Steven A. Hass: More Notes From The Fringe

I haven't written in quite a while, so I thought I'd sit down to a hot cup of coffee and a dusty keyboard and let my thoughts roll. I haven't written because my thoughts never get a chance to settle before something else comes out of Washington, DC, to scramble them up again. Hence, this article may seem a bit disjointed, but it's my article, so you'll just have to accept it.

Where to start? Let's start with the latest out of the White House: a new press secretary (Tony Snow, from Fox News, like that was a surprising source). As Jon Stewart asked rhetorically, do you think someone from Fox News will be able to paint whatever picture Bush wants the American public to see? Remember, we're talking about Fox News, the channel that's been Bush's mouthpiece for five years now. I'm pretty sure a Fox News employee will do just fine at avoiding questions, highlighting the highs and ignoring the lows, and spinning what's left into a smorgasbord of nothingness. A White House press secretary needs skill with spinning, twisting, and reconfiguring facts, so Fox News was a logical choice as a source for the next press secretary. That's enough about the cartoon network among news networks.

On to other random thoughts: let's talk about impeachment. Even though your newspaper probably hasn't said a word, there are more and more people who are calling for Bush's impeachment. Is he legally impeachable? Absolutely, on many counts, and no - I'm not going to do your homework for you, so go look it up on your own. It's all over the internet. As for impeachment, my concern is that these people see it as an end, rather than a means to an end. I agree that Bush should be impeached (actually, he should have been impeached long before he got this far). But impeachment by itself is not a final solution. Bush should not only be impeached, he should also be held legally accountable to international law, be tried accordingly, removed from the White House, and let international law determine where he spends his retirement years. I vote for exiling him to Iraq, but anywhere except Baghdad (Little America), so he can live in the wonderful new freedom-loving Iraqi democracy he keeps trying to sell to us. I could talk for days about the fate this man deserves for what he's done to the America my grandchildren will have to live in.

Is anyone else figuring out that this two-party system in America is worthless? We need to completely revamp government. Republicans aren't even a hint of what they have traditionally been, and Democrats are a waste of breath. Both parties conduct business as actors on a stage, not as representatives of the people who elected them (and I use the term "elected" very loosely). Neither party represents their constituents. They represent money, wherever it's coming from. Voters who staunchly toe the party line are woefully out of touch. Your choice of party is baseless. Washington and Jefferson and Adams wouldn't recognize this government at all, and wouldn't be very happy with the people who take this mock government as a genuine representative body. Today, the formula for government goes something like this: do whatever you want while you're in office, grab as much of the pie for yourself while you can, and just go on TV or radio and say anything at all to deflect attention, and the people will buy it. It's embarrassing. Will voting for a third party candidate fix anything? Not a chance. The only way to fix this farce of a government would be a forceful overthrow of it by the citizenry, but that will never happen in today's America. People have to care first, and Americans don't care on that level.

There are people who say that those like me who find so much fault here should move somewhere else, out of the country. That's a perfect illustration of what's wrong in America. The people who should get the hell out of here are the people who still can't see the forest for the trees, and think everything is just fine and dandy because Bush said so. If that's you, you need help, and a lot of it. You are so unbelievably far behind, it's doubtful that you'll ever really catch-up to those of us who have been paying attention. While you waved your flags and displayed your yellow ribbons and called yourself patriots like good little sheep, a lot of the rest of us were keeping track of mundane things like facts. If you voted for Bush the first time, you were ignorant, but if you voted for him after four years of his insanity, there isn't a word to describe you yet. Those who question Bush, and demand accountability and adherence to law, are the people who should stay here in America and reclaim it for what it's supposed to be. If you're one who thinks that makes the rest of us unAmerican, unpatriotic, and treasonous, you need to leave, because you don't deserve the America that the rest of us want back. All you do deserve is this mess your hero has made of this country.

Isn't it a bit funny that we didn't have an enemy in the Middle East until Israel was created in 1948? Funny how that happened. Here we have Israel, a country that receives billions from us every year, and is allowed to have nuclear weapons and as big a military as they see fit, armed as they see fit, and yet none of their neighbors are allowed even a nuclear paper clip. Why shouldn't the rest of the Middle East be upset with America for subsidizing this scenario? The only nuclear threat anywhere in that region is Israel. America forbids Israel's enemies from having nukes, but turns a blind eye to Israel's arsenal. How is that fair? And while we're talking about Israel, who the hell are they, and why are they an American welfare state? What benefit are they to America? If we cut off those yearly checks to Israel for billions of dollars, and used that American money here in America, how would America lose from that? Oh, I know, people are screaming that Israel would be attacked by Arab nations if they were no longer the 51st United State. Who cares? Maybe it was a mistake to plant a non-Arab state into an Arab region and expect everyone to trade recipes and gardening tips. Call it a lesson learned. Here comes the fun part: being anti-Israel is not the same as being anti-Semite or anti-Jew. Israel is a government, and Judaism is a religion. Figure that out before you instantly cry victim. And another tip: Israelis aren't even Semites, if you care for a research assignment.

This article is a lot longer than I thought it would be, and I barely scratched the surface. In summary, this country is a mess, our foreign policy is dangerously reckless, Bush is criminally impeachable (but should face even more), Bush supporters are embarrassingly ignorant, and I have a whole lot more I could talk about, but I can see the end of your patience from here, so I'll stop. If you see things as I see them, have a nice day. If you're a Bush fan, have a nice day, too - somewhere else.

Steven A. Hass
desert_vet@msn.com

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