Vacation Ends

I took a couple of trips in August and came home relaxed and refreshed. Of course I also returned to reading the news, and so my light hearted feeling came to end along with my vacation.

The Bush administration is about to start World War III by attacking Iran and no one with the power to stop him is willing to lift a finger. The president raves about a "nuclear holocaust" caused by Iran, when it is Iran's sworn enemy, Israel, that is the only nuclear power in the Middle East.

The House and Senate pass anti-Iran resolutions, letting us know that they will be silent when the bombs begin to fall. Press reports indicate that 1,200 bombing sites have already been chosen, which means that thousands of Iranian human beings will die.

While we watch and wait for the destruction to begin, we should at least listen to those brilliant, prescient voices that explain so much to us. One of my new favorite bloggers is Arthur Silber. Silber has been trying to warn us both about the Bush decision to start another war, about Democratic party complicity and the liberal naivete/stupidity that will make more killing inevitable.

Thanks to Arthur Silber, I now know about Chris Floyd, who explains it all so well.

It is, by any measure, a remarkable achievement, one of the greatest political feats ever. Despite Bush's standing as one of the most despised presidents in American history, despite a Congress in control of the opposition party, despite a solid majority opposed to his policies and his war, despite an Administration riddled with scandal and crime, despite the glaring rot in the nation's infrastructure and the callous abandonment of one of the nation's major cities to natural disaster and crony greed -- despite all of this, and much more that would have brought down or mortally wounded any government in a democratic country, the Bush Administration is now in a far stronger position than it was a year ago.

It does't make me happy to say it, but Floyd has hit the nail squarely on the head. As we slide towards destruction, we should at least know why this has happened. I will be making more recommendations in the days to come.