Lies my parents told me, and the lies of my government

So, here is the first of a weekly blog entitled Terrainmonkey Rants. This is where I will set down thoughts, ideas, and all those lovely things that are going on in my head that are pissing me off. Now, heres the thing about these missives of public design, and one I want to be made absolutely clear: YOU ARE GOING TO DISAGREE WITH ME. I had to put that in all caps just to let you know we are going about this with that up front. I make no bones about being an absolute authority in regards to the things I preach about, and thats fine. Im not here to make you happy, just make you think, question, and ask why. This is my editorial about the world, life, the universe, and all those things that I feel are my opinions. I have strong opinions about a lot of different subjects, and I decided to air some of those. If you have differing opinions about what I have to say, great. Its like the old saying goes, Opinions are like assholes, and everyones got one. You can let your mind finish the rest. Now, you may feel like posting a comment or emailing me with your ideas, how they differ, and all that. To which I say, please do. If I make a mistake, and you feel it is your duty to correct me, go ahead. If you agree with what I have to say, and want to send me kudos, please do. I like feedback. If I make you think, make you upset, angry, and positively vitriolic, I feel I have done my job. Everyone has to feel some kind of passion about life, and anger is passion. Let it out. Holding it in isnt going to help at all. If I make you laugh with these rants, beautiful. That is the essence of life. Life without laughter is no life at all. Now, on with the first of many discussions about the state of the world.

Lies my parents told me:
When I was a kid, my parents told me about a fat jolly man in a red suit who rode a sleigh carried by eight reindeer who came down the chimney every year on Christmas to hand out presents in the night. Why this was so I never questioned, because they were my parents, and in those days I trusted everything my parents told me. They were the providers, the people who fed me, nurtured me, and gave me a place to live. They set the rules, the parameters of life, and told me what I needed to be told in order to survive in life. They also told me about a giant fluffy bunny that hid eggs and brought candy on Easter, and the tooth fairy left a dime under my pillow every time I lost a tooth. These things were real, and to a kid under 10, life is fantasy. And fantasy at that age is just as good as reality. I never questioned these things because there was solid evidence to support the lie. Every Christmas there were presents, every Easter there was eggs and chocolate, and every time I lost a tooth, there was a dime under my pillow.
Now, I can hear you folks out there in Cyberville asking where are you going with this? Allow me to explain. When I was 8, and just about the time I started questioning my parents, the lies were exposed. My father had been laid off of work, it was the mid 70s and jobs were scarce. Christmas loomed like an angry troll, and there were mouths to feed and presents to buy, but no money to do it. So, one day mom sat me down and told us what was happening. Now up to this point I was safely ensconced in the notion that Santa Claus was prepping to come to the world bearing gifts and that huge 1000 piece lego set was going to be mine soon. So, when she told us that we werent going to have a Christmas that year, I was shocked. Mortified! I could hardly believe it. What about santa? I asked. Then the bombshell: Son, she told me, Your father is Santa Claus, its all a myth.
I still couldnt believe it. All those years they had lied to me, the world had lied to me, the guy who sat in the mall with the big red suit and the beard had lied to me. What about the evidence? What about all those shiny gifts on Chrismas? What about all those Easter Eggs, and the Tooth fairy money?! All lies. A sham! A cunning deception! A trick played out in the world and everyone was involved. My 8 year old heart couldnt take it. All this time I had been lied to by the very people I was supposed to trust, my protectors, my shield, my bulwark against the bad guys of the world. Imagine my surprise the next week when the miracle happened.
So, here it was, Christmas day, and I wanted nothing more than to sleep all day and not come out of my room. I had no incentive to even talk to my parents, I was so upset. But then, like the Whos down in Whoville, there was singing, and laughing, and my mother came to the room and called me down to the living room. I got up, excited, and went to see what was the matter. And I was glad in it. On the living room floor, boxes and boxes and piles of presents were all over the place. There was no room on the floor for anymore. The entire space had been filled with shiny bright multicolored wrapped packages. Santa had come. My 1000 piece lego set was there, and stockings full of candy hung by the fire. The evidence was there, and my parents didnt lie to me after all. They had produced a Santa Claus, they made the myth real to me, and to this day, even after having a couple of kids, I still believe in him. Not the jolly guy in the red suit, but the spirit of him, the reality of the spirit of Christmas. The people of the neighborhood had heard our plight, stepped in, and asked what they could do. They delivered a miracle.
Now, I hear you asking. What does this have to do with anything? and heres the answer. Our government, supposed to be our national parent, with King George W Bush II at the helm as out national father, has lied to us. Big time. And he keeps lying to us, every day. Which brings me to my point, the essence of the rant.

Lies my Government Told me.

