LIFE IN OUR 51ST STATE

Well, Montana is firmly in Bush control. This misfit likes to rebel and read a little Juan Cole from time to time, but he's a little too complex for my homies. Oh what to do, what to do...

I was going to visit with my friend Riverbend, but she's in denial about her valium problem and completely fixated on Oprah. Me who is not me is much cheerier, giving an enlightening explanation of Iraqi Freedom II: Operation distribute Candies.

Then there is a Family In Baghdad where Fazia will teach you Arabic [DON'T LEARN IT, YOU'LL BE DRAFTED FOR SURE!] or just tell you about their life in the soothing and philosophic way she always does. The most interesting stuff lately is about how Fazia is just a very bad Iraqi for not praising dear leader, and she shares what she has learned about democracy and elections.

And then I read in the newspaper today that Bush promises to make Iraq an example in fighting terrorism, not an example to adopt terrorism in the Middle East.
I smile as I look upon this beautiful example, and how it is being created and formed, with plenty of wisdom, and the least possible minimum of damage to lives and property… GOD only knows when this example will be accomplished, and how many casualties will be paid for that.
I do not know.
The equation still goes between fools and criminals, who are disfiguring the world… and each thinks himself right. Each speaks sometimes in the name of GOD, rightness, and justice.
And there is a foolish American woman who writes to me from time to time, asking me: What have you done to help Iraqis? Why do you speak about the bad things, and not mention the good ones??
She is a supporter of Bush, and the Fox Channel…
I answer her quietly, and in contempt: Read my articles again, and you shall see that I talk about how much effort we spend to rebuild Iraq, and help the Iraqis. But I forgot to tell her that, as usual, if I have seen some good things, I would have told you, because I am more eager than you are for them.

[...]

We went, my friends and I, to attend a lecture about Democracy, and the Elections. The lecturer was an Iraqi lady, who said she attended some work-shop discussions about the subject, and she'll explain it to us, so we could explain it to others.
She spoke about the meaning of the two words, and their relation with each other. Then she spoke about the methods of elections, and their traits, then the civil society and its role in elections, the relation of the civil society with the parties, and the danger in the party's dominance over the civil organizations.
Then the elements of elections, which are: The Base, The Candidates, and The Campaign; and the method of delivering a message of every candidate to convince the public…
She said The Base consists of three elements:
- -An Element who had fixed his opinion, his candidate, and sticks to him.
- An Element who decided not to vote.
- And an Element who is wavering, and he is the one to whom all invitations and debates are addressed, to convince him to vote for one of the candidates.
She said every candidate has a message, which he keeps repeating to people's attention until they memorize it…
I smiled........... imagining the poor American citizen these days…they all fight, and debate, giving him the headaches, as they try, each separately, to say he is completely right, and the other is completely wrong…and whoever votes for the opponent is a complete fool…
Ha, ha, ha…
A game that gives people the headaches…as if you are in a Bazaar…each is calling for his merchandise, wanting to sell it more than the others.
But people's lives and destinies are decided here…inside this chaos, shouting, and headache-promoting noise…
I don't know…as if I see the propaganda, the competition, and the debates, are subjected to a lot of acting, and show-offs, more than honesty, calmness, and rationality.
The media plays its role here…where truth gets mingled with lies, justice with false…and facts get lost.
A very dangerous game….this is Democracy.
And the bad people could maneuver it, because they play like jugglers, in a circus. And the audiences are poor….who could easily be tricked.