[From the end of my Legends zine in the February 2002 issue. I've been trying to isolate most of my political griping rather than let it weave through the rest of my zine, hence the "ghetto."- MJN]

Socio-Political Ghetto

         I haven't completely given into despair that we've lost our right to open, peaceful dissent with government, but I do find the cultural air to be stifling these days. I still can't quite wrap my mind around the idea that a package of abridged freedoms and expanded invasive powers for government agencies not only passed through both houses but carried the tag of Patriot Act - and few dared laugh. If this had been presented in a work of fiction I'd have ridiculed the author.

        Lest anyone think I'm finding that particular move to be especially partisan, I'm not. The same forces that were pushing for these changes were doing so under the Clinton administration, too (and as we saw with the cyber-intrusions of Carnivore they were making headway) and they would have been equally served by September 11th regardless of who was in the White House, just as surely as any administration currently in office would have benefited hugely from the attacks.

       That it happened to be an administration with the likes of Cheney and especially Rumsfeld - who's been beaming in the spotlight like a hard-assed, bloodthirsty version of Ronald Reagan - who were so thoroughly connected to the military and defense contractors, along with G.W.Bush in the White House, was a particular boon to this administration.

        Had Al Gore been in the White House - or any Democrat , lacking such firm and obvious connections to those whose profits peak with thoughts of war - the pressure to attack something immediately or risk looking weak would have been far higher than Bush & Co. received. With Rumsfeld in the mix we knew weapons would fly and blood would flow, so the expectation that they'd be shooting back perhaps too quickly not only allowed them the time for more pre-strike deliberation, but actually made that deliberation time a prestige-building bonus for Bush. Had Gore been in office and answering explosions not been heard in foreign lands by September 12th the Conservative pundits would have been crying "weak-kneed Liberal."

         This national scene is likely a large factor in a general sense of depression. I sincerely hope that the approval-meter needle, artificially pegged at 84% or so, will come unstuck and swing to a balancingly low level. Having an ongoing "War on Terror", though, with all the "us or them" rhetoric, is a stroke of genius in terms of public relations. It polarizes perceptions, forcing an immediate comparison between our "leaders" and those of terrorist organizations. Even I would pick G.W. Bush over Osama Bin Laden. Add to that the sense of not wanting to seem disloyal to one's country, and - again - the "with us or against us" framework that subtly and not so subtly informs the public that any sign of a lack of faith in the administration is equivalent to handing a victory to the enemy.

         I want to keep this to a single page (albeit with tiny print), this is the last thing I'm doing in this zine, and I'm doing this part at the last minute - so I'll only add two quick items:

         Were these the 150 or 170 proof "Pretzels" he got into once he was alone with the dogs? I must admit, the pretzel story's another masterstroke, leading several to say "it must be the truth, because they would have come up with something less embarrassing if they wanted to lie." I'm simply not buying it. The way they've done it he's played it up as self-deprecating and moved on. If I thought he was making big, important decisions by himself I'd be more worried about whether or not they'd hidden the bottles. I'm sure Cheyney had that taken care of anyway.

         Finally, I'm sure that the many thousands of people serving time for as little in the way of possession as a joint or two are watching the Noelle Bush case for the same zero tolerance justice that put them away and in so many cases disenfranchised them for eternity. And, if she doesn't, I hope they understand it's because she's more important than poor low-lifes like them. This is America after all, and the rich must be right, or else God wouldn't have let them be rich, right?

                                                                                                                     ---MJN

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