Jon Carrol
SFGate

Some of us have been in despair. We have been wandering around saying,
"Oh, oh, Karl Rove is a genius" and "Oh, oh, George Bush is beloved"
and "Oh, oh, I must move to New Zealand and raise chamois." And we have
been confirmed in our despair by the electronic media, which
effectively parrot Bush administration talking points, no matter how
contradictory, and by the other media, which seem to believe it would
be unwise to tangle with such a popular leader as Bush.

And meanwhile, no-bid contracts are being let to anyone who ever had a
beer with Dick Cheney, and science has become hostage to ideology, and
a war is being run very badly except for the people making whole lots
of money off it, and innocent people are dying (oh yeah, that), and
environmental commissions are being stocked with people who don't
believe in environmental commissions, and our unconfirmed, but
nonetheless, real U.N. ambassador is a man who hates the United
Nations.

And God forbid you should ever be A) a criminal defendant, B) an Arab
or Arab American, or C) both.

This even though George Bush barely won both presidential elections --
and in a more perfect world, he probably would have lost the first one
and maybe even the second -- and large numbers of people, not just
sushi-eating tree kissers, have been dubious about the Iraq war from
the start, and many of those expressing doubt were, like, actually in
the military.

It was this values thing, we believed. Ever so many citizens hated
abortion and pornography and gays and loved school prayer, and they
would vote for George Bush even if he wore a burqa and robbed banks on
the weekends. (No need for him to rob banks, though -- they'll give him
the money gladly, in exchange for consideration.) Oh, there was
wailing, and the wailing was much enjoyed by the talking heads and
their large soft bodies.

But here's the thing: Even people who are against abortion want a
government that works well. Even people who are in favor of school
prayer want a war to be well planned and well executed. Even people who
think homosexuality is a sin want a government that does not skim
millions off the top and give the money to its buddies. Sure, that's
the way Burkina Faso runs, but we're supposed to be at least notionally
honest. The Bush administration is not honest, and everybody pretty
much knows that by now, and they're not crazy about it.

Nation to Bush: Being Christian is not enough.

And everybody understands that income must more or less equal
expenditures, even in government work. I think maybe even everyone
understands that, what with Katrina and Rita and all, the "lower taxes
stimulate the economy" argument is an imperfect model. And, saints
alive, the poll numbers indicate that people do not trust Bush on the
economy. Bush did this photo op speech from Jackson Square in New
Orleans (for which Karl Rove trucked in generators that he did not
leave behind to help the citizens of New Orleans get needed
electricity), and his poll numbers went down.

Rove's new problem: How to manipulate the press without the press
focusing on the cynical manipulation. How to create a photo op that
does not look like a photo op. How to present the president as being on
top of things when he is not on top of things. This column is being
written before Hurricane Rita makes landfall, but I bet the president
and every FEMA official in the universe will be on the scene waving in
helicopters and carrying nursing home patients to waiting ambulances.
And still, the American electorate may be cynical.

The problem is, we're in a lot of trouble, and no partisan
we-told-you-so-but-did-you-listen? hand-rubbing is going to make much
difference. We've got three more years of this nonsense; Congress is
essentially worthless; no one on any side has a satisfactory exit plan
for Iraq; and meantime the climate warms up and the frogs disappear and
13 million kids go to bed hungry every night.

It's as if we're in a car, and we've finally convinced the passengers
that there's no one driving, but there's still no one driving and we've
got a full tank of gas. It's nice that we have achieved solidarity with
our conservative brothers and sisters, but maybe someone could figure
out how to climb into the front seat.

Someday, we may look back on this and laugh. How exactly did this guy
get to be president? Not that he's the first empty suit to occupy the
office, but he's the first empty suit with really smart advisers
servicing really greedy constituents.

Ah, well -- maybe Halliburton will get the contract to rebuild America.
There's a win-win scenario.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, and here I am, stuck in
the middle with, as it turns out, most of America. Solidarity!

How is your boat Kevin? Do you have a picture of it? When was the last
time you were out on it?

*JimH* wrote:
How is your boat Kevin? Do you have a picture of it? When was the last
time you were out on it?

I'm not Kevin, Asshole.

wrote in message
oups.com...

*JimH* wrote:
How is your boat Kevin? Do you have a picture of it? When was the last
time you were out on it?

I'm not Kevin, Asshole.


I will just call you potty mouth from now on.

So how is your boat Potty Mouth? Do you have a picture of it? When was the
last time you were out on it?

*JimH* wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

*JimH* wrote:
How is your boat Kevin? Do you have a picture of it? When was the last
time you were out on it?

I'm not Kevin, Asshole.


I will just call you potty mouth from now on.

So how is your boat Potty Mouth? Do you have a picture of it? When was the
last time you were out on it?

I'm not Potty Mouth, Asshole.

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...

*JimH* wrote:
How is your boat Kevin? Do you have a picture of it? When was the
last
time you were out on it?

