Bill's Brain - The Gloves Are Off

The Gloves Are Off - September 2005
I have closely watched the actions of the Bush administration for five years now and I have seen the harm they have brought to America, to the American people, and to the world. I have listened to their never-ending lies, deceptions, and distortions, and I have had enough. As someone who believes in truth, honesty, integrity, and fairness, and who wants only the best for my country and my fellow citizens, I can no longer feign any civility towards this cadre of criminals and traitors. To regard the Bush regime with any legitimacy whatsoever would be to betray the country that I love, the values that I hold dear, and my fellow citizens.

As of today, the gloves are off. I am calling a spade a spade, a traitor a traitor, and bullshit, well, I’m calling it exactly what it is, male bovine feces. I hope sensitive readers will excuse my language because at times I may utilize the full dynamic range of the English lexicon, and it’s likely to get colorful. The straw that broke this blogger’s back was watching the Hurricane Katrina disaster, watching the Bush administration’s reaction, and thinking about the things that Bush had done to make the disaster worse, like slashing funding for New Orleans hurricane and flooding protection and ignoring global warming.

Over the past five years I have spent many months researching and studying Bush and the neocons he rode to Washington on. I have read many tens of thousands of pages documenting their actions and the effects they have had. I’m not talking about the deceptive and misleading “talking points” they repeat ad nauseam or any of the things they say from a podium when the TV cameras are on them, I’m talking about what they do when the cameras are off and reporters weren’t around taking notes. (And 99% of the time it’s the opposite of what they said from the podium.) All of those months of research have led me to this conclusion: George W. Bush and his cohorts are doing serious harm to America, and anyone who supports them is either willfully ignorant, in denial, a traitor, or all of the above.

As a patriotic US citizen I believe it is my duty to do what I can to defend America against all threats, foreign and domestic, and today the Bush administration is one of the greatest domestic threats that America faces. If you disagree with that statement then you don’t know much about the Bush administration and you don’t understand how their policies have negatively affected almost every aspect of life as an American.

George Bush is much like the captain of the Titanic. He believes things that aren’t true (“the ship is unsinkable”) and when people who are more intelligent and better informed than he is try to alert him to reality (impending disaster) he discredits them and refuses to believe them. His response is to blindly and unthinkingly repeat his mantra that we need to “stay the course” – right toward the iceberg. Well people, Captain Bush has sailed America into the iceberg and we’re taking on water fast. In response, Bush and his administration are hurriedly arranging dinner parties, masquerade balls, and other activities in a desperate attempt to distract us from the seriousness of the problem. Any member of his crew that tries to reveal the truth and tell the passengers that the ship is sinking is promptly attacked and thrown overboard. In the end Bush and his friends will escape unscathed, made even wealthier by the ordeal, while we the passengers are abandoned and left to drown as the ship goes down, our bodies floating in the aftermath like those poor souls in New Orleans

I have had enough. The time for being polite is long past. This is, literally, a matter of life and death. For the hundreds of thousands of poor women and children around the world who have died because Bush eliminated funding for the programs that provided critical medical care for them. For the poor elderly Americans who had their heat shut off and froze to death in their homes during the winter of 2003 because Bush refused to release the funds for the program that helped them pay their heating bills. For the 6,000-9,000 Americans who die every year because of Bush’s cutbacks in pollution protection. For the thousands of babies who are born with birth defects and neurological disorders each year because of the additional chemicals that Bush has allowed to be spewed into our environment. For the hundreds of thousands of people in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and other states whose lives have been devastated by storms made increasingly frequent and violent by the global warming that Bush ignorantly refuses to address. For the more than 35,000 Europeans who died in the killer heat wave of 2003 that was fueled by that same warming. For the more than 100,000 innocent civilians and thousands of soldiers who have been killed in Bush’s wars for oil in Afghanistan and Iraq, wars based on neocon delusions of grandeur, greed, lies, and deceit. And for the thousands more who will be killed or irreparably harmed if George Bush and his cadre of crooks are allowed to continue pursuing their heartless, self-serving agenda at the expense of America and the American people.

I must speak out for those who can no longer speak for themselves because their lives have been ended and their voices silenced by Bush’s cruel and inhumane actions. Their deaths should not be forgotten, and they should not be in vain.

And to those who think my opposition to the Bush administration is extreme, unpatriotic, or wrong, I must ask, what if it was discovered that Al Qaeda or some other terrorist organization was taking actions that were causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to the US and killing thousands of Americans every year? Would you be outraged? Would you demand that we use all our resources to defend our country and stop them? Would you demand that they be brought to justice?

So how do you respond to the fact that the Bush administration’s actions are causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to the US and killing thousands of Americans every year? Not just in Iraq but right here in America as a result of Bush’s environmental and domestic policies. Do you think that it’s fine because it’s our own government doing it to us instead of some other organization? That it’s fine because the perpetrators belong to the same political party as you do? Does that somehow make it OK? Does that make it any less of a crime? Does that make it any less of an assault on the American people? Does that mean that we shouldn’t take action, defend our country, and try to stop them? Does that mean that we shouldn’t demand they be brought to justice?

No, it does not. It’s not OK, it’s still a crime, it’s still an assault on the American people, and we should do everything we can to defend our country, try to stop them, and demand they be brought to justice.

I understand that it’s very easy to pretend everything will be fine, to change the channel, turn off the news, tune out, not pay attention, go on with your life and refuse to believe how bad it really is. I understand that we all want to believe that our government is good and they’re doing good in our names, that they have our best interests at heart. I understand how reassuring it is to believe soothing sound-bite talking points that make the frightening complexities of a dangerous world seem so simple and easily solved. I understand the comforting lure of the “ignorance is bliss” approach and I know how hard it is to admit that as a nation we have made a colossal mistake in electing George Bush president. It is a mistake that has cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives, cost us (and our children and grandchildren) trillions of dollars, and cost America its reputation as a noble and just nation.

It may be difficult and it may be uncomfortable, but the time has come for all of us to take a hard, honest look at the actions of the Bush administration, call them what they are, and hold them accountable. If America is to ever be respected again as a country that values truth, integrity, justice and knowledge over lies, deceit, ignorance and blind dogma, it must be done. Crimes are still crimes regardless of whether they’re committed by people with light skin or dark skin, Christians or Muslims, our own government or foreign insurgents. It doesn’t matter whether they’re paid for with our tax dollars or by terrorist supporters, either way the misdeeds are just as despicable and the victims are just as dead.

It has been said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Are you a good person? Are you doing something? Are you speaking out, writing letters to the editor, signing petitions, contacting your representatives, donating to organizations that oppose the Bush administration? At a time like this apathy and inaction are akin to treason. Yes, that is a strong statement, but it is not an exaggeration. To sit by and do nothing to stop the Bush/neocon agenda is to betray your country and your fellow citizens.

The stakes are too high to continue denying the truth any longer. The time has come for each of us to decide where our loyalty lies. Are you for America and the American people, or against them? Will you do your part to stop the destructive Bush/neocon agenda, or will you be complicit in their crimes? Will you stand up for what is good, and right, and just, or will you allow treachery to prevail? Will you be a patriot who defends your country, or a traitor who allows it to be raped, pillaged and plundered by the highest bidder?

I have made my choice. Have you made yours?