Mission Accomplished

On May 1, 2003, George Bush landed aboard an aircraft carrier and declared the end of conflict in Iraq, behind a massive banner declared, "Mission Accomplish." Five years later, the occupation of Iraq continues and George Bush has provided a series of explanations to clarify what he meant when he said that the major conflict in Iraq was over, in the latest, he again blames the banner and said it should have been "more specific." They keep going back to the banner, as if that's the problem and not the fact that US men and women die daily as  the ill-conceived occupation enters its fifth year--and we've been in Afghanistan since 2001.  Meanwhile, the United States commits billions of dollars sustaining the occupation and the country slides into something that looks like an Economic Depression as oil companies continue to post record breaking profits. And I don't see any way out or any politician with the will to end the debacle anytime soon. We were tricked into the occupation because the people of the United States are clearly  the stupidest most gullible people on the planet, and because our news media failed it its primary duty to inform the public forgetting that a free press is the watchdog of democracy.  And in this corner we have a President and Supreme Court who seem intent upon dismantling our Constitution (in John Scalia's opinion, the Constitution is dead, and he ought to know because he stabbed it--and us--in  the back). So, if Bush's plan was to disassemble the United States and reform it so that it better serves oil companies and pharmaceutical giants and his buddies at Bechtel, that the mission is truly accomplished. These are the things I will be thinking about on this May Day, as the media spins its wheels about Rev. Wright and an in-depth analysis of Vanity Fair's photos of Miley Cyrus, while reporting that this economic downturn is anything but a recession and people continue to die in Iraq as the US occupation enters its fifth year.

In Dreams

I live more in dreams these days, dreams where I am employed, valued and at peace. More and more I spend my waking hours pouring over my past, examining the moments in a vain attempt to find the exact moment when my fate was sealed. And now that I know how it ends, I wish again for the moment when speaking would have made no difference but would have made me feel better. This happens because have again been rejected,  this time for a job that I believe I could have filled perfectly. And I wish I knew what it was that lead to someone else getting that job. The past is always bearable of there is a future, or, at least, a future I would have wanted for myself. Enforced retirement isn't it. I think the time between is ending, the time when I believed I was employable. I'll try some freelance, I'll try finding some contentment in what my life has become. Maybe, I will forgive myself.