Pettiness

I'm working on a longish post in response the article about the Russian government rehabilitating Joe Stalin, but it is taking a lot longer than I thought. I guess when your grammer is sinking to the level of a demented jellyfish, it is time to hang it up for the evening.

In the meantime, I would like to share with you (all 4 of you) a little encounter I had this morning. As I was standing in line for a hot cup o' Joe in my favorite North Beach cafe, two San Franciscian's stood behind me, rudely breaking the law of talking about politics before everyone's had their first hit of caffeine in the morning. They were going on and on about how Bush isn't "serious about the war because of his million-bazillion dollar party!" My head started to get that aching feeling you get when you wake up the morning after drinking too much red wine.

Listen, I'm not the political swami who's feels he is so much smarter than everyone else. You can look at my IU basketball predictions to give you a gauge of how good I am at predictions. But, as those two socialites continued to jabber, my headache softened when I eased back and just let it go. I've had to learn to do this since I moved here 4 1/2 years ago--you pick your battles, or you go on your website and bitch about it. Guess which avenue I chose?

The refrains coming from the peanut gallery are numerous. Here are a few: fake turkeys, no flue shots, but Cheney got one!; every red-stater is a Jesus lovin'-gun shootin'-warmonger; the Euros, Arabs, Africans, Latins and the Candians hate us, but those that don't work for the CIA; Ohio was stolen; Rumsfeld is deliberately holding back armor and troops; we're too stingy to the tsunami victims; etc...(I'd list more, but I feel that headache returning).

Looking at this impressive list of arguments, it is no wonder that they think Bush is an idiot. It takes such a statospheric level of thinking to come up with such ideas. When I look at the reality around me, the world looks much more sinister and complicated than being the result of all the plans Bush and his Third Reich could cook up. But alas, I can count on the tinfoil hat brigade to right my misguided and muddled thinking with their complex thinking.

So, Bush isn't serious about the war? Afghanistan is free and Iraq is having elections in 10 days. Is that serious, or should we implement your serious plans that always start out with the words "Global Summit, Kyoto or Durban Conference on Racisism."

It's hard to elevate the conversation to addressing legitimate concerns when the critics are dead set on being petty. I want to win this war, but I'm not convinced that these folks do. The "concern for the war" that the two individuals behind me in line talked about having was belied by the comment that ended the conversation when one of them said, "Bush, he's the real terrorist."

Until this pettiness ceases, I'll be drinking an aweful lot of coffee...