Six years of corruption, lies, theft and death.

[Cyrano]

In some inexplicable way, far too many American citizens have been rendered brain dead. Any casual, objective observer couldn't help but see what the United States has become over the past six years. The "leaders" of our government are now the greatest threat to planet Earth that has ever existed. (Aside from global warming.) And that threat is not because the lunatics have taken over the asylum. It's because they are in control of the largest arsenal of mass destruction in the history of the world.

It's virtually impossible to identify even one iota of progress that's come about over the past six years. But the multiple disasters that Bush and his puppet masters have brought upon us has surpassed anything we ever thought would or could be possible under our democratic system and our Constitution.

In truth, it took much more than six years to make this come about. The Republican party has spent the last quarter of a century usurping the media, organizing broad swaths of religious fanatics, (or perhaps just narrow-minded, ignorant fools), to believe they were "the party of God", rigging an election system trusted by no one, attacking anyone who spoke out about injustice and the dangerous policies that were being pursued, and doing everything possible to turn George Orwell's "1984" from nightmare to reality.

We are well down the road toward the total destruction of Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. No one will ever really know how many Iraqis have been slaughtered. But somehow, we manage to keep a count of our own mutilated troops, as well as those who died for ... sorry, but the only answer I can come up with is that they died for nothing but the greed of the oil barons. And who are these barons? The Bush family, Dick Cheney, and a cabal of incredibly wealthy and powerful people who put them in power. And they have all reaped immense fortunes that King Solomon could only envy.

Here at home, the most visible tragedy they let happen was the destruction of New Orleans. No, they didn't cause the hurricane. All they did was ignore its aftermath and the countless thousands of homeless, disoriented, and lost souls who don't know whether or not they'll ever again have a "normal" life. Then, Mommy Bush, after seeing thousands of people crammed into a miserable existence in the Astrodome said, "This is working very well for them." I suppose that these despicable words that spilled from this horrible woman's mouth were intended to make people feel better. All I can say about her and her family are the final words from "Apocalypse Now." "The horror. The horror."

But it wasn't just New Orleans. The people who comprise the Bush administration's wrecking crew are on a mission to destroy everything built by Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, voting rights, a minimum wage, the right to join a union, the right to choice regarding abortion, stem cell research that could possibly save millions of lives, and so many other issues that have been demonized and twisted to cater to the ignorance, bigotry and hatreds of mindless individuals.

So now the Democrats have control of both houses of congress. Will it make a difference? Will enough Republicans join them to overturn Bush's inevitable vetoes of sane legislation? Can they wrest the reins of power from his blood soaked hands? I don't know. But don't hold your breath for it.

In the meantime, Halliburton, Bechtel, and Blackwater are still on the payroll seeking out new places to launder their stolen billions. Will they ever be brought before the bar of justice? Will Bush, Cheney and so many others ever stand before a judge and try to explain the depravities they have committed while the rest of the world watched in stunned silence? Hopefully, yes. Realistically, no.

The only thing that is still within our power is to see that no media/corporate-backed madmen will ever again be in the position to tell the entire world to "Screw off." Unfortunately, I've lost any faith I may have had concerning the intelligence of the American public. (Not to mention the common sense of the human species.)

So will we see any real changes after the next presidential election? Who knows? Perhaps some "great" leader will come along and help us take one small step forward. But, given the track record of the human species, it's hard to know whether we will ever again see another leader with a sense of a benign future, or the foresight to expand our thoughts to the possible.

Lincoln, JFK, MLK and Bobby Kennedy all had visions of a better world. And it cost them their lives. So, from a devout agnostic, this is my prayer: Give us more Abes, Johns, Martins and Bobbies. They are out there among us now. This time, let's help them to win.

[Double T]

1. First, 'WE' have got to keep them alive............

so that their great work can be accomplished and completed.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

2. Keep the faith and work for peace.

Peace be with you.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. touching and rational... all I can add is this...

Mahatma Gandhi said,
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. RECOMMENDED and a kick for good measure!

[Cyrano]

6. Magnificent words from a great man. And he too was murdered.

Do you suppose our species will survive our infancy?

Given the incomprehensible size of the universe, there must be some sane civilizations among them. And there may be many who destroyed themselves. It's up to us which way we go.

As I said in the OP, the maniacs now in power can destroy the entire world with their nukes. I don't think that even Gandhi could have foreseen such a horrible scenario.

What the world needs now is so many more human beings like Gandhi, as well as a paper trail for counting our votes. Great leaders are always a target. Verifiable votes can (possibly) change the world.

[blues90]

5. Very well stated

All I can do is agree and offer one note . These days as always , all I need to see to confirm my loss of faith in mankind is to hear someone yell out get a job to someone who is living on the streets .

As you said we have not seen one good thing in the last 6 years for certain and many failures in the years before .

It seemed we were finally beginning to climb out of this mees in the 90's but it certainly did not take long to destroy this .

[Cyrano]

7. Your words remind me of a question that someone asked me years ago.

Why is it so hard to create and so easy to destroy?

I've thought about that question for many years. Building takes time, thought, ability, imagination, and patience.

Destruction just takes the ability to light a fuse.

If some superior intelligence (that some call God) exists in this universe, he/she/it really screwed up IMO. What sane entity would have made progress so difficult, and barbarism so simple?

And if there is no superior intelligence, why does our species almost always choose the road to self-destruction?

[blues90]

8. That is a good question

It takes someone a great deal of time to build a great violin , it takes time for the tree to grow for the wood and it takes a birth and growth of the player and years to perfect this . Drop one bomb on the players home or one bullet through the heart and all is gone in an instant .

If there were a higher power then perhaps this is a test of fate or faith . I don't know .

I always wondered even though I am not religous if the great flood and the arc was the day that said god allowed a second chance for mankind just before said god gave up . As it were the first time was a failure so hench the flood as I understood this .

However this does not tie into mans creative side and mans insistence to destroy .

Always the saying the good die young comes to mind here as well .

There are so many ways to look at this , I fear we will never have the answer , if we had the answer we would have the same instant result as the detroyer has . In an instant we would have the result good or bad .

Nature has it's way of instant destruction , however man spends alot of time and effort and funds to destroy rather than create , this is something that has always baffled me .