraqis in its
> imperial land/oil grab on
> her watch and I don't remember ever hearing her
> express similar concern
> for those poor souls, I do believe that if world
> domination were a poker
> game [and some would say it is], I bet her bet would
> go something like
> this: "I call your 6250 dead Iraqis with my one
> dear, departed Afghani."
> (At least we now know the approximate rate of
> exchange.)
>
> Lastly, Rice out-Rices herself:
>
> "'...but it's also done a lot of harm to America's
> efforts' to
> demonstrate tolerance and breed goodwill in the
> Muslim world."
>
> I'm sorry. I must've missed our noble efforts at
> selflessly helping our
> Muslim friends these last couple of years while I
> was busy being
> preoccupied with occupied Iraq.
>
> On second thought, though, maybe ol' Bird's Nest
> Hair actually has a
> point here. Perhaps it's not so strange, after all,
> to wonder why Iraqis
> (the ones who haven't yet died from bombs, bullets,
> cholera, or depleted
> uranium poisoning) aren't just a little more
> grateful for America's
> big-hearted attempt to rid their country once and
> for all of weapons of
> mass destruction, er, smash Al-Qaeda with whom
> Saddam Hussein was
> working closely, uh, bring democracy, yeah, that's
> it, bring democracy
> to their now rubble-strewn and cluster
> bomb-blanketed land. After all,
> if the Chinese someday invade and occupy our country
> for our own good
> after pulling the financial rug out from underneath
> us by suddenly
> calling in the mountains of U.S. Treasury bills we
> continually sell them
> to prop up our bankrupt economy, I'm sure we'll all
> be in the streets
> singing their praises to high heaven.
>
> Dontcha think?
>
> In fact, the more I think about it, the more I see
> that folks like Rice
> and McClellan are just naturally doing and saying
> what representatives
> of any fascistic regime would say and do. In a weird
> sort of way,
> they're actually being up front about how today's
> American press really
> operates.
>
> All Americans know the traditional media in this
> country are owned, in
> classic fascistic fashion, damn near lock, stock,
> and barrel by the
> extreme right wing. Well, all Americans, that is,
> except for the
> millions who don't know it (which would be pretty
> much the same ones who
> still believe their ballots count; ah, yes, fixed
> elections: another
> hallmark of fascism).
>
> But here's the thing: Look at how happy the ostrich
> people are! Compared
> to us, that is. Yes, us: the folks who continuously
> fret and fume about
> the incessant government propaganda emanating from
> America's TV
> stations, radio channels, newspapers, and the like.
> When was the last
> time you can remember not having that sick little
> twist in your stomach
> or hearing the doom-laden thought in your head that
> goes: "Man, I can't
> believe how much my country has gone to utter hell"?
>
> What I'm saying is that when Rice tells you it's
> appalling that
> Newssqueak published a factual story or McClellan
> says it's the media's
> duty to instruct the world to worship America's big,
> hard guns, they're
> actually being honest about the current state of the
> state in spite of
> their naturally dishonest little selves. Isn't it
> time, then, to call
> off the whole charade, call a spade a spade, and get
> on with living in
> totalitarianism's shade? (A poet I'm not, but that's
> OK; fascism
> disdains the arts and intellectualism, anyway.)
>
> Just think how freeing it would be to finally quit
> expending all of that
> energy trying to pump air into the decidedly dead
> duck that once was our
> dear democracy. I haven't admitted this before, but
> it's not easy
> constantly coming up with new, clever names for the
> loonies in charge. I
> often revert to "Bushies," but that has always
> seemed far too cutesie to
> convey the sheer evil it represents. "Busheviks,"
> which is popular
> lately, is excellent, but I didn't think of it, so
> no dice there. What's
> left? Bush pigs, Bush dogs, Bush monsters,
> Bushwhackers, Bushitters ...
> ? See what I mean? My well of creativity, she does
> not runneth over.
>
> What it relief it would be just to watch WWF
> instead.
>
> I'm tellin' ya, this fascism thing has got a lot
> going for it. No more
> sleepless nights worrying about things like:
> "nuclear options,"
> insolvent pension plans, the problems facing
> organized labor (no unions,
> no problem!), who to vote for, destructive
> nationalism, what religion
> the new addition to the family will be ('cause,
> under fascism, there's
> basically only one; one guess), whether corporations
> will always stick
> it to the populace (they will, thus serving another
> basic tenet of
> fascism: the indistinguishable co-mingling of
> corrupt corporate and
> government interests), etc. Short of us going all
> Founding Fathers-like
> and whippin' up a second American R-word (unlikely),
> all of that stuff
> -- and more! -- has either happened, is happening,
> or is gonna happen.
>
> So why the heck stew over it?
>
> Can you imagine all the time we would save if we
> just figured it was a
> lost cause and quit fighting -- you know, like the
> Democrats in
> Congress? I get giddy just thinking about it. For
> instance, how many
> hours a day now do you figure you spend on the
> Internet or are otherwise
> similarly engaged, trying to ferret out just a few
> more kernels of
> truth? Under fascism, you can throw such cares away
> and watch the hours
> return to you like magic, thus making it possible
> for you to pedal your
> bike to your third job without worrying about being
> late or take that
> Mandarin class in anticipation of our eventual
> joyful liberation.
>
> Oh, the advantages of fascism! What in the U.S.
> military-dominated world
> took me so long to see them?
>
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