It's just another day in Amerika. Yes, I woke up, logged on and perused the headlines and wondered if what's left of my stomach lining could take another Bush, Inc. outrage. They seem to come almost every day now, although I have to really work at not allowing myself become desensitized to moral revulion that accompanies the latest pack of lies. "What were once vices are now habits," the name of an archaic Doobie Brothers albumn, circa 1979, is the phrase that pops into my mind as I think of how inured we've all become to the Rovian newspeak in with which Ms. Rice

is so perfectly fluent. Actually, one almost has to admire Condaleeza's

chudspah for being able to simultaeously lie through her crooked teeth and act as if she is offended that anyone would dare to try and impugn her nonexistent integrity. Academy awards material, really.

Of course, that's the thing about zealots, especailly religious ones and even more especially, those of the fundamentalist Chrsitian variety.

They simply don't have the pesky constraints of a conscience to worry about. I beleive that this condition of divinely sanctioned amorality is pathological within the ranks of the Reconstructionists and Dominionists. Let's face it, kids. By now it should be fairly obvious to even the Democratic Leadership (?) Conference that the real Bush agenda aims for nothing less than a quasi-theocratic, consumerist driven fortress Amerika. A police state where, like evey other 3rd world, fully "privatized" country, cheap labor and cheap goods are the order of the day. WalMart Nation, if you will.

Given this inescapable reality then, it really makes perfectly good sense that the zealots lie about anything that potentially detracts from tne need for more security, more government, more war and less dissent.

These people, Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rice, etc. (not to mention the Struassian neocons such as Perle, Wolfowitz, Abrams, Feith, etc., etc.)

have no real appreciation of our founding document. They hold the ideas of Jefferson, Madison and Paine in utter contempt. To the Old Testament thumping Reconstructionists, democracy is merely an extention of man's sinful pride. In their view, "Gods's law" as expressed in the over 600 commands handed to Moses by the Creator himself. These little jewels also prescribe various punishments to be dispensed accordingly, depending on the nature of the crime. One such RX is the stoning (to death) of anyone guilty of the crime of homosexuality.The same remedy is also recommended as a sure fire cure for chronically recalcitrant children. Kind of makes one long for the good ol'days of Ritalin and Adderall.

Speaking of dead children, (because the Goddamned corporate media refuses to) this crew has proven well their willingness to initiate and preside over the slaughter of thousands of innocent children in Iraq. That is, as long as none of them actually has to get his own little Piggie hands bloody. Fucking cowards. (Sorry, but the child casualties really bother me) I make myself view photos of the carnage on a regular basis so I maintain the appropriate level of white hot anger (and profound pain) and not succumb to the invitation to just "take it easy, honey, don't get youreself all worked up, there's nothing you can do anyway. Lighten up, you're too serious." Such are the devices employed by some of my "12 Step" friends to whom the answer to every question in life is always to "turn it over to a higher power". Here's my higher power, thank you very much:http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/ warning: some of these photos contain very graphic material. They were taken in the aftermath of last November's assault on Fallujah.

Call me melodramatic if you want but I truly have come to believe that the nature of the struggle against this newly emerging blend of militaristic nationalism and bad religion can be defined in terms of

good vs. evil. Not in an absolute or biblical sense, mind you, but of no less critical importance in determining the future character of the nation. Will we slide incrementally into the role a paranoid security state, unilaterally ravaging sovereign nations in the name of spreading democracy? The next such preemptive strike will be against Iran. That's no secret and the ideological framework needed for public justification has already been constructed. How effective will the UN be after six months of John Bolton? How safe do you believe our civil liberties will be under the stewardship of John Negroponte and Alberto Gonzales?

We have a president whose innauguration speech was laced with cryptic references to biblical scriptures. His favorite philosopher is Jesus Christ and I've not heard one reference to or quote by Thomas Jefferson cross his lips. Not once. We now have, in effect, the public subsidization of a select group of fundamentalist Chrsitian "charities"

that are are awarded publicly funded grants based on their ability

to deliver their constituents' bloc vote.

We are much further down the road to theocracy than most realize. With the federal judiciary in their pocket the Frist/Delay crowd will possess the proverbial keys to the kingdom. Look for the further and accelerated dismantling of the health and human services infrastructure. They won't stop with social security. That's only the beginning. Listen as the national dialog becomes increasingly religio-centric. Observe as we kill and displace people whose real crimes are being brown skinned and Muslim

Watch the president grow even more arrogant and threatening. We're in for a likely rough ride over the next year or so. With any luck, the Bush administration will implode under the weight if its own criminality and dishonesty. The lesson I have learned is one of facing reality and reacting accordingly. I'm not "nice" or "polit" anymore when I discuss the nation's dilemma. I've learned that force, whether moral or physical , is the only thing that bullies respect and, futhermore, being "holy"

and pious in the face of overtly threatening danger is insane.I've finally learned how to to bring a knife to a kniefight.