Let's talk about replacing GWBush in 2004.

Bill, that's just silly. Especially when Hillary can still walk...

What, you didn't do her in! Last I saw, she hasn't invented any wars!

when it comes to Bush's war, (his) necessity is the mother of inventions.

And, if there is no necessity, we will just rev up the engines to create one.............

I don't know about you folks, but certainly in Abuzz, not to mention conversations among friends, but during Bush's campaign we anticipated a great deal of what's going on now and were considered conspiracy theorists! And we didn't even get the half of it! So whatever your worst fears are, double them...

I caught a bit of Lewis Lapham with Jon Stewart the other night, and Lapham referred to Bush et al as "anarchic utopians" (I think that was the term), and he didn't intend it as a compliment.

Food for thought: "anarchic" in the sense that they're trying to overturn or ignore all rules they don't want to abide by, and "utopian" in their desire to impose what they consider an ideal world view on the rest of us.

It was creepy hearing that, to say the least!

It's even creepier living it - brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

Fascism is the word and is the goal!!!

Gee, D'art, I dunno. I always rather fancied anarchy and utopia and now you (and Mr. Lapham) have gone and ruined it for me. Imagine the company one would keep in Bush's utopia!!

I saw the Latham interview and Jon Stewart was really enjoying the verbal parlays -- Latham sure know how to shoot the arrow into the air and land it right into the heart of the matter. Dare I say that most libertarians come off as anarchic utopians. Half the time the do not know what they say and less about what they are thinking.

This old Tom Lehrer song surfaced on NPR this afternoon:

So long, mom,
I'm off to drop the bomb,
So don't wait up for me.
But while you swelter
Down there in your shelter
You can see me
On your TV.

While we're attacking frontally
Watch Brinkally and Huntally
Describing contrapuntally
The cities we have lost.
No need for you to miss a minute of the agonizing holocaust. Yeah!

Little Johnny Jones, he was a US pilot,
And no shrinking violet was he.
He was mighty proud when World War III was declared.
He wasn't scared, no siree!

And this is what he said on
His way to Armageddon:

So long, mom,
I'm off to drop the bomb,
So don't wait up for me.
But though I may roam,
I'll come back to my home
Although it may be
A pile of debris.

Remember, mommy,
I'm off to get a commie,
So send me a salami
And try to smile somehow.
I'll look for you when the war is over,
An hour and a half from now!

Lapham doesn't often miss. He's one of the most clear-headed political writers around and I do wish I'd known he was on.

LW... I really do think very many aspects of American life and policy would be greatly different had Gore won (Iraq, tax bill, Homeland Security, environmental issues, etc). Bush has moved a whole host of social elements into extremist territory. This is not to say Gore would have been nearly progressive enough to please me but I think we ought to be clear about just how extreme this administration is.

blatham, Downright bonkers if you ask me. c.ii.

Whoa; this guy's waaaay angrier than me:

I rode a tank in the generals' rank when the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank - Mick Jagger, "Sympathy for the Devil"

Bush is a coward.

I am the one who took his place in Vietnam, so I should know.

* * *

I have been under fire for days at a time, with such fear beyond fear that it really requires a new word. Those who order wars never see the bleeding or hear the screams. I have seen rivers of blood and have given thanks for the insane roar of battle when it hid the screams of my comrades, to keep me from going entirely mad. But Bush can order a war casually, just before his golf game.

In a nightmare I faced Bush and said "You cowardly son of a bitch, I took your place in Vietnam." I could see in his glazed, alcoholic eyes the denial which kept him from understanding. His handlers convinced him that if he put on a flight jacket and flew to an aircraft carrier, he must be a hero (even if it cost $800,000 as it underscored the hypocrisy of his "fiscal conservative" claim, habitually unnoticed by corporate media as the national debt soars).

On 9/11, when the nation needed leadership, Bush hid at an Air Force Base. The most protected person on the planet went into hiding, not because he was in danger, but because he is a coward. I cannot imagine another president who would have hid like that. Even the spineless Nixon would have seen it is the job of a president to go to the White House and assure the masses that everything is under control.

The Democrats seem unable to locate an issue with which to oppose Bush, most having voted for everything he's requested to date.

May I suggest the truth?

The single image Bush has promoted is flag-waving hero of the Republic.

The evidence proves he is a coward.

(Jack Balkwill is a Vietnam veteran who has won national writing awards for poetry, fiction and nonfiction. He owns the web site Liberty Underground of Virginia (LUV) at http://luvsite.org/ Mr. Balkwill encourages your comments and can be reached at [email protected] )

Jack Balkwill, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. GWBush lacks knowledge in most of his endeavors, but the majority in this country will never see it. c.i.

Jack Balkwill's piece is eloquent and points to a nasty fact about people who don't ever do their own heavy lifting. Bush's inability to have a real life of challenge is one of his most unattractive features. I can't think of anything he's been -- can you? -- that wasn't created for him.

Well, he's a long-distance runner. He had to do that himself. Lessee...
hmmm.... I'm thinkin'! I'm thinkin'!

He's 'been" and "is"a jerk!

Bill, did Bush come over and kick your dog or something? Why such animosity?

Hell, I hate the ignorant little smirkin' sumbitch too.

Yeah, Bill, what happened? c.i.