LEFT WING RED MEAT

It's a festive political year and I've been having great fun listening to Air America here in LA. OOOPS! Had been having fun. Air America is off the air here in town. It was on for about two weeks last spring, on a crummy little station I could barely pick up down by the harbor in San Pedro anyway. Actually the signal would crap out at both ends of my commute! Maybe it's all a capitalist plot to get me to buy XM radio for my car. Oh well, at least I still have some access over the internet.

I enjoy listening to Air America's commentary, but make no mistake, I know it's ENTERTAINMENT. They are selling a point of view, one I agree with in large measure, but sometimes they can get a little shrill. But there's shrill and then there's the apoplectic all-liberals-are-scum rhetoric of the Rushes and O'Reillys of the world. You know, those guys who over-sell their conservatism and refuse to admit that they also are entertainment.

Oh, and I gotta add Ann Coulter! You know, the author of Treason. As in treason of every Democrat who ever lived. Talk about apoplectic all-liberals-are-scum rhetoric! Check this quote:

"Enragingly, liberals talk about Vietnam as if it proves something about the use of force generally rather than the Democrats' own bungling incompetence in military affairs. Historical accounts of the Vietnam War are incomprehensible because liberals refuse to admit the failure of their own national security strategy. The only important lesson from Vietnam is this: Democrats lose Wars."

Gee, everyone can see the latest Republican War is going so well, no "bungling incompetence in military affairs" there! And I guess those little skirmishes that Democrats DID see through to victory, World War I and II, don't count. And never mind that the last six years before Vietnam fell, two Republicans were in power. And never mind that we are finally not only friends with still-sorta-Communist Vietnam, but their biggest trading partner. Stick that in your trade deficit, Ann! Admit it, Treason ain't reason, you wrote it as right wing red meat, entertainment. The only good thing I got out of Treason was the fact that if John Ashcroft ever checks out my library records, he'll think I'm some sort of fellow neo-con because he'll find that book there.

A couple weeks ago I watched the speakers at the Democratic Convention. I enjoyed Bill Clinton and Howard Dean, and Kerry himself did a great job too, much better than what I expected. Still, it wasn't entertaining enough for most Americans, the ratings were low. Even I found myself wanting some good old fashioned Bush Bashing of the sort Air America indulges in. John Kerry though took the high road. He allowed very few speakers to question the logic of Bush's Shooting War On Terror, or to villify Bush himself, perhaps because he wasn't very consistent in his own votes on the war, or perhaps because he was actually trying to raise the level of debate. But I have no such restictions! I think it's time to put out my own brand of red meat, marinated with plenty of my special secret philosophical seasoning, er, reasoning of course! How about in an open letter to Bush?

Dear Mr. Bush,

I didn't vote for you. I didn't vote for Al Gore either because I thought both of you represented politics as usual, but I now realize you are quite different from all the Presidents we've had before.

You call yourself a conservative, but you aren't one, that much is certain. Conservatism has a long tradition of support for fiscal responsibliity, yet you have spent money like there is no tomorrow. Worse you have cut the revenues used to pay for the spending and borrowed to cover the bills. You have taken the tax surplus that we enjoyed at your inaguration and turned it into the biggest deficit in history. No one can call that "conservative" with a straight face. In fact you were rather "liberal" with the cuts you gave to the rich. Maybe "lavish" is the right word. So, have the rich reinvested in America and hired new workers with their windfall? It seems not. We've lost lots of good jobs and the ones you happily point to when you say the economy is getting better are mostly lower paying than before.

You also call yourself compassionate, but you seem unwilling to lend a helping hand to those in need yourself. You control the greatest engine for social good the world has ever known, the US government, yet you seek to transfer the hard work of committed compassion to others with your faith based initiative. I assume you want charities to tend to society's needs because Conservatism has a long tradition of smaller government. If so, then why have you have advocated that the Constitution be amended to ban gay marriages? That's not making government smaller; you'll need to create another agency to police your prohibition. Also counter to smaller government, the first thing you did when we were attacked was to add the Homeland Security Department to our ineffective gaggle of intelligence and security agencies. More bureaucracy. You didn't even fire anyone for their failure to keep us safe and instead insisted that all concerned did "a superb job". Isn't Conservatism supposed to stand for responsibility too?

And by the way, Mr. Bush, I don't blame you for the actions of terrorists, but what kind of leadership is it to tell Americans to start shopping again as an antidote for our national shock? You should have told the tax payers that it was time for the nation to sacrifice, that you were calling off part of your tax cuts because you knew we'd have to pay for the military operations you were planning. You know, the Iraqi Invasion that your administration had coveted long before we were attacked.

Michael Moore was right last year when he said "Shame on you, Mr. Bush!" You have purposely directed all the righteous fury from 911 at a country that had nothing to do with it. You have killed thousands of innocent people, far more than Osama Bin Laden. You are creating more terror in the long run because your killing and the brutal treatment of prisoners in this war all adds up to a modern crusade in the mind of the Muslim world. The war you started is wrong, Mr. Bush, and now you've got our brave soldiers holding a tiger by the tail. It will be up to the next President to clean up your mess.

