Happy New Year? 1/1/11

She said despondently.

All you need to do is look at that smug mug on that spray tan face below and think about what the next two years might be like for those of us who care about what happens to what's left of the Reaganized/Bushwacked People's Government and, hence, to regular people in this country, the "under $250,000 a year" crowd, the little guys... toi et moi.

Will his plans to completely disassemble what's left of the government this year sound the wake up call for average americans? Or the death knell, the one only dogs, small animals and true progressives can hear? Just look at that bugger's face. He can't friggin wait to get his hands on the Constitution and wring its scraggly, undernourished little neck.

Back in 2001, when W and his band of gypsies "occupied" (in the old SDS meaning of the word) the White House, knowing what a cretin he was I figured it wouldn't be long before the folks who – in a weak moment of lonely longing for a drinking buddy – voted for him, would realize what a huge mistake they'd made and throw the bastards out in the next election. And W's approval ratings did indeed tank markedly that first year. Until of course that fateful day in September when the nation was (deliberately?) driven to distraction.

Suddenly, literally overnight, he became the hero of quivering Americans, their go- to guy, Daddy come to protect them from the dark face of "the Other", as terror became "the blunt instrument used by Big Brother to protect us from ourselves."

When 2004 rolled around, I figured there was no way, even given Kerry's fey effort, that W could be re-elected, no way they'd have the nerve to engineer another victory and get away with it, this time in Ohio (uh... Boehner's home state). Kerry caved, and the American people, silent as ever, got, once more, what they deserved for choosing fear, cowardice and silence over a fight to "keep" the Republic Franklin warned them against losing.

And here we are again, incredulous that anyone could vote for these pathologically mendacious maniacs, lessons unlearned. (Those "undecided voters" everyone panders to – slightly more than a margin of error percentage in every election – are really just plain too stupid and lazy to have a political perspective and have far too much power considering how uninterested in politics they are the rest of the year during which I'm guessing they are busy hoarding or compulsively shopping.)

If you have any doubt as to what the future holds for the citizens of the US, especially considering the new crowd in charge of things, read what Chris Hedges, an intelligent and thoughtful writer, has to say here. Send it along to friends who still believe things will work out on their own if we're just calm and patient. How much longer can I carry on believing my fellow citizens will wake up and smell the fascist java being brewed for their consumption?

In the words of the old blues tune:

How long? How much more long? How long?

Those students in the UK put us all to shame. And the Germans! Did you see them in the streets? tens of thousands of 'em! Well?