Sunday, January 07, 2007

LAST WILL AND TESTICLE

We must practice somehow to see the good in George Bush, and lift him with our thoughts and prayers. He needs them, for our conception of him is what will become our reality. That said, I know my article here will sound contradictory. But it tells the truth. BUSH'S LAST WILL AND TESTICLE the article I wrote in March, lists many of Bush's crimes you may have forgotten about — in case you need to refresh your memory. I admit this title is provocative, but please take it in the spirit of comedy — in the midst of tragedy. So many crimes, so little time...Why is Bush allowed to roam free, let alone speak in public?


Does Bush really think 20,000 soldiers in a city of over 5 million is going to make a difference? More of the same? This is about saving face for him, since the Iraq War is HIS WAR, the only thing he's done in 6 years. The Iraq Study Group offered him an intervention, a way out, but he was too narcissistic to listen. Read more below, but first this:

Nominations are open again for the KOUFAX AWARDS. Please vote if you wish in the Koufax Awards for Best Blog, Best Writing or Best Post, Wider Recognition, etc.

If you need it, here is the URL for BUSH'S LAST WILL AND TESTICLE which was published on my blog, which you can paste into comment section at Koufax http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=13664

Vote here by leaving a comment in the comment section. You can vote for a blog only once but in several categories.
KOUFAX

Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story and at largely has a great take on Bush's speech tonight.

One year ago I was in Palm Springs at a Christmas parade watching the young ROTC troops marching by, looking as young as 12-year-olds. (Everyone seems 12 to me these days, maybe because my sons are around this age.) Tears were streaming down my cheeks. I could not stop crying over the war in Iraq, the hate mail and death threats I had received — and the over-all feeling that by speaking out against the war — I was somehow not supporting the troops; I was somehow "unpatriotic."

But sometime last year — during that bizarre episode in which I wrote an article about Ann Coulter DEATH IS SEXIER THAN SEX (TO ANN COULTER) and in retaliation, Coulter published my home number on her website along with the cryptic admonition: "Death is certainly sexier than Lydia Cornell" (which opened up a flood of mail from Americans and Europeans, both pro and con) — I went deep down the dark well of fear and loneliness. I was literally threatened in emails and on the phone at all hours of the day and night. One man yelled at me that since I was a Democrat, I must be a baby-killer and should be shot!" ( I guess he wrongly thought I was pro-abortion. Again, I don't know a single soul who is pro-abortion.) Another email expressed the wish that I should have been killed in the WTC attacks. And on more than one occasion, an angry stranger pounded on my front door; another stole our mail, and another lit our trash cans on fire and threw the lighter into our yard.

But the phone calls and countless letters of love I received overwhelmed the hateful ones. And then I received an incredible gift: a Purple Heart from a Marine combat vet. His name is John Conley and he sent me the most precious medal awarded to him for his bravery and wounds in the Vietnam War. He wanted me to have it for my courage in speaking out. This blew away the doubts I had about what I was doing, whether I was on the right track. Conley is a deep thinker and devout Christian who is as appalled as I am at this very un-Christian war Bush is waging in Iraq. But we knew all along it was a bad choice, this war. We ALL knew all along it was the wrong war.

The republicans are just waking up. Why so late? I heard on Tom Hartman today that Bush is one of those neanderthal non-thinkers who believes EVERYTHING CAN BE SOLVED BY KILLING! He loves to kill. As governor of Texas he unblinkingly signed more execution orders than any governor in U.S. history. He'd rather bomb an entire city block just to catch one bad guy, than to try diplomacy! Why? Because, heck it's just easier, and it probably gives him a more powerful feeling.... than using his brain.

Who can stop Bush, this madman and war criminal; this deciever who is driving our nation straight down to destruction? Why does an unevolved moron get to be the leader of the free world? Why do we allow him to remain in office after all the lies? Why does he get to singlehandedly kill more of our young, precious troops? WHY??????? I am so angry I can't breathe sometimes.

I was unable to talk to anyone about this but my fellow left-wingers — but it was equally hard to talk about my faith. In light of all the right-wing Christian hate-mongering, I walked around excusing my faith whenever it came up by saying "I'm a Democrat, but I pray." As it turns out, there are many more of us than I knew.

The central, defining moment of my life was 12 years ago on September 11, when I surrendered to a power greater than myself and took the leap of believing in God, on a personal level. Religion aside, it takes a certain amount of "blind faith" and willingness in order to activate the magic in one's life. Faith itself opens the door to wondrous things. I knew God was the force of love in the universe, and not the harsh, judgmental anthropomorphic version the fundamentalists believe in.

I was picked up and transformed so completely, that I hardly recognize myself today. My life now is defined by my absolute conviction that God exists, but PLEASE — not the god of fundamentalism or dogma or religiosity. Overtly Christian people who talked about Jesus all the time were such a turn-off to all of us, and so focused on all the wrong things — I couldn’t very well talk to most liberal bloggers I knew at that early stage of blogging. Thanks to Dennis Taylor, John Conley, hundreds of my own bloggers here — as well as Jim Wallis' Sojourners and Rabbi Lerner's Tikkun — spiritual progressives are coming out of the woodwork in droves. As my sweet mother said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if people would express love before they start evangelizing?" Or something like that. I'll get the quote later.
xo