Somewhere among the two hundred million dollars spent this past weekend to see the latest in the Batman movie franchise, The Dark Knight, was our $15.00. Kathy's, Molly's and mine. It was only fifteen bucks for all three of us because we went to Atlanta's last remaining drive-in theatre, the Starlight Drive-in. Adults: $7.00, kids a dollar.
No, we didn't let 4-year-old Molly watch the blood and gore; she had her portable video player and, until she fell asleep among the pillows we had scattered in the back of the mini-van, ate home-popped popcorn and watched - for the fourth time? fifth? - The Lion King.
Ah, The Dark Knight. The title could represent any one of dozens of Bush Crime Family operatives, especially in the murky, ethics-challenged recesses of their own minds. I would imagine there are more than a few BCF thugs who see their work as having a certain flair, a tinge of honor, a je ne sais quoi that redeems the pain and suffering they endlessly cause. Dark in the sense of evil, hidden, immoral; that defines them all. But the word Knight? As in a defender of Justice? As in Honor? Personal Bravery? Jesus, what a joke. Bush and his thugs define cowardice, dishonor, and the utter inversion of justice.
After seven plus years of this phony and corrupt Bush regime, I am, as are millions of people across the planet, saturated and numbed with the perversity of their actions, in addition to being simply tired of it all. Hannah Arendt was, of course, correct. There is an element of banality infused in the persona of every person who has ever opted for acts of pure evil. Look at them. Check out their names and their histories. Whether they are named Cheney or Hitler is, in the end, however, superfluous. They follow a pattern. Always. It is the nature of evil to follow the pattern.
In The Dark Knight, the Joker, when confronting a minor assassin, a Chechen, says, "Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hmm? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is. It's not about money. It's about sending a message."
Ah. Yes. It's not about money. It's about the message being sent. It's not about murder and mayhem in Gotham City, or carpet bombing and economic sanctions in Baghdad, or white phosphorous dropped on the civilian population in Falluja that burns into charred pieces children as well as adults . . . it's about the message. Power.
The BCF has been sending messages since it was handed the presidency more than seven years ago. Messages to workers and families and retired people here in the U.S. as well as messages to veterans returning from wars that have nothing to do with the country's defense or the nation's honor. Wars, rather, insisted upon by the BCF and their corporate partners. Wars of "opportunity." Wars having to do with theft and lies and corruption.
Messages have been sent to ally and foe alike around the world: Our leaders are insane and we will do nothing to stop them. Messages have been sent to future generations, messages that show complete disinterest in preventing an eventual environmental collapse brought about by current infusions into the atmosphere of gases and chemicals that are resulting in the ever-increasing heating of there planet.
The messages from the BCF like those from The Joker are devoid of compassion, laced with ugliness and contempt and the promise of futility.
The Joker says, in explaining why he doesn't kill with a gun, "I use a knife because guns are too quick. Otherwise, you can't savor all the emotions. You know who people are in their last moments."
As we drove home from the Starlight Drive-in late Saturday night, Molly asleep in the back, I heard again that bit of chilling dialogue. "You know who people are in their last moments."
In the last seven-plus years, how many people have had their last moments brought to them by the Bush Crime Family?
