LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

Year Number 12 completed

The Peeves begin their 13th year. My, ain’t it been fun?

— Bumper sticker of the week: Bush bin-Lyin’

— Quotes of the week: “What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.” Barbara Jordan

“What we need is sustained outrage.... There’s far too much unthinking respect given to authority.” Molly Ivins

— I had some Baptists stop by the house the other night trying to persuade me to attend their church. I’m not much into a church that emphasizes people being sinners. Hell, I don’t need to put $20 in the basket every week to be told I’m a sinner. I already know that. I’d sooner spend it on gambling. The question is: What am I going to do about my sins? If I drink too much, am I going to quit? If I back-hand my wife and kids, when am I going to stop? If I cuss and carry on, when am I going to learn to control myself? A born again experience is a worthless event if it doesn’t translate into action. You can pray all you want, but you better get off your butt and make some lifestyle changes. I think they left the house a bit dejected. I hope I didn’t ruin their delusion.

— Being a pacifist for almost 35 years, people sometimes think of you as a coward, trying to get out of something. A wimp. A weenie. I never thought of myself as a coward. I’m willing to die for what I believe. It’s just that I’m not willing to kill for it.

— I can pretty safely say that I have absolutely no use for George W. Bush. That he has been allowed to do what he has to America is beyond my wildest understanding. That the Democrats in Washington cannot reel in this lying, deceitful son-of-a-bitch is a major embarrassment to anyone calling themselves a Democrat. I’m dropping my membership and officially becoming a nothing. The whole thing is way too disgusting for me.

— Most journalism today is bad: In the 11 years I have been writing this column, the state of the art of journalism has deteriorated to about the same level as television. This is primarily due to corporations buying up the media and poor writers and editors willing to curb their words in the name of profit and the status quo. 9/11 is but one example of a total white-washing of all the facts, by practically all the media. The subsequent war in Iraq is but another example of American journalism cowering down to an administration that would call anyone questioning it unpatriotic. American journalism has become the main-line defense of Bush’s “truth, justice, and the American way” bullshit. For the last 11 years, I’ve worked very hard at not becoming a part of that.

— The French elected a Bush Look-a-like, right when I was really starting to like them. Oh crap!

Over the years, people say I’ve been tough on Christians, Republicans, Bush, the city council, the county board, Democrats, librarians, GREDA, drug dealers, women, unruly children, adulterers, the clergy, cannibals, the religious right, American Idol, religion itself, Rush Limbaugh, and Paris Hilton. I say, give me a break. I’m just getting a good start. Welcome to year number thirteen. I’ve only had thirty-five people threaten to sue me. Ends up they couldn’t believe their spouses gave me the information.