The Beginning of the End

[WilliamPitt]

The Beginning of the End
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Columnist

Tuesday 29 January 2008

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

- Revelations 8:1, King James Bible

George W. Bush's State of the Union (SOTU) speeches have been the basis for a new kind of drinking game for several years now, basically because the things have always needed some kind of actual substance from somewhere, and because it was a good way to dull the pain of it all. The rules: 1. When he says the word "terra" or "terra-ists," take a drink. 2. When he says "tax cuts," take a drink. 3. When he says "Iraq," take a drink. 4. When he says "nook-yuh-lerr," take a drink and a shot and a good swift kick to the head. Et cetera.

But that's just one night out of the year. Reality has proven to be far more alcoholic in nature. For seven years now, the whole phenomenon of this government has been one long drinking game played out each and every day. The rules of this game? 1. Say the words, "George W. Bush is in charge of the country." 2. Turn off the TV. 3. Just drink.

Sounds familiar, right? Just about everyone has played that game a time or two by now. We have endured seven Bush SOTU speeches as of last night. Seven years worth of lies, carnage, greed, disgrace, failure, ignominy, calamity heaped upon calamity heaped upon calamity for more than two thousand five hundred days now, with three hundred and fifty seven more days still to go.

Seven speeches. Seven years.

No more.

The rest: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012908A.shtml

(teaser: the last word in the essay is "Drink" ;) )

[bryant69]

1. The end is near.

That is a pleasant thought.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[SalviaBlue]

2. "Probably final"

There is not enough liquor on the planet to make that phrase less terrifying. Great article Will. K&R

[grasswire]

8. that WaPo writer needs spanking

What the hell was he thinking? Probably final?? I'm going to try to telephone him.

[Virginia Dare]

10. That was one of the most surreal things I've read in a while..

I had to read it a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating...:scared:

[babydollhead]

3. yes. you got it.

There is a stupor that needs to be, shrugged of, hit with a stick, and discarded like old snake skin. We all need rehab after this.

[malaise]

4. Lovely article William Pitt

If he's there for an eighth, drink won't be enough. I'll probably be seen jumping from a high rise.

K & R

[FATCATs]

5. I love reading William Rivers Pitt

He's got it !

[Cant trust em]

6. The idea of George Bush's political irrelevance is a happy one

if I were one of Peter Pan's lost boys that would be what I'd use to make me fly.

[formercia]

7. Seven too many, n/t

[frogmarch]

9. But the Bushco laws

that are stripping us of our freedoms will remain after he's gone, until - and unless - they're changed.

And so will the forces that catapulted Bush into office. Even after Bush is back in Texas clearing brush, or whatever it is he does there, these forces, armed with big money and focused determination, will be working to strip us of even more of our freedoms. They are busily regrouping. We haven't seen the last of them.

No time for a sigh of relief. The nightmare's not over.

[Deja Q]

11. So each SOTU under Bush represents one seal?

Okay. that is WHACKED.

Greenpeace would say the same thing if they saw seven seals being clubbed in the antarctic.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour while the meat was harvested and fur sewn into jackets.


Inference is cool.

[Klukie]

12. What the hell does that mean..."probably final"?

Is there any way there could be an eighth? What the hell would make that journalist make a statement like that? I realize that we here at DU frequently speculate ways that this Idiot in chief may try to extend his dictatorship but holy shit! I think I will have a drink...mabye two.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. As Soon As I Heard Him Speak Last Night And Seeing Pelosi Behind Him, I Had An Impulse Thought.

I thought "wow, I don't BELIEVE it's been a year since the last one already. It feels like yesterday!".

Then I smiled after being overcome with awareness. See, a year from now, there will be a Democratic President standing there giving the SOTU. Then, this will all seem like yesterday. Ahhhhhh..... yesterday.

The end is near indeed.

:toast:

[Raster]

14. "opened the seventh seal" is about doing marine mammal autopsies at Sea World.

:spank:

[Cleita]

15. I think you are right about the Bush presidency being a long game,

like football or baseball, except their game had no rules and they made them up as they went along. The game was winning and it didn't matter what injuries it caused on the way because the only thing that mattered was winning. Now do they get a trophy or something for playing the game with no rules so well?

[grasswire]

16. Will, you oughta add a link to that Post story...

...so people can easily go leave comments there or email him.

[Disturbed]

17. Let us hope that Busholini won't get the chance to appoint

anymore SC Justices.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

18. I hope we won't be feeling the effects of the seven seals in the many years to come

But I fear that we will. Bush will have affected America far beyond the span of his two terms in office, despite the progressive agendas that might follow him.

[grasswire]

19. you oughta read the comments after the WaPo article

Here's part of one of them:

"With regard to the state of the union address, I watched, I listened, I thought very deeply of what parted his lips and I then got (once again) very, very ill listening to hollow rhetoric from the lying, tin-pot-helmeted, pro-war, anti-veteran, middle-class-destroying, bible-thumping, silver-spoon-fed, reformed coke-head / drunk, service-evading, arrogant, oblivious, blind, deaf, Arab-kissing, poorly- educated-ivy-leaguer, big-hat-small-herd, fact-avoiding, big-lie, wealthy-oil-family excuse for a human being that was twice elected by a bunch of mindless, mouth-breathing, in-bred morons who believed that their lot would be better because they were stupid enough to believe that by supporting "Dub-ya" that they would join the top 10% of Americans with nearly 50% of the national wealth when in fact they will never be allowed to join that elite, exclusive club."

[WilliamPitt]

20. Shameless

:kick: