Adios, Sayonara, Hasta La Vista, Arrivederci, auf Wiedersehen, Until We Meet Again

During Bush's eight years, we Americans had to learn his lingo. There were the nicknames that Bush had for many people. We learned early on about the word, "Trust." After Bush failed to warn the American people before 9/11, because he and his administration had warnings and took them seriously enough to warn other people not to fly, such as Ashcroft .. . the word "terrorism" became a fear campaign of bullying, intimidation, and the stalking, not of those people around the world who would do us harm, but of American citizens who were activists. Bush and his cohorts made a list of American citizens. That stupid list, one of many stupid ideas that came to pass in order to sneak and peek on people, and it grew into thousands.

What's in a name? To Bush and his loyalists, a name could get a person kidnapped off an American street, put into prison, sent to another country to be tortured. Your name could get you on a list given to the airlines, so you could be detained and harassed for no reason other than your name. People were bought and paid for in Pakistan, by just the word of another person, and put into prisons, so Bush/Cheney/Rove could brag about how they were fighting terrorism.

Spying, listening illegally on phone calls ... people wearing the word "Peace" on tee shirts were arrested. Bumper stickers saying the wrong thing could get you put out of political gatherings. This type of bullying violence filtered down into the American population. We would hear it coming from religious leaders, hate groups, or just ordinary street thugs. They felt a common thread, a connection with the Bush GOP administration.

Watching Bush traveling around the country, talking about how difficult his decisions were ... I guess his memory has failed him completely. Shame, to purposely forget such horrible memories. The pretzel scare. The touchy-feely of fellow diplomats caught on tape. How many Americans remember the arrogance we were shown in Bush's run-up to invade Iraq? The renaming of White House French Fries. The total refusal to listen to anyone who knew anything about Iraq, even to the point of outing a CIA agent, whose job was tracking terrorists, in order to get back at her husband for telling the truth. Today, still no real accountability for that act of treason.

How many Americans remember the arrogance right after 911 when Bush said God told him to kill Iraqis, and when he thought it cool to bomb innocent people in Afghanistan and killed 5,000 innocent citizens, instead of going after bin Laden, a member of the same family who bailed Bush out of his money troubles at one time, and who was allowed to escape into Pakistan. The kind of arrogance that allowed 100 members of the bin Laden family to leave the US without being questioned during the fly down after 9/11.

The kind of smart-alec arrogance shown when journalists would get kicked out of the White House news conferences, if Bush didn't like their questions. The disrespect shown toward Helen Thomas, seen even today during his last press conference. The kind of arrogance that allowed a fake news reporter into Bush's White House, who was later found to be a gay male prostitute using a fake identity, and he had complete access to the Bush White House any time. And, that was the end of it. No explanation, nothing, other than the pictures of this guy on the web. 

Then there's the war on the world and US citizens. Outright contempt shown by Bush for the Geneva Conventions, US military, and US law. Those signing statements. Secrecy. The arrogance of the Republican Congress for the last eight years, and their antics pulled in order to get their way. The lies. The distortion of facts.

How many Americans remember this:

Troops' Gravestones Have Pentagon Slogans By DAVID PACE, Associated Press Writer

It wasn't until the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that the department instructed national cemetery directors and funeral homes across the country to advise families of fallen soldiers and Marines that they could have operation names like "Enduring Freedom" or "Iraqi Freedom" included on the headstones.

Bush and his cabal took every word and twisted it into some psychotic meaning that turned everything they touched into debt, death, and destruction ... and never looked back ... until, now. Why now, we ask? Maybe they thought they would have the power to never have to step down, like Hitler ... because that's the way Bush and his minions ruled the day.

Fascism, dictatorship and propaganda are words Bush understands. The Bush/Cheney/Rove authoritarianism and what they did while in power in many ways copied Hitler's rule in Germany during the ten years before WWII. This case was written about many times. After what this country has been through, even today, Warren, the evangelistic minister, used Hitler as a complimentary example of himself. Any more proof that, until this country faces accountability, this type of leadership of abuse of power is seen to be okay, enough so, as to brag about it. Saying that what Hitler did was okay is saying that the deaths of 6-17 million people, most in concentrations camps, would be worth it, if it accomplished whatever the hell the arrogance of any leader, religious or government, wanted to accomplish. This type of thinking "screams" from the graves of millions for accountability.

Of course, Warren is not the first so-called religious leader to consider that violence is a way and means to get results. Republican preachers used our freedom of speech to spew hatred constantly and were never talked down by Bush, who was supposed to protect the rights of all American citizens.

Eight years of this same arrogance, and over 4,000 dead Americans in our military, over 30,000 injured, figures that are probably not correct since they come from the Bush regime, hundreds of thousands of dead in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the displacement of millions, the destruction of one of our most musically talented and colorful cities, New Orleans, the US economy and job market in the Bush GOP toilet, and Bush expects no accountability for his actions or the lack of his actions when needed. 

Here's a few words that Bush could learn for the future. Words he might find will come in handy.

It's called "Block Talk." Mother Jones, Jen Phillips. The language in prisons.

Bo-bos: Prison-issued Tennis Shoes

Brake Fluid: Psychiatric meds such as liquid Thorazine

Buck Rogers time: a sentence with parole unimaginably far in the future

Chalk: Prison moonshine

Ding Wing: Mental Health Ward

High Class: Hepatitis C

Robocop: Guard who writes up every infraction, no matter how small.

We Americans allowed this to happen during the first years of the Clinton administration when he stopped the investigations regarding Bush number one, the father, (who lately wanted his son, Jeb to run for residency in the White House, it never stops) and that has led us to these last eight years. If justice is not served, then as Bush himself has said about our Constitution, "It's just a goddamn piece of paper," would be correct, and he's probably counting on that, since accountability for one's actions in US government has almost become nil and void. Fear of accountability does not exist in US government. Why? Because the members of Congress vote on each other. Accountability must come from outside US government. They vote on their own raises in salary (how many people get to do that?), when this country is down and out, too many alliances have been made throughout the years. The Justice Department is supposed to act alone, but that has not been the case during the Bush administration.

"Delay in justice is injustice." -- Walter Savage Landor (d. 1864) Sinclair, the Cry for Justice.

The Bush/Cheney power trip is over and let's all hope that it shorts out in a court of justice. That all life on this planet should be respected by those in power or they pay the price. A high price. Where US government has been concerned, Justice has not been blind. It's time to lower that blindfold.

In conclusion, I'll just say "Avast Ye!" That's pirate lingo, something the plundering Bush/Cheney/Rove GOP should have no trouble understanding. Maybe Bush mistakenly thinks that he and his gang will get a "Letter of Marque." A document giving pirates amnesty so long as they only plundered ships from enemy nations. Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans were no threat to these United States.  If there is any true justice left in this country, the next time we see Bush/Cheney/Rove, and the gang, it will be in court, preferably a world's court. Adieu, adieu, adieu.

Shirley Smith

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON