For a little while I lost my way. I began to believe that Bush and Co. would somehow redeem themselves through their (eventual) actions on the Hurricane Katrina front. I hoped they would show real compassion. This was, of course, delusional on my part. I have a habit of succumbing to false hope, of forgetting cynicism, of thinking the best of people. How foolish! Particularly when it comes to the current administration.

Like Orwellian Newspeak, this administration has a code for the words they speak. Compassion means drawn out torture. Faith-based means Christian faith-based. Security means stripping and degrading prisoners. Culture of life means death to designated enemies. See how that works? It's just a matter of figuring out the hidden meaning so you can decrypt the utterances and proclamations. Because no matter what they say, they mean something else.

They often say words which sound right, which give an impression of caring. But they don't care at all. Or, rather, they care about very different things than the ones they speak of.

This is the legacy of this administration: They lie. They are secretive to the point of psychotic paranoia. Their retribution is unstinting. The engine of their goals is greed. They make a virtue of arrogance and call it "strength." Contempt is their core operating philosophy, not conservatism. Real conservatism has values; they have none, just frantic power-seeking and willful destruction.

I've concluded that they never, ever speak the truth. The more honest they appear, the more deceit involved. "Clear Skies" indeed. Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me a thousand times, shame on me.

I'm taking a pledge to never believe them again. Nor will I believe their associates, their staffs, anyone who works for or with them. Those who ally themselves with them are suspect in my eyes. This is aggressive surgical treatment of a cancer on the body politic: excise it. And perhaps cut out some of the healthy tissue in the process just to make sure it's all gone. This is the miserable strait I am brought to: pure and total repudiation of every nasty and vicious one of them. I suggest you do too.

[Disclaimer: I should note, in deference to certain laws about making threats against the President, that I am not advocating violence. The term "surgical treatment" is a metaphor. This means I'm not speaking about physically harming the President, right? Because that would be wrong and illegal.]

[The fact that I feel a need to explicitly state the disclaimer above says something about the state of free speech in this country. Is it just me being paranoid or overly cautious? Perhaps. Probably. But that's the beauty of persecuting dissenters: It sends a message to everyone. We become fearful of making bold statements for fear of misinterpretation. And it will silence some.]