I'm not Kevin, Asshole.


I will just call you potty mouth from now on.

So how is your boat Potty Mouth? Do you have a picture of it? When was
the
last time you were out on it?

He's not Kevin Asshole......he is Kevin Asshole Noble

Kevin,
Why do you find it necessary to use profanity when you are making posts?

wrote in message
oups.com...

*JimH* wrote:
How is your boat Kevin? Do you have a picture of it? When was the last
time you were out on it?

I'm not Kevin, Asshole.

I'm not Kevin, Asshole.


maybe not, but you like to post fake Ceasar quotes, don't you???

Tim wrote:
I'm not Kevin, Asshole.


maybe not, but you like to post fake Ceasar quotes, don't you???

No, but.
This has WHAT to do with this thread?

wrote in message
oups.com...
Jon Carrol
SFGate

snip

Someday, we may look back on this and laugh. How exactly did this guy
get to be president? Not that he's the first empty suit to occupy the
office, but he's the first empty suit with really smart advisers
servicing really greedy constituents.

He was appointed. Undoubtedly the first time and most likely the second.
Remember the "dangling chad" incident that so co-incidentally occured in the
state under his brother's watch? and the "whoops! we didn't mean to purge
thousands of democratic voters from the lists in Ohio, sorry about that"
incident that occured when thousands of black voters with similar names as
convicted criminals were *accidentally* removed from the voting rolls in
Ohio?

The issue is not so much why we have a President who probably needs help
with his zipper every morning or even why people tolerate corruption as much
as it is why the people of a country with so much going for it would opt to
be dumbasses in front of their television sets when they could be
contributing to a more prosperous way of life for now and the future. Maybe
I should say - the sheeple of this country. A large number of the American
population are so busy entertaining themselves with their feelings of power
and personal glory that they don't even know who their neighbors are - and
they don't care. Another large number of the American population is so busy
paying off the debt that it acquired while trying to attain feelings of
power and personal glory that they don't have any focus on anything other
than that. We have enough abundance of opportunity that we as individuals
can easily dictate the direction of our lives, and the majority of us choose
self-service instead of communal awareness.

One of the fundamental reasons that helps define sheeple in the first place
is the lack of emotional evolution. I see the children of today visibly
evolving at an amazing rate in their abilities to coordinate brain/hand
functions (watch a 5 year old tackle a video game) and their abilities to
reason at much higher levels than the children of the past. There are a lot
of arguments that define why this phenomena is occurring (not the least of
which is the availability of technology) but I digress. This noted evolution
of functional ability is exclusive to the emotions. Our emotions don't
evolve. The same love or fear that people feel now is the same love or fear
that has inspired or driven people for thousands of years. It doesn't change
because it works. Love and fear are the driving forces for everything we
choose to do in life.

Enter greed. Greed is an odd, convoluted mix of love and fear in that the
greedy love the power and the things that the greed brings them but they
have a natural fear of consequence and a natural fear that they are
unaccepted because no one likes an asshole. The latter part of that last
statement would be irrelevant except for the fact that we are pack animals
by nature and the concept of self worth is a determining factor in how we
perform and behave in society. Whole books could be written on the greedy
and how they weild power and how they protect themselves. The fact that we
allow the greedy to rule our lives with their written laws and their sales
campaigns is yet another thing that helps define sheeple.

Chiefs and indians - yet another assistant in defining sheeple. The simple
fact (whether or not it is a good thing or not is debatable) is that by and
large, people like to be told what to do. It's a big, nasty Universe and if
someone has a way into the light, we'll take it. Anyone that has ever worked
on any kind of team will attest to the reality that you have to have chiefs
and indians. I am the captain of my boat, and everyone that goes sailing
with me respects that and looks to me for answers when it comes to decision
making about what the boat is doing and where it is going. Without
leadership, the ship would be a mess.

Loyalty. Now there is a puzzler. If you look at it on the surface, given the
constantly changing nature of the world and people around us, it seems odd
that anyone would ever have any loyalty to anyone or anything at all. If you
look deeper you find the love and fear in all of us and then it all makes
sense. I have never seen a more loyal party than the Republican party. This
is a very powerful attribute for them and they know it. I know many
intelligent Republicans that will sit down in disbelief at some of the
idiocy that is going on in their party appointed government yet they will
always vote Republican come hell or high water. I remember a friend of mine
telling me what an absolute moron Bush was during his campaign for 2004 and
what a disgrace the whole American political system had become. When it came
time to vote - he dangled his chad in George's direction once again and the
only thing he could say about it was - "I had too". Loyalty is a great
shepherd for the sheeple.

The cancerous state our society is in and the fact that we have a government
that represents our condition so well is no surprise.

Ah, well -- maybe Halliburton will get the contract to rebuild America.
There's a win-win scenario.

Maybe?

- A -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, and here I am, stuck in
the middle with, as it turns out, most of America. Solidarity!