I don't see much future for the United States, and I put it on economic grounds. Forget moral grounds. We're far beyond any known morality, and we are embarked upon a kind of war against the rest of the world....We are going to go broke. The dollar loses value every day....We are a declining power economically in the world, and the future now clearly belongs to China, Japan, and India. They have the population, they have the educational systems. They have the will. And they will win.
-- Gore Vidal [interview, DN!]
I like the cut of your jib, Mr. Vidal. Wake the fuck up, America, and pull your heads out of your asses. And you will, once you're completely broke. That's what they're saying it might have to come to, you know, the only thing we seem to understand or truly appreciate in this corporate-owned country of ours: our money. Maybe then, amidst the Fourth Campaign of Operation: Take Over the Middle East, when our economy has fallen and a wheelbarrow of dollars fills up your gas can, and you're hungry and cold—maybe then you will realize how wrong you were to be so unwavering and steadfast in your idiocy.
Ah, but I'm getting off on a rant. Sorry. Most of the interview centers on his reaction to Bush's inaugural address. He picks out some interesting Christian imagery and some almost eerie language (eerie to godless heathens such as myself, anyway) he says can be compared pretty closely to certain biblical passages.
“We've Been Taken Over by a Cult” - Seymour Hersh [DN!]
This is the guy who wrote the New Yorker piece that broke the Abu Ghraib scandal last April. You may have caught him on the Daily Show last night. Anyway, they have a transcript of a speech he gave last month. [Or maybe it's just an excerpt, I'm not sure.] If you have any interest in knowing something about what's really going on, I urge you to read it. They also have an MP3 (and various RM streams) of the entire show available to download if you prefer. I watched most of the speech tonight after work. I actually find it a little hard to read, because the guy is basically just talking (as opposed to reading a rehearsed speech), but it's important so check it out.
Mr. Hersh also wrote this article in the new issue of The New Yorker about US plans and operations regarding Iran. You might remember my mentioning this a few days ago. I won't even go into it now; for one, I haven't yet had a chance to read the article, and two, even if I had, I'm already worked up enough as it is.
I'm a little late on some of this stuff. Work has been hell lately and I'm pretty busy all day. I've also been pretty much consciously avoiding the news recently (this kind of news, I mean. The Post doesn't really count), because I just don't need anything else to feel bad about.
That said, I really wish I could communicate to you how important this shit is. [I think my self-medication has dulled my ability to do so effectively.] You have to understand that these aren't reports from some conspiracy theorist nutjobs. Both of those guys are award-winning writers and thinkers and they're not making this stuff up.
I said it before, and I'm saying it now: our darkest days are yet to come. The future is bleak, my friends, and no one is looking out for us and no one can help it. Maybe it's better to carry on in denial and pretend it's not so bad. Is that what well-adjusted folks do? I, for one, obviously have a hard time ignoring it. Lately, I feel more and more like an open wound, one that is walking and talking and going to work, disconnected and limbless.
There's no witty end to this post, nothing to wrap it all up; it just ends.
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