Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

So, it looks like the Repugnicans are floating some balloons. "Let's send in some more troops to show this ragheads we mean business" they appear to be saying. "Let's not let Iraq become a failure of Will like Viet Nam was" the Kristols, and Krauthammers shout from the safety of their personal snowglobes.

Is it not glaringly obvious that this is an attempt by Dubya and his fellow Deniers of Reality to push the day of reckoning in Iraq to a time when the Dems are fully in control of Washington D.C.? They know it's a lost cause; they know there is nothing positive that can be done in the next two years over there; therefore, the only course left (since 'stay the course' has finally been discredited) is to harden their stance and sacrifice some more kids. Sure it's tough, but anything is better than admitting you've made a horrible mess of your entire presidency.

Let's scrape up some Guard & Reserve troops; collar some soldiers who've been lucky enough to make it through two or three previous tours in Hell; and let's give it that old college try. What else would we expect from this idiot? He may just get his wish to have his wife and his dog as his only remaining supporters. Even the 30% of the population that doggedly follows their leaders, no matter how vicious or incompetent, must eventually see through this man's bizarre and deadly charade.

This is truly the Shame of a Nation (forgive me Jonathon Kozol) when despite his bold exposure of himself to us in the Presidential Race of 2000, we gave him the keys to our White House. How did we as a nation not see the potential for horror in this man back then?

Why didn't we see his heartless brutality when he put Karla Faye Tucker to death?

Why didn't we see his ruthlessness when he hired Karl Rove to run his campaign?

Why didn't we cringe in terror when he chose that leering devil Cheney as his second in command?

Why didn't we see his xenophobia when we were told that he had never traveled outside of the U.S. except to go to Mexico to party?

Why didn't we see through his pitifully obvious impersonation of John Wayne, carefully created for him by Karen Hughes to overcome his smirking frat boy persona?

Why weren't we chilled to the bone to learn that he never read for pleasure or out of curiosity?

We have reaped this whirlwind due to our own obsession with 'wealth maximization' (Chomsky)  and People Magazine.

Let's hope that the political blogosphere will grow and bring a new era of political participation, and an energizing surge of young people into the process. As a nation we have been victims of malfeasance by the executive branch, misfeasance by the judicial branch, and non-feasance by both the legislative branch and the fourth estate. We must foster the re-empowerment of the true masters of government; that is, the thinking and feeling people of our country.

The recent Democratic electoral victories must not be viewed as anything other than a small step to a much larger goal; the revival of humanist government in the United States.

If 'A People's History of the United States' by Howard Zinn doesn't fill you with morbid shame for what's been done in our name as Americans then your soul is in trouble.

As a great American once said, "Don't get mad, organize!"