LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

BushWorld: It’s everywhere

— Bumper sticker of the week: You can’t be pro-war and pro-life.

— Quotes of the week: “Big brother is watching you.”

“War is peace.

Peace is slavery.

Ignorance is strength.” 1984, George Orwell

— Tom DeLay: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is about to face the music. Seems he has cozied up once too often to lobbyists that would like to buy his influence. DeLay claims stupidity, having no knowledge of what everyone is talking about. Stupidity does seem to be one of his most often used defenses. He used it three times last year in three separate ethics committee admonishments. Anyway, President Bush is standing by his man. Says DeLay is a fine man and gets things done. With an endorsement like that, you got to figure he’s bad news. Ends up, DeLay is crooked as Snake Alley in Burlington. Let’s hope he goes down. Frankly, I think he snuffed too much bug juice. His congressional career needs to be “exterminated.”

— Speaking of stupidity: The Senate Republicans look to change Robert’s Rules of Order. In another grossly arrogant attempt to manipulate the government so that these right-wing Republicans can have their way, Senate Republicans are considering changing parliamentary procedure so that the Democrats cannot attempt to block their right-wing appointments to the federal court system by filibustering. President Bush claims that the traditional filibuster blocks the people’s work from getting done. Majority Leader Frist, catering to right-wing conservatives, doesn’t want the Senate minority to block even the most reactionary judges. Of course, Robert’s Rules of Order is a world-wide accepted procedure for maintaining order and balance in all organized bodies, including government. But these guys hate that it interferes with their plans to stack right-wingers in the federal judicial system. I can feel their pain. Unfortunately, it’s in my ass.

— Speaking of pro-lifers: The “save a life before it’s born” philosophy is shallow, naive, and irresponsible. Shallow, because it only seems to apply in certain instances. Naive and irresponsible because it appears that most pro-lifers don’t have a clue why a female might consider an abortion in the first place. The argument that adoption can handle these children is also naive and irresponsible. Being adopted will not null and void genetics, or help a child born with AIDS or addicted to cocaine or meth. While it is unfortunate that an unborn child would have to be aborted to correct the irresponsibility of the adults conceiving it, it remains a callous argument that one should have the child at any cost, under any circumstance, to meet the moral imperatives put forth by these people.

— John Bolton, Bush’s choice for UN ambassador: Turns out, Bolton is one of the UN’s biggest critics. Seems he’s also a hot-headed bully who columnist Richard Cohen of The Washington Post calls “nuts.” However, he does qualify as a Bushman. Seems he doesn’t let the facts stand in his way. Committee approval has been put off. Some Republican members seem to be getting cold feet. They should be frostbitten.

— We have ourselves a new pope: Pope Benedict XVI. A stanch defender of tradition and something of a fundamentalist in his theology. Just what the world needs, more fundamentalism. As we continue to screw ourselves toward extinction, it doesn’t appear he will have much to say about contraceptives. He has also made controversial statements on homosexuality, Judaism, and he has voiced opposition to abortion and euthanasia. Some observers have speculated that he may in fact be related to Bush. At press time, I am not prepared to go that far, although I am looking over some of the evidence. Anything is possible in BushWorld.

— If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.