Early in the months of 2002, after the attacks of 9/11, I heard the president of our country, our National Father, say that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction and had ties to the attacks of 9/11. Now, most of the time I feel that politicians are liars, and while most of them may obfuscate the truth, there are others out there who are actually good hearted folks trying to do the right thing. Up to that point I was safe in the knowledge that our president, while somewhat of a dufus, had the best interest of our nation at heart. I would like to think that is still the case, but recent news shows us that it is not. So, I went along with the story. Saddam was a bad guy, who gassed his people, starved his populace and was looking for nuclear material to bomb the world and kill more people. I was as frightened as the next person, after watching the visceral terror that happened that summer morning in September. But, I said, What evidence do we have? because I am a skeptic at heart. And, like my Father before him, our government produced it. Loads of it. Hell, even Colin Powell went in front of the United Nations and showed us satellite imagery, anthrax factories, munitions sites, roving semis laden with biological weapons labs, and a vial of some horrible chemical that would kill thousands if dropped into the water supply. Condi Rice was talking of mushroom clouds over New York City, and Bad Things were going to happen if we let this bad guy keep going with the program. Bad Things indeed. Bullshit, all of it. But did we know then? No. because we believed it, how could we not? The evidence was clear, unequivocal. Why would a member of our administration lie to the World Body? To sell a war, thats why. A war that to this day has cost our country over 2400 lives and that is rising every day. And that pisses me off, because it was unnecessary, and they sold us a lie to do it.
Now, normally I like to give my government the benefit of the doubt. So, when the war started, while I wasnt all for it, I had a big problem with the preemptive nature of our assault on Iraq. I thought maybe the weapons inspection teams should have been given more time, and diplomacy should have been used a bit better, but in the end, all was made right. Saddam Hussein was toppled, the mission was accomplished, and the statues of Saddam were being ripped down. It was a perfect movie ending to a conflict that lasted a few weeks and didnt cost that many lives. George landed a plane on an aircraft carrier and told us the war was over. Our troops were in Bagdahd, and people were smacking pictures of Saddam with their shoes. All was well and happy.
Then the lies started coming in. We searched, and went to all those sites north, east, south, and west of Tikrit and Bagdad, as Rummy had told us. We found nothing. There were no WMDs. But they kept lying to us, saying that they were there. Then the other stuff came out. There was no report that linked Osama to Iraq. Hell, people started saying they hated each other, why would they work together? Then the report that said Saddam had not tried to get the nuclear material to make bombs. Then the report came out that he didnt even have a weapons program that could fire a bomb at any target. And all those things didnt stop the Spin Machine of the King George White House from continuing to lie to us. Now, I understand politics to a certain degree, and I expect a fair amount of deception. Clinton taught us that, but that was small potatoes compared to this one. That was a sure you look great in that dress, lie. This was a monumental fabrication, a No I didnt cut down that cherry tree, while holding the axe behind his back, lie. And Georgie aint no Washington. If he were, we wouldnt be in this shit up past our eyeballs right now. And every day more and more bodies of our brave soldiers over there come back in coffins because of the lies.
I feel it is incumbent on every American to question the way our government operates. It was written into our national framework, with the advent of free speech. But I get a little angry when every question we ask gets another falsehood as an answer. Our national prestige in the world is in the shitter right now because of W. While during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, we had the sympathy of every good country on earth. Help was coming in from every corner of the globe, and what did we do? We shit on it. We threw it in the crapper, lied to the world and sold them a phony war. Why did we do this?
Well, there are a variety of reasons, and a few people have come to the conclusion it was for oil, revenge, greed, empire building, or just because we had the weapons and needed to use them. No one knows the real answer. But it certainly wasnt because of WMDs, or Terrorism, or Iraqi nucular ambitions. That was the story they sold us. And they lied, plain and simple, and it should piss people off as much as it has me. They havent produced the evidence. There is no Santa Claus here. No packages of Anthrax wrapped up in pretty bows, no WMDs in the stockings hung by the fire, and no 1000 piece lego sets buried in the desert waiting for the nuclear material to fit into them.
Ask why! Write the white house a letter and ask about it! Call the main 800 line. Ask why you were lied to. And in the meantime, ask why the same administration is keeping a record of your phone calls. Ask why the top officials of the White House gave the name of a CIA agent to the press. Ask why they keep lying to us about everything they are doing, and keep on asking until you get the truth.
In actuality I dont think youll ever get it. They sold us the war like my father sold Santa Claus, and this Christmas present isnt going to come any time soon. The miracle isnt going to be produced. The sad thing is George isnt acting like our national father right now, because he would have been telling us the truth by now. And that is why we should never trust another thing this administration says. Because its all a pack of lies and well never learn the truth at all. Here endeth the rant.