Not much to write about these days. Kids are back from PA, and like the new place. Still unpacking boxes. I have most of my books put away, and am now working on the “tail end” of things, mostly paper / bills / stuff that piled up and was never filed.
I spend a fair amount of time debating politics with Michael. He is invaluable in that (and any other! 
) regard, as he presents a much-needed actual opinion, challenging my own. God, how I miss that in this country. Streitkultur is unknown. Attempts at political debate with colleagues are cut short with “we will all just have to agree to disagree” just when it gets interesting.
So, politics. I view the development here in the US with trepidation. Mr. Bush is quoted as stating, in a conversation with Mr. Abbas, that God told him, Bush, to strike at Al-Quaida and Saddam.
The BBC reports about Bush’s evangelical beliefs. In a nutshell, there is reason to suspect that Mr. Bush might labour under the fantasy that he is playing a crucial role in the last, epic battle with the Anti-Christ, heralding the second coming of Christ. Criminy! That, if true, is even worse than those Israely settlers that seek to force the Messiah to appear by extending the boundaries of Israel.
This does not speak to me of a sane leader. There is method to the madness, however, as evidenced by the suspension of civil rights and liberties through the PATRIOT act, which allows the US executive to detain people pretty much indefinitely without even charging them. Mr. Ashcroft seeks to make these “emergency powers”, granted as a knee-jerk reaction to the 9/11 attacks, into perpetual law, through the VICTORY act. If I weren’t such a hardened atheist, I’d pray for him not to succeed. As it is, I just get very angry.
Posted by yorickdowne 
