This is the kind of thing that just makes me despair for humanity. What kind of people can systematically rape and kill children? How can anyone justify anything like this as a political tool? I’ve read many times how soldiers lose their perspective, and stop seeing people as human beings, but it’s just impossible to understand.

I once had an intimate experience with this mentality. I was in an so-called “honors” history class in high school, and one of our assignments was to interview a WWII veteran. I talked with a member of our church that served in the South Pacific theatre. He still held a huge grudge against the Japanese, and told me quite dispassionately about burning the “Japs” out of their tunnels using a flamethrower. He really didn’t view them as quite human.

Estimates are that 1000 people a day are dying in East Congo from war, famine, and disease – over four million in the last 10 years! Now, if I were President, this would be the sort of thing that would be of importance to me. My goal as a world citizen would be to make this tiny sphere a more prosperous and livable place for all, not just for a select few.

Is that too Miss Universe/SaveTheWhales/Whirled-Peas sounding? Call me a romantic, a dreamer, a rebel, Dottie…a loner. But this just happens to be a bit more important to me than cheap oil, missile defense systems, and lowering my taxes.

Some additional info about how UN peacekeeping forces are contributing to this horror.

We’re gawddamn ‘mericans! We’re superior in every way to all them rice-eatin’, turban-wearin’, pinko-commie, slant-eyed, drum-bangin’, loincloth-clad, non-Christian bastards, ain’t we? Not really. Reichsführer Bush and his minion keep moving us closer and closer to the very things they think they’re fighting against:

• Increasing infiltration of the administration with right-wing religious fanatics (Ashcroft was a prime example) makes our government look more and more like Middle-Eastern countries led by religious figures: intolerant, oppressive, close-minded, and dangerous
• Growing centralization of media outlets and government control of news (especially regarding the war-that-isn’t-a-war) moves us closer to state-run TV/radio as in the “Axis of Evil” countries
• Ever-increasing divide between the haves and have-nots causes growing tension, discord, and lack of unity as a nation
• Government-sponsored and promoted religious dogma (anti-abortion laws, discrimination against homosexuals, prayer in schools (but only to the right God), promotion of religious icons (e.g. 10 Commandments), teaching creationism) turns our citizens against each other and the world

What I’m trying to say is that every day we look more and more like the rabid fundamentalists of which we’re most afraid! Besides surface factors like skin color and dress, you can’t tell the difference between Karim in Fallujah and Jim in Kansas City. Both can’t use logic, and refuse to even entertain the possibility that their God might be the same God that the other guy prays to. Both think the other a barbarian. Both have such limited mental facilities that empathy is beyond them, and the death and suffering of people in another country is cause for joy to them. Both interpret their religious texts to suit their purposes, and conveniently overlook the parts that decry their actions. Both are as far separated from God and God’s purposes as heaven and hell (or at least as far as they would be if you were into a literal interpretation of those realms. I personally think the Constantine theological view is pretty simplistic, even though I am just a simple cave-man.)

OMG! The Canadiens have decided not to be part of the U.S. anti-missile system. What’s wrong with them, eh?! Don’t they know that Fiji, Antarctica, and the Outer Hebrides could be raining nukes down on us at any second? We have to prepare! After all, why shouldn’t we spend $200 billion+ on a system that:

1. makes no sense
2. doesn’t work and can statistically never fully work (sure, so you knock down 3 out of every 4…I guess it’s just tough cookies for Houston)
3. is so anachronistic in thinking as to be laughable, if it weren’t so damn scary.

Where is the voice of reason in this country? Oh, I forgot. It was silenced under the New Nazi Patriot Act…

Can one who truly desires to serve the public become a politician, or can one only be elected if said person has a strong predisposition towards self-aggrandizement?

This, I think, is the main flaw with our system (and perhaps most systems) of government. It seems that you are almost required to be a shameless self-promoter in order to be elected. But that is not a trait I want in my elected official. I want a person who puts her constituency ahead of her own personal desires for fame/fortune/re-election/what-have-you. A person that truly wants to make things better for people. Is that too much to ask?

It’s just incredible that a single moron can bring an entire planet to the edge of ruin. And it’s almost as incredible that 60,608,582 people can be so stupid as to hasten the world to the brink of destruction by voting for this clown. That’s old news, but it’s just eating away at me.

It’s like a re-run of WWII. Demented sociopath uses racism and heavily-edited bubblegum “Christianity” in conjunction with growing economic crisis to engender fear, erode civil liberties and build military junta to control nation and eventually Die Welt.

I keep hoping I’m Dorothy and that I’ll soon wake to find Scarecrow leaning in the window, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen. We’ve got to band together to drive this idiot back to Texas (or preferably prison, where he can have his rights violated along with all the minorities, illegal detainees, Afghanis, and those without rights under the Geneva Convention, thank you very little Unterführer Alberto Gonzales). It’s time the American public wakes up and really sees what’s going on. And please don’t snap off something like, “Liberal $&*^!” I don’t think you can view the facts objectively and argue.

• Wildly spiraling deficit
• Unnecessary, illegal war
• Erosion of rights
• Persecution of homosexuals
• Runaway nepotism & cronyism
• Abandonment of middle and lower-class, children, minorities, and have-nots
• Complete disregard for Earth’s climate and future

Lest this seem like a left-wing rant list, I’ll come back and add links to support my premise. Although I can’t believe anyone with an open mind can fail to see the slippery slope down which we’re sliding.

All right, enough already. I’ll try and pen something happier or at least offbeat next time. I’m not all doom and gloom. Well, not all the time…