Rummy tells the troops in Iraq that because they are there doing what they are doing there hasn’t been a terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11. “Hey young Americans, because your politicians back home voted to start a war, your lives have been put on the front line and you have killed other human beings, you might die later today, but your family back home will live in peace.”
That’s what they do, those cowardly politicos. They spin tales longer than the ones curled up under their legs. Heads they win, and tails they win again. That would be one small step back to the helicoptered-secure mansions in St. Michael’s, MD and one giant step into the foot soldier’s grave.
Back from Africa where everyday is the “real deal,” where in my final week I watched a two year old girl collect a liter of water from a dung-polluted small pond if you want to call it that, where every minute two kids die from malaria, I turn on the news and laugh incredulously at the spinsters. I have to laugh anymore; otherwise I would go crazy, literally.
Living in a bomb-proof bubble with a sterilized world inside, the media and their bed-partner politicos are the true gonorrhea of our times. Like swingers with satisfied smiles on their faces, they bop around like bunnies, the lunacy of their orgasmic power and authority driving them to believe that they are “procreating” a better tomorrow for the land of free and the home of the brave. The rot they spread is sickening.
Did you hear about the U.S. military personnel wandering around eastern Ethiopia, a predominantly Muslim region of East Africa? They are there to build schools and drill water wells. You don’t hear about them on the evening news, do you? Do you really think they are there to be good Samaritans? We eavesdrop on mosques in the U.S. and we tell the Somali Muslims of the Ogaden that we are here to educate you and to bring you water. Friends and enemies all the same.
Did you hear about the U.S. telling Nigeria that its current president cannot change the national constitution to allow him to seek a third term? We don’t want unrest in the world’s 5th largest oil-producing country, do we? Did you know that many Nigerians like Obasanjo? Why do we tell other countries how to run their national politics when we don’t like them making fun of ours?
And the blue-collar factory worker spends his money on beers after work at the local bar, looking up at the TV screen while swilling the last of his worries in the bottom of the bottle, catching the two minute summary of the last 24 hours of war in a place where he has more in common with men smoking shisha and drinking in a café than he does with his boss.
Another year passes and a new one begins. Flip the calendar over and start anew. Resolve to lose some weight, get to the gym more often, spend more time with your family, eat better, and cut back on the credit card spending. Why do we start the New Year off with selfish thoughts?
Let’s make a New Year’s Resolution that energizes us to see the truth behind the lies, to see Rummy, Dubya and Dickey for the three blind mice that they are. Let’s resolve to question the squeaky clean media and the stories they tell. We can make a resolution that will celebrate the true American heroes: the working class, the less fortunate and the common foot soldiers that are forced to fight for the rich and powerful. The resolution will go something like this:
“I resolve to be true to the American Spirit, the ideal that we fight against tyranny and promise to be a beacon of hope for the oppressed, that we will not be the tyrants or the oppressors, and that when we see or hear anything that goes against this great Spirit, we will act to do bring about the most recognizable form of this spirit: acts of brother and sisterhood where love despite differences reigns supreme.”
Can we do it? Can we resolve to heal our wounds inflicted on us by the hawks? Can we show them what America really stands for?
Earlier today (Tuesday the 27th of December) I talked on the phone with my Ethiopian friend who relayed the news that the poor, unarmed people of Ethiopia were fighting as we spoke against the current regime in Addis. With clench fists and rocks they took on the most powerful military in sub-Saharan Africa.
How much do you believe in justice?
(written 27 December 2005)
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