The President has enjoyed his first veto in six uninterrupted years of absolute rule. An historic moment for him, another nail in the coffins of dozens of Iraqis and Americans. That was Tuesday. Wednesday the top news story was who's going to kicked off "American Idol". How is it possible that we can go so easily from the sublime to the ridiculous? Are we paying attention? Do we care?
I think the answer is, we're Bush weary. After six years of chipping away at our decency, our humanity, our democracy, a numbness has set in. It becomes hard to get up in the morning. When finally you do face the day, you are beset with a tidal wave déjà vu.
You pick up the paper and suddenly abortion is on the table again. After 34 years a decadent Supreme Court has outlawed late term abortion, a procedures used in only 1 % of abortions and then only in dire emergencies. If that Choice is gone, can the rest of Choice be far behind? Didn't we win this battle 34 years ago? I seem to remember being on that march in Washington….
You turn on the internet and there is an alert on nuclear power. It's back. I thought we had won that battle too. I remember marching for the Nuclear freeze. I remember winning. Now France has gone 80% Nuclear. The US, which hasn't built a Nuclear reactor since 1979, is rethinking the moratorium. Corporations like GE have begun to present nuclear energy as a viable alternative to global warming. Time to pick your poison: drowning or dissolving.
You turn on TV news and there are immigrant children being ripped out of the arms of their desperate parents who are about to be marched across the border into oblivion. What happens to the children, to the parents? An uptight spokeswoman who proudly calls herself a Christian comes on and assures us that tearing these families apart is “security” for “real Americans.”
You retreat back into the paper and there's Rupert Murdoch about to buy the Wall St. Journal, Dow Jones, and the internet. Sleaze move over. If you want to feel good about war, immigrant bashing, the end of our democracy Murdoch will oblige.
Desperate, you try Cspan and there on the screen is one of the most charismatic, trustworthy Senators in the Democratic lexicon, majority whip Dick Durbin, confessing that he knew long in advance that Bush-Cheney were lying about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. You gasp! "No, honest Richard! Not you! You could have told the truth BEFORE we attacked. You could have saved lives!" He tells reporters he was sworn to secrecy. Secrecy from us, the people who put him there? Now we wonder, who else knew….
We switch from the Senate to the House and there's Murtha begging Bush to sign a watered down supplemental bill. The Democrats have deleted the only good thing about it, the 'date certain' for us to leave Iraq. The new bill offers Bush fewer benchmarks, and more billions than he asked for. Anything to get him to sign! How powerful Bush must feel. How powerful he is. Maybe he and his Evangelists are right. Maybe God is a Republican. Maybe, just maybe, this orgy of meanness and inhumanity is the way it's supposed to be.
But then you look outside and see a brilliant sky. You take a walk and a charming baby give you a big toothless smile. You pass trees and flowers and giddy children. You re-meet an old friend, eat the perfect papaya, listen to your grandson's CD, smell a lilac and you think, well even if God is a Republican Mrs. God is not. And you decide as long as she's offering such loveliness we'll keep going. Thank you Mrs. God. You've saved my day.
Lila Garrett
Host/Producer of CONNECT THE DOTS
KPFK Radio, Pacifica's Los Angeles and Santa Barbara affiliate.
I think the answer is, we're Bush weary. After six years of chipping away at our decency, our humanity, our democracy, a numbness has set in. It becomes hard to get up in the morning. When finally you do face the day, you are beset with a tidal wave déjà vu.
You pick up the paper and suddenly abortion is on the table again. After 34 years a decadent Supreme Court has outlawed late term abortion, a procedures used in only 1 % of abortions and then only in dire emergencies. If that Choice is gone, can the rest of Choice be far behind? Didn't we win this battle 34 years ago? I seem to remember being on that march in Washington….
You turn on the internet and there is an alert on nuclear power. It's back. I thought we had won that battle too. I remember marching for the Nuclear freeze. I remember winning. Now France has gone 80% Nuclear. The US, which hasn't built a Nuclear reactor since 1979, is rethinking the moratorium. Corporations like GE have begun to present nuclear energy as a viable alternative to global warming. Time to pick your poison: drowning or dissolving.
You turn on TV news and there are immigrant children being ripped out of the arms of their desperate parents who are about to be marched across the border into oblivion. What happens to the children, to the parents? An uptight spokeswoman who proudly calls herself a Christian comes on and assures us that tearing these families apart is “security” for “real Americans.”
You retreat back into the paper and there's Rupert Murdoch about to buy the Wall St. Journal, Dow Jones, and the internet. Sleaze move over. If you want to feel good about war, immigrant bashing, the end of our democracy Murdoch will oblige.
Desperate, you try Cspan and there on the screen is one of the most charismatic, trustworthy Senators in the Democratic lexicon, majority whip Dick Durbin, confessing that he knew long in advance that Bush-Cheney were lying about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. You gasp! "No, honest Richard! Not you! You could have told the truth BEFORE we attacked. You could have saved lives!" He tells reporters he was sworn to secrecy. Secrecy from us, the people who put him there? Now we wonder, who else knew….
We switch from the Senate to the House and there's Murtha begging Bush to sign a watered down supplemental bill. The Democrats have deleted the only good thing about it, the 'date certain' for us to leave Iraq. The new bill offers Bush fewer benchmarks, and more billions than he asked for. Anything to get him to sign! How powerful Bush must feel. How powerful he is. Maybe he and his Evangelists are right. Maybe God is a Republican. Maybe, just maybe, this orgy of meanness and inhumanity is the way it's supposed to be.
But then you look outside and see a brilliant sky. You take a walk and a charming baby give you a big toothless smile. You pass trees and flowers and giddy children. You re-meet an old friend, eat the perfect papaya, listen to your grandson's CD, smell a lilac and you think, well even if God is a Republican Mrs. God is not. And you decide as long as she's offering such loveliness we'll keep going. Thank you Mrs. God. You've saved my day.
Lila Garrett
Host/Producer of CONNECT THE DOTS
KPFK Radio, Pacifica's Los Angeles and Santa Barbara affiliate.
