Article: Less Than Zero

Well, he's done it again. President Bush, in a continued effort to turn the sow's ear of the Iraq War into a silk purse for his campaign contributors, is thinking about increasing American troop levels despite an overwhelming public sentiment against the war. What part of "no" can't this moron understand?

It isn't enough that the Republicans lost Congress in the 2006 election over the war, or that Bush's job approval rating has languished in the mid-thirties since the summer because of his obstinacy. It's clear the warnings from members of the Iraqi parliament that an increased American presence will escalate the actions of insurgents aren't stopping him. What in the hell will it take to pierce his thick skull that his objectives in Iraq are toast?

Yesterday, Bush pulled out a body count comparison between soldiers lost in Iraq as opposed to Vietnam at the same point in that war as a way of showing all is not lost in the Iraq confab. How brilliant is that? No need to acknowledge that there were a lot more American forces in Vietnam; and many more forces battling us there. And no problem about glossing over the fact that North Vietnamese forces were much better armed than Iraqi insurgents. Who does Bush think he's kidding?

A number of politically progressive groups in America are calling for President Bush's impeachment. But frankly, impeachment is just too good for this motherf*er. I say put him and his pal Vice-President Richard "The Dick" Cheney on a plane, and drop them in the middle of Baghdad. And not some safe palace behind the Green Zone, I mean put their dumb asses out there in the middle of Sadr City. Give Bush the souvenir pistol he stole from Saddam Hussein, and a cell phone. You watch-both of them would be making calls to negotiate a withdrawal so fast it will make your head swim.

I don't say this to be mean. Well, okay, I do, but there's another reason. Sociopaths like Bush have no empathy for anyone else's pain except their own. As long as he's sitting in the White House stuffing his face with pretzels, he could care less about the fate of American soldiers in Iraq. This guy needs to get the sh*t literally scared out of him to understand what kind of trouble he's caused, what a goddamned woos he is, and to finally take action if only to save his own pathetic little hide.

I think it's also apropos to the kind of mealy-mouthed, less than zero sum gain kind of politics that rules America these days in general. All the candidates talk big to get your vote but at the end of the day, none of them have the huevos to really get the job done. At least in the good ol' days of Nixon and Reagan, they did a fair job of camouflaging the masters they really reported to. But in the 21st Century, it's apparent to even the most autistic among us that our dear leaders, Democrats and Republicans alike, are serving the interests of corporate profit over the demands of the American public. And if your son, daughter, wife, husband, brother, sister die in an insurgent ambush in Iraq or Afghanistan, well hey, at least they died for a good cause-to make more cheap trash available at a Wal-Mart near you.

That's all our dear leaders think you're good for now-shopping. Your views on the war have as much a place on their agendas as t*ts on a boar hog. And the only way that's going to change is if you stop stuffing pretzels in your face and get rude and loud. They only have as much control over you as you allow them to.

Stop letting them reduce you to less than zero. Stand up for yourselves and be individuals. Believe me if you don't, they never will.