Dream Show

I'm just watching Bush's State of the Union address. What a miserable show! The technology show. The dream show. Let's cut oil consumption by 20%; no problem, the peak will take care of that. More ethanol; sure the poor can go without food so the rich can drive. The terrorists hate freedom; why did we support dictators in the Middle East for so many years then? We support the troops; they fight and die so we don't have to. Same shit, different year.

And that shit about Dikembe Mutombo and Baby Einstein (sold to Disney ironically). What fluff! The American Dream embodied. Anything for applause, eh Bush? Hopefully the plebs will remember those "heros" and not the tax cut for the rich.

It's quite sickening to watch actually. All I can think is that I have to listen to these chumps for the rest of my life. I have to listen to spin, have to watch grinning cats sharpening their claws behind the lectern. I don't know if I can take it.

I often wonder if we'll ever get to the point when we realize that wars, soldiers, air strikes, tactical nuclear weapons and military satellites are not getting is anywhere. We need to ask if the cost in terms of lives, money and suffering is worth the investment. All someone has to do is get on a bus with a belt of explosives or plant an improvised explosive device next to a road and we've lost. It's happening every day in Iraq. A budget of $500 billion versus a budget of around $1,000. Eventually we'll be bankrupt and we'll have lost and have nothing to show for it.

Instead what if we spent that $500 billion on something that mattered? Something like clean water or contraception. We could even just give it away. If we did, would people still want to kill us as Bush always warns? Probably. You have to earn respect and that takes time. But we'd actually be on the right path.

Don't sharpen your claws too much or you might cut yourself.