Article: This is Our Lives on Holiday

December 28, 2005

"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday" - Green Day

There is a certain lull in the air these days as America goes through the holiday season. I say holiday season because there are several holidays and not because of any fabricated war on Christmas designed to distract us from the true wars being fought these days. It is insulting to soldiers to discuss a faux war perpetrated by Fox News while their blood is still being spilled in a desert this Christmas. There are real wars going on in this country as well. There is a war against the very document that binds us as a nation, the Constitution. There is also a war of rhetoric being fought daily as we hear our leaders speak boldly and then ignore those who are the neediest in this country. Just beyond this week however is the rest of our lives and how this country comes out after the New Year will determine whether we continue to fight to take back this country, or whether we continue to allow the fabric of our once mighty nation to be torn asunder.

Consider this a friendly reminder of where we were before the trees were trimmed and the presents were opened. When we left our fearless president he was in the middle of claiming the Constitution was just a "God dammed piece of paper" as he claimed royal authority to wiretap US citizens in violation of federal law. Asserting absurd power from the Congressional directive allowing him to prosecute his "war on terror", Bush essentially has told the country that his power trumps all checks and balances built into the Constitution he so easily derides.

So as our lives continue on holiday for another few days, please do not lose focus from what is still going on in this country. Do not lose sight of our children dying in a desert while people quibble about an artificial "war." Remember that the people who founded this country did so; based on certain principles that should not be undone by any one man, regardless of what party they are from. Remember the mighty rule of law that binds us. Remember the man who said he would usher in a new era of responsibility. The same man who gave us Abu Ghraib, torture as national policy, secret rendition flights, Sibel Edmonds, debt enslavement, WMD, 20,000 liters of anthrax, botulism toxin, sarin, mustard gas, mushroom cloud threats, uranium from the Niger, the Valerie Plame treason, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, illegal wiretapping of US citizens, John Bolton, enemy combatants to avoid giving US citizens their day in court, ignoring FOIA requests, Enron, soaring gas prices as oil companies gouge consumers and do not have to swear in before Congress, Cheney's secret energy task force, "free speech zones", propaganda planted in Iraq media, Michael Brown and the Arabian Horse Association, empty promises for Katrina victims, magenta terrorism alert and the color coded fear chart, Armstrong Williams and whatever happened to the No Child Left Behind Act?(hint: it was left behind), spying on the UN, 2.6 trillion dollars missing from the Pentagon, billions missing from Iraq, at least 2,100 dead American soldiers, at least 30,000 dead Iraqi civilians, the Downing Street Memos, we will be greeted as liberators, Iraq's oil profits will pay for the war as we are now down over 200 billion dollars, we will only be in Iraq for six months-now it is looking like decades, Harriet Miers, the Patriot Act, bin Laden (remember him!), Jeff Gannon, Ken Blackwell and the election theft in Ohio, Terri Schiavo, Sun Hudson and the Texas Death Law, Freedom is on the march!, Mission Accomplished!, Bring em on!, no connection between Iraq and 911, protection for mega corporations, protection for vaccine producers who cause autism in our kids, Diebold, tax breaks for millionaires, cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, and the attempted destruction of social security.

With the pretense stripped away from the presidency of fear, the Bush Administration is left with nothing but the hollow lies they have spun for the past five years. Their own words resound like echoes off of Sean Hannity as they desperately cling to their lies in the hope that they can be returned to their former glory. Unfortunately for them, America has awoken and they see those lies for what they are. Next week we all come off of our holiday break and will continue to take back this country from the despotic, would-be-king. In George Bush's world, the Constitution is just a "god dammed piece of paper" and his actions demonstrate that he honestly believes so. I beg to differ.

I beg to differ and I beg to dream of my country before it was hijacked by a neocon nightmare where everyone who does not lockstep in fear is a terrorist. I beg to differ from the politics of personal panic, which tells me what color my fear should be. Instead, I will always beg to dream of the country that once believed that anyone willing to trade liberty for security, deserves neither. This snapshot in time is indeed our lives on holiday but next week is coming my friends. Next week is the dawning of the rest of our lives.