by James Glaser
February 24, 2004

Yes, I know we have a war going on in Afghanistan and one in Iraq too. We just sent fifty Marines to Haiti and who knows how many to the Philippines last month. We have millions of people out of work and the only reason that the unemployment numbers are coming down is that hundreds of thousands have quit looking for a job.

There are untold thousands of homeless people in America and unlike years ago, now thousands and thousands of children are growing up in America without a home.

Today on National Public Radio they reported that in Boston, enough heroin to get you high cost 30 dollars in the1970s and today you can buy that same amount, three times purer for 4 dollars. Yes, that global economy is working. With the better grade of smack, a kid that would never think of shooting up with a needle can get addicted by snorting. They then slide right into cooking and shooting for the far "better" high.

Today in the United States, the President can if he wants to, have you put in solitary confinement forever. Just like the kings and rulers in the movies that George Bush watched as a kid. I think George always liked those evil kings that ogled the fair maiden and had the hero thrown into the dungeon. I don't know if Laura lets George do any ogling, but I do know he has the dungeons and he does send his High Sheriff to capture American citizens and has them thrown in.

So you may want to ask, how I can say that I think America will be alright. Well I am not done with the Fear and Loathing part of my column yet. Monday the Secretary of Education, Rod Paige called the largest teachers union a "Terrorist Organization," Jim Doyle, the Governor of Wisconsin said, 'These were the words, 'The NEA is a terrorist organization.'" The NEA is the National Education Association and is the largest Teacher union in the country. I have heard of no suicide attacks or other bombings by this organization.

And here is the best example of why I think America is going to get back on the right track, either that or head right down the shitter. Next week the US Supreme Court will hear a case whether or not all Americans must have identification on them at all times.

Dudley Hiibel is a cowboy, he lives in the State of Nevada and was leaning against his pickup truck on the side of the road near his ranch and a deputy drove up and asked to see his identification. The officer offered no specific reason why, and when Hiibel asked he was told, "Because I'm investigating." When asked what he was investigating the Sheriff's deputy said, "I'm investigating an investigation." Dudley was arrested and convicted for the heinous crime of "Delaying a Peace Officer," because he thought that in America we were still free enough that we don't have to show "Papers" at the whim of the authorities.

I feel bad for Dudley, but really have to admire that he is taking this case all the way to the Supreme Court and let me tell you that their ruling will tell us if we have any freedom left in this country.

I think that deputy had seen that George Bush could throw anybody he wanted into prison and he was thinking that with the trickle down theory, he could at least have a little power over a common citizen.

I tell this story to young people; I was in Minneapolis and wanted to see a woman in Chicago back in the early 70s. This was a spur of the moment thing and I headed out to the airport and just before I got there I realized I had forgotten my wallet and ID at home, but I did have a few hundred dollars in my pocket. I parked the car in the lot, walked in and bought a round trip ticket, went to Chicago, had a great weekend, came home Sunday night, end of story. One more fact, on my key ring I had my official Marine Corp chrome pocket knife. It has a 2½ inch blade, a can opener, a bottle opener, a screw driver, and a leather awl. I still have one on my key chain today.

I am really hoping that this story is not a reminiscence of an age when America still was free. I hope and pray that some day we will get back to that level of not only freedom, but trust too.

I think America is going to be all right because I went to church Sunday. No, I didn't have any direct communication with God on the state of our liberty, but I did look around the church and could see that it wasn't just old people. There were families with children and even some single people. These people can READ and they THINK about their future and care about their children's future.

The people on the religious right put George Bush in office. Not just those Americans on the "right," but people in the center that too, thought America was going to hell in a hand bag under Bill Clinton.

Today many of the same people that voted for George are realizing just how far the pendulum has swung. Hate and Fear kept George Bush's poll numbers up for almost three years, but he couldn't keep the American people hating over half the world long enough and the Cry of Wolf stopped working this last fall. Sure the people on religious far right still idolize George, but they are not enough by themselves to get him a second term. Bush needs middle America voting for him if he wants to win.

George might have pulled it off and had a second term and he still has a shot at it with the millions and millions he has to spend on advertising, but I don't think enough people are going keep buying his line. At least the people that voted for him last time that can read and think for themselves. There have been too many things like the PATRIOT ACT in Bush's term. Even the ladies that work in the Libraries of America are upset with Bush.

Paul Findley, an eleven term Republican Congressman writes in the Gulf News, "Today, for the first time, I worry deeply about America's future. We are in a deep hole. I believe President George Bush's decision to initiate war in Iraq will be the greatest and most costly blunder in American history. He has set America on the wrong course." This former Congressman goes on to write, "I must speak out. As best I can, I must bestir those who will listen to the grave damage already done to our nation and warn of still greater harm if Bush continues his present course during a second term." Remember this guy is a life long Republican, and he is upset enough to come out in public and tell America about his fear for the country with George Bush as President. The article was written on 02/21/04

Here is another piece that tells me that the American people in the middle have had enough and they are now worried enough to speak out against what George Bush is doing to America. "More than 60 influential scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, issued a statement yesterday ( Feb.18, 2004) asserting that the Bush administration had systematically distorted scientific fact in the service of policy goals on the environment, health, biomedical research, and nuclear weaponry at home and abroad."

TRUST! The American people in larger and larger numbers have come to believe that they can not trust George Bush or his administration. 90% of the people going to the church I attended last Sunday voted for George and after the service many stated openly that they will not this time and here is the important thing, nobody spoke up defending the President or his policies and during the last election these people worked to get him votes.

I think America will be just fine, we can handle four years of George Bush and if need be we can handle four more. Much of America thought those three thousand that died in our terrorist attack really hurt our country, but that was a spur of the moment gut reaction that President Bush really pushed.

In the last two years of World War II both Germany and Japan were losing three thousand people every day and they are great countries today. I feel confident that our nation can rebound from that terrorist attack and we can even rebound from George Bush's time as President.