You have never been straight with us about your reasons for war and all your public rationalizations have been proven untrue. You now claim we are there to install democracy. You even have a TV ad that says how nice it is to have Iraq and Afghanistan in the Olympics. Are you really saying that's why we invaded? You cut funding for No Child Left Behind, veterans care and so many other programs, but you spent $200 billion and lost a thousand soldiers to send a few athletes on a two week Greek vacation?

Oh well, democracy is good, isn't it? As long as the new voters don't elect Muslim fundamentalists! Oops! It's clear that your plan for installing democracy in these countries was flawed from the start. Check that. It wasn't flawed, it was non-existent. You thought only of regime change and nothing of the consequences. Unfortunately for everyone, the consequences are unavoidable now. And what of our own democracy? Perversely, you seem to delight in the fact that we are at war, for it also gives you an easy answer to all criticisms here at home. It's also your excuse to conduct the dealings of our the government in secret. But such a closed operation of the government is Unamerican. Criticism must be allowed in a country that is built on Freedom. You know, the Freedom you claim God gave us.

And so we've come to your religious beliefs.

Oh, I know it's not proper politics to question a man's faith, but you control so much power! It's worthy of examination and I'm happy to ask the hard questions if no one else will; voters deserve to know if an irrational superstition will guide you when you use the power of America.

So what about the quote I just mentioned? You did say that Americans were trying to promote our "God-given Freedom" in Iraq but actually that's a pretty strange concept. Have you really read your Bible, Mr. Bush? There's no freedom in there, in fact Christian theology treats Free Will like a curse! We must overcome it or we're in deep hellfire. Some freedom! But the phrase sure sounds nice to your fundamentalist supporters, doesn't it?

I'm probably being too hard on that point; you were probably sincere when you said that. I also am sincerely happy that with your faith you ended the destructive habits of your youth before anyone got hurt, but how sincere are you when you say The Prince Of Peace is your "favorite philosopher?" If that's so then why did you listen to someone like Achmed Chalabi? Surely you don't think it was Jesus who lead you into Iraq! So, maybe it was someone else? Last year an Israeli newspaper said you told their prime minister that God told you to invade Iraq! Do you really believe God is talking to you, Mr. Bush? If so, it must be Yahweh, the vengeful God of the Old Testament, not the God of Jesus. And if you really believe that God is talking to you, what else do you believe? Do you believe that the Bible is the word of God himself? If so, do you believe as it is written in Leviticus that we must kill homosexuals? Do you believe in witches, George? The Bible says to kill them. Do you believe that children who make fun of a bald man should be killed? The Bible says to kill them too. Do you believe that the Rapture is imminent? Do you want to destroy the Dome Of The Rock and let Israel build a new Temple, just to fulfill a few verses in the Book Of Revelation? Do you want World War III to be a Holy War? That's where we are headed when you let ancient superstition rule. You claim to be a man of faith, but aside from peppering your speeches with Biblical references, you display little understanding.

If you say no, this is not what you believe, Mr. Bush, I will believe you. Why? Because this is the 21st Century and I'd like think you don't believe in witches and other ancient paranoia. So, aren't you actually just mouthing that to please your fundamentalist supporters? Isn't the God you really serve MONEY? Maybe the fact you are unwilling to do anything about global warming and the other pressures humans are putting on this planet doesn't come from a Bible-inspired mistrust of science. It's more that you work for the convenience of your rich backers. For whom you will try to stay in office no matter what.

Be you thrall to religion, money or both, one thing is clear, you have no new ideas to offer in this election. Is that why you run so many attack ads on John Kerry's service in Vietnam? Oh, I forgot, it's concerned citizens doing that, not you! So where the heck did they get all the money to run those ads, hmm? Well, I could almost believe maybe one of his citations was flawed but the man has a Bronze Star AND a Silver Star. It's clear he's a man of courage who risked his life while you were flying on the weekends thousands of miles from the shooting. And oh yes, he won his Siver Star in 1969, when a Republican was running the war in Vietnam. But with the economy sour and the War In Iraq draining resources and lives, I guess destroying his record is all you have to cling to power. So much for the last of your honor.

Maybe I'm too idealistic to run a country properly, I doubt if this will do any good but I will now ask you to take the high road for the rest of the campaign, to run upon the real issues and let the voters decide. We deserve it after all that happened in 2000. Let democracy work as it supposed to.

Sincerely,
Rusty

There, was that left wing red meat entertaining enough?

There are lots of people angry with Bush this election, but it's probably not enough. With his huge war chest and Machiavellian tactics, I think it's about a 75% chance that Bush will squeak through to win. If that makes you mad, GOOD! Get out the vote and prove me wrong. Think of it as frying up all this red meat before it spoils.

Right now I'd normally say I have to go back in the Closet to thaw out some more red meat, but sadly there's always a fresh supply these days. Till next month then, thanks for reading and the Closet is closed.

© 2004 - Rusty Pipes

Official Disclaimer: The inflammatory opinions of Rusty Pipes are his and his alone, and certainly not those of the loyal party drones who make up the editorial staff. The editorial staff, acting quickly and in the best interest of the country, declares this a Red Disclaimer. While we don't recommend outright panic, we do think you should burn this column to rid yourself of its memory. Now, this is a Webzine, so you'll have to print it out first, then burn it, then carefully bury the ashes. That will downgrade this Disclaimer to Blue. Then read an approved bible and think approved thoughts. Thank you.