As I waited....

...Today, for news of any indictments coming down, hardly daring to breath, and spoil what time I had before the inevitable disappointment, I had time to ponder.

Not anything earth shattering, for crying out loud, calm down. I'm still working on the whole "why on earth tabloids still think it's cute to combine celebrity couple names" issue.

I wondered why I've pinned so many hopes on this. Maybe it's because I have a thing for the special prosecutor (he's cute in a nerdy sort of a vein. He IS! Whatever, screw you.), or, maybe, it's because, in a very self-delusional way, I saw this as the magic bullet. You know, the one that will make fellow Americans stop debating whether or not "TomKat" (groan) is having *twins*!!

The one that will awaken us to the corruption in Washington.

Now, I'm not attempting any Republican vs. Democrats sort of a debate. The sad fact is, they ALL are corrupt. Yes, say it with me, all you liberals. The Democrats and the Republicans are both wings of the same evil bird. One is on the left, the other on the right, but both are DIRTY. It's the name of the game. Even the most well-intentioned public official, still has to keep his donations a'flowin', in order to run for re-election. You think lobbyiests give them all that money because they'd really like to see them in blue suits, as opposed to gray?

Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to have to be the one (and if I'm the one whose word you're taking, you really, really, REALLY need to get out more) to break it to you, but our "For the people, BY the people" has become an almost laughable travesty.

It's almost laughable, if it didn't mean we all weren't so damn screwed.

People always say "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer". This is true, of course. However, I think that the middle class just may be beginning to realize, that they are only one misstep away from BEING the "poorer" part of that equation.

How many of you have cleared $1,000,000 in a year? In 2004, 435-member House of Representatives, 123 elected officials earned at least one million dollars last year, according to released financial records made public each year. Right next door, in the Senate, 1 in 3, are millionaires.

Now, think of all the people on your block, and figure out how many people on your street would have to hit the lottery, in order to post those same statistics.

In order to even be able to afford a modest campaign, you gots to have the cash, y'all. That cash has to come from somewhere. Iff'in you've got that kind of cash, chances are (this, of course, is a generalization), you can't remember what it felt like to wonder how you were going to cover your BG&E bill, and buy your kid new shoes.

Especially with energy costs on the rise (It's the hurricanes! It's the war! It's OPEC! It has NOTHING to do with the 9+ billion in profit that Exxon, just ONE oil company, has posted!), this is being more and more a sad fact of life.

It makes me sad. It makes me sad that when I say, with actual excitement in my voice "Harriet Miers rescinded her nomination", people have actually said "Who?".

WHO???

C'mon people! Wake up and smell the winter air, and it seeps in through your drafty window!

I

just

do.

not.

UNDERSTAND.

Of course, if this was a list of all the things I don't understand, it would go on for miles. Literally, I have no concept of math strategies past 4th grade, string theory, or any number of other topics.

What I do, however, understand, is that this country has reached a crisis point.

Today, on CBS news, they did a piece on correspondents in Iraq, most of whom, are Iraqi, being held. No charges, some don't even know why they were arrested in the first place, for months. Yet, we were bringing FREEEDOM!!! to Iraq.

Nice example we're setting.

I have the upmost respect for the men and women in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in all the bases, not to put too fine a point on it. I have enough respect for them, to QUESTION what my government is doing with them. Where they are sending them. Why they're being sent without the equipment they need to keep them safe. Why they're dying, in a war we started in the first place, based on intelligence (*HA!*), that those in charge knew was false. They KNEW it. Yet, it's not patriotic to question them? To demand answers?

How many people, in a grocery store parking lot, could you ask "What do you think of the Downing Street memos?", and they'd know what you were talking about?

Now, I'm no freaking saint. I'll admit to piddling away hours wondering if I'm the only person bothered by the fact that our president spells his middle initial, with more than one letter....Hours I could be spending writing letters to my congressperson, or to the editors, or any myriad of other world-improving activities. I just wish, that we could all, collectively, step back. Step away from red state/blue state, republican/democrat lines, and take a good, hard, long fucking stare at the state of things, and really consider what we could do to change it.

Idealistic gal pin-up at: drreid-blockston@cavtel.net