Thursday, July 03, 2003

Let’s Get Political

In the words of the immortal Olivia Newton John, let’s get political… yes I think the headband is constricting bloodflow to my brain, but that would only put me on par with those of us who fail to question the U.S. Administration’s veracity with regard to our recent escapades in Bagdhad and environs.  They’ve seemed rather oxygen-starved to me for months. 

My proxy Mom sent me this article this morning and it reminded me of two things: first, a rousing debate that I found somehow through Jared’s site, in which people were arguing whether or not the administration had lied to us about the Iraq situation.  One powerful voice in that debate set some ground rules: that a lie is (and I’m paraphrasing with an eye to being fair and accurate) an intentional misrepresentation or withholding of facts so as to create a false impression or understanding in the mind of another, which the speaker knows to be false.  That’s a high bar to clear, but this article really seems to put us over it time and time again.  To say nothing of what’s been put over on us - and that’s the second point of which I’m reminded: that most people in this country just don’t seem to care how misled and ignorant they are. 

I recently saw an editorial in the Orlando newspaper (this is a link to buy a copy of the article, it’s not available for free anymore) that claimed that unemployment is at a “miniscule” level, as I recall - that’s just not true.  That same article lauded the present administration for keeping inflation low - but as I understand things, we’re actually worried now about deflation, price collapse, loss of inventory and the ability to pay to make or buy more - an actual depression is not out of the question, like Britain in the late 40s when they devalued their currency and were strapped into the financial equivalent of a foam helmet to keep them from falling over and injuring themselves further.  Schools are being defunded, libraries are closing, hospitals are unable to care for our sick and injured - and the Sentinel is cheerfully telling its readers that we’ve never had it so good.  And it saddens me that people actually believe it. 

So we’ve got a litany of real lies, people.  Intentional misstatements or pure inventions, all obviously articulated with the sole purpose of getting us behind a war effort that has not produced the desired results for us or the parties directly affected.  And the same is true for the environment, for civil rights, for the impact of the tax cuts and the health of the economy in general.... I’m not saying that the administration shouldn’t ever be wrong, shouldn’t ever have a position different than my own.  But they should be telling us the truth about matters of national importance.  It’s enough to make a guy doubt the trustworthiness of politicians.  What’s next, commercials?  Don’t tell me - I’d rather not know....

my thoughts exactly, dan!  go get ‘em, tiger!

OK, let me get this straight… Rules for being President:

-lying or intentionally misleading the public about intelligence information to justify going to war: OK
-lying about consentual, extra-marital sex with an of-age staffer: grounds for impeachment

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a die-hard Clinton supporter, I just don’t understand why no one is calling for an investigation of the Bushies. If Clinton was doing this, Ken Starr would have another 4+ year gig.

Of course, I said all along that the Bushies did not do their job in adequately justifying the war. and that was when we believed they were telling the truth.

Why are we shocked that we’ve been lied to when we know that we are treated (by government officials) like children, patted on the head and told only what they think we can handle?

because children can kick you out of office.

and some of these children really are stupid.

The interesting twist to these lies is that I think bush pounced on Iraq a year too early… This time next year when they still haven’t found any WMD, Bush will be in the throes of an election campaign.  How will he side-step the questions about the faulty intelligence/deliberate misrepresentation of information? Will the moderates remember and/or care next November?

Unfortunately, I live in a *very* Republican state, so we’ll be sending our electoral college votes Bush’s way. Also unfortunately, my husband is a Bushie, so the best I can hope to do is cancel out his vote like I did in the last election.

We don’t talk politics at my house very often.

ouch - that’s thin ice, Lori.  Love conquers all.  Meantime I have had the same idea many times - that (if we’re lucky) Bush shot his wad early and he’ll be flaccid by the election.  In a manner of speaking.  But NASCAR is still insanely popular and people are seeing more deer so they’re more comfortable with shootin’ ‘em.  awww damn.... I thought writing that would work it out of my system but now I’m all agitated again.

Yeah, well he waited until I was head-over-heels in love before he revealed his three character flaws: he is a die-hard Republican, he hates cats *and* he is a NASCAR fan. Go figure. This is the same man who believes in extreme gun control and plays/coaches soccer. I got my revenge, though. When he married me, he was stuck with custody of my three cats.

We can only hope for a “flaccid” Bush by 2004.

Thanks for this, Dan. I wanted to write something myself but I kept getting too frustrated.

Re: article from Orlando, FLORIDA. Consider the source. Jeb country. Counting past fingers and toes not an option.
If you look at the big picture, this article just tips their hand, gives us a glimpse into the depths at which Bushies will go to get him re-elected, including massaging the readership into believing “everything’s fine! the economy is fine! and Bush is doing a bang-up job!” by glossing over the fact that we aren’t heading into another Depression --not recession-- but a full-blown, time to batten-down-the-hatches DEEPo’pression.

yessssssss!  but dammit!  you’re making me THINK again!  and thinking pisses me off!

but you’re right—the worst part is that people believe it.  or even worse than that—don’t even care if it’s true or not.

as long as they “rally ‘round the family—with a pocket full of shells.”

ok.  i’m done—goin’ to watch trading spaces.

These lies are investments, investments made with an expectation of a return.  The public relations and spin costs a certain amount.  They try to convince the American public war is necessary, they make a feeble stab at it.  Once the ball is rolling and some semblance of an excuse is made, they invade and Halliburton makes a boat load of money off of it.  The big wigs in the admin and Pentagon hop back and forth between posts at Halliburton and their gov posts, Like Dick Cheney, steadily yielding and ensuring the continued yield of a boat load of money.  There was a thing about the Kennedy assasination I didn’t get until I saw the JFK movie - that JFK wanted out of Vietnam which meant the military contractors stood to would not make a boat load of money.  It’s money.  Why else? 

And this Liberia thing, if Bush goes into it full bore - it does not show him to be some humanitarian.  There’s oil around there too.  There’s already a Canadian company looking for oil around there.  Freakin evil Canadians - don’t get me started on that icy menace of ours to the north. . .

hey—don’t forget that they found a bunch of castor beans in iraq!  those beans can be made into some kind of poison!  iraq has food of mass destruction!

i’ve been wondering if the whole war problem is a national result of the “no regrets” portion of the national ethos.  you know how it’s popular to say, “i’ve done blah blah blah, and i have no regrets”?  we’d have to say, “i regret that war”, and that’s just not something that folks are willing to sign on to.  regret isn’t cool.  so we’d rather buy the lie than have to say we’re sorry.  maybe.

Bryan, I think you’re onto something - there are the masses who can’t face their failings and delude themselves with professed regretlessness; and those of us who actually set policy and forge history, who are cashing in substantially and who don’t know what it is to regret because they’ve never lost anything really valuable to them.  In response, I am going to start regretting everything.