Bushworld and Rummyland create their own gravitational field
Yea, the administration continues to push forward with its seeding the Middle East via Iraq with democracy-bulbs, so to speak. And yet, the true power - Al-Sistani, the cleric, as well as his son who awaits his acension to power - almost showed his hand when he blocked the vote on the interim constitution last Thursday. Of course, now that the U.S.-appointed five leaders who've assumed control of the temporary governmental structure now forming in Iraq have proclaimed that the constitution will be signed tomorrow, all's well with the world, eh?

My guess would be that al-Sistani gave the nod to the constitution after realizing that his true vision for Iraq's future might have been revealed had he resisted the farce that the signing represents. Iraq will, my bet is, become another cleric-led, Middle East madhouse, a seedbed for violent factions bent on destroying the "infidel," eh, that's us folks.

Any government led by religious dogma is one that leads to suppression of human rights and demands complete control over social and personal choice. What nitwit in his/her wildest hallucinatory phase-craze came up with the notion that we could impose democracy on a nation that's never known such a system, or, might I add, sought it as an alternative to dictatorship should be hauled up in front of the world and made to explain his/her reasoning.

Ah well. Life goes on.

The really important issues are "The Passion of the Christ" is a huge financial hit; Martha Stewart was found guilty of lying to federal agents - a shock to the system, as they say; and Sydney and Vaughn ala "Alias" look as though they're bound to reunite once they eliminate that pesky little bitch of a wife Vaughn has tied to his tail.

Now that's the stuff that really matters to middle America - right?

Pundits are predicting the lowest voter turnout ever for the upcoming presidential election - a sad testament to the sense of powerlessness the nation's electorate is feeling, and I find it rather frightening because, given the history of governments going back to Egypt and Rome, proves that once the people abandon the leadership, lose all trust in their lawmakers and social manipulators, that government is bound for meltdown.

An article in the Atlantic Monthly circa 2003 predicted that America is going to go the way of the Roman empire. The signs are in place, the writer suggests. The European Consolidation is pulling further away from America's political and financial interests; even Great Britain is no longer the stalwart partner we once could depend upon for blind support; and with Germany, France, Spain and several smaller countries forming alliances that give them mounting influence in the world market, not to mention military strength, the U.S., the author predicts, will find itself isolated from the rest of the world. A world that no longer admires the United States for its even-handedness but despises it for its arrogant, bullying, arm-wrenching policy when it comes to the "war on terrorism." And who are we dealing with in this "war?"

Nobody, because even our allies aren't trustworthy (at least not to Bush and his team) and our intelligence seems to have wide gaps in its big-picture assembly capability.

Will it mean anything if Bush is deposed and Kerry is elevated to the presidency? I don't think so. I think the dice have rolled and the wheel has been spun and now, where it stops nobody knows.

Our global policies are, at best, on life support; our national policies - jobs, health care, Social Security, Medicare, et al, are even less healthy. Does anyone really believe that we're living in harmonyville? If so, send me some of what you're taking - PLEASE.

But for those who've lost their jobs and been unable to reestablish themselves in another paying position, my sympathies, for what it's worth.

And now I fade into the night. Amorphous, invisible and unformed in my current state.

Remember. Anything can happen and probably will.