Confession of an active mind: I've been doing naught lately to advance my politics. In fairness, I've been under the weather (cold coming back) which tends to dampen ones ideological furvor. Yet as I read the news, all I see is the same old back and forth sniping and inevitable march towards destruction. In the moment, it really feels like there's not a lot that can be done by me or anyone to stay our path from bloody conflict with Iraq.

Part of me hopes that Bush is more shrewd that I think and will back off on the march to war now that he's got the Senate in his corner. The tactics of fear and jingoism have worked and maybe now is the time to consolidate power, what with that new homeland security deal and all. Yeah, tell me this isn't ready made to set off the conspiracy theorists. But it passed, and pretty soon mom and pop will have Admiral Poindexter reading their keystokes verbatim.

Hell in a handbasket. Rationality in retreat. There's so much bullshit parading around as fact that I just can't be bothered to point it all out any more. There's no one who's listening who matters anyway. I mean, what the hell are we doing here? Have you watched fox news lately? That's what passes for mainstream journalism! CNN isn't any better, and the local news is just a lot of urban paranoia with the high notes from the international scene. Where's a respectable journalist when you need one? Where's the willful investigation? Where's the motherfucking truth in all of this?