In a world gone really mad...

Well that's that. For better or for worse Bushie and his legion of hawks are finally getting their way and going in. On one hand it's quite possible that this war will be a lot more popular after it's over and the full extent of Saddam's evil is exposed. This scenario is even more likely if the majority of the populace turns against what Iraqi military forces are willing to fight, Dubya's "smart" bombs mostly hit their targets and don't squash too many living and breathing "human shields" and the whole fracas in general lasts a really short time.

In retrospect this effort is going to look pretty good.

Unfortunately the precedent it sets is so terribly wrong and fueled by some misguided notion of God-given American (that'd be U.S. of American) sovereignty that it literally scares the bejeezus out of me. I mean, what kind of allies can we count on having if all our allies are at some base point terrified of us. Dubya is essentially laying the groundwork for invading any country he pleases under the umbrella of a preemptive strike to insure U.S. safety. This ain't good folks.

While all this is going on I still don't have a job, my unemployment is about to run out and now I have to struggle with nightmares of riding the El (the Chicago train system) and having some dude who wants to blow himself up to support whatever anger he feels towards the U.S.A. I want to remain optomistic but the current climate isn’t exactly the sort of thing that soothes the nerves of nut-job radicals willing to take out as many innocents as they can to make a (twisted) point.

I remember the first Gulf War and being quite against it. Hell I was a political cartoonist at the time and had no shortage of ideas pitting Saddam and George Sr. against each other since I really believed both men were evil for totally different reasons. I spoke out against it and I still believe it was an effort mainly driven by oil and feeling vindicated when Bush Sr. fell back, signed a cease-fire and left all those Iraqi dissidents hanging in the wind as soon as we had secured Kuwait and their oil fields all over again. I remember being angry. I remember being scared… but I don't remember ever feeling hopeless.

Right now I feel pretty hopeless.

It drives me absolutely nuts that this clown is in office and single-handedly destroying our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world and squandering all the wealth we’ve accumulated. I’ve been a reasonably good boy all my life so what have I done to deserve this?

In an attempt to shed a ray of sunshine on an otherwise dismal day.

I am currently in love with Mellowdrone. If you want to know why, just head on over to their web-site and by filling out your e-mail and your birthday you can download their entire debut e.p. I recommend it if you love Nigel Goodrich's producing or could dig a slightly happier version of Radiohead.