Is Bush's God an Idiot?

[chefmike]

Is Bush's God an Idiot?
Bill Cusack

Before deciding to invade Iraq, Bush, apparently, or so he says, talked it over with God, and God, says Bush, told him to invade, or at least made it abundantly clear that he supported an invasion of Iraq very, very, very strongly, presumably because God hates Middle Eastern dictators with lots of oil as opposed to lots of other dictators without lots of oil.

God knew there were no WMD's because God is all powerful and can see all or he ain't God. Apparently God didn't tell Bush he would create terrorists and unleash ethnic hatred which would drag us into a death spiral quagmire, either. So the bottom line is God told Bush to invade Iraq, which is the most tragic blunder in U.S. history since the decision to legalize slavery- a blunder that has humiliated this country and will imperil the security and economic interests of America for the rest of this century. Is God an idiot?
Maybe Bush's God is a terrible geo-political strategist who doesn't understand America or the world. Maybe like Elvis he burned out and lost his way and has become fat and bloated and out of touch. Maybe Bush's God is in the terrible throes of an Elvis-like Vegas death spiral.

Perhaps Bush wasn't praying to God. There are lots of freaks out there who would no doubt take advantage of a man obsessed. Maybe Satan ditched the pitchfork and horns and put on a hippie wig, flowing beard and some flowing white robes and pulled the wool over Bush's eyes. I can't imagine that would be too hard to do. Maybe Bush really channeled some prankster of a spirit pretending to be God- the way people pretend to be others when they make prank calls- and frat boy pull my finger Bush fell for the joke.

Maybe Bush really had God on the line and Bush kept pressing for this Iraq invasion and God tried to warn Bush but couldn't dissuade him to abandon his foolish plan and got disgusted with Dubya and just turned his back and walked away- at which point Bush thought he won the argument. Or maybe Bush was/is caught up in a solipsistic loop and mistook his own head for God- he just heard himself in the dark urging himself on to Iraq all along.

The jury is still out on this whole Is God an Idiot question in my mind for several reasons. It's widely known within certain talking to God circles that when people do bad things God punishes them- 9/11 was punishment in the eyes of the God of Bush crowd. To them Katrina destroyed a sinful city, and San Francisco gets rightly walloped every now and then- God is constantly kicking sinner ass.

So let's say our death spiral quagmire in Iraq is punishment. Why does God want to destroy us and humiliate us? There is no doubt that is exactly what is happening. All of Bin Laden's dreams and goals are coming true. God isn't just teaching us a lesson in Iraq from which we can recover- he is stripping away our strength and power. We are done in the Middle East as a military influence, and we are now fated to sit by and watch China become king of the hill. Does God love Osama Bin Laden more than he loves Bush? Why is Bush taking orders from a God who loves Osama Bin Laden and wants to humiliate the U.S.? Did Allah kill Jesus? Jesus was a pacifist, after all, and Allah has been known to kick some serious booty- doesn't even seem like a fair fight. Poor, poor Jesus!

Or could it be that we are being punished for our sins? Let's see- what have we done to deserve such a backbreaking defeat in Iraq. Slavery? Maybe, but I thought that issue was settled. It took 500 years but eventually Jesus gave southern Christians an ass whooping and freed the slaves and got some civil rights on the law books. Northerners died in droves as well, paying them back for tolerating the evil of slavery for so long. Did we rely on oil too much? Did we overthrow too many democratic elections in South America and the Middle East? Should we not have waged predatory economic war on developing countries and the environment? OK, but aren't all our heinous sins kinda offset by stopping Tojo and Hitler and holding off the Rooskies in the Cold War? Don't we give away billions and billions each year? Besides- there is a huge contingent of people in America who are prepared to develop alternative fuels and stop interfering with other governments. God could've just as easily made those forces dominant if God thought that was the way to go. But God didn't. In fact, God has gone far, far out of his way to make sure Bush is in power. God wants Bush in power- no doubt in my mind. But since Bush has done nothing but ruin this country's authority, power and prestige, the question becomes "Why would God want BUSH in power???"

