Have things gotten really worse, or have I just become an Old Fart?

[raven mad]

32. We're thinking with the same brain, Armstead.

I hate to say it - I don't want to think it - but it isn't cranky old fartism. If it us, 2/3 of DU is our age, and we know DU'ers are all ages.

I think the threshold to despair was approached in 2000, crossed on 9/11/2001, and the door slammed shut on March 1, 2003. That's when we, as a nation, gave in and gave up to the corporations who previously pretended not to own us outright, and to the politicians who had been in the corporate pocket all along.

The despair got worse with every fuckup of the Bush administration, from "Mission Accomplished" to Abu Grahib. From the "tee hee, I found the WMD's, they were hiding behind the couch all this time" Bushit to Dickless Cheney's allegations that Saddam and Al Qaeda were "linked" in the 9/11 attacks. From Valerie Plame (remember "Scooter" Libby?) to the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Reich..........uh, Security.

I'm not sure the despair can be exorcised. Not in my lifetime, anyway; hopefully, by the time my granddaughter and grandson are of age, if they haven't starved or become homeless by then, they'll still choose NOT to fight in made-up wars for corporate profits.

We can't feed/clothe/house the poor or downtrodden; we cannot provide healthcare to the sick, elderly or mentally ill but we BY GAWD have the highest military spending and prison population in the "civilized" Western World!