One day, when the nation is in ashes, one of the last living witnesses to what actually went on is going to reveal the truth. I suspect his/her story will be something like this:

“When 9/11 happened, most of us in Congress knew that this couldn’t have happened without some rogue element of the military/government aiding and abetting the entire thing. We wanted to speak up but we were scared (you see, we know just what Cheney and company are capable of) and when the Democrats-only anthrax hit, we knew we’d been right.

After people stopped dying from that, we saw the most liberal person in the House (Patsy Mink) die in questionable circumstances. Less than a month later, the most liberal Senator, Paul Wellstone and some of his family were killed in a plane crash and we knew for certain that it was no “accident”. The Cheneyites were sending us a clear message: Play along or you’ll die (and maybe your family will too).

So, we did everything we could to give these monsters whatever we wanted (after all, it wasn’t *our* money and they weren’t *our* family members that were being sent off to senseless wars). Before too long, Bush’s numbers were so low that we had to start making excuses for giving him whatever bullshit he asked for. We were winning virtually every Senate vote, but we’d claim they were “losses” as the Republicans might, at some point, voice some opposition and well…..fillibuster or somethin’!

Yeah, I know, pathetic…..but it kept us alive. Well, at least until the GOP raided the Treasury one too many times and the Dollar collapsed overnight. Without any currency, civilization fell to bits in less than two weeks. People were killing each other over cans of beets, fer Khrist’s sake, and eventually, some “religious” nut-cases started burning everything in order to show us (what they imagined to be) Hell on Earth.

We should’ve had Bush and Cheney arrested, right at the beginning. We should’ve ignored what our media advisors said the “news people” would say about us impeaching the bastards and simply done it *because it was the right thing to do*. Of course, we didn’t and the destruction you see all around you is what happens when you let your fear lead you, rather than your principles.

Shit. I was such a pussy that I never even spit on Cheney for his murder of Wellstone….I wonder how he felt, up on that lampost”.

Congratulations, you finally got it…

Wasn’t that a movie? I seem to recall seeing something like that, many centuries ago, when I was young.

You might be able to get a position on Mikey’s campaign staff. His spokescat is Australian. And a cat.

Harman was the one Congressperson mentioned by the report who filed an objection.

None of us will be, not in the grand scheme of things anyway, but damn, Mikey, don’t be going out too quick now, ‘kay?

The whole “voting for Democrats because they aren’t as bad as the Republicans” has a certain stink of realpolitik about it, but trying to win with a third party on the national level just seems so futile right now…

Maybe I’ve just never gotten over the Nader voters who tried to sell me on the idea that there was no difference between Gore and Bush… that was, is, and always will be one of the biggest loads of horseshit ever peddled in American politics. Jim Hightower wrote a whole book on it and it ranks as one of the most tragic misassesments of character this side of the whole “Bush staring into Putin’s eyes” bit.

Anyway, personally I’m going Dem at the national level out of “pragmatism” (or whatever) and 3rd-party at the state and local level where they have a prayer of winning. That’s just me, the rest of ya’ll have gotta do whatever the fuck ya gotta do to sleep at night.

The average Briton is somewhat ashamed of the British empire, and tend to be a bit sheepish about it, and don’t even rise to the bait when former colonials display a bit of Anglophobia. We like to comfort ourselves with the pragmatic facts about how various people benefited from it, and how at least some of the colonies got a happy ending. But when evidence of the sheer cultural arrogance involved in the whole undertaking is shoved under our noses, we do cringe. It isn’t a comfortable subject.

On the other hand.. the American right has a number of people who seem to want to emulate the British empire, and lament the fact that whilst they wield power, they cannot do it in such a grand style, brazenly occupying territory directly. Add to that their idolatry of Churchhill, and the long standing American need to prove themselves to the British, and you have a horrible caricature.

It is up to us modern human beings, of whatever nationality, to say that regardless of the past, colonialism simply doesn’t meet our ethical standards anymore. By its nature, it is exploitive to some degree, and that just isn’t on.

The imposition of law and order through direct intervention and occupation was seen to be necessary to this, so the flow of goods would be unimpeded, and the colonies would have a healthy enough economy to demand manufactured goods.

The thing to remember, is that the British empire was one amongst many. All the other European powers were playing the same game. The British empire was simply the biggest of its kind. Everybody was at it, because it worked out economically.

The American empire has relied on being the ONLY one of its kind. In the post ww2 era, they were the only nation capable of swinging any real economic clout, or any real military power. In that kind of climate, smaller nations have two options. Give the Americans whatever favourable trade policies, land for military bases, or anything else they demand.. Or be cut off from the only viable trading partner of the time. Even the British economy relied heavily on selling sports cars and other products to the US.

That is obviously hardly an equitable arrangement, and resentment followed inevitably. That is before we get to the direct political intervention.

As I say, this empire relied on being the only bully boy around. This is the real reason the US was so damned worried about communism. The USSR were the only power with the military strength and influence to compete with their game. This is the root of that “domino effect” nonsense. The real reason for causing a horrific slaughter in Vietnam etc. was to warn the world what happened if they didn’t obey Uncle Sam, or worse, join the only other gang on the street.

Of course, this only worked for as long as Europe remained impoverished by the war, and the rest of the world remained as politically divided and poor as possible.

Now that the EU has formed an economic bloc to rival the size of the US, and the American public has lost their stomach for a military draft to get the kind of troop numbers really required for an army of that size, the game is nearly up. The US has kept increasing military spending in the hope that it will make up for the paltry number of troops they can amass, and the oil crisis has handed economic power to some quite far flung places. Last but not least.. Americas willing destruction of its manufacturing base has allowed the Chinese to hold the value of the dollar hostage.

Iraq was one last desperate attempt to impose power. To grab the oil fields, and show the world the costs of trying to mess with the USA. Needless to say, it just hasn’t worked.

He’s a troll – trying to drive us crazy.

The only downside is that he isn’t very funny. He lacks the panache of a good Gary – or, heck, even a bad Gary, for that matter.

I miss Bruce.

I bet you just love those heroic British forces defending the beaches of Palestine from the maritime invasion. Are you ready to apologize for the King David Hotel?

Is there and Irishman in the house? There is a fool in the house in bad need of some, er, physical education.