Asshole Nation

Y'know I just got over the flu and haven't posted in the past week - but one thing strikes me as I look out into the passive uncaring faces of my fellow citizens. I am bewildered.

This nation is in the midst of a false war, started by lies which destroyed a CIA front operation, and where more of our citizens have died than did on 9/11, The very existences of our species is at risk as a result of climate change. We are being spied on by our own government without legal cause.

Where is the outrage? Where is the shock?

And then Anna Nicole Smith dies and people suddenly find their "Oh My God" button.

Pathetic.

This disconnect between reality and people's personal priorities is of course, exactly what the Bush Administration has been depending on all along. And even when Bush is long gone, we'll still be dealing with this problem and these people.

Reading the Libby Trial transcripts, it's unfathomable to me that there aren't riots in front of the White House. All reasonable indications are that the Vice President committed an act of treason by outing a CIA operative.

While bed-ridden I tried to watch the 24-News stations for info on the trail and it was nothing but "What did Hillary Say - What did Obama say - What did Kucinich Say..." all day long on f'Tucker, Hardball and Scumborough.

That was last week, this week it's all about Anna.

Who's her baby daddy now? Whose gonna get that $500 Billion?

On one level I do admit to understanding it. I try to talk to co-workers and customers about real issues occasionally and generally they seem just completely defeated. It's not just apathy, it's completely cynicism. They don't feel that anything they say or do will make a difference in City Hall, the State Capitol or Washington. Better to obsess about the Superbowl, World Series, All Star Game... the Bread and Circus Du Jour or Astronaut Pampers.

Meanwhile...

The Pelosi Plane Story is totally and completely bogus?

Yeah, ok. Whatever.

The Obama/Osama Madrossa smear is a bunch of hooey? Ok, sure, but it's still Hillaries fault.

Saddam had nothing to do with 9-11? Oh sure, except not to Doug Feith who still thinks he did.

How long ago was it when we were hearing this drum beat of "Up or down Vote, Up or Down Vote" followed by the Nuclear Option and then last week every moderate Republican in the Senate does a double back flip with a full-twisting gainer to support a filibuster against a non-binding anti-surge resolution. Even Senator Warner and it was HIS Bill?

Where do these ASSHOLES COME FROM?

And As bad as some of that behavior has been, what's with the rest of us who just shrug and nod and let this bullshit stand?

Obviously I'm not talking about people on this site, I'm talking about the rest of the couch potatoes out there.

It's hard to blame someone for paying more attention to their kids, to their jobs, to thier recreation, or to their laundry. LIfe is tough all over. I get that.

But I keep wondering, at what point will people finally start to realize what they're being sold?

And then I have to realize that the real problem isn't just those assholes in Washington - it's the Assholes on Main Street. The reason that Glenn Beck and Bill O'Rielly and Rush Limbaugh get people to pay attention to them is the fact that they say exactly what tons and tons of Americans want to hear.

People want to believe that America would never fuck up this badly. They want to believe each and everyone one of our soldiers is brave, strong and true and honest. And like a four year-old they'll through a Michele Malkin hissy fit at the suggestion that even one of them them might not be.

They want to believe exactly what it is the GOP is selling. It's warm. It's comforting. It's not the terribly frightening world that so many of us who are actually paying attention live in where Modern Day Concentration Camps have become a reality. Where Torture is a portion of us U.S. War policy. Where Habaus Corpus is optional. Where we stand on the brink of a possible Nuclear Showdown not just one country - but Two.

Better to go back to the Beer and Football and Cheerleaders.

It's safer (deep in self=delusion) there -- for now.

The Asshole Nation is out there, we know it - we've ridden with it in carpools. Some of them are our parents. Our Brothers. Our Sisters. Our Bosses. They are the reason George Bush is in the White House and the reason he isn't Impeached and Prosecuted right this second. The very suggestion is too dark, too real, for their "Beatiful Minds".

Exactly what's it's going to take to blast Joe and Janine-Six Pack off the couch is something I'm not sure I even want to witness. But it's coming and it won't be anwhere near as pretty as Anna was.

Count on it.

Vyan