It’s The End of The World As We Know It….

Oh God, the day has come…We are truly in the final days, the days of apocalypse…and what proof do I have, you may well ask? Well, I’m truly ashamed, but within the span of one week, 1 WEEK I tell you, I have found myself agreeing with both George W. Bush AND She Who Must Not Be Named.

Before you pass out, or rush to have me committed to a mental institution (which, truly, I beg you to do should I ever TRULY agree with these spawn of Satan), allow me to say that I only agreed conditionally…

1st, on Monday, we were having breakfast at our hotel in Ashland, and they had the TV on to Bush’s press conference…and he was talking about how we cannot just “cut and run” like the Democrats suggest, in our departure from Iraq. And I agree with that. As always, though, I have issues. 1st issue…WHY ARE WE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE??? Because W. lied to us about the weapons of mass destruction. Because he scared the hell out of Americans, to the point where many people thought, I sure as hell don’t want to be nuked by that psycho Saddam, and he will clearly do that to his own people (or at least gas people who he is supposed to support, his countrymen, the Kurds), so why wouldn’t he do that to us, who bombed the hell out of his country when our current president’s daddy was in office? The problem, of course, is that Saddam didn’t have that capability, and anyone who spent a bit of time looking into it could see that. At the same time we were considering attacking Iraq, though, we needed to be thinking about what if…what if we DO get into this war, what are the repercussions? What will happen there, and here, because of it? W. and his camp told us that the Iraqis would welcome our soldiers with flowers, democracy would prevail, and all would be well in the world. Has anyone else noticed that happening? Because me? Not so much. Now, I will admit to having a B.A. in International Relations, so maybe I’m savvy or something, but it sure seemed to me that a HELL of a lot of people outside of my IR cohort were saying, “This really ISN’T a good idea”, and “This will start a civil war”, and “Once we’re in there, it’s going to be REALLY hard to get out cleanly”, and “If you think the radical muslims hate us now, just WAIT and see what kind of crap you’re stirring up with this one.” I’d like to take credit for being some kind of diplomacy genius here, but really, I’m not, and a LOT of people were saying that this looked a lot like Viet Nam in that is was going to be a quagmire, a situation from which it would be VERY difficult to extricate ourselves. So it’ s not just me. BUT, how many DEMOCRATIC congresspeople voted FOR this war, either because they were fooled by the rhetoric, or they were afraid that their constituents were too afraid of the rhetoric, or because they were afraid of being called afraid…afraid of being called traitors…so they didn’t stand up and say, “wait….slow down…let’s be sure this is right…” No, they voted for it. And now, they want to pull out, go home, and leave the people in Iraq to stew in this mess, to allow the terrorists to take over Iraq and continue to make it a hotbed for Al Qaida. Because Americans are sick of a war that we never should have started. Great. Now who am I supposed to vote for, if the Dems are fucking up this badly, and have been for years? It’s not too late. Make a plan, not short range, not based on the November elections, but based on what really needs to happen. Which, unfortunately enough, is that we need to start talking to Iran and Syria about not going in and trying to divide this country up into fun little pieces. About actually negotiating with people that we don’t like, in order to avoid a LOT more pain in the long run. Fun? No. But I’m hoping you didn’t get into politics for the parties and beer. GROW A SPINE PEOPLE.

Ahem.

2nd, tonight, (last night by the time this is posted, but tonight when I wrote it…I know, I sometimes write the night before, but wait to post in the vein hope of getting just a FEW more comments on a previous post…DAMN you lurkers…you task me so!) I’ve had a glass or two of wine, and I’m getting ready for bed…I finished watching “Mona Lisa Smile” (pretty good…I’m a closet Julie Roberts fan…I know it’s not cool) on FX, and I’m flipping the channels around. Who do I see? She who must not be named. She who injects herself with her own urine to stay painfully thin. She whose spit provides anti-venom for bites from rattlesnakes. And what is she saying? She’s talking about the Democrats, and how if history is correct, they will take over the Congress in November…about how they are talking about how they want to shut down Guantonimo, but will not provide a reasonable plan to do so. AMEN. I disagree with her premise, which is that it should stay open, that the patriot act should stay in tact, and that it is a reasonable reaction to the attacks of September 11th. But should we discuss HOW to do these things in a responsible manner? Yes. Are we? Not that I have seen. She also mentioned that the CIA and the FBI were not allowed to have much contact before the Patriot Act, before September 11th, which was part of our problem. I’d sure as hell hate to start quoting HER for my facts, but actually, that sounds kind of familiar and true, and also, really really wrong. Maybe that part of the act can stay.

So you see? Numbers 1 and 2 on my list of people whom I would most LOVE to crap upon, maybe after eating a pint or two of cherries, and here, I find myself agreeing with them, albeit VERY conditionally. I think I need a shower. Anyone see Silkwood? One of those showers.

Oh, and while we’re talking about politics, I had a thought the other day that chilled me to the bones and made me want to climb back under the covers. My mom has been saying for quite awhile now that W. and his bunch are all for trouble in the Middle East because it is one of the signs of the ‘end of days’, and they are working to bring about the Second Coming of Christ so they can be saved. So…what if the ecology is the same thing? What if that’s part (not all, because, duh, GREED seems to be a mighty big factor) of the reason that they won’t get behind the fight against global warming? What if storms like Katrina and weather like 115 in the Bay Area and all of that are just portents of their salvation? You have all of eternity, people, can’t you just wait until you die or something? I think I need another shower. Or a drink. Or a drink in the shower. Want to come with?