My wife reserved at the library what she thought was Jimmy Carter's book, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis. When she went to pick it up, the library had arranged the audio book version, read by the former president himself. I was delighted to learn that there is heavy demand for the book, so she had only a week to listen to it, which she has been doing for the last few days as she has been driving. I had not listened to any of it until today, when we finally drove to the office together for the first time in I don't know how long. I knew already that I agreed with much of Carter's assessment of the current administration's insanity, but listening to the book on the way to the office today reinforced my appreciation for Carter's point of view.
I was stunned at some of what I heard him read...he recounted a littany of missteps, horrific bunglings, wrong-headed policy decisions, fanatic, utterly lunatic actions of the Bush administration. I am sure I have never heard a former president so completely and thoroughly condemn the actions of a sitting president. Carter is a politician who tends to sooth ruffled feathers and generally behave in a more forgiving manner than I believe appropriate...but he pulls no punches with Bush. His book is, I believe, his call to Americans to wake up, understand what is going on, and act before it is too late to reclaim the country from the fascists surrounding Bush. I admire him for his willingness to say some very harsh things about Bush and the Bush administration and for his willingness to say that U.S. policy under the Bush administration is tantamount to imperialism and nuclear bullying. Bush has so completely fucked up the foreign policies of this country that I do not believe anyone without the charisma of John Kennedy could successfully change course.
As I said, I only heard just a bit...from Chapters 11-13. My wife says the first sections of the book are equally riveting and have powerful messages. I wish there were a way to get the majority of Americans to read, or listen to, the book. That would give me a bit of hope. I think I've commented here before about Carter and my disregard for his presidency and my disregard for his religious fervor...but I am rethinking my positions. Despite the fact that he strongly professes his religious beliefs and his commitment to the "Prince of Peace" in the book, he also acknowledges that the fundamentalism in religion today is horrific and harmful. I like that in a Christian.
Tonight, George Bush is to give the State of the Union address. I want to listen, just to be sure not to miss something as important as his assertion that he has assumed the monarchy of the country, but I am concerned about my blood pressure if I listened to that lying, conniving, scum-sucking-son-of-a-bitch utter a word tonight, at least early in the evening. I'll listen to the play-by-play later tonight. My wife and I received our first Netflix fix tonight....3 movies...and we're going to watch what will probably be a mind-numbing, but entertaining, Flightplan. Blockbuster's decision to move to a less convenient location for us was enough to make us give Netflix a try.
After the movie, I will try to sleep and will hope to have a dream, later to become reality, involving the trial, impeachment, and imprisonment of George Bush and his entire administration. Not that I want the Democrats to take control...at least not until they find a leader who is articulate and can develop a strong message of social justice, international cooperation, and religious tolerance...among a score of other things.
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