[Mb-civic] (no subject)

[Mary Louise smn]

           Thank you for sending.   Painful, yes........a jab of truth into 
the self-righteous of many Americans.    Prozac.....never known to be a cure 
for profound instability.    Marylouise




>From: Hawaiipolo at cs.com
>Reply-To: mb-civic at islandlists.com
>To: becca at hawaii.rr.com
>Subject: [Mb-civic] (no subject)
>Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:33:41 EDT
>
>OUCH! THIS IS SO ON TARGET IT IS PAINFUL.....MD>
> >  Ideological Prozac, American Style
> > By William Rivers Pitt
> > t r u t h o u t | Perspective
> >
> > Tuesday 11 October 2005
> >
> >
> > >> While one who sings with his tongue on fire
> >> Gargles in the rat race choir
> >> Bent out of shape from society's pliers
> >> Cares not to come up any higher
> >> But rather get you down in the hole
> >> That he's in. -- Bob Dylan, "It's Alright, Ma"
> >>
> >>
> >
> > My goodness, but I have been out of it these last several days. I've 
>been in
> > this tiny log cabin, see, at the end of five miles of dirt road up here 
>in
> > New Hampshire. There is a lake and a kayak and dogs and a fireplace and 
>a
> > television that gets one channel filled with little beyond cooking 
>shows. I
> > finally got a glacially slow dialup connection to the internet going, 
>and decided
> > to get caught up on the doings of the world beyond these woods. It seems
> > things are moving briskly.
> > Mr. Bush has been tattooed about the head and shoulders for suggesting 
>that
> > God told him to invade Iraq. I can't imagine why anyone is surprised by 
>this.
> > George is the putative head of the fundamentalist evangelical wing of
> > Protestant Christianity here in America, and has been for years. They 
>are the
> > source of his now-waning political strength. Pretending to be on
> > armchair-to-armchair relations with the Almighty is the best way to keep 
>the
> > Christo-Talibanical wind at his back. It's either that or he is 
>literally hearing voices in
> > his head. Let us pray it is the former, as bad as that may be. The 
>alternative
> > is that the man with the finger on the button needs to be fitted with 
>one of
> > those coats that button up in the back.
> > It seems the horrifying threats of mass bombings and death in the New 
>York
> > subways were, in fact, a big fat hoax. I'm shocked, shocked, that a 
>bogus yet
> > spectacular warning was broadbanded the same day as word came down that
> > Fitzgerald was about to drop the hammer. Funny how the worst possible 
>terrors
> > always seem to pop up on the grid whenever George and the boys get 
>themselves
> > into hot water. The individual who provided this false information is in 
>the
> > hands of Pakistani officials. Mayhap the false threat information came 
>about
> > after a round of torture? Perish the thought.
> > However the false threat came to be, it hasn't deflected the hard rain 
>about
> > to fall on the White House. New York Times reporter Judy Miller, once
> > lionized by defenders of journalistic ethics for refusing to divulge a 
>source under
> > duress, now appears to be simply another dirty player in a filthy game. 
>As
> > if by magic, a notebook of hers filled with crucial information has 
>suddenly
> > materialized out of the ether. The notebook details a conversation 
>between
> > Miller and Cheney's right-hand man Scooter Libby, and indicates that 
>Libby may
> > well be the original source of the leak that put Valerie Plame on the 
>public
> > shelf. Simultaneously, an email from Karl Rove that puts him on the spot 
>for
> > outing a CIA agent likewise sprouted from nothingness. The walls are 
>indeed
> > closing in on these rotters.
> > Fitzgerald's investigative ticket expires at the end of the month, so if
> > something is going to happen, it will happen soon. It is all-important, 
>as the
> > Byzantine details unspool, to remember the main point.
> > Rove, Libby, along with others within the administration as well as the
> > now-compromised Ms. Miller, were involved in one thing and one thing 
>only:
> > selling the American public a budget of lies to justify the 
>now-catastrophic
> > invasion and occupation of Iraq. Ambassador Joseph Wilson exposed Bush's
> > "Uranium-from-Niger-in-Iraq" nonsense in the public prints back in the 
>summer of 2003,
> > and the attack on his wife was meant to deflect and destroy that 
>criticism.
> > Ultimately, the purpose behind this was to maintain the rationale for 
>war.
> > It isn't about perjury, or contempt, or any other low-rent charge. These
> > people are responsible for nearly 2,000 American military deaths, 
>thousands of
