Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I'm not sure I'll be able to tune into Bush's State of the Union address tonight. Just hearing his voice makes me feel unclean, somehow. I'll just wait for the transcripts. I was happy to hear Gore Vidal give his own State of the Union address on the radio today, though. Here are a couple of choice snippets:

This is an unpatriotic government. This is a government that deals openly in illegalities, whether it is attacking a country which has done us no harm, two countries -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- because we now believe, not in declaring war through Congress as the Constitution requires, but through the President. ‘Well, I think there are some terrorists over there, and I think we got to bomb them, huh? We'll bomb them.’ Now, we’ve had idiots as presidents before. He's not unique. But he's certainly the most active idiot that we have ever had.

***
You know, it’s at a time when people say, ‘Well, it makes no difference what we do, you know, if we march and we make speeches, and this and that.’ It makes a lot of difference if millions of Americans just say, “We are fed up! We don't like you. We don't like what you're doing to the country and what you have done to the country. We don't like to live in a lawless land, where the rule of law has just been bypassed and hacks are appointed to the federal bench, who will carry on and carry on and carry on all of the illegalities which are so desperately needed by our military-industrial corporate masters.”

I think a day dedicated to that and to just showing up here and there around the country will be a good thing to do. And so, let the powers that be know that back of them, there's something called "We the people of the United States,” and all sovereignty rests in us, not in the board rooms of the Republicans.

2 comments:

Rachel said...

Gayle,

Thanks for sharing...

As I think about it, what W says - especially about gays - would qualify as hate speech and be censored, if it were said by mere mortals like you and me.

I am glad to be able to work with various organizations to overturn the likes of Diebold, and to get to know you as a fellow activist, more than a "mere" writing instructor.

Let's keep our activism moving, and overthrow the Republicans (and their Democratic sellouts) later this year.

Rachel

gayle said...

Hi Rachel!

I hadn't made the connection between Bush and hate speech before, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you for connecting those dots in my mind. And yes, we need to keep moving forward with our activism--we have a chance to make a real change this year!

xo
gayle