How does it feel?

[Wind Dancer]

No Direction Home

By CHRIS FLOYD

"How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home."

Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone"

Let's be clear about one thing. Nothing that has happened in the past week -- the mass destruction in the Mississippi Delta, the obliteration of the city of New Orleans, the murderous abandonment of thousands of people to death, chaos and disease ­ will change the Bush Administration or American politics at all. Not one whit. The Bush Administration will not reverse its brutal policies; its Congressional rubber-stamps will not revolt against the White House; the national Democrats will not suddenly grow a spine. There will be no real change, and the bitter corrosion of injustice, indifference and inhumanity that is consuming American society will go on as before.

One proof of this can be found in the first polls coming out after the disaster, which show that a full 46 percent of the American people approve of Bush's handling of the relief effort. It seems inconceivable that any sentient being could witness the agonizing results of the Bush team's dithering, dilatory response ­ an agony played out in the full glare of non-stop media coverage ­ and not come away with a sense of towering anger at this criminal incompetence. But it's obvious that nearly half the American people have now left the "reality-based community" altogether; they see only what they want to see, a world bathed in the hazy, golden nimbus of the Leader. The fact ­ the undeniable truth ­ that behind this carefully-concocted mirage lies nothing more than a steaming pile of rancid, rotting offal means nothing to these true believers. The Lie is better, the Lie is more comforting, the Lie lets them keep feeding on the suffering of others without guilt or shame.

-snip-

This is what you must understand: Bush and his faction do not care if they have "the consent of the governed" or not. They are not interested in governing at all, in responding to the needs and desires and will of the people. They are only interested in ruling, in using the power of the state to force their radical agenda of elitist aggrandizement and ideological crankery on the nation, and on the world.

They have a large, hard core of true believers who will countenance ­ even applaud ­ any crime, any corruption, any incompetence of the Leader and his minions. With this base, and with all of the branches of government already in their hands, the Faction need only procure the reluctant support of just a small percentage of the rest of the population ­ through fearmongering, through smears and lies, and, as we saw in 2000 and 2004, through the manipulation of election results via politically connected voting-machine corporations and politically partisan election officials.

-more-

http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd09072005.html


A very depressing article.

[skooooo]

1. Down in the Flood

Down in the Flood
by Dylan

Crash on the levee, mama,
Water's gonna overflow,
Swamp's gonna rise,
No boat's gonna row.
Now, you can train on down
To Williams Point,
You can bust your feet,
You can rock this joint.
But oh mama, ain't you gonna miss your best friend now?
You're gonna have to find yourself
Another best friend, somehow.

Now, don't you try an' move me,
You're just gonna lose.
There's a crash on the levee
And, mama, you've been refused.
Well, it's sugar for sugar
And salt for salt,
If you go down in the flood,
It's gonna be your own fault.
Oh mama, ain't you gonna miss your best friend now?
You're gonna have to find yourself
Another best friend, somehow.

Well, that high tide's risin',
Mama, don't you let me down.
Pack up your suitcase,
Mama, don't you make a sound.
Now, it's king for king,
Queen for queen,
It's gonna be the meanest flood
That anybody's seen.
Oh mama, ain't you gonna miss your best friend now?
Yes, you're gonna have to find yourself
Another best friend, somehow.




Copyright © 1967; renewed 1995 Dwarf Music

[Wind Dancer]

2. Thanks for posting those lyrics.

It's chilling to read almost 40 years later. I'm a longtime fan and find his music more important today than ever.

[OneBlueSky]

3. tragically, he's absolutely correct . . .

the third disaster of 2005 is that Bush will survive this . . .

if people were going to be outraged enought to demand his resignation or impeachment, it would have happened by now . . . and it hasn't . . . sure, there are isolated demands from places like DU, but by and large the American population and the media have not demanded that Bush be removed . . . and they should have . . .

imagine, if you will, that all of the faces we've seen on television over the past week had been white . . . the calls for impeachment would have been instantaneous and damn near universal . . . the fact that they are black apparently means that they aren't important enough to raise too much of a stink about . . . yeah, it's a tragedy . . . but "we" will pull through . . . "we" meaning us whites, the country in general, as opposed to the people actually impacted . . .

if people are not outraged enough by now, they never will be . . . particularly now that BushCo will have plenty of time to mount their defense propaganda campaign . . . after the "impartial, independent" investigation, we'll be told that Bush's people let him down . . . that he, too, is a victim of this tragedy . . . and the American people will get this somber look, nod their heads, and drive their SUVs to Wal-Mart the next day . . .

the fact that the truly outraged in the media and in government are calling for Brown's and Chertoff's heads -- and NOT Bush's -- proves the point . . .

[Wind Dancer]

4. I couldn't agree more!

I don't know what it will take for this country to regain its heart and soul. The investigation will be a whitewash, if there is one, WalMart has offered thousands of jobs to the hurricane victims and corporate America will get richer.

I am feeling overwhelmed and helpless, this administration is responsible for the deaths of thousands and will get away with it.

People are sent to morgues to die alone due to shortage of medical staff. It's hard to deal with this, extremely hard.

[The Sleeper]

5. Yes, they think they rule....

and when 2008 roles around, they don't plan on going anywhere.

Do you think they care what the rabble in the street has to say ?