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They're not ALL that bad.
Recently, a CBS poll showed results and trends corresponding with president Bush's rise in the polls over John Kerry. Part of the results showed that people voting for George Bush said that "foreign policy" was important to them. This is amusing, given that the Bush foreign policy outside of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is largely non-existent (one)(two)(three)(google:Bush foreign policy).
This means that Bush's base has bought the Bush Administration's "get tough" rhetoric. This is likely because "getting tough" is a thing that resonates with voters. "Getting tough" is seen to equal action, at least to those that benefit from "getting tough".
But "getting tough" is a two edged sword. There are people who are recipients of getting tough and there are people within your own constituency that may get a little over-excited about "getting tough".
Currently we are "getting tough" on Muslims. Even though we say, they aren't all that bad. Just some of them.
Self-described as part of Bush's base are these people. Bush might not want them. He might try to hide from them, but they are part of his base because we are a free society and all they have to do is want to be. And they do.
Now, these are nutty Christian White Guys. Other Christian White Guys object and say "Hey, they don't speak for me!" But that's what's important here. Why is this important?
These nutty Christian White Guys are the guys who are promoting domestic terrorism and would certainly be the al-sadrs of the USA if someone were occupying us. They are zealots, bigots and firmly committed to what they believe.
They are representative of how the Muslim community perceives Christians. Even though the Muslim community acknowledges that Christians aren't all that bad, just some of them.
The reason for this is, even when you might try to get away from it, people's perceptions of something alien tend to gravitate toward the most visible and loudest. Hate is always more visible and louder than love. The middle-east and the rest of the world currently isn't seeing a lot of love from Christianity in general and the US in particular.
So, we have two rules, one for each group:
1. The Muslims think the Christians are Imperialistic enslavers of humanity, even though they aren't all that bad.
2. The Christians think that Muslims are Xenocidal baby-killing terrorists, even though they aren't all that bad.
This difference in perception makes our current situation difficult.
Now, here's where things get nasty.
With our current Post-WillieHorton negative campaigning in the US, politics is becoming highly polarized. This polarization leads to demonification of not only our leaders, but our neighbors and family members. Here is how we work now:
1. The Republicans think that Democrats are anti-Family, neo-communist, anti-progress maniacs, even though they aren't all that bad.
2. The Democrats think the Republicans are anti-Family, self-interested, anti-progress maniacs, even though they aren't all that bad.
This demonification, combined with our new apparent love of "get tough" rhetoric, can only lead to an increase in internal strife in the US. This increase in strife will largely be borne out by violence from these guys and these guys and these guys and these guys and these guys. For example, did you know that 14 Governors had received bombs in the mail?
This is the role of fringe groups. They are bellwethers of our national mindset. When we are polarized, they are strengthened. When we are polarized we as a nation are weakened.
For each attack by a "leftist" group above, the Republicans feel moral superiority and the Democrats claim they had nothing to do with it. For every attack by a "right-wing" group, the Democrats feel moral superiority and the Republicans claim they had nothing to do with it. But elements in each party would feel certain sympathies, despite their distaste for the violent actions of the fringe. These sympathies would keep them awake at night, make them less likely to have real dialogue with "the other side of the aisle" and, in the end, create more paralysis.
If Osama were smart enough to see how his attacks on Sept. 11th would allow such a divide and conquer approach he and his dialysis machine would be very happy today.
Is that a bomb in your pocket or....
The TSA has been given the green light to feel up people who might be security threats. According to this article:
Outer garments. Passengers must take off blazers, warm-up jackets and other outer layers before walking through security checkpoints. A woman wearing only a blazer as a top would not have to take it off. But if it looked like it was concealing something, she could receive additional screening. As before, female screeners will be matched to female passengers and males to males, Clarke says. What amuses me most about this that it's pretty well documented that people, even if they self-identify as heterosexual, have sexual reactions to what we subjectively refer to as "attractive people" even if they are the same or similar gender. So what happens if someone who is pheromone charged shows up and trips some wire that makes them eligible for a more personal pat-down?
