It's become the most elephantine of elephants in the living room - and the Lord knows that we have plenty of those, these days.  (Did you know that the American family is held together by money and incest?  Oops.  Move along - nothing to see here.)  In fact, of all the mammals infesting all the rooms of all the metaphorical buildings you can conjure, it's the mostest.  Or - in case you've forgotten, the United States has been at been at war for over five years now - and that's just the current Iraq war.  Never mind the previous one, or our military bases in hundreds of countries worldwide, or all of our other engagements, most of which rate a back-page blip on the collective radar, if that.

Never Mind, indeed.

Despite everything, I haven't had much to say about the Iraq war.  I think this is partially due to the fact that, what with everyone talking about it, there's no danger that "the message" isn't getting out.  So far as "the public good" is concerned, I am plain not needed, and, being dirt ignorant in many relevant areas, I have nothing special to contribute.

I suppose the majority of my remaining reluctance derives from the very problem indicated by the scare quotes above.  There is something repulsive about concerned citizens and other right-thinking people of conscience.  They inevitably turn these sorts of things into topics for Serious Discourse.

Consider that by "these sorts of things", I mean, in this case, a huge writhing mass of human misery driven largely by the sick imperatives of the sort of evil creatures who inevitably turn up on top of whatever this year's steaming pile of blood and shit turns out to be.  Consider also that by "Serious Discourse" is indicated that process wherein some sort of heavy pundit shows up on TV to pontificate about how this just goes to show how morally superior she is, and how right about everything her pet theory is, to boot.

Now, perhaps, you can understand my reluctance to blog about it.  There's something plain ugly about sitting here in my bathrobe, sipping coffee in my comfortable house - which is not being blown up by psychotic mujahedin or psychotic "Christian" mercenaries - while I smugly denounce the venality of America, which I will probably spell "Amerikkka" in order to show how cleverly "progressive" I am.  Wait - did I just manage two redundancies in one sentence?  Do I win a prize?  (And no, I'm not in a house or a bathrobe, and I have no coffee, but you get my drift.)  I suppose there is something sad about someone of my convictions disliking most of the people who agree with me, but this is not half so sad as being the sort of person I dislike, so there.  Now, get off my lawn!

Or, let's put it this way:  the word for this is tragedy.  Tragedy.  Not a talking point, not our opponents' flawed agenda, and not leverage for the upcoming polls.  It's pain and evil and viscera and rape and torture - and death of all kinds.

And so, I have had little to say.  But, in the end, there are villains to be denounced - principally, you.  I'll let you work that one out on your own.  Also, the President.  Fuck that guy.

And, finally, I can't not say something - I've been trying to find a way for weeks now to respond to this, and, so far, I haven't found one.  Read it, follow the links, and then tell me I'm crazy, because you will know exactly what I am thinking by the time you are done, and fuck you if you disagree.  The short version:  the Anthrax scare circa 9/11 was (apparently) propagated by a now-conveniently-dead researcher working high up in the U.S. gummint's biological weapons program, and was transparently meant to be blamed on mulsims and linked to the WTC attack.  Eat that, motherfuckers.

Anyway, I don't even know how to summarize what is directly in front of your faces so that you will understand.  But, I will try.

The world is largely administered by people who, in any sane society, would be euthanized along with anyone remotely suspected of carrying any of their genes.  Our "enemies" are, of course, as guilty of this as us.  In the meanwhile, the commoners of the world are used up and discarded as regrettably-complicated precursors to the production of raw materials and finished consumer goods, while other commoners are skillfully manipulated into buying same.  All of this is orchestrated, with no consideration of the ecological or human cost involved, in such a way as to gratify the unfathomable and wholly pathological urges of those in a position to administer the relevant apparati  Their motivations are utterly obscure, because no sane person would want that.  Noöne needs a sold gold toilet, or the ability to control others.  Noöne needs slaves.  No human being who remains human even wants them, John Norman aside.  But, in order to avoid inconvenience, and to retain such comforts as we have been granted by our owners, we expend most of our energy in pretending that nothing is wrong.

We live in a world in which a large number of morons are duped, bullied, or sacrificed by a small number of psychopaths.  And, perhaps, there are a scant few human beings left standing on the sidelines watching it all melt.  These are distinguishable by a certain distincitive gallows humor.

And that is exactly how it is.

(And, as always, "you" includes me.)