Let's back it on up for a minute. People rely on an all powerful combination of corporations and government to run the world and provide them with order and protection. In return for giving up control of our lives to this authority structure we get someone to blame when things go wrong (think Katrina) and an expectation of safety and security so we can pursue happiness. With all the big stuff out of the way we get to be little kids who can afford to get upset when they change Coke's secret formula and when Simon Cowell gets too mean.

What we give up for this dubious warm and fuzzy sense of security is responsibility for our government's actions and for our society's decisions. They overthrow other governments, pardon themselves, meet with energy companies behind closed doors, rig insurance laws and we complain and rarely throw them out of office. Most Americans want health care, gun control and to end the Iraq war now. Fat Chance. Authority doesn't want those changes, and we don't want to give up relying on Authority to give us security. So we take the scandals and call them assholes and move on from O.J. to Anna Nicole to who ever is next.

We no longer get to have it both ways. Authority is no longer taking care of us. Jobs are leaving, cities are dieing, health care is beyond nearly everyone's reach, we can't secure enough energy without being in a constant state of war. Authority's way is failing all around us. Refusing to take responsibility for ourselves is creating too many problems around the world and is stunting our growth as spiritual beings. So we pray to God for a way out. Here's my question- perhaps God wasn't answering Bush's prayer at all. What if God was answering OUR prayer to find a way out from under Authority and still have security by answering Bush's prayer? Here's the evidence that the answer is "yes".

If God really does love America and Americans, and wants what is best for us, then God is going to make us responsible for our lives and the actions of our government. God is a good parent. If that is the case then the authority structure running the world has to be taken down.

How does God accomplish such a goal? We won't take down our own security blanket, apparently. A head on attack? No way, Jose. There is no way the ever proverbial Powers That Be can be attacked successfully from the outside. They would only get stronger if attacked, as evidenced by Pearl Harbor and 9/11 for those brief days when we came together as a nation before Bush invaded Iraq.

Authority can only be brought down if it rots away from the inside out. What better place to start then with the Bushies? The Bush family does nothing if not embody the powerful combination of Corporate America and Government that comprises the worlds' Authority structure. So God planted a rotten apple in the Bush family and made sure he, not Jeb, got the Big Job at the right time.

Had a competent man been president on 9/11 we would have by now killed Bin Laden, protected our borders, secured Afghanistan and we'd all be sitting pretty. We'd have no debt, so we wouldn't be on the way to becoming China's play toy, Social Security would be in good shape, we could've focused on Afghanistan and Al Qaeda would be reduced to a nuisance, North Korea wouldn't have the bomb, and Iran wouldn't dare press on with it's nuclear program because we wouldn't be tied down in Iraq. Iraq is headed towards another dangerous dictatorship so we've wasted everything there. But a competent President would only make Authority stronger, and Authority is the problem.

The first sign of Authority's collapse was Clinton's impeachment- instead of paying attention to running the world Authority got caught up in a blow job and missed Bin Laden's gathering power. Instead of learning a lesson, Authority used their unnecessary and dangerous destroy Clinton campaign as sign of righteousness. That is some Vegas-Elvis rot. Then came Florida in 2000, the Patriot Act, and the big blow- Iraq. There were no WMD, which slapped the smirk of credibility off our government's face. Then Katrina came along and made their inner rot even easier to see and spread the rot farther and deeper. We had the Capitol Hill page scandals, Republican Faux family values, Scooter Libby, Walter Reed, 8 fired prosecutors- the scandals are as profound as they are endless. All these hideous scandals and one paltry, bullshit conviction. There is zero accountability. If that isn't rot then nothing is.

Now we have the news that Newt Gingrich was having an affair while he tried to take down commander in chief Clinton as Bin Laden prepared to attack this country. Talk about a bloated Vegas phase! Neo-Con Republicans- men who left stockpiles of weapons and billions in cash unprotected for our enemies to raid, men who created a terrorist haven in an oil rich country and destabilized the Middle East- men who refuse to care for our troops on and off the battle field- men who had no conclusive evidence of WMD yet made the world believe otherwise- men who have done more to harm this country than anyone since the secessionists- these men ignore their hellacious sins and instead of resigning in shame say those who oppose the greatest blunder in our history and its practitioners weaken our troops and embolden our enemies. Now that is some spectacular rot right there my friends- that is some of the most squalid, stenchy, worm-ridden Elvis-Vegas rot you will ever see.

