Should we have Sushi or Italian?

For some people, It’s hard to ignore the fact that every day our country slides a little bit more and a little bit faster into a powerful vortex of fear and shame.

It was the dead of night and I was alone in my car driving south on San Diego’s Interstate 15 when I learned that GWB had been “appointed” President by the Supreme Court. That’s when I first felt disconnected from my body. That’s when my parallel universe began.

Then, in the days following 9/11, that feeling of disconnectedness reached a new level as American flags began popping up on front lawns and SUVs. I was horrified that people were responding to the attack on the World Trade Center with renewed American pride. No period of reflection, no thoughtful questions, no lessons learned…only the chain link fence of a highway overpass with the words “God Bless America” painstakingly spelled out in hundreds of painted Styrofoam cups.

Back then I waited for somebody somewhere to call a spade a spade, but it never happened. I was repelled and insulted by the sesame street mentality of news reports covering the Iraq War as if it weren’t a sham. Only now, more than four years later, is one thing abundantly clear: things will get much worse before they get any better.

I want to pretend that it doesn’t affect me and continue living my life in a cloud of forced ignorance like everyone else. But that was a whole lot easier when I lived in podunk. Now information overload has given me something new to be guilty about—how can I sit here and watch my country crumble without lifting a finger?

Luckily, it does seem that even with their senses dulled by pop tarts and FOX, some Americans are finally starting to think they might give a shit about their country. Representative John Conyers of Michigan’s 14th Congressional District is organizing a large scale anti-war protest on September 24th and I for one plan to be there. He's also leading the effort to impeach George Bush.. now there's something I can feel good about!

http://votetoimpeach.org/

As it happens, DC is a good place to watch the cauldron simmer. That's right kiddies, the fun don’t stop with the July 4th fireworks.




“I’m bleeding like a gangster out of Compton.” —S. Guimil, 2005