A big test is coming our way

I was doing a few quick reads of various sites yesterday, and on Juan Cole's Informed Comment he wrote about some rumors of war that came his way. It seems that Dick Cheney is determined to attack "Iran," and has "ordered" a media campaign starting next week to get war hysteria whipped up.

My first reaction to this was to spread the word, to tell everyone I know, send emails, and of course write about it in this blog, which I am now doing. But after a night's sleep, a different intuition surfaced. Sure, write about it, but don't expect that counter-actions will stop the Bush criminal regime from attacking yet another country.

They are criminals. Public opinion isn't going to stop them. The Congress isn't going to stop them. Adverse publicity might stop them, but that remains to be seen. As of right now, the Bush criminal organization is like a cornered wildcat. It has to create a diversion in order to deflect attention away from its various crimes: the "Iraq" "war," Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, spying on the "American" people, the corruption of the Justice Department, the horrible performance before and after Hurricane Katrina, the record of vote fraud, the cronyism that has funneled so much of our tax dollars to Halliburton and other "connected" "contractors," and the symbiotic relationships with disgraced present and former officeholders like Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, and Larry Craig. And, of course, lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Ken Lay of Enron infamy.

Though I'm doing my citizenly duty by writing about this pending media blitz, I mostly have an attitude of Que sera. If the people of this country are so gullible that a bunch of crude thugs like the Bush crime family can gin up yet another invasion and/or bombing, just on the basis of Fox News and a few other corporate media outlets hyping up war fever, then we are finished as a functioning civilization. Finished.

It's theater of the absurd. Dick Cheney was appointed to head a "search committee" to find a vice presidential candidate who would make Bush look good. He found himself. Then, benefiting from the stolen election of 2000, he assumed the office of Vice President of the United States. The rest, sadly, is history: the attacks of September 11, 2001, the invasions and occupations of "Afghanistan" and "Iraq," Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, spying on ordinary citizens, Hurricane Katrina, the criminalization of the Justice Department, the stolen election of 2004, the health care crisis, the wildfires, floods, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other evidences of ecological breakdown.

If the country can be destroyed because of the criminality of one man, then it is inevitable. If not by Cheney and his marionette Bush, then by someone else. Much fun is being had worldwide this week laughing at the Miss Teen USA contestant from South Carolina. Her clueless answer to a simple question - why so many "Americans" can't identify the "U.S." on a map - rivals Bush for incoherence. It's not so funny, though, when you realize that this level of stupidity is not unique. It is normal. I find it rare these days to engage in intelligent conversation. The simplest things have to be broken into bite-sized pieces, and the connection between one sentence and the next has to be bridged carefully and graphically. Even then I often get a Miss South Carolina response.

There are exceptions, of course, and the electricity still works. The water runs, and people still drive on the right side of the road, for the most part. But the social web is pulling apart, and breakdown is occurring at an alarming rate. Blame, for what it is worth, can be clearly directed at leadership at all levels: governmental, corporate, media, educational, and parental. Larry Craig, the disgraced senator from "Idaho," is a perfect archetype for modern "American" leadership: posturing "right-winger," solicitor of strangers in places where men go to defecate. Yikes! Need I say more?

It isn't just here. For an example of the breakdown in "Canada," the recent SPP summit in Montebello, Quebec was notable for the video of police provocateurs trying to incite a riot among protesters.

The "leftist" view of this breakdown in leadership is that the corporate state is "fascist" in nature. I look at the persons involved. All systems are made of individuals. The "leaders" in a mass system tend to want to have it all to themselves. That is the root of corruption, and the reason the system is breaking down. Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, can be counted on to gin up hysteria for bombing "Iran." He, like other so-called "fascists," is actually a narcissist, a self-absorbed rich guy, who makes his money on propaganda and porn. What a life. Just to get biblical, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but suffers the loss of his immortal soul?

So Cheney may get his bombing of "Iran," and he may not. What he gets next is not something I would want in my itinerary. For us, though, this is a good test. Are we indeed a bunch of oafs, fair game for any huckster, or do we have the sense to save ourselves? We'll soon find out. The media blitz starts next week, supposedly.
____________________________________________

A little music to soothe the spirit: The Wailin' Jennys, Iris Dement, Joan Baez, Iris Dement, Hal Ketchum, and John Hiatt, and Nanci Griffith.