E-CONFLICT

Yesterday I wrote...

"folks like Jay Babcock of Arthur mag telling me that I’m being essentially Stalinist in my unilateral insistence that backing Kerry is the only way to evict Bush from 1600 Penn"

Jay replied...

Never said or intimated any such thing -- please don't misrepresent me.

I simply said Ralph was right when he said both parties are bought and paid for by the same people. Kerry's courting of the corporation 'vote' this week was just the latest evidence. You get Bush out, and then what? THINK two steps ahead. What do you really think is going to happen? Come on. If you're lucky you get Clinton II -- and Clinton did plenty to set this world backwards. NAFTA, China Most Favored Nation status, 'welfare reform,' zero 'peace dividend,' etc. Empire with a more palatable face, but Empire all the same.

To this I can only respond...

Sure, maybe I did misrepresent you, but basically to trigger the debate that I hope will now ensue. I lack detachment in this. Mad as hell and not going to take Bush any more. At the end of last year, the given intelligence was that Bush was invincible, and four more years were inevitable. After a couple of obvious Bush fumbles, and a general moving out from under the evil smokescreen that criticism of the war leader is treason, we now see a glimmer of hope and some optimistic polls. Kerry is the only battering ram we have. And let’s not pretend that unseating Bush is going to require anything else than total effort, massive energy on all fronts, and some very strange and shakily pragmatic alliances. (Progressive feminists and Howard Stern?) We still face any number of horrendous scenarios by which Bush might stage a comeback. And horrendous can mean a lot with that bunch of crooks. This not to mention all the nasty little laws like the Clean Airwaves Act or the Lacy Peterson law that are currently being rushed through the legislature, the outrageous judicial appointments, plus the possibility of anything from a November state of emergency to mass polling fraud. I become quite emotional in my insistence that, right now, the entertainment of symbolic and unelectable third party candidates, and debates over whether Kerry will only be a less charismatic Clinton – but with his pants zipped – are a luxury we absolutely cannot afford. The only priority now is to save the bloody Empire from being turned into a totalitarian corporate theocracy with Clear Channel and the Ministry of Virtue eliminating though crime. Once that game's been thwarted, we can make a start on imperial destructuring

Let’s not forget that, if Kerry does make it to inauguration, he will be beholden to a lot of people including us thought criminals on the internet who have done so much to reveal Bush in his true light. He must be made aware that we’ll be looking to collect. Me, I want an immediate cease fire in the War on Drugs, funded stem cell research, and a decent space station. What does everyone else want?

Of course, my attitude may be genetic. We English are a tad blase about both the building and dismantling of Empires. And maybe the Doc40 brits should get in on this because the Blair dilemma is such an exact parallel.

AND TALKING OF CHINA

Our pal Ellen Sander is teaching in China. She writes...

Expatriate life, and particularly the trip home makes me appreciate America more even as it has escalated my skepticism and anxiety. The current reprehensible (and hopefully soon to be revised) administration has degraded international credibility and respect and as John Kerry puts it, fueled anti-American sentiments. Things get worse in Iraq, not better, and this resonates in allied countries. I think the bombing in Madrid, and its political aftermath bottomed out my last hope that there might be a positive outcome to the war in Iraq and by most standards, I’m a latecomer to this conclusion. The pre-existing overseas envy and apprehension in place before the Bush coup has now coalesced into a dark cloud of suspicion and rancor. Hegemony is a word I hear often when America is the subject of conversation. I must admit that word was not an active part of my vocabulary before. With the American economy sagging, the notion that U.S. primacy may not be indestructible is a fairly widespread one overseas. Americans themselves exacerbate this by remaining ignorant of the natural dynamics of international trade as they eat up politicians’ promises to keep manufacturing and technical jobs from being exported. Defying even basic logic, much less basic economics, Americans believe other countries, primarily China are at fault for domestic job loss – hello, who gives that work to offshore facilities and why? It’s aggravating to see even my more world-aware friends and family regard China with a 50-year old sensibility when it’s growing and transforming before our eyes. This is not your father’s China.

THANK THE LORD FOR ALCOHOL

nitroski writes reminding us of the important things in life...

Next time you happen to be alone and in a drinking mood...Erza Brooks black label.
Straight from the bottle, don't sully it with a glass,
might make you forget all about scotch for a while.
Myself, quit drinking 20+ years ago...curious side effects. i enjoyed my drinking, everybody I knew and some people I didn't all but insisted I stop.

CRYPTIQUE – How do ya spell Yalta?