Red, White & Blue Alert: Nut-job in the White House

These are truly strange times in the United States of America. Over 40% of the population speaks to some omni-present being they’ve never seen. Many say they hear back from "Him". These people are not considered crazy, yet the mental wards are filled with citizens who claim they are Jesus Christ or who hear him or God telling them what to do. Where do we draw the line? Who’s really nuts out there?

The present occupant of the White House was quoted in the press saying: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did...". Is George W. Bush insane? A former Bush official recently stated Bush has "a weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do." This, and other disturbing…er..revelations? about the beliefs of the man in the Oval Office once again came to the reading public’s attention in a recent piece by Ron Suskind, in the New York Times Magazine, titled "Faith, certainty and the presidency of George W. Bush".

In that article, Suskind relates a rather chilling incident in which he interviews a senior Bush advisor.

"The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

To these ears, such talk borders on egomaniacal, the ravings of mad emperors and their minions. Bear in mind that a good number of these operatives believe they are acting out the Last Days in the Bible; they await the so-called Rapture. Also bear in mind their proximity to the ill-named nuclear "football". Worried about foreign terrorist attacks on the U.S.? How about terrorists in $3,000 pinstriped suits who live right in Washington, DC?

If George W. Bush really IS a certifiable nut-job, why is this man allowed anywhere near nuclear weapons? Talk about scary! While the Bush regime attempts to screen all of us for mental illness, who will screen the whackos in the White House?
The neo-cons? Hardly, even Colin Powell referred to them as "fucking crazies". How about the so-called Shadow Government? Will they maintain some degree of sanity in the Executive Branch? How can they? Their whole existence is based on a world gone mad! Maybe we’ll find out if a "terrorist attack" disrupts the elections! Arrrrghh! Somebody get me re-write! This can’t be happening!

Sorry. Perhaps this observer momentarily succumbed to all the fear-mongering running rampant through the media and Republican stump speeches these days. This post-9/11 atmosphere of paranoia, dread and loathing is probably best approached as one approaches insanity within the individual. Let us seek council. The deluded in our nation’s capitol need love and understanding, and like in all such situations, they need to be removed from the environment that aggravates their illness.

NPR spins into bushes

To listen to National Public Radio (NPR) one might think last night's so-called presidential debate was a draw. However, in the real world, viewers and listeners in the U.S. called it like they saw it. Flash polls and post-debate surveys show the consistent view that Kerry came away the victor. Had the event been an actual bonafide debate, the results might have been even more obvious.

While the usual suspects in the corporate media, operations like CBS or NBC, showed overwhelming viewer poll results favoring Kerry, NPR reporters like Scott Horsley were "not sure". Horsley, NPR's Kerry campaign reporter, used that expression four times in his post-debate observation with Linda Worthiemer. He claimed that Kerry really only landed "one punch" and that he, Horsley, was "not sure" Kerry's defense of his position on Iraq "was going to wash any better than it did in the months behind us". Prior to Horsley's repeated uncertainties, (or perhaps poorly crafted intimations), NPR's Bush campaign follower, Don Gonyea, claimed that the "President's handlers were quite pleased". Perhaps those handlers were trying hard to put a bright face on what a vast majority of viewers felt was a miserable showing by Mr. Bush. Perhaps NPR correspondents were trying to do the same.

Compounding what looked more like partisan spin than reporting, NPR's lead off this morning was something to the effect that "Kerry matched up well to the president". Say what? Matched up well? You've got to be kidding. Other than the hopelessly indoctrinated Bush partisans who registered in the 30's and low 40's in the surveys, the viewing and listening public knew a mis-match when they saw it. Kerry walked away with last night's debate.

NPR is fast becoming an irrelevant news source in the 21st century. If even the corporate networks, hardly the bastions of impartiality, come closer to the realities on the ground than the wonks at NPR, what does that tell us about the ongoing decline on the left end of the dial? The long slow slide of shows like "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition" down the memory hole of perception management just became more apparent. What a shame. They used to be so much better. The fact that listeners actually contribute to being misinformed by NPR makes it all that much worse.