Divorced from reality, "predictive" wars, and Lord of the Flies

one of the reasons i like robert parry is his ability to stand back and look at the bigger picture, something i am always trying to do myself... in his latest piece, parry points out just how much political speech in the u.s., under the leadership of the political speech-maker-in-chief, has reduced the ability to grasp either facts or reality... and it's not just the republican faithful who are living in an alternate universe...instead of completely and unequivocally repudiating republican lies, the democratic leadership and the media keep responding to them as though they merited a rational response rather than eye-rolling and outright scorn, which is what they REALLY deserve...

The Nov. 7 elections are shaping up as not just a choice between Republicans and Democrats, but a test of how gullible – and how divorced from reality – the American people have become.

In campaign stops across the country, George W. Bush is delivering a medley of his favorite lies, half-truths and non sequiturs about Iraq and the “war on terror.” Yet the President’s listeners seem to revel in the distortions, celebrating with shouts of “USA! USA!” and responding on cue when Bush has them mock the Democrats.

Some appearances have a Lord of the Flies quality, as excited Republicans rally around their strong man hailing his pronouncements even when they make little or no sense, or when they celebrate the misjudgments that led to the disaster in Iraq.

“One of the lessons of September the 11th is that when we see a threat we have got to take that threat seriously before it materializes,” Bush told a cheering throng in Springfield, Missouri, on Nov. 3. “It’s an essential lesson in this new war. I saw a threat in Saddam Hussein.”

In that remark, Bush reaffirmed his commitment to what he calls “preemptive war,” but what others call “preventive war” and we have termed “predictive war.” Bush’s strategy is not classically “preemptive,” which implies the other country is poised to strike. Bush’s idea is to predict a future threat and then attack before the threat “materializes.”

While “preemptive” invasions are illegal under international law, “preventive” or “predictive” wars represent even greater threats to world order. They effectively guarantee endless warfare based not on real security threats but on vague perceptions of the future, a prescription for one, two, many Iraq Wars.

see what i mean...? parry stands back and sees what's REALLY going on, precisely the things that make the stakes riding on this tuesday's election so astronomically high... meanwhile, bush is still pushing his crap, and we're all at great risk...

As he crisscrosses the country in the days before the Nov. 7 election, Bush is showing that his determination to protect one-party control of Washington is so strong that he will let nothing stand in his way. He will say whatever he feels he must to keep the Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

What is perhaps even more unsettling is how willing and even eager so many Americans are to be misled, finding some pleasure or a sense of unity in Bush’s lies and deceptions. It is hard to imagine a democratic Republic surviving with such a debased public discourse.

"hard to imagine a democratic republic surviving...?!?!" great god... never in my worst nightmares did i imagine i would ever read such a statement about my country... even worse, never did i imagine i would be saying it myself...

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