Wishing You A Non-Catastrophic New Year
 

January 1 2005
Counterbias.com
Steve Horowitz
 

I'm pessimistic by nature, I admit. But I'm usually able to rise above it at holiday time, when the spirit of the season soothes my serotonin-starved brain.

Not this year. And it's not just post-election malaise that darkens my New Year's wishes. It's the feeling that we're all about to pay, in Colin Powell/Pottery Barn fashion, for what George Bush has broken.

The swelling national debt; the continuing disaster in Iraq; the concerted effort by congressional Republicans to remove any ethical constraints from members' conduct; the deliberately enlarged gap between rich and poor; the determination to weaken environmental protections and ignore the reality of global warming; the incomprehensible intent to tamper with Social Security, the government's most successful and stable entitlement program; the elevation of Christian extremism to social acceptability; the proven success of degenerate, remorseless lying as the foundation of Karl Rove's divide-and-conquer campaign strategy.

All of this was bound to bite us in the ass sooner or later, and I'm predicting sooner. Already we're being warned of drastic budget cuts to come, as Bush and his henchmen -- I mean henchpersons (Sorry, Condoleezza!) -- try to conceal the deficit damage caused by their international aggression and irresponsible tax cuts for the rich. College aid is being cut; health insurance is going up; pensions are being eliminated. All of which puts more of a burden on already teetering working families, increasing the likelihood that 2005 will be the year they topple in unprecedented numbers.

While in the never-ending war crime that is Iraq, the military and civilian death toll rises in inverse proportion to our reasons for being there, helping turn the one-time beacon of democracy into the most hated nation on earth.

But what the hell. None of this bothered the 59 million who voted for more of the same on election day, so I'm not going to let it bother me. I'll just concern myself with Jessica Simpson's marriage and Donald Trump's apprentice and indecent exposure at this year's Super Bowl. I'll be like everybody else, supporting the troops with a yellow-ribbon bumper sticker as they're pointlessly picked off, singly, in pairs, and sometimes by the dozen, in an unnecessary, illegal war. I'll put bin Laden out of my mind, deluding myself that imprisoning Saddam Hussein made us somehow safer, but knowing, deep inside, that al Qaeda is happily going about its business, understandably grateful for our relentless antagonism of vast Muslim populations.

Will 2005 be the year of their next murderous strike? Will it be the year the economy folds under the weight of a reckless moron's fiscal blunders?

I'd guess yes. Let's hope I'm wrong. Like I was when I thought American voters would be smart enough to see through the lies and propaganda of the most dangerous, damaging, detestable presidency in American history.

Happy frickin' New Year.

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