The "I" Word

Well, they went and done it tonight. Played the “I” card. The Islam card.

I’ve been wondering how long it would take, and they sent Rudy out as an attack dog. And the mayor who showed up at ground zero on 9/11 didn’t even address the issue of where troops are deployed and who attacked his city.

The Republican party sometimes reminds me of our cats: they’re easily distracted. They’ll play with anything that moves.

But they’re just cats, so I don’t hold it against them.

Not so with US foreign policy.

Afghanistan bred and abetted the attacks of 9/11. But Republicans seem to refuse to believe that the war in Iraq was not only a bad idea, but based on lies built on falsehoods built on calculated deception.

So instead of wrapping up what would have been a much shorter war in less time than we’ve been there, we’ve been pursuing a vanity war that has only weakened our position in the long run. Not only have we pissed off the international community by doing something that so clearly didn’t require immediate attention, we risk losing the war that should have been fought.

How anyone can spin that as a good thing boggles my mind.

There is no way to spin it well without consciously refusing to see the truth. Not without endorsing lies and deception as an acceptable means to an end of dubious merits and undeniably questionable motivations.

So they send Rudy out to use the “I” word.

They’re still trying to scare us into thinking that reasonable foreign policy coupled with valid intelligence will lead to another monumental attack. That brute force will change the course of international politics.

I don’t agree, and believe that every step we take down the path we’re on now leads us only closer to another monumentally heinous event.

I'm shocked, but not awed. Except by the lack of insight and foresight that have gotten us into what will remain an on-going war with a country that did nothing but offend the Chief Executive.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

Give me a reasonable answer to that, and I might listen. Since I doubt that you can, just go back to your right wing and huddle with the other sheep who have been given up for the slaughter. And don't be surprised when the country turns against you.

The politics of fear only breeds irrational actions and does nothing to advance the cause of our country, must less the cause of peace.

I, for one, am sick and tired and fed up to my gills with people trying to scaring me into voting for one candidate or the other.

Personally, I’m offended by the whole proposition.

As long as the scare machine keeps churning out drivel, I’m not going to be listening.

I know exactly where I was when I first heard of the attacks on the towers. And I know when I realized it was big. And I watched both fall down on TV. I saw the second one fall from down the hall, watching the only TV that I could see at the time. We were trying to get payroll done early, because it was a Tuesday, and we didn’t know who was going to be shutting down when, so I was just checking in.

When the second one fell, I ran screaming down the hall to that TV screaming “No! No! No! No!”

By the time I got to that little TV, the building was already on the ground.

So don’t try to scare me. I've already done that.

I don’t want scare. I want action. Action that will prevent that awful day from ever happening again. Action that doesn’t include invading a country for very little reason and ignoring the one that counts.

When the first tower fell, I knew it meant war. That was a given. I just didn’t know it would become the wrong war at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.

Since they have nothing left, the Republicans are trying to focus on the economy.

Good luck with that one, too.