Lest anyone be tempted to "forgive and forget" at any time in the future....

[InvisibleTouch]

...I know it's unlikely that there's a lot of reconciliatory sentiment around here right now, but I can just imagine how it will go in upcoming weeks: here we are, we won, we're happy and looking toward a hopeful future - we want to get down to work rather than wasting our energy wallowing in the past. The days of darkness and fury and despair are behind us, or at least rapidly receding into the distance. The mind recoils automatically from dwelling on past horrors; at least, I know mine does. At the same time, it's absolutely vital that we don't forget - because as soon as we go soft and sympathetic on the other side, as soon as we lose the clarity of our edge, they'll sense it as a weakness and use every dirty trick they have to overrun us again. We've got to keep very clearly in mind that we're not dealing with an ideology that understands normal respect, consideration, cooperation, or reason; they don't wish good things upon the world or see any value in alleviating suffering - the only suffering that touches them is their own, and the only thing that drives them is greed and lust for power.

So now, while it's still fresh in our minds, let me ask that we write up a detailed list of all the monstrous crimes that have been committed by the Rethugs in power in the last 6 years - the horrors perpetrated upon the country and the world. Give vent to your outrage one last time, and post about the incident(s) that angered, shocked, and frightened you the most. Write it down so we have it as a permanent record - write it all out as a catharsis - and then you can store it in the back of your mind, so it's not poisoning your day to day existence. Then we can use that freed-up energy to move forward into the future. But let's have the record available for consultation - maybe have it accessible somewhere on this site - any time we're tempted to be cooperative, sympathetic, or otherwise give in to the delusion that in the radical Rethugs we're dealing with people of reason and integrity who just happen to hold opposing ideals. They hold opposing ideals, alright, but none of them are reasonable or honorable.

So, who's up for it? Just off the top of my head I would list: lying us into an illegitimate war that murdered tens of thousands; manipulating 9/11 for political gain while truly not giving a damn about anyone that died; ongoing smear campaigns against Democratic candidates and leaders, replete with lie after lie; shamelessly stolen elections in 2000 and 2004; relentless attempts to destroy ANWR in order to line the pockets of Big Oil; suppressing climate research that clearly showed global warming and damage to the planet; attacks on the Endangered Species Act; attacks on reproductive rights and mighty attempts to relegate women barefoot and pregnant to the kitchen; denying gay people the simple right and dignity to marry whom they choose; trampling all over our most basic civil rights; forcing a theocracy on the nation without regard to freedom of or from religion, making a mockery of the separation of church and state; sowing fear and suspicion in order to keep the populace cowering in their basements and obedient to "authority" ... I know there's much more, and the list goes on.

Please add your own, or feel free to elaborate upon any of the above in greater detail. I'd like to see the facts in all their ugly truth, spelled out for posterity - so, lest we ever be tempted to forgive and forget, to feel a twinge of sympathy for the poor pathetic rethugs who are now crawling to us for reconciliation - we need only look at that list and refresh our memory and say "This is what your kind did to us, to the country, to the world - damage that in many cases can never be undone, lives that can never be restored. Forgive and forget? Don't make me laugh."