Thanks, Kassie. :)

Rob:

Nah, my knowledge isn't perfect. I'm a pretty smart guy, and I know it -- but I'm also smart enough to know that I can make mistakes. Big ones, even. One of my basic philosophies is that there's no such thing as certainty, just a really good guess.

So it's possible that I'm wrong about the Shrub. I'll acknowledge that possibility. But y'know, I think the evidence really stacks up against that likelihood.

Remember your first post on this thread?

quote:
... those questions, and hundreds more, just bug me.

and not for the reason that i think they're appropriate, but rather cuz it just pisses me off that people are so fucking conspiracy-sworn and anti-establishment and negative, etc, etc, etc.
Does that sound like America to you?

What you call "conspiracy-sworn" and "anti-establishment" and "negative" is the same ideological force that ended slavery, pushed civil rights, and gave women the right to vote.

There used to be a lot more people that thought the way you do. They were called the FBI, and they spied on Martin Luther King because he was rallying the black laborers upon which our industrialized society was increasingly dependent. This isn't freaky paranoia talking, this is just historical fact.

They were also called the CIA, and they stalled the release of American hostages so that Reagan, not Carter, would receive credit. Again, this isn't paranoia. This is just the way it goes.

You think I love this stuff? You think I'm crazy about conspiracies? Fuck that, man. I hate this shit. I hate having to wonder if my government is my friend or my enemy. I love this place.

And right now, people are fucking it up, hardcore. They're taking away the things that make America great. They're forcing us to join the League of Ordinary Nations.

I believe that everybody isn't like this. I believe that most of the people working for the government, and most of the people in the military, and most of the politicians -- well, okay, maybe not most of the politicians -- are good people. Dumb people sometimes, but good people. I think they're all just trying to make things better for everybody, which is precisely what we're paying them to do.

But there are a few seriously screwed up fuckheads out there who are interested only in amassing power. I don't know what the hell they intend to do with it, but they never seem to have enough.

And ultimately, it isn't gonna be guys like me that end up making a real difference, Rob. It's gonna be guys like you. Halfway-educated professionals with decent skills. All I can do is talk and knock down cops. You, my friend, are part of the infrastructure. You can actually make it stronger in the ways that really matter.

But you gotta decide. Are you gonna march in line, or are you gonna stand up to it?

Guys like you are running out of time. Shit is falling down. We are right back where we were, one nuclear missile away from everything going kablooey.

Are you gonna be like Dave, and try to prop up your house of cards with well-crafted rhetoric? He's a good debater, no doubt about it. Hell, I couldn't even prove that 2 + 2 = 4 ... but it does. Right now, capitalism is collapsing because of events that happened a century ago, and guys like him are burying their heads in the sand because they imagine that system to be their lifesblood.

Are you gonna be like me? Nah, you couldn't be like me any more than I could be like you. And the world doesn't need any more guys like me. Guys like me just break stuff. We aren't great builders. We're quite necessary in the long run, but we aren't the ones that really get shit done.

It's all up to guys like you and (God help us) Britney. There is no other way. For good or bad, the world is in the middle of one of those historical flashpoints where everybody's gotta decide what kind of world they're gonna live in.

See, I know what you're thinking. You're not a dork. You've found yourself wondering now and then what it would be like to wake up one night and hear the sound of jackbooted feet running down the streets.

But that's not the way it works, man. Not often, anyway, and not this time. What actually happens is that you hear the sound of jackbooted feet and then you look down to see that you're the one wearing them, and that the sound you're hearing is the echo of your own footsteps.

It's up to you, man. Ironically, in spite of everything that the bad guys will tell you to the contrary, democracy is real. And so the only way you can give it up is to willingly forsake it. You're the one that has to make that choice, and you're the one that has to live with it, along with everybody else.

So whatchoo gonna do, Rob? Whatchoo gonna do when Shrubmania runs wild on you?