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Yes, I am waiting for Rod Serling to pop out, cigarette in hand, and tell me some moral I am supposed to learn by existing in the hell that is the present day USA.
No, I'm serious. The world I know, understand, and believed in has all but disappeared from my view. Where once common sense and truth were held as valuable, both are seen as either quaint, antiquated, or complete liabilities.
The present political mess in DC is only eclipsed by the seemingly never-ending presidential race. The dirt in DC seems nothing in comparison. Bill Clinton is foaming at the mouth, Mike Huckabee is proving that draconian thought is alive and well, Mitt Romney is making himself into a fool, and Hillary still hasn't admitted she made a mistake in voting for DUBYA to play war in Iraq, Obama compared himself to Ronnie Ray-Gun, Kucinich has been made Samantha Bee's bitch, Giuliani is sucking on the bitter fruit of his overheated pants and revolving door bedroom, Ron Paul continues to be the man no one sees, and John Edwards is trying to get whatever attention he can.
Then there's the economy. At long last, the bill for the piper is coming due. Soon, a lot of people are going to be feeling a lot of hurt. The recession on the horizon looms larger, and the only idea that is getting any traction at all is the idea of tax cuts. Let me say that again, because I still can't believe anyone had the testicular fortitude to suggest such madness: THE ONLY IDEA THAT IS GETTING TRACTION AT ALL IS THE IDEA OF TAX CUTS!
Are these people fucking insane? How are tax cuts going to fix the housing market? How are tax cuts going to bring the outsourced jobs back to America? How are tax cuts going to do anything but plunge us deeper into hell?
Really, I want to know! I need to know. It just doesn't make sense to cut taxes when the national debt keeps spiraling upward. It doesn't make sense to cut taxes while trying to fund a war. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, PERIOD!!!!!
If that was only the worst of it, I wouldn't have the feeling that I was living in the midst of a black and white nightmare. If that were the worst of it, I wouldn't be waiting for Rod Serling.
No, the worst, and I mean absolute worst is that Canada has sent out a memo to their diplomats on how to tell if their citizens have been tortured while in Iran, Syria, and...get this, The United States. Yes, the good old US of A is on Canada's shit list. And with good reason, I might add.
Canadian citizen Maher Arar was kidnapped in NYC, flown to one of our "non-existent" black prisons in Syria where he was tortured, only we called it Extraordinary Rendition. Also, FIFTEEN YEAR OLD Canadian citizen Omar Khadr was tortured as well at Gitmo, a place that's also on Canada's shit list. Yes, we have now detained and tortured the youngest person ever to be held as a supposed prisoner of war. We, the United States of America, we have tortured a fifteen year old Canadian citizen.
I am so glad my father isn't alive to see this shit! He fought in Korea, and came home with shrapnel in his belly, and a bullet in his jaw as the proof. He would be so embarrassed, disgraced, and hurt, he'd likely be inconsolable.
This is a shame beyond all shame. This is a disgrace beyond any other. This is so infuriating, I find it hard to even type these words.
This is not America. I don't know this country anymore. Nor do I know my countrymen; men who would stand still for all the years of the DUBYA fiasco, can live with themselves. Men who will probably stand still on this issue as well.
Where is Rod Serling?
This can't be happening. Truly, I feel as if I am stuck in the worst perpetual nightmare I have ever endured. I feel like The Twilight Zone has suddenly become reality, and reality has been short circuited into something completely foreign...for reasons as of yet unknown.
And NO ONE is doing anything to stop this madness! NO ONE!
I am so at a loss. I just don't get how anyone can think it's OK for the USA to show up on a list of countries the likes of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and so on.
Who are the terrorists now? We are! DUBYA, et al, talked so high and mighty about getting rid of Saddam Hussein's torture rooms and rape rooms, and now, we have our own, only it's a prison called Gitmo. We talked so high and mighty about the supposed human rights violations of Iraq, and we are outdoing them in that game, too. This is so foul, it is beneath contempt, as are the ones who are doing it...that means you, DUBYA, you inhumane, insane, moronic, fuckwad!
This country is fucked! I am more convinced of that fact now than I have ever been in the past. The fact that DUBYA, Dick(LESS), and the spineless slime in congress continue down this path, this path of shame and dispicable action unchallenged and unabated by the American public just makes me want to puke!
We are in a sad state, and something needs to be done. Unfortunately, nothing will be done. We have built a monument to hubris, coated it liberally with man's inhumanity to man, dipped it in fear, and now, the bitter fruits of this insane, inhumane enterprise have grown to full ripeness.
I have said it before, but never until now have I felt that we were truly at a point of no return. I am embarrassed to be an American citizen. I am embarrassed that world wide, I am seen as a party to the lunacy that is the DUBYA administration. I am embarrassed that I am a citizen of a country that condones, uses, and then lies about torture.
There is something seriously wrong, and still, Rod Serling remains in his grave. Rod, I am waiting! Spark up one last Lucky Strike, and tell me this isn't real!
But, it is real.
It's REAL sad. It's REAL pathetic. It's REAL embarrassing. It's REAL shameful. It's REAL revolting!
Blessed be!
Pappy
