I've long said (ok, specifically, since 1984) that Orwell's nightmare of the surveilled and programmed masses was a reality.
In 1984, recall, there were no cell phones, GPS, microchip cameras, or anything remotely approaching the two-way "telescreen" which enabled Big Brother's legions to maintain control.
No, we had nothing like that. But I argued at the time that it didn't matter, because a critical mass of people was plunked in front of a television. Programming was irrelevant to the larger goal of our acquiescence to television as the primary arbiter of reality.
Of course, there have been glitches. Television fucked Nixon in his first run for President, allowing JFK to whip him like "a rabid dog with mange" as Hunter Thompson once wrote, fucked him again when televised shots of GI coffins shipped back from Vietnam had a predictably negative effect on support for that war, and fucked him yet again when John Mitchell and others rolled over like whores in a gangbang to testify before Congress about Watergate, the Enemies List and so on--
However, a thrice-fucked Nixon provides cold comfort in today's Fading Light That Was America. The Bush/Cheney lies about WMD and faulty intelligence have been laid bare for all to see, The Downing Street Memo proves Bush and Blair had agreed to invade Iraq long before 9-11, and today it was revealed that 5 months before it presented the case for invasion to Congress, we had already started the massive aerial bombing of Iraq.
To quote PJ O'Rourke: What the fuck? I mean, what the fucking fuck?
The case for impeaching a president has never been clearer. Hell, Blanston submits that the case for impeaching and prosecuting the entire current administration and Colin Powell for war crimes would be assistant-DA simple.
I predict that if the case for impeachment actually gains ground, we will see another terrorist attack on U.S. soil,--or somewhere where the fear siren can be cranked up loudly enough to drown out rational thought.
But I lie here, waiting, like a spitting cobra on a sun-warm desert rock, fangs sharp and dripping poison.
Waiting to see the whites of their eyes--
1 comment:
I would really be excited about the idea of impeachment but the sad fact is that the majority of this country just does not care. Most of the sheep just want to get their refund checks and pack up the SUV. As my barber said to me, "I'm getting my social security check, I don't care about my grandkids." He wasn't joking.
But I really believe that, though we won't impeach Bush or run him out of office, he and his administration are going to look very bad in the future. Only then will people say to themselves, "how did I ever vote for that guy?"
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