Anxiety: A chronic, complex emotional state with apprehension or dread as its most prominent component. A Dictionary of Psychology – James Drever Penguin Books - 1952
Years ago a very wise friend said, "It is time to see the psychiatrist when you start having nightmares". She was going through an anxious time and the nightmares were her warning signs that she needed to look, with the help of a professional, into whatever the outward situation was that was causing her to have these nightmares.
Well ... in this Bush dominated world with anxiety about one's safety and the direction of our country on the rise, if my friend was right, it is time to start seeing the psychiatrist.
Anxiety is at an all time high, while a sense of security and stability are on the decline, and symptoms from nightmares, to anger, to irritability and violence are ever so much on the increase.
It is not easy living in the Bush Frontier where threats to life, safety, health, autonomy and freedoms abound-and not so much from, "those eehvil killer terrorists", as Bush calls anyone he wants to label an enemy, but from Bush himself, the man, who, claiming to be the guardian of democracy, freedom, life, and health gives us anything but freedom, life, health, or democracy.
For, ... as far as freedom goes, it is becoming clearer and clearer that freedom is fast becoming a myth here in the United States, that repression is on the rise and that people who speak out against Bush or his policies, everyday ordinary Americans who do so, put themselves at risk of having repressive, or repressively legal measures taken against them by Bush, by Bush apologists and alter egos, and by his representatives of the Bush Police State, including but not limited to being tasered, incarceration, intimidation, disappearance, and ... more.
Bush has, aided by the events of 9/11, followed by the creation of the Patriot Act and by the recent Detainee Bill passed by the give-Bush-all-he-wants Congress, now waiting snuggly on his desk for his signature, shred the Constitution and, along with this planned shredding, through said detainee bill, of one of the most basic underpinning of an individual's rights, the writ of "habeas corpus",
Lat. "you have the body" Prisoners often seek release by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate to a prison official ordering that an inmate be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he should be released from custody. A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment. The petition must show that the court ordering the detention or imprisonment made a legal or factual error. Habeas corpus petitions are usually filed by persons serving prison sentences. In family law, a parent who has been denied custody of his child by a trial court may file a habeas corpus petition. Also, a party may file a habeas corpus petition if a judge declares her in contempt of court and jails or threatens to jail her.
Bush gives himself absolute power over whomsoever he wants to detain, incarcerate, or disappear, for whatever reason Bush decides is an offense against him, his power grab, or against his illegal and dishonest seizure of the presidency of the United States...moving all of us, in this way, closer to a full fledged dictatorship in a soon to become land of desaparecidos.
With that turpitude underlying the reality of the Bush residency in the White House, I woke up two nights ago from a nightmare in which the fractions, divisions, polarizations and fear-planting of the Bush White House became the main players, roaming in my mind, through a bottlenecked city which had become a huge airport, an escapeway, where people were trying to "get out" from under the Bush chains of repression by leaving the landscape.
With people sitting everywhere on park benches and sidewalks waiting for their exit ticket to be called, the smell of desertion and desolation hung heavy in the air.
A man who, from his attire, seemed to be an airline pilot, was training others on how to conduct surveillance by using a lap top computer which he'd taken from one of the surveillance offices and installed right there on the street. People were being surveilled from places where they least expected to, by people whom they least expected.
Sensing the air of abnormality that floated around them, those seated in benches and along the sidewalks waiting for their flight out of the city to be called, were afraid and fearful to talk to each other, suspicious of one another; they sat in silence, not looking directly at the person sitting next to them but peering out of the corner of their eyes to the person sitting next to them, fearful, afraid, powerless... I woke up in a sweat.
In reality, we have not gotten to that extreme landscape of my nightmare yet. But Bush is taking us there fast. People in the real world are becoming afraid to speak against Bush and his regime. They are beginning to clam up. People are beginning to get the message that speaking out against Bush can bring them harm.
Jeff Cohen stated in Amy Goodman's Democracy Now program of 10/11/06 that the progressive media is, "on guard."
The progressive media is vigilant. Vigilance is part of a paranoid state. It is part of a state of apprehension, real or imagined that, "something can happen to me, although I don't know what, or for what reason, but something can and I have to be vigilant."
Teresa Simon-Noble is a computer activist for peace. She is a former mental health clinician. A poet and a freelance writer. Her work has been published in several online publications.
Teresa, I tried to 'contact the author' the day you wrote this article, and it appears I cannot unless I also want to post as a comment. My response to you had items in it that I preferred to not be public, so I deleted it. But your article has been on my mind (what's left of it) ever since I first read it. I have been on a six year freak-out which degenerated into almost full blown panic about two weeks ago with the passage of the Torture Act, Iran, North Korea, and almost every other topic regarding this country that just sickens me. I have, for these six years, been wondering what was wrong with me. I thought it might be something organic, like a brain tumor, until literally a day or two before you posted your article, it hit me that I am suffering extreme mental duress from hearing a pack of lies continually repeated, over, and over, and over yet again, while my brain screams at me the exact opposite from what I heard. And then every time I heard another lie, or a condescending smirking mangled sentence come from the Decider's mouth, I kept thinking the People will wake up, remove him from office, and we'd all have a good laugh and say, what were we thinking, permitting that freak show to represent us to the world? Well, the laugh's on me.
If you are a dot connector, you might think there's no way out of the mess this Administration has gotten us into, and you might wonder why they've gotten us here. Sheer, utter, gross incompetence at every turn? Or might it be by design? And if you try to work out what that design might be, you become afraid. Very afraid. Both of being nuked or bird flued by a world that deplores us, or from within, depending on what you think about 9/11. After all, if Peak Oil is really upon us, there needs to be far fewer consumers of ever more scarce resources.
I've been trying to rouse Patriot sentiment with my writings and no one seems to get it - that this Administration, and our Congress, have committed acts of treason (unless there's another word for passing laws that violate our Constitution and incorporated international treaties.) All I hear is 'vote.' Oh, that works? Unless we collectively wake up, plan, and organize to remove these people from office, and insert true checks and balance and accountability into our system of government, we are in deep doo-doo. And I see no will among the American people to perform their duties as citizens - to be the ultimate check and balance with respect to our 'elected' 'representatives.
Time to leave the farm and go back to international banking. From a non-US base. To save what's left of my sanity. If they'll let me.
by
Susan Guest (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 80 comments)
on Friday, October 13, 2006 at 4:24:26 PM
Thank you for your heartfelt and thoughtful comment, Susan.
Most of all thank you for realizing that you are no losing your mind but that it is Bush who has lost his along with everything else that this country has ever stood for. Thank you for your ability to see through Bush and his lies.
Thank you for speaking out. There are still many people who do not want to see the truth and prefer to believe the lies. That is a more comfortable place to be in than having to face the pain of acknowledging that Bush has lied to many and, that he has betrayed the U.S. Although, I think that more people are beginning to see the lies than previously had.
Keep listening to your inner compass. It has already begun to set you free from the Bush lies and to provide a torch to find your way out of the Bush lies.
(I am sorry that you were not able to send an e-mail directly. I would have welcomed it. People had been able to e-mail me previously by clicking on the, "contact the author," link. I'll look to see if it is something that I have done to the link while posting an article and if it is something that I can fix.)
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and the pain that many of us have been placed in as a result of the Bushes need for power and control, their bloodless coup d'etat on this country, and their undeniable attempt to mount the Bush dictatorship. It is a pain that can begin to provide us with a way out of the Bush power-grab. It has for you, it has for me, and it will for the many who take the time to listen to it.
by
teresa simon-noble (56 articles, 17 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 81 comments)
on Friday, October 13, 2006 at 8:27:16 PM
