Letters to the Editor
-
W's god is too small
Blue Jean makes an important point bringing up the fact that every time W screwed up, somebody's always been there to save him. Perhaps this is the god of George W. Bush: the savior of his soul is the same thing as the savior of his ass. And as long as he's in the White House, the rest of us have to wait for his goddam godot with him.
The scary thing is, it's as if we've been living through Unbreakable for the past six and a half years, and the clues have been there all along!!! We should have known, we could have known, but the plot carried us along and here we are.
-
Nicely put...
I completely agree!
-
it's not only bush
While I agree with you that bush's irresponsible attitudes could be described as faith-based, and that they are despicable, etc., I have concluded that focusing on bush and his cronies, as so many do, misses a larger issue.
If it weren't for the support of a large majority of americans (wasn't it something like 90%?), a docile press, and a runaway corporate culture, I don't believe we would be in Iraq toda. So Who is really to blame if not america as a society as a whole? In this sense the war is not the problem. It is a symptom of a greater problem, namely, who americans were when they went into this war.
I say america got the war that it deserved and now is probably not the time to push for a withdrawal even if we could. Not enough of the country is suffering, yet. But when 90% of americans are feeling the price is too high to pay, and the losses are both financial and personal, they'll find a way to get out. Be sure of it.
-
Harumph
Anyone who spends that much time clearing brush in Texas should have realized that when you know of a nest of yellow jackets in a field, the last thing you do is take a stick and STIR it. Foreseeable consequences, indeed.
-
Bush Presidency chaos predicted by B-movie in 1981
I think we've now sufficient evidence that Bush is the true-life Anti-Christ portrayed by Sam Neil in "The Omen 3: Final Conflict." The one where the charming adult Damien is elected President of the United States.
Interestingly, all this is predicted by the scriptures Mr. Bush is so fond of. Curious to see where he next takes U.S.
-
Really?
"But nobody controls war. Not even God."
Which God are you talking about?
I thought that by definition, everything was the will of (the Abrahamic) God.
-
Speaking of Mark Twain
G.K., if you've read Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" then you've likely also read "From an essay called 'Glances at History'", which absolutely and utterly describes, in eery and vast foresight, the situation we face today. Or, for that matter, "The War Prayer", which even more closely addresses the
religious hubris to which you ascribe, quite rightly, Bush's insane idiocy. It's all there, more than a century in advance.
But this is not to say that anyone who holds any spiritual convictions or possesses the character trait of faith is incapable of doing otherwise. In fact, it is Kierkergaards'
"Knight of Faith" who can and, I am certain, will ultimately show us the way to undo what has been done. Oh, it won't happen over night. The bill has been presented and we will all have to help pay it, but then we all (not just the hundred-fifty million "rednecks" who followed mindlessly) share in the responsibility for this debacle because while they followed we did NOTHING. Sitting on the sidelines and yelling and pointing does not relieve the rest of us of the responsibility for not having overturned this unresponsive, uncaring, and unconnected government which we hired to do our chores for us. We have stood by and beat our breasts and rent our garments, but no one has made anything remotely like a genuine move to take this administration out via the mechanism
provided by our Constitution and mandated by our Declaration of Independence. Or did you think that just applied to one event in 1776?
Kamiya is beyond brilliant in this essay. He continues to grow in grace and beauty the more he sifts barehanded through the detritus of our collective national folly. We are the ones - all of us - who will have to recognize the Knight of Faith and follow him (or her) through the wilderness and back into the light. To do otherwise would be faithless - and utterly un-American.
-
Bush's faith
Good article but the obsessions over Bush's faith is a distraction. The faith schtick was mere domenstic politics. The Middle East onvasion had been in the workls long before Bush came riding into town. He just provided the opportunity. Energy; this is the only game in town. Perhaps if they all just came out and said: 'you know what, it ain't very nice but that's life and we simnply need that oil or someone else is gonna get it'.
Forget the god and the hubris and all of that. Great nations don't care about body counts, they care about securing whatever it is they are going after. Locals are in the way - that's life. Nasty business. This is not an excuse, but it's more likely than anything the cold hard truth of the way these guys are running things.
-
unbearable lightness
Speaking of literary precursors of the war, one could add the word "'pataphysical." This comes from Alfred Jarry's King Ubu (Ubu Roi) and his preoccupation with 'pataphysics, the "science of imaginary solutions."
-
We deserve this
"America gets the politicians they deserve. That's it. And you keep on struggling." Al Lewis.
It does no good to pretend that George W. Bush was some sort of alien anomaly. Bush was the product of the American political system (which now includes the Supreme Court and the media) in 2000 and 2004. The war which has become such an endless train wreck was eagerly embraced by the vast majority of the American voters and of Congress in 2003.
For the past six years, and the next two, George W. Bush is the President America deserves. The question is not about his madness, but our own.