(my thanks to “The Onion” for the inspiration for this post - see below)
Siiiiigh. I’ve been outraged at this administration so long, I’m starting to forget all the reasons…. Outrage is really hard to maintain, and I have to hand it to Team Incompetent/Team Evil (not sure what they want to be known by) for doing such a great job at being so GIVING during their occupancy of the White House. But despite their best efforts, I find that rage, pain, and fear are very difficult emotions for me to hold onto & sometimes I’m reduced to just the random unfocused expletive. Worse still, I’m starting to lose track of the bounty of outrages this administration has bequeathed us in their largesse, & thus I’ll start writing them down….
So let’s focus on outrages. By “outrages” I don’t mean really bad or even evil policy decisions, I mean things that are so beyond the pale as to defy belief or challenge the very foundations of our government or what we as a nation stand for. You know, things like giving the rich vast tax breaks or undermining the EPA don’t count because, well, they’re just evil but not EVIL. So let’s take a stroll down Affronts Against All Notions of Decency Lane…. together. I find singing the Smurf song as you do this helps (la la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la… la la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la):
PLEASE HELP BY ADDING YOUR FAVES TO THE COMMENTS & I’LL INTEGRATE THEM as long as I was honestly aware of them at the time & truly outraged… Also, if you have any good news stories for me to link to as examples, please send ‘em on.
- The War on the Geneva Conventions (Round 37) - please “clarify” them - in fact let every country in the world “clarify” as needed
- The Presidential signing orders to circumvent THE LEGISLATIVE Third of our government
- Illegal Wiretapping is fun!
- Well, I don’t like the FISA Act spelling out the LAWS on this matter, so I’ll ignore them
- Well, we’re just tapping a few phone calls abroad - not inside the country. Oh. Never mind. We’re doing that too. Well - umm… … Look a terrorist! Boo!
- Katrina & the ridiculous Federal response (Brownie you’re doing a heckuva job)
- Dick Cheney’s Heroic Fight To Save Torture. Ahhh the Vice President of the United States of America, waging a massive campaign to save our right to torture people.
- Keeping People Indefinitely At Guantanamo - rule of law? Schmool of law!
- Sending our prisoners to other countries to because they torture better than we do. Great.
- The lack of accountability after Abu Ghraib
- Abu Ghraib
- Invading Iraq under false pretenses - pick your favorite false pretense:
- Saddam’s nonexistent links to Al Qaeda
- Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction
- To bring democracy to the Middle East, at the end of an M16… what? Oil? Here? You don’t say… I had no idea!
- Invading Iraq despite the idea of the rule of law that America is supposed to stand for.
- Opening Guantanamo for the express purpose of holding prisoners without having to apply U.S. Laws
- Leaving Afghanistan before we finished the job
- Passing the USA Patriot Act. Yes Civil Liberties are important… but… Look! A Terrorist! boo!
Damn - see here is where my outrage begins to fade & I KNOW I was SERIOUSLY PISSED BEFORE THAT - any help? I’ll try to remember - but I better get this post published before the NEXT outrage…..
Nostalgia outrage - ahh I remember being “outraged” back in 2001 - before 9/11 - before I really knew the meaning of the word…. you know about cute things like Cheney meeting with energy companies to formulate energy policy, or the EPA trying to loosen Arsenic in Drinking Water standards… ahhh
La la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la… la la la-LAL LA laa lalalla la la.
‘deep
*The title of this post comes from a hysterical but now quaint article from The Onion: Nation’s Liberals Suffering From Outrage Fatigue from July of 2004! hah! We had only really warmed up the outrage!