What if the person receiving the pat down appreciates it more than anticipated? ... Please, look over there again. Maybe someone put something in my underwear when I wasn't looking.
It is interesting that we are still more scared of our sexuality and our bodies than we are even of terrorism.
Once again, I am forced to note that the September 11th hijackers brought no weapons and needed no weapons. They had no bombs. They had nothing that would trip an alarm. Except for box cutters, which they could now easily achieve with a piece of plastic.
Cory directed me to this article, though his complaint was a bit different.
Bow Down or Die
Our armed services, who are mostly comprised of our poor looking to stop being poor, are now given a choice. Keep being in military or go to Iraq. Amazing.
March on Washington for Truth
As the Swift Boat Vets congeal in Washington in a few weeks to tell continue with their Honor the War, Oppose the Veteran message ... it seems that their vitriol is spreading. Sad and scary times.
Bush's Fiddle Playing
Nice little entry by Joi Ito talking about the strange coincidence of Bush's approval rating and the terror alerts we were receiving. The last one, where everyone was like, "Why are you giving us a terror alert based on five-year old data" is the last on the graphic.
If there's anything encouraging is that, overall, the trend is less approval of his actions.
However, the Republican Convention seemed well orchestrated to be the newest terror alert. Five solid days of "Bush is safer than Kerry," while providing absolutely no record to prove that seems to have worked on the American lemmings.
Sigh.
National Review with Blinders
Check out this story in National Review.
It talks about how the deficit is much much much larger than anyone thinks and that this is a bad bad thing ... and in the sidebar it tells you to vote for the man who brought it to you.
This has got to be the weirdest political season in history.
Nuking Atrios
I have removed my link to Atrios, oddly enough even as I become more fed up with the blatant and criminal mistruths coming out of the Karl Rove Express.
The reason is this... while I still have Atrios on my aggregator, I am tired of all information sources that condemn first and ask questions later. I am happy to filter and pass along links of substance from Atrios on my blog, but I don't want to directly promote any information source that routinely attacks without any attempt to understand.
I could write a column a say that when I was in college I watched George Bush eat shit on a stick and I am confident that Atrios would link to it. It would be one thing to air new allegations that are currently in rumor-mill mode, but he frequently just posts them with quips like "Is there nothing he won't eat?"
And, as much as believe that George Bush has managed to destroy the few admirable qualities that survived the drug binges, I can no longer tolerate the promotion of unsubstantiated rumors as fact in national politics.
Short Form for Republican Talking Points
I am providing you with a short form for the salient Republican talking points. Find what wisdom you will here:
The US Military are idiots who give Purple Hearts away to people who do not
deserve them. Veterans did not fight for their country. The economy is getting better. The world is safer with George Bush as president.
I agree with them, we are safer and we need to get to the bottom of these so-called veterans and their so-called battle injuries. I think we should investigate all medals given out in all wars and revoke the ones that are undeserved. At last, in George Bush, we have a President who isn't afraid to stand up to the military!
Moving Along
Okay, we are getting close to the end of the pack-fest. After 10 years in this house, we are moving on the 20th of September. It will be quite a transition for me. In the midst of all the boxes, we will be having a migrating party on the 18th. We will start at our friend Paul's house for an appetizer, then move on to here for dinner and to Caitlin and Randy's for desert.
This is possible because we've lived within two blocks of each other for several years.
The moment we get the idea to have this party, I choose to move -- and I'm in the middle.
So this will also serve as a house cooling party.
The new house, we'll do housewarming dinner parties over the next several months. And beg for no housewarming gifts. Oh god, if you know us, please DO NOT GIVE US ANYTHING. We are seriously filled to the eyeballs with stuff.
Wishing Bill a Quick Recovery
In case you missed it, President Clinton checked himself into the hospital Thursday night complaining of chest pains. He will be having a quadruple bypass surgery on Tuesday. Good luck to you Mr. Clinton.
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