Ring out the old: Bye-bye 2007.

Keep on truckin'!

The United States and the world keep on trucking down the road to Perdition. Say goodbye to this year of lies, outrage, and murder.

Iraq

Remember last year, when Junior Bush and his gang were insisting on a military "surge" in Iraq to stabilize the situation? According to Junior and the neo-conservatives, the increase in military personnel would allow the fractious Iraqi factions the breathing room to make political progress and forge a working government.

Well, apparently, if you believe the corporate media, the administration, and even craven Democrats, the "strategy" was a success. Their evidence? In December, there were only 21 US troop deaths and 710 Iraqi civilians killed.

But 2007 was still the most deadly year for the US military since the 2003 invasion. Eight hundred ninety-nine (899) US military personnel were killed in Iraq in 2007. And, oh by the way, even though the US media doesn't deem it important enough to mention, there were also 18,610 Iraqi civilian deaths (up from 13,813 the year before).

And those goals for political progress? Hey, don't rain on our parade! The surge is working. Why can't you just accept it?

Note: Statistics and information obtained from the Daily Kos.

Financial crises

Junior has suddenly, now that the Democrats are writing the budgets, determined that he is a fiscal conservative. After 6 years of never vetoing a single spending bill passed by Congress, even though each was stuffed like a fat Christmas pig with Republican pork, Junior has decided that he must stand on principle and deny the wasteful earmarks put forth by Congress. Among the many hypocrisies of this maneuver: spending for Junior's military adventure in Iraq (itself far more expensive than any congressional earmark) is passed separately, in appropriations, not as an official part of the budget.

Meanwhile, as a result of the "relaxation" of government regulation on the mortgage industry, we're facing a financial crisis for the nation's banks, as home-buyers suddenly find that the fine print on those snazzy, too-good-to-be-true mortgage agreements have left them with the choice between eating dog food or telling the bank to go f*** itself. But don't worry! Those poor fat-cat bankers will be alright. I have a feeling that Junior and his gang will find a way to bail them out of their uncomfortable situation (brought about by their own greed) in the form of a tax-payer bailout.

See? That's why we can't afford health care for everyone. Because the banks need a bailout.

Christo-fascism on the rise

Meanwhile, as the Republican coalition of the rich and the stupid continues to dissolve, the wing-nut Christians are making more and more noise, demanding that their candidate pay homage to their god of war, hatred and bigotry. Witness the rise of Mike Huckabee, the Christian warrior, and the uncomfortable situation in which Mitt Romney (who believes that Jesus and Satan are brothers) finds himself as he tries to convince the low-end Republicans that you can be a Mormon and a Christian.

Many Christians are neither ignorant nor hateful. But those that advocate war, that fear and hate gay people, that live in terror of people different from themselves, are revolting. In the Middle Ages, these were the people that took red-hot pokers and cat-o-nine-tails to unbelievers. Indeed, the fact that torture is now openly debated as a legitimate interrogation tactic shows how they have gained prominence. They've been given an air of legitimacy by the big wig Republicans who, like charlatans throughout history, have recognized the usefulness of mindless zealotry.

This movement is a Frankenstein's monster, which, having been granted the gift of life, now goes on to destroy its creator and the world around it in its anguish.

Of all the disgusting deeds of Karl Rove, his attempt to stir up the bigoted passions of ignorant Christians may be the most hateful. And he did it all to further the political career of Junior Bush. God save me, I hate those men! I hate them.

Bye bye 2007

On the global scale, 2007 has not been a good year. And the omens are not promising for 2008. Nonetheless, I'm still hopeful. In much the same way that a man who has just been informed of his own mortal illness will note the beautiful colors in a bouquet of flowers brought to his hospital bed, I can't help but feel that, all evidence to the contrary, people are basically good.

Then again, there are a lot of people that say I'm nuts.