> > American military wounded, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths, 
>and the
> > looting of the American treasury to the tune of several hundred billion
> > dollars. In other words, they have committed premeditated first-degree 
>murder on
> > a massive scale, assault, conspiracy to commit same, with grand larceny
> > thrown in to boot. In Texas, you get a spike in your arm for that, and a 
>quick
> > trip to Somewhere Else.
> > The larger picture developing here was captured by, of all publications, 
>the
> > London Daily Mirror over the weekend. "Americans are the planet's 
>biggest
> > flag wavers," wrote veteran Mirror correspondent Dermot Purgavie. "They 
>are
> > reared on the conceit that theirs is the world's best and most enviable 
>country,
> > born only the day before yesterday but a model society with freedom,
> > opportunity and prosperity not found, they think, in older cultures. 
>They rejoice
> > that 'We are No.1,' and in many ways they are. But events have revealed 
>a
> > creeping mildew of pain and privation, graft and injustice and much 
>incompetence
> > lurking beneath the glow of star-spangled superiority."
> > "America's sense of itself - its pride in its power and authority, its 
>faith
> > in its institutions and its belief in its leaders - has been profoundly
> > damaged," continued Purgavie. "And now the talking heads in Washington 
>predict
> > dramatic political change and the death of the Republicans' hope of 
>becoming
> > the permanent government." This sentiment was echoed in a Washington 
>Post
> > article from Monday by Charles Babington and Chris Cillizza, who wrote,
> > "Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to 
>run for Senate
> > next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the
> > effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals 
>a broader
> > decline in GOP congressional prospects."
> > An epic electoral reversal for the GOP in 2006 may be in the offing, but
> > there is a larger game afoot. We are sliding back into the kind of 
>ideological
> > malaise endured during the late 1970s. The end days of the Carter
> > administration saw skyrocketing gas prices, economic stagnation, the 
>humiliating hostage
> > crisis in Iran, the shock and disgust derived from the crimes of 
>Watergate
> > and the resignation of a sitting President, and let's not forget the 
>lingering
> > sting of a lost war in Vietnam. All of that balled together left the 
>country
> > at a loss. The belief that we were special took a furious beating, and 
>only
> > the superlative shyster salesmanship of Ronald Reagan was able to 
>restore
> > faith in the desiccated mythology.
> > Americans, by and large, have a fundamental need to feel like they are 
>part
> > of something great, above the fray and beyond the rest of the world. 
>They are
> > fed American exceptionalism with mother's milk, and will fight like 
>rabid
> > wolverines to avoid being forced to believe otherwise. Anyone mystified 
>by the
> > public support Bush has enjoyed until very recently, despite the endless
> > litany of disasters that have befallen us, can look to this bone-deep 
>need as the
> > main reason for that support. It isn't just about 9/11. Americans need 
>to
> > feel good about America in the same way fish need water. Americans need 
>to
> > believe, and will thrash around like boated marlin if that belief is 
>undercut.
> > That belief serves as a kind of ideological Prozac, shoving bad thoughts 
>to the
> > background.
> > Iraq. Afghanistan. The continued freedom enjoyed by Osama bin Laden.
> > Katrina. Abu Ghraib. Frist and insider stock trading. DeLay and a 
>handful of
> > indictments. Rove and Libby staring down the barrel of more indictments. 
>Bush's
> > approval ratings are plummeting, and the entire country is beginning to 
>wilt
> > under the depressing reality that we are, in fact, getting screwed with 
>our pants
> > on. Any conceits of moral authority being put forth by the White House 
>and
> > the Republican Party have been washed away in a flood of graft, death, 
>lies
> > and corruption.
> > Our supply of Prozac is running short. The belief in American excellence 
>so
> > desperately necessary to the mental balance of the populace is being 
>eroded
> > by the hour, and there will be hell to pay because of it.
> > William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling
> > author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to 
>Know and The
> > Greatest Sedition Is Silence.
> >
> > -------
> > Jump to today's TO Features:
> >
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