by Thom Rutledge
          Published November 7, 2003
          by CommonDreams.org

          Okay, that's it. I've had it. I have finally gotten old and tired enough to not worry so
          much about what everyone else in the whole damn world is going to think of me, so I
          can just begin to say exactly what I think without apologizing and without fretting over
          whether or not you are going to still like me once I say whatever it is that I have to say.

          First, George W. Bush is an odd combination of ridiculous and dangerous. He's sort of
          an evil idiot savant. He also is the perfect poster boy for hypocrisy. Just this morning I
          heard Georgie say on the television that the best way to protect our homeland is to hunt
          our enemies down one by one and stop them, which I suppose means to kill them. The
          idiot part comes in when I realize that he really believes what he is saying. This guy
          really believes that he is here to wipe out evil. The savant part --- the genius --- is
          found in how he gets so many otherwise intelligent people to cheer him on. Now, to the
          hypocrisy part. President Georgie is a born again Christian, as are the vast majority of
          his adoring followers. Do they think that Jesus was just kidding around, or maybe
          having an off day, when he gave the sermon on the mount ---- and when he said turn
          the other cheek, and when he said put away your sword? Do these people actually
          believe that if Jesus himself were here on earth, he would be suggesting that we hunt
          our enemies down one by one? Really - think about it:

          And Jesus said to the disciples, "Whenever you feel threatened, hunt thine enemies
          down one by one and destroy them."

          And Peter was confused, asking, "Lord, pardon me, but aren't you contradicting much of
          what you have been teaching us?"

          Jesus looked upon Peter with a smirk and said, "You are either with me or against me.
          What will it be?"

          Peter was silent, realizing that the teachings of the Christ were flying right over his
          head.

          The preceding passage is from the Lost Gospel of Rummy, recently unearthed in Iraq by
          someone working for Halliburton on behalf of the Bush administration. Lucky find, huh?

          It's not just Georgie and his daddy's friends that get on my nerves. Even more baffling
          to me are their loyal fans --- fan being short for fanatic you know. These people don't
          seem to have one independent thought within a thousand mile radius of any of their
          brains. They are as impressionable as silly putty. The fact that they have been lied to,
          just like the rest of us, doesn't phase them. And I'm not just talking about the Richie
          Rich's who benefit from our nation's blossoming plutocracy; I'm talking about middle
          class folks who are being royally screwed by the objects of their affection. (Well, I guess
          that works on one level.)

          I'm losing patience with this insanity. Consider the uproar in the Episcopal Church over
          the newly installed Bishop Gene Robinson. These people actually believe that God is a
          judgmental homophobic prick. How hard is it to look at this discrimination against gays
          and figure out that in another 10 to 15 years, the anti-gay position will look pretty much
          like the racially bigoted position prevalent before the civil rights movement. Learning
          from the past is definitely not a strong suit here.

          Consider another passage from another lost gospel somewhere:

          And the homophobes chanted, "If the Bishop's gay, we won't stay, if the Bishop's gay, we
          won't stay!"

          And Jesus said, "Okay. Don't let the screen door hit you on the way out."

          Truly, that would be a courageous and innovative response to those threatening to
          break away from the church because the Bishop is gay. It's like someone handing you
          the end of a rope for a tug-of-war and you just drop the rope --- and you drop the rope
          every time someone puts it in your hand. My wife asked a good question during the
          evening news: "Why do they want to put up resistance to anyone leaving the church?"
          When we don't invest energy in power struggle (inside our heads or out) we have so
          much more energy to spend on the things that really matter.

          Sure, I know I am contradicting myself: waxing philosophic about the strongest
          resistance being no resistance at all immediately after ranting about our evil idiot
          savant president. But remember, I am tired and aging and no longer concerned with
          what you think of me. I am, by definition, temporarily insane. I don't have to make
          sense. Hell, Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly or Ann Coulter never worry about making
          sense, why should I?

          So this article marks the beginning of a new era for me. I am crowding 50 and have
          apparently experienced some kind of a tolerance breakdown. If my tolerance doesn't
          mend itself, you will be hearing more from me on my new favorite subject, "What I
          have to say," without apology, without disclaimer, and apparently without much
          diplomacy.

          People who don't use their blinkers piss me off too.
 

Thom Rutledge is a psychotherapist (believe it or not) and is the author of several books, including
'Embracing Fear & Finding the Courage to Live Your Life'. He is also the co-host of Inside Out:
Problem Solving Radio on NewsRadio WLAC 1510 AM in Nashville, Tennessee, Sundays, 9:00 a.m. For more information: www.thomrutledge.com.

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