Weekend Review

I took the weekend to get some much needed rest, although rest always involves reading newspapers and websites, watching the latest news on television, etc. For instance, yesterday I had just tuned into C-Span when it interrupted taped programming to bring us the stern visage of Tom Ridge. This time, the sky is not necessarily falling on the titans of finance, requiring a bump in the terror code--which, just by coincidence, matches the almost exact moment when initial polling data shows a small bump for Kerry.

To go off topic for just a second: something tells me the shrill drone of the wingnut swarm will be bleating like crazy about how a "five point bounce" is the lowest ever for a candidate coming out of a convention. What they won't mention are the numerous reports detailing the level of political division in this country. Minds are pretty much made up for everyone except those who, in Billmon's words, "prefer their politics with a side order of Valium." But this sort of tiresome ranting--just like the pathological, almost psychotic hatred of France that now defines wingnuttery (I picture them stretching their arms wider and wider, like three year olds, to show the range of their hate), is to be expected--just as their complete ignorance of laws both domestic and international is also to be expected, not to mention their disregard for anything remotely approaching civil liberties--well, minus their insistance that everyone carry a gun. Wait, strike that too--they only want guns in the hands of those they agree with.

So, I can't say I was all that surprised to see Bush proudly trampling on all this and more at a Pennsylvania rally (which reaired on C-Span last night). I'm also not that surprised to see a cheering throng--I wonder if they too were required to sign political loyalty oaths--gleefully adding a few stomps of their own.

I was surprised, though, to see Bush suggest that "results matter," given his record. Now, if you read the speech linked to in the preceeding paragraph, you'll see that it's entirely possible to feed chicken-shit to people while calling it chicken salad--and that some folks will apparently eat it up and ask for four more years of servings. Fortunately, I believe most folks will see the Bush menu for what it is, and go somewhere else.

Also, as I'm sure you've heard by now, Team Bush made yet another losing choice when it came to sloganeering: We're "turning the corner" is remarkably similar to one used by Herbert Hoover way back in the late 20's/early 30's. About the only thing you can say in their favor is that Hoover is off the radar screen for a good number of Americans who've essentially given up on history (for that matter, so is Harry Truman, although Truman's ghost tends to get more play as he now is the 'patron saint for the soon-to-be-losers').

So Bush says "results matter." Indeed, they do. And if you look at Bush's results, you'll see a pattern that would be familiar to, say, an LSU football fan during the coaching tenure of Gerry DiNardo. Now, I'm not really a college football fan, but if Bush was a coach instead of commander in chief, I think we would have already seen the sober press conferences discussing the need to "assess the situation," followed by other press conferences with announcements about "changes in the direction of the program." I mean, c'mon. Losing in Iraq and Afghanistan is like a major college football program dropping games to pick-up teams.

With this in mind, I looked at this weekend's Counterpunch, which featured a couple of pieces that were must reads for me. Editor Alexander Cockburn and contributor John Chuckman slam Kerry and Edwards respectively. Cockburn offers the thesis that four more years of Bush could well crack the foundations of empire, while Chuckman, oddly, takes the conservative position on trial lawyers (that they're basically smarmy, greedy ambulance chasers).

Both writers push the point that the end of the American empire would be a good thing, and I can't say that I disagree entirely with that assessment. However, whatever positive would come out of four more years would be more than offset by the damage. Chuckman, by the way, has the advantage of being Canadian; I'm not entirely sure as to Cockburn's citizenship, but regardless, he likely won't suffer much either. Folks like myself, though, would pay the price of an encore performance of Bush's follies.

I don't think people realize the degree to which the US is dependent not only on the banana republics and sweatshop economies of the Far East, but also on the interlocking financial relationships among the 'developed' countries, as a source of long term wealth. Each time Bush takes a dump on this relationship, there's a cost. Combine this with the fact that we will soon be playing whatever tune our bankers in China request, and it's clear that the Bush program is simply unsustainable. Yes, that will generate the kind of waves that could cause massive disruption down the financial line, culminating in a much chastened USA down the road. But, god only knows what the Bush/neo-con response would be. And I don't want to find out it involves a religious desire to see just how close to reality the Book of Revelations could be.

To close with something off topic: my boss loves days like today--we've got many things that were scheduled to be done today, and we've also got some stuff that just came up requiring immediate attention. Said boss is a former high school teacher, and I have the strong feeling that her classes got used to having lots of busy work. Hell, half of what was scheduled today WAS busy work. The stuff that came up involves security updates that have to be done. So, I'll be running around here like crazy until quitting time. I'll try to be back in a bit, but I haven't even had a chance to catch up on reading ANYTHING today....grrrr.