Saudi America

by Captain Nemo, 6.11.2001

Recent events have come to the attention of some of us that call for more precise labels in news and commentary.

Since there is more than one country in North America, we need to distinguish the recent aquisitions of Exxon and Enron from the democracies (that still exist in North America) by a new title.

I propose "Saudi America" instead of the old generic term about states. There are three reasons for this:

1) The country in question has ceased to be a democracy since the Supreme Court ruled to stop counting votes and appinted a male dominated hierarchy of fundamentalists to rule. [1]

2) It is owned by several large energy companies who have been allowed to overcharge California (land of the Calif) by billions of dollars according to Davis, the current governor of that state.

In the "Times Free Press" Jan Galletta reports that Ted Turner says Bush was 'bought and paid for' by the oil industry. [2]

3) The current administration is run by what Garrison Keillor calls" "The Shiite Republicans" [3]

[1] My grandfather's father fought in the Civil War and defected to the North. His sister is still around and she says: "Bush's appointees are just a bunch of holy rollers'.

[2] Times Free Press; 'Cable television pioneer Ted Turner, who has given millions of dollars to ecological causes, said Tuesday in Chattanooga that the election of George Bush is "a personal blow to environmentalists.'''

'Mr. Turner said the president "was bought and paid for by the petroleum industry'' and that "the Republican Party has become the party of polluters.'

[3] Garrison Keillor in Salon Magazine:

"Dozens of hissing, sneering Shiite Republicans wrote in response to Mr. Blue's rather temperate letter to the Disgruntled Idealist (a Democrat upset by the election and the Restoration) advising him to Move On and go for long walks and read Marcus Aurelius."

"As for anger, you can go be angry at the Supremes for their impulsive lurch into judicial activism, and yes, you could be angry at the Florida Republican machine for their brazenness, but where do you stop? Do you cut in Ralph Nader for some anger, and Donna Brazile, and Al Gore, and Colin Powell for vouching for a man he well knows is a lightweight, and Sen. McCain, and all the other folks responsible for this tongue-tied bozo? It's too long a list. You'd wind up a sour embittered old coot snarling at the TV. Best o clean out the files and start fresh. Take a vacation from the media and do some good for yourself."

"The two best antidotes, I think, are the outdoors and the classics. The inherent interest of the photo op and the sound bite and the focus group pale next to the beauty and grace of the natural world when you venture out into the woods and consult your immortal soul, or the majesty of Marcus Aurelius or Horace or Ovid. They speak to us from the ruins of cities that knew their own Dubyas, and they speak to our condition vividly and with powerful wit and conviction beyond anything you'll find on the evening news."

Salon Magazine

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page