My Monthly Plug for John Kerry—Speaking of Rupert Murdoch...There is a poignant moment in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 in which a young woman, obviously either totally uninformed about the world or else a 'Fox news' watcher (same thing), who seems unable to accept that the woman in front of the White House really did lose her son. She screams at the bereaved woman, refusing to believe her, and ultimately can only yell insults after her as the woman hurries away. This signifies to me the great disconnect between Americans and reality that could ultimately doom our democracy.

Consider for a moment that so few Americans actually have served in the military, or even know anyone personally who has (this may change with Bush's personal vendetta in Iraq (grinning: "after all, they tried to kill my daddy," nevermind he tried to kill his old man at age 19 coming home very drunk and offering to bash Bush Sr.'s brains out on the family lawn—like so much, a matter of public record and published in the non-Fox, non-Limbaugh truthful news (CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, etc.). Many people think patriotism is about listening to stupid TV shows, yelling insults at others who don't agree with cynical talk show agitators, and running others off the road in one's SUV.

For these people, reality is not something that happens to them. It happens only to people on TV (like in fake, staged 'reality shows'—no wonder the angry young neocon babe in Moore's flick yells at the poor mother that her son's death is 'staged' and presumably a libburrul sham designed to undermine Ammurrikuh. In this climate, where only half the people vote, and only neocon votes are counted where it counts, it's no wonder that so many lost souls, without a moment's thought or brain function, swallow the Fox/Bush pack of lies that Kerry somehow is not a patriot, and Bush is a "warrior president."

The real culprit, however, lies in the media. We now have a time when the checks and balances are gone, and the government is wholly owned by rightwing extremists (neocons) who falsely style themselves as "Christians" and "conservatives." The neocons (neo-Confederates? neo-conjobbers?) control both houses of Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, and even the Fed in the form of Alan "Irrationally Exuberant" Greenspan. Let's understand the extent of neocon duplicity: running on a platform of 'States' Rights' (read: segregationism), yet when the Florida Supreme Court ordered a recount that would have rightfully given the presidency to legitimately elected Al Gore, Bush and his lawyers ran to the Federal Supreme Court and got their stooges there to overturn the state supreme court; and yet millions of neoncon dupes continue to believe that the newly neocon Republican Party somehow represents the interests of conservatives, Christians, and states' righters. The Republican Party in fact has generally in its history sold out to billionaires. Other than, like the industrialists of Hitler's time aligning themselves with dangerous rightwing extremist elements, there is nothing new in today's Republican stance. The disconnect that puts lies over truth, anger over thoughtfulness, insults over debate, ignorance over wisdom, and ultimately despotism over democracy, ultimately falls upon the shoulders of those most entrusted to uphold the truth—the media. The cornerstone of neocon depravity has been their relentless assault on the media, branding them a tool of Libburruls (read: 1930s, Germany, 'Chooz') while in reality the media are now and have always been owned almost exclusively by wealthy conservatives. If the American people are the victims of Goebbels-style dupery that makes cowardice, selfishness, and dishonesty(Bush/Cheney/Limbaugh/Fox/Murdoch/News Corp) the equal of heroism, generosity, and truthfulness (Kerry/Edwards/McCain/many older Republican and Democrat leaders) then the failure must be laid at the feet of those elements at CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, and so forth who have not more vigorously stood up to the depredations of the neocons. Both in political and economic disaster, the American people as a whole will pay for the failure to contain rampant fascism in the U.S. in the new millennium. With our government no longer checked and balanced, only a free press remains to rescue us from tyranny.

Bush's trail of lies is long, and wide. Consider for example, that George W. Bush, during the 2000 campaign, when challenged for the nomination by John McCain (ditto-dopes listen up: he spend 5 years in a Communist prison under torture after being shot down over Vietnam, and courageously acted as leader for his fellow prisoners, the kind of stuff Oxycontin-addict Limbaugh will never tell you about) falsely accused McCain of having fathered a black baby out of wedlock and not supported that illegitimate child; when in fact the McCains in their enormous moral compassion and kindness actually adopted a black child whose way they are generously paying. That's just one example of a thousand. Bush represents an endless chain of sleazy lies and ruthless elbows in the eye to win at any cost, always the dirty and dishonest way. Think of him as a dumber and cruder Nixon. Because his wealthy family, who always bail him out, have surrounded him with misguided talents like Rice and Baker, among others, he never lacks for surrogates to both rescue him and do his dirty work for him. In the 2004 campaign, he already planted lies about a Kerry extramarital affair (not true, and denied definitively by all involved) using one of his many surrogates on line, Matt Drudge.

Potatoe, Part II, or: My Monthly Plug for John Kerry—It's impossible to understand how Bush could have been the Republicans' best man for the job. I admire John McCain. Much as I liked Gore, and voted for Gore, I might have voted for McCain. John has really flubbed the chance (like another good American hero, Colin Powell, awash in loyalty but not the best common sense) to serve the broader American public and his own interests—which I believe are conservative, not radical. Among those who bother being informed, nor choose to be misinformed Fox folowers, Bush has a seamless lifelong record of mediocrity and failure, and an equally seamless record of having others from mom to Cheney bail him out of all his self-induced problems. Well-documented problems include being a de facto self-admitted cocaine abuser and a times violent alcoholic; being a failed businessman who dumped his stock not once but twice (he didn't go to jail thanks to his family's influence, but Martha Steward will—let's call it what it is—blatant corruption); being a bad governor of Texas; and more. It's all available in the news and online. None of this is fake or staged.

Bush really was the worst possible result in 2000, whether you do or don't agree he wasn't even elected. He showed up once for a free dental exam while skipping over a year of his National Guard duty, which itself was a sham designed to keep him from serving in Vietnam (he was in an air defense unit guaranteed never to go overseas, and filled with rich kids, and even then he paid to get in ahead of hundreds of others on the waiting list; this is the story of Bush's entire life, including his sham presidency). Bush hid out for days after 9/11 and then showed up for a few minutes to wave a little flag on a fire engine and grin like an idiot before going back into hiding. That's a warrior? But why go on? The list of Bush failures is endless. There are no Bush accomplishments, unless it's spelling 'potato' correctly (maybe; Quayle had it as 'potato' and made a fool of himself on world television). Trust me on this—vote for Kerry. It'll be the smartest thing you ever did.