Sigh. It's getting to the point that I don't tell anyone that I'm from California any more-- That half-grin and narrowing of the eyes every time I say those few syllables and a mocking question whether I'm going to be voting for AH-nold. True, I'm going to xerox my absentee recall ballot and keep it as a souvenir but more as a testament to how a conservative car alarm magnate, movie stars, well-dressed chimpanzees, and hawkish zealots can rip the American democratic process. Politicians and issues may come and go, but the true core of the American way of life is a dedication to fair, transparent, and unbiased processes of the Federal government all the way down to our everyday lives. We even package it for international consumption as the "rule of law." Largely due to the current administration, that which has sustained us for over 200 years and acted as a model for the rest of the world is unraveling.

Given widespread opposition to intervention in Iraq, Bush went on record saying he "respectfully disagree[d]" with the people he was supposed to serve and pointedly disregarded any arguments that he didn't agree with. Texas republicans decided that they wanted to redraw congressional districts simply because they wanted to take political advantage of their being in power. A system that was designed to adjust for population growth and movement based on the decennial census was wrenched into change only about a year after it was adjusted for the 2000 census. The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee rewrote a bill to his liking and then tried to stuff it down the Democrat's throats with the help of the Capitol Police. The Vice President's office still refuses to tell even other branches of the government who the administration talked to when writing up the country's energy policies. Bush also pulled out of important treaties and ignored the rest of the world just because he didn't like what they said. And, of course, there's AH-nold and the California recall. I'm just waiting, like Huey of the Boondocks said, for John Connor to run.

Speaking of the comics, this one is pretty telling:

Hagar the Horrible
The King doesn't want you to think of his tax collectors as cruel, heartless monsters.... As a matter of fact, the King doesn't even want you to think!