I remember thinking at the time of the flood that devastated New Orleans, that the US has been reduced by BushCo to a Soviet-era state - so pathetic, so meager, so jaw-droppingly fucked-up, and so entrenched in party-line ass-covering was our response.
And then, of course, there was the populating of important Iraq reconstruction positions with incompetent Bushies. No wonder that billions (with a "b," bitch) of American taxpayer dollars went missing, and that the residents of Iraq, four years later and in an oil-rich country, still cannot count on the fucking lights staying on or the toilets flushing for 24 hours in a row.
And now, we appear to have interrupted BushCo in the midst of replacing every competent and non-partisan U.S. Attorney with a Harriet Myers or Alberto Gonzales pod-person. I'm not sure they appreciate that the words "Justice Department" were not meant to invoke ironic sniggering.
Ted Koppel has quite rightly pointed out that a recent film about life in East Germany before the wall fell has reminded him quite a bit of the political climate in this country in the past 6 years.
At one time, there was much sturm und drang in US politics about the threat of communism. Much time was devoted to the discussion of how to keep the weaker countries of the world from falling like dominoes to the overpowering influence of the Commies. Vast political empires were built on fear of a communist government invading and ruling the United States.
But when our government, and every vital program it administers, and every agency that stands between us and goodbye, cruel world, is run by people whose only qualification is party loyalty, well, what's the fucking difference between us and a Soviet state? That I don't have to sign up on a four-year waiting list for lightbulbs?
Great. I'll try to remember that the next time they decide not to let Democrats vote anymore, and get away with it.
8 comments:
Did you see that now BushCo is trying to blame Harriet Miers for the latest scandal? It won't work, guys.
I have a modest proposal. I think we should eat the campaign managers for the major canidates in each state.
Wait, that's not right.
I think that we should have a Federal Law that prohibits officials responsible for ensuring fair elections from actually working for the campaign of one of the candidates in an election they will oversee.
East Germany? I need to see that, because East Germany was way crazy back in the day.
I'd call it fascism (not communism) since BushCo isn't so into the whole "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" thing.
I lived in the Soviet Union in the mid 80's trying to help the Russian build color picture tubes under a RCA contract. Breshnev was in power then. The people we had to work with were members of the Communist party and were in power because of their party loyalty and were especially good at parroting the party line.
The only problem was that they were incompetent and they were not rewarded to take any risks and were punished if they made a bad choice. They were good at lying.
The competent scientists or engineers were not the managers, so things didn't get done.
The whole country was totally inefficient and corrupt. Communism didn't work.
To this day I firmly believe the Soviet Union fell because of its own incompetency, not because of anything Reagan did. Loyal party members didn't know how to do anything.
Good insight Vikki
I'm with Megan-- this is creeping-- okay, not creeping anymore-- fascism.
Saw a bumper sticker yesterday, a Sinclair Lewis quote I'd heard before, that seems appropriate:
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
I live in a very Republican neighborhood. During election time, the Republican precinct guys usually swing by everyone's house and ask us to vote their way, etc. I usually miss them, but I'm just giddy with anticipation for when I finally get to tell one to suck it.
Randy: Well, you gots to dance with the stooge what brung you, I guess.
DeadsP: How dare you propose a common sense check on power! Also, that part about the federal law was good.
Grant: Crazy like a FOX. A really, really harassed fox that had to stand in line for toilet paper for 3 days.
Megan: Tomato, tomahto.
Dad: I was hoping you would comment on this post by remarking on your own experiences in the S.U. I agree that the S.U. killed itself. It certainly was not defeated by Reagan, for chrissake.
JohnnyY: And watching Nascar.
Grant: I would pay a lot of money to see you tell one of those guys to suck it.
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