Wed, 03 Nov 2004

No, not again!

Last night I stayed up until 4AM listening to the SER radio station and looking at websites with live coverage of the US elections. Despite the predictions, at 3:45 or so, the radio started saying things were looking bad, and being completely exhausted, I decided to went to bed and learn the (suspectingly terrible) outcome in the morning.

This morning my mother came in to wake me up and the first thing I said was "It's Bush, right?". Nearly two hour laters I still can make up my mind to accept this reality. It's just not right: how can someone that has fucked up so many things be elected (let's not talk of re-election because that's just not true) again?

Some people warn me that this is perfectly possible because the news stories your average american watches on TV has nothing to do with what the rest of the world sees. I guess it's an edulcorated vision of war, total ignoring of famine in large areas of the world, propaganda about how good capitalism is for everyone, no information about global warming and what is causing it, no images, figures or statistics of how many people, both Iraqi and American are dying in the war, and so on, all mixed with the traditional patriotic stuff.

We appear to be in the same black hole we were thrown into by the US Supreme Court now. I guess we'll have to accept this and start hoping that maybe George W. Bush starts using his handful of neurons and stops being Cheney's puppet. From what I read, it'd be cool if Laura Bush started talking a bit about politics at home, maybe that helped a bit too.

Those who have closely followed the elections, is there any kind of promise from the Bush team to regulate/promote environmental policies like vehicles that consume less gas, protection of what's left of the American forests, etc.? Is Alaska safe still?

I really hope things change in the following four years, even if it's just a tiny little bit. If not, can you imagine what will be left of the middle east by 2008? Iran, Syria, Lybia, North Korea: are you prepared?

Sorry for the rant, I'm feeling somewhat better now. :/

10:02 | [] | # | (comments: 7)

Blah. Ohio is still fucked up at this time. :|

Posted by Jordi at Wed Nov 3 11:57:55 2004

The sad fact of the matter is that most Americans haven't a clue what's going on outside of our country and... after 9/11... don't care too much.  America has always been completely preoccupied with itself - then getting into everyone else's business when it mattered to us.

While I completely agree that the Iraq War was founded on false pretenses, I honestly think something had to be done about that lunatic running the country.  I don't think we handled those politics well (thanks to Bush) and I don't think we're handling the war well.

I don't think DPRK, Libya, Syria or Iran have too much to worry about.  Our military is stretched too thin already and honestly, I would expect mainland China to attack Taiwan sometime soon.  That's a scary flashpoint that is often ignored in world politics.  China is simply waiting for the right moment... and that right moment might be coming since our military is so stretched out.

All in all, I can see why people outside of America fear Bush's reelection.  I can also see why Americans are reelecting him.  Honestly, I don't think either candidate had the proper answers and we would have lost a lot with either direction.

Posted by Vermyndax at Wed Nov 3 13:37:12 2004

Vermyndax, the old story about "something had to be done" really doesn't work when it comes from people running the United States of America.

Pinochet wasn't a lunatic, it was worse because he really knew what he was doing. Same for Videla and all the other dictators which were established in South America just 30 years ago by the Pentagon. It's very easy to call "lunatic" a guy who was helped to get established in power by the same guy who is today the Secretary of Defence. The same thing happened with the talibans. Remember the visit to the US by the taliban leaders? Of course, at the time they were great allies: one fought Evil Iran, the others fought the silly Commies.

What about the lunatics running North Korea or China? Why wouldn't the West put their noses in there? Probably because there's nothing in North Korea the capitalist world can take advantage of, and China... well, nobody wants to see China angry.

Gotta love the American hypocrisy in external affair issues. It's been going on since WWII ended.

And yeah, I know this happened with Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush... I know Kerry wouldn't have been substantially different. I guess when a Democrat president comes into office, some oldtimer around the house tells him: "Ok dude, I've listened to all the things you promised during the campaign. Now sit and listen, because this is how the US works under the hood, and you better keep it this way". :)

Posted by Jordi at Wed Nov 3 13:48:55 2004

Good points, Jordi... and you're absolutely correct.  We're only interested when it serves our interests.  America has been that way since WWII.

I don't think many Americans realize how much of their own freedom has been taken away by Bush and I don't think Kerry capitalized on that fact.  John Ascroft personally frightens me.  That man has so much of the administration wrapped around his fascist finger it's not even funny.

It's going to be a tough four years again.  I was rather hoping I could travel outside the country and be a proud American again... but I guess that will take a while longer.

But, as I said, I don't think Kerry was necessarily the right answer either.  Oh well, we shall see what happens.

Posted by Vermyndax at Wed Nov 3 13:56:22 2004

No, the Bush team didn't make any effort at all to have any semblance of moderation like they did in 2000. Our environment is still in trouble, our dependence on oil will increase, al Qaeda membership is increasing even faster, the American public still has no idea what the hell is going on nationally and internationally, and whatever else I haven't mentioned. The Republicans, instead of trying to reach over party lines like both sides did in 2000, instead tried to get their base of fundamentalists to turn out more than they did last time. And unfortunately for the most part, they succeeded.

Posted by Ari Pollak at Wed Nov 3 15:26:49 2004

It's a loony bin in this country.  Absolutely terrifying time to be an informed American.  It's unfathomable to me how a man who so abhors the legal foundations of a country can be elected to be its leader.  It's almost as sickening as the hypocrisy inherent in electing someone because he says he subscribes to a code of ethics that includes, at the top of the list for "good" conduct, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and then proceeds to take the first opportunity to invade another country slaughtering 100,000 civilians in the process.

Posted by Shahms King at Wed Nov 3 17:01:05 2004

My fellow readers... have a look at this gem...

Posted by Jordi at Wed Nov 3 17:58:19 2004