I've been thinking about your problem....

Up until this morning I've mostly been doing a lot of reading, a lot of
sharing informative articles with people, and a lot of worrying.  But the
web seems to be inaccessible to me at the moment.  I'm assuming the new
worm has something to do with it, but most sites seem to be unavailable
and the rest download so slow that I lose all patience.

So, I am forced to think, and this is what I've come up with:

1.  You had an emotional reaction, you used your strongest language -
which, normally, everyone appreciates, so you had no reason to think this
would be any different, especially at a time like this.

So your language was a little overboard, but I don't think you really do
want to "glass" whole countries.  I think you want what we all want, which
is a concerted effort by all to show that there is no room for barbarity
in this world anymore, and it will not be tolerated.

2.  One very important reason why most of us flock to your site is for
relief from the unrelenting falseness of our politicians and the illiberal
media.  But all week that same media has been full of unity of purpose
behind an all-out effort to GET THOSE BASTARDS, preparation for putting
the US on a permanent war footing, and lust for revenge.

As I say, we all do very much want to do something in the face of this tragedy,
to bring the perpetrators to justice and, more, to make sure that the tendrils of
barbarism that have brought us to this place are eradicated from our world.
We want to show that we can come together and face this threat and make it gone.

But what we want from you, dear Bartcop, is what we have always wanted from you:
A dissenting voice from the increasingly right-wing loony media that pretends our
government hasn't been engaged in criminally insane policies, that wishes to convince us
that we all respect and love this so-called president who is clearly not up to the job,
that we accept the legitimacy of an agenda which is meant to take our money - and now
perhaps our lives - primarily in the service of shoring up and safeguarding their wealth.

Rooting out the causes of Tuesday's evil will take determination and effort on all our parts,
but especially people like us who know that the Bush family and their friends in the CIA
have had all too much to do with putting us in this position in the first place.  Their anti-communism
- that is, their belief in their own supremacy and their fealty to the almighty dollar - has always been
more important to them than the health, safety, and freedoms of our nation.  Our intelligence services
are a joke, meant to provide a sinecure to lazy minions of the aristocracy who want comfortable
but glamorous jobs.  We need to change that, and we won't do it just by shouting for revenge.

Terrorism is about scaring people into fearfulness and foolishness.  Right now the Republicans
are saying that this event means we can't argue with Bush's agenda anymore.  Tim Russert says
it gives Bush carte blanche to pass all of his wish list.  Democratic politicians are saying they don't
want to argue about things like the Social Security "lockbox", now, because that would be "partisan".
Congress is passing laws against strong encryption.

We have to stand in the way of this.  We have to write to our Democratic representatives and say
that Social Security is not a partisan issue, it's an issue that we actually believe in, and we're not just
opposing the Republicans because they are a different party.  We have to tell them that we want
Bush's tax cut rescinded because we believe in protecting the health and stability of our nation.
We have to make sure they know that if we forfeit our freedoms, the terrorists have already won.

We don't need you to tell us we are grieving, or that we want to stop the terrorists.
We have the whole mainstream media doing that for us.  What we don't have them doing
is telling our leaders that we want them to be prudent, to safeguard the values we all hold dear,
and not to let some scared, stupid, over-aged teenager run this country into a hole.

Now, more than ever, we need you to be Bartcop.
 

Love,
--
Avedon
 

Avedon, thanks for that.

I said early on that I realized I was speaking with my heart, not my brain.
In my whole life, I've never been too angry to think.
No, I don't want to glass whole countries.

Unlike the vulgar Pigboy, who refused to say Clinton was ever right about anything,
I can't oppose every action Bush takes just because I'm a Democrat.
Bush was real good at killing grandmothers and repentant Christians in Texas,
so now I want to see him get tough with bin Laden. 

The fake Democrats were too scared to fight Bush when things were rosy,
so I doubt they're willing to try to stop the overall Bush agenda now.

The smart move would be to delay controversial domestic initiatives until we can think straight.
but without Clinton to guide them, the Democrats are like lost children at the zoo.

For me to be BartCop I have to say what's on my mind.
I can't say what people want to hear.

If we can prove he's guilty, I want bin Laden dead, not brought to trial.
If the Taliban wants to die with him, that's OK with me.
If thousands choose to die with him, that's OK, too.
 

I'm all for stopping the unelected fraud, but we can't do a lot as long as Bush's
popularity is in the high-eighties. Let's glass bin Laden and get back to business.