And the shell game continues.

In his diary They Have No Mouths … Who Will Scream?, Madman in the Marketplace references a Denver Post article titled Justice detained at Guantanamo, which deals with the horrors of our torture/detainment system as it now stands.

Inadequately deals with it, in my opinion.

The authors end that Denver Post article with this statement.

Once again the essential blindness of the American people and the media which KEEPS them blind (After all, we’re all just one big happy family, right?) comes to the fore.

First of all, the “rights of the people” in America ARE gone. Unless you consider the right of a two year old to throw a tantrum once in a while to be sufficient rights of the people.  I do not.

What we now have in place here in the United States is an authoritarian Permanent Government that has found rule by misdirection to be MUCH more efficient than rule by force. Misdirection backed up by force. By terror. And what this Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib/special rendition/prison camps in Albania or wherever/official support of terror routine is REALLY all about is terror.

Psychological shock and awe on a HUGE scale. Aimed at all potential resistance. People in the Middle East, in the rest of the Third World, in any developed country that might consider opposing us on any level, and in the United States as well.

It is the Vietnam message, the Guatemala message.

Read on.

It is the Vietnam message, the Guatemala message. Continued.

Mess with us and we will FUCK YOU UP. Win, lose or draw…we will FUCK YOU UP and walk out in good shape afterwards.

Better shape than you, anyway.

Do we really believe that the straight-faced denials of people like Cheney regarding this system are meant to be believed?

Please.

Like the equally straight faced paradox talk of Donald Rumsfeld, like the sight of a bumbling front man named “W” (More frightening than ANY name ever thought of in dystopian fiction, to me…) with his obviously easily distracted hand on the nuke button, the BARE faced lies of Herr Rove while looking right into the camera with his Gerber Baby face…”Gerber gerber gerber” goes the baby talk while from the back room you can hear the muffled screams of the tortured if you listen closely…

This is TERRORISM.

Psychological shock and awe brought to you in living color and high definition, up close and personal right in your living room every night that you are foolish enough to turn on the TV and make believe that you are really paying attention.

Once again…

The “terrorism” to which they are referring, of course, is the actions of the OPPOSITION to this system as it stands now. Which is not necessarily any better than the system against which it stands.  But it is NOT the real enemy here. In fact, a case could be made that it is simply the stepchild of the real enemy. Its creation. The usual Dybbuk/Frankenstein Monster/Sorcerer’s Apprentice story.

The real enemy, the much more POWERFUL enemy, is this advertising driven, media controlled system of psychological terror.

“Take this pill.” And sotto voce real fast stage whisper goes the baby talk about the possibility (“Gerber gerber gerber gerber gerber gerber gerber…”) that this pill will ALSO “fuck you up”.

“Do this.”

“DON’T do this.”

“Do this.”

“DON’T do this.”

Over and over and over and over again until the subject ..be it a subject in Guantanamo or one in a suburban living room somewhere in Topeka…simply breaks down. Gives up.

Next to THIS terror, the actions of al Queda pale into relative insignificance.

But it is al Queda and its allies to whom these Denver Post writers refer when they use the dread word “terrorism”.

The trigger word.

“TERRORISTS??? Oh DEAR Henry!!! What about the CHILDREN!!!”

While the system for which they work…no, the system in which they are living, breathing, and most likely totally unconscious organisms…plays repeated games of Russian roulette on the minds, emotions and bodies of the American people.

And a third time, just in case you missed it.

You only have one right left, folks.

The right to TURN OFF THE MACHINE.

The noise machine.

Totally.

To right to critically examine, to question anything and everything that it allows to be broadcast in the media. Because if it is allowed to be disseminated, it is a GIVEN that it is somehow false.

What we have here is a HUGE shell game.

Watch.

Under this shell…BushCo.

Under this next shell…name it. Kerry, Fitzgerald, the Democrats…whatever flavor the opposition of the day is to be called this day.

And under THIS shell…that’s us. Our real best interests. The American people with all of our cherished “rights”.

And again and again and again and yet AGAIN…the huckster starts his spiel.

“Choose yer shell, folks. Which one is yours? Win big! Ya can’t win it if you ain’t in it!!! Y’pays yer money and y’takes yer chances!!! Win BIG!!!”

And your chances are…ZILCH.

Zero.

Nada.

No chance whatsoever, as long as you continue playing the game.

You can’t win it if you ARE in it.

Just like the “rights” about which these Post reporters so blithely write.

Zilch.

Zero.

Nada.

Until you realize this one simple fact…that you have NO rights.

Except the right to be fleeced.

Which is a “right” that is cherished by ALL sheep.

At least until the dinner bell rings.

“Lamb, tonite, folks. Blue plate special!!!”

Wake up.

Every time you support people who themselves support the continuation of this system as it now stands, you are simply adding another log to the fire next time.

The one that will roast your shanks to a delicious state of doneness if it is ever ignited.

DEMAND more.

If Fitzgerald really does manage to convict some of these criminals…DEMAND MORE!!!

Refuse to stand for pardons.

Refuse to stand for yet another Democratic Party surrender to Big Oil in the Middle East, and vote out of office ANYONE who says anything other than “Out now, and then let’s see what we CAN do.”

And refuse to stand for the big lie, even if it is being sung to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner.

We need a NEW flag.

Too much red, too much white, not ENOUGH blue.

Black, Brown and Beige.

Yup.

Now THERE’s a flag we could ALL salute.

Yup.

Black, Brown and Beige.

Let’s see them run THAT up the flagpole and see who salutes.

Would you?

AG