rant

it really seems like it's time for bed.. so i will go to bed. in a little bit. i want to have something interesting to post. but since i should be sleeping i'll post only this..

i was thinking about how i really enjoy comparing mr. bush to president harding, the one before coolidge. this is the president who was elected based entirely on the unpopularity of woodrow wilson after he led the united states into world war one, and we lost people. anyway. the americans at the time said: "we hate you democrats, and we hate you everyone who isn't american" and the roaring twenties were born.. one important thing that made them roar was the obscene tarriffs enacted by harding and his republican successors, coolidge and hoover... americans after the turn of the century seemed prone to just do as they were told, so long as they weren't suffering directly. for instance during the 20s the tarriffs prevented any of the european economies who were so badly damaged from WWI from recovering. we really set the stage for the socialists and fascists to take hold.. at the same time we discouraged them in our own country by having witch hunts in the 20s (yes,we had them again in the fifties) and the big reason people didn't want communism was because the middle class was doing so much better than they had been before the war. our non-agricultural economy was doing really well, only because there was no chance of foreign competition, but we naturally assumed it was because of the superior quality of our services and goods. anyway. since it appeared to work, the false economy devoid of all foreign influence, we kept up with the trends and just kept raising tarriffs.. by the time of herbert hoover they had set tarriffs on certain goods so high it was no different from declaring economic war on europe..

back to GW.. i was reading about harding's bombastic wind-bag speeches.. GW doesn't give really bombastic speeches.. no one has in years.. he gives cowboy speeches, but i think they both sound dumb in the same way. that bombastically written post about the poopsmith (which i wrote that way on purpose) sounds a little dumber for trying so hard.. the cowboy sounds dumb when he is dumb, not becuase he's a cowboy. plenty of those sounded smart. GW does not sound smart because he uses inappropriate words and many of the statements he makes are just plain jingoistic nonsense. nonsense. there are a handful of people in the world who hate freedom and none of those people are terrorists. they are international bankers and dictators who have not realized how to manipulate the illusion of freedom to their advantage, as our leaders have. that being the case it sound ridiculous to say that terrorists hate freedom. they hate you GW, they hate McDonalds.. they hate MTV.. hell, there are lots of people in this country who hate those things.. probably more than there are terrorists.. that's a thought for you..

and relating that to harding... when harding died in office of some massive heart attack it was a big shock.. his partial term in office was littered with spectacular scandals involving his friends (whom he appointed to their positions) and thier misappropriations of government and military resources. blah blah.. but the people still loved him. they said "aw.. shame on those people who used such a simple man.. he is of mediocre mind" and he died with coat-tails.. it makes no sense.. but if-you-distract-us-with-money-we-will-look-the-other way is what i think is the answer. economy coudldn't be better? do whatever you like.. but if we think it's crappy, then we'll see you in hell.

does anyone remember the simpsons episode called "mr. lisa goes to washington" about lisa entering an essay about our country in a reader's digest competition and winning to go to the finals in DC.. while she's there she observes the senator or whatever from springfield taking a bribe from someone who wants to deface mt. rushmore for some kind of industrial gain.. i can't remember if it was oil or not.. anyway. he takes it and she is crushed and writes this cynical piece about the stagnant swamp that is our capital, and names the crime and within minutes everyone knows andeverything gets fixed. anyway.. i'm still in that cynical phase. it's probably not the best way to think, but i can't get over it right now.. this post has gone in entirely a different direction that i had started out with. but whatever. it's long and something to read. so it stays. goodnight.