On the offensive: an offensive nation

In a speech today regarding the position of the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001, "president" Bush said that we were "a nation on the offensive," in the war on terror, which we would undoubtedly win. All I could think was that the United States certainly had become an offensive nation, though not in the way that Bush was implying.

Just yesterday I was speaking to my mother on the phone. I will be attending this year's Thanksgiving family reunion. This event is held every few years and concentrates on my mother's side of the extended family - that is, the side I don't get along with very well, for the most part. I told her that I would attend on the condition that she incurred the expenses of having me visit and she agreed. This side of my family tree lives to the south of the Mason-Dixon line, the majority of them habituating in Texas. My mother told me that my flight from Pittsburgh International Airport would be landing in George W. Bush airport in Houston.

I was immediately taken aback by the unexpected name change. I had always believed that Houston International Airport was a perfectly serviceable name. My immediate reaction was to quote The Violent Femmes who claimed that "naming an airport after Ronald Reagan was like naming an airport after Hitler." The current Republican yokel in the White House replaced Ronald Reagan's name; the Hitler comparison remained. I also marvelled that the powers that be would find it suitable to name an airport after a man on whose watch not one, not two, but four aeroplane-related tragedies occurred that garnered world-wide attention.

One thing I've noticed about Republicans - at least those at the tail-end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21^st - is that they seem to like wars, both figuratively and literally. The aforementioned jelly-bean-loving Alzheimer's patient had his "war on drugs" and the events of September 11^th gave Bush the excuse he needed to create a "war on terrorism," which was really just a figurative mask for the literal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which came not long afterwards.

Interestingly enough, these wars were all planned before the first "day of infamy" of the 21^st century. Bush and his mooks just needed an excuse to let loose the dogs of war, and the terrorist attacks allowed for just that to happen. Lest we forget, this was the "president" who was already thumbing his nose at world powers prior to the terrorist attacks, almost daring the world to give the United States a slap in the face. If history paints an accurate picture of Bush, he should be remembered as "the great antagonizer," rather than the hero he wishes to be remembered as.

Still, for a short while, it seemed that all the sins of the past by the Bush administration would be forgiven by the world, those actions a distant memory gone up in a puff of smoke, much like the World Trade Center itself after both towers had fallen. All of the old allies of the United States were there with outpourings of compassion and sympathy, at the ready to show their support for the wounded giant. Two years later and the greatest amount of progress made by Bush and co. is making sure that every nation on the face of the globe, save the United Kingdom of Great Britain, hates the United States once more. The Bush Administration seems to have a great problem being conservatives, however they are a wonderful group of regressives.

Today, however, most of the United States is ignoring the fact that Iraq is slowing beating our troops into oblivion (after the "end of major combat," no less), Al Quaeda is quite possibly stronger than ever, nothing has improved in Afghanistan, and a plethora of other issues to numerous to mention. Today most of the citizenry of the United States is off memorialising this day, allegedly for those who died in the attacks. While I'm not one to make light of death, I feel that it would almost be more appropriate to hold a eulogy for our civil liberties and mourn the forthcoming death of democracy.

Okay, maybe "forthcoming" is too optimistic of an adjective to use.

This morning, as I sat watching the news in the break room at work, the expected September 11^th reports flashed across the screen. In one segment, the talking head was discussing plans for rebuilding on the site where the World Trade Center had been. I briefly recalled a news report on the radio which I had heard the previous day: they planned to name whatever was rebuilt there "The Freedom Towers," which was stomach-turning irony if I'd ever encountered any.

My moment of reflection was interrupted by woman on screen shouting, "we will not let them build anything on this hallowed ground!" I flipped off the woman on the screen for her arrogance and her selfish ways of thinking...a way of thinking so disgustingly American. I have always maintained that the world is a graveyard, since there is no place on the globe where something hasn't died at any point in history. Therefore, were we to memorialise every plot of land wherever anyone has died, there would be no room for the living. On a pragmatic front, lower Manhattan has a gaping hole in it that needs to be filled and a giant memorial won't suffice.

I guess though, that it helps some people to forever dwell on their pain and continue to inflict it on others ad infinitum. At least that is the delusion that we're being sold with currently. While forgetting would be a crime in of itself, dwelling in the past is a transgression which is equal to or greater than that. It would seem that the Bush administration, with it's frat-boy way of thinking and corporate and media sponsorship, wants the American people to continue to dwell in the past. If one dwells in the pain of the past, one can turn a blind eye to the anguish of the present. Any innocent Iraqi or American soldier forced to stay in Iraq can tell you that...embedded media willing.

It's mid-morning, technically. This is the time that most people are going to work and kicking off their day with a cup of coffee and a groan at having to roll out of bed. My shift is over with and I will be headed to bed soon, in the hopes that sleep will come quickly. In a way, I'm happy to be able to sleep though the debacle that is the memorial of September 11^th. I'll have the luxury of avoiding all the flags at half-staff, the "red, white and blue" days at the offices and the throngs of people saying, "it was such a tragedy," while they lie clueless as to the tragedies that led up to and followed the big one every news agency was salivating over (and continues to) like a pack of rabid dogs. I'll also get to avoid any more lies the Bush administration is prepared to feed the public today - lies about freedom and the success of the "war on terror" and whatever other crap they can dish out. I just don't want to hear it anymore.

It's not that I didn't think that the attacks were a tragedy. I do. However, there are times that I look at the state of the nation and the world in general and I wonder if the terrorists are actually winning.