God needed a man like Bush as President so that things could collapse. And as things collapse around us we are forced to take responsibility for our lives and for our government. Young Americans are far more realistic about what they can expect to get from the Military when they sign up for those college loans. Americans other than Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who can afford to lose everything, are re-thinking building in flood plains and other dangerous locals. Many insurance companies won't insure certain risks they once lined up to handle. At this point we can't live in harm's way then blame the government with a straight face when things go badly- we'll be dead if we don't look after ourselves. Bush's America can't count on waving the flag to make everything all right in their hearts and minds any more. Kids who pig out on soft drinks and candy are getting diabetes before they hit their teens with no health care system in sight capable of taking care of them. If no health care doesn't get people to take care of themselves then nothing will. Survival of the fittest will have all new meaning in post-Bush America.

To those who say Bush's God is heroic and is saving the world: All those who say they speak for God had better start squawking. What really happened between God and Bush when Bush decided to go to war and squander American security, wealth, power, life, faith and good will? Did Bush hear things right or did he get it wrong? This moment in our history is not one of those "Oh, ye of little faith" scenarios." Bush has toppled America. It's all about China from now on. If Bush got it right then why are we being punished so hard? If he got it wrong- whose side are you on- God's or Bush's? If Bush did get it right and God is an incompetent bloated Vegas version of his past glory, then what is Bush's God saying now? Everything is in hand but it'll take me 500 years to fix this? We'll all be speaking Chinenglish in 50 years, dude.

We are bankrupt and our future is mortgaged to the Chinese and their military. We have no ability to handle tomorrow's crises. We have been knocked off our perch and there is no getting back, not with China's economy growing at dizzying speeds. God is either talking to his earthly representatives and apologizing for this mess, or he has a Take Down America plan, or there is a third option: God put Bush in power to bring down the authorities that run this world so we will be forced to take responsibility for our lives and for our government. What say you men of faith in Bush? What does your God say now? I for one would like Bush to come clean and release the tapes of his conversation with the God who ordered this idiotic, unwinnable self-destructive war. And there had better not be any 18 minute gaps.

[chefmike]

My apologies to those of you who wanted a "there is no god, but bush is the god of idiots" option...

[LG]

When I was a kid at Sunday school, one of the most perplexing questions for me was "Why would this all-powerful, all-good deity allow all of these things to happen to the world? Why would God let us suffer through droughts, floods, fires, aircrashes, car accidents, evil dictators, stupid people and all the other things that make the world seem like a horrible place to be at times?"

Even the guy who taught us had trouble explaining at times. I have come to realise that the answer is simply "Because shit happens". It is up to us to change the world. Some people believe we can do this through prayer, others believe that we can do it only by trying harder to make a difference. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, things never change. No matter how much we pray or go to church, we might still get sick or be unlucky. Floods happen, global warming is happening, earthquakes kill thousands, idiots can still get elected to the presidency. Nothing we do can change that.

But we can learn- build flood defences, better homes and not vote for the scumbag again. Sometimes people don't learn, though. Bush becoming president the first time was an accident. Electing him to a second term was an embarassment.

I believe in God and am an occasionally lapsing Christian. I also believe that God is everywhere but that, in the end, it is up to all of us to make a difference.

So is Bush's God an idiot? No, becuase we can't assign such human traits to something beyond our understanding. God isn't a guy with a white beard. And he has far too much on his hands to care about what we think of his handling of things in America.

"God bless the USA" some say. God cares no more or no less about America than about Israel, Cape Verde, Iraq, Palestine, Brazil, Myanmar, Malta, Luxembourg, Finland or about the shoeless guy who keeps walking up and down the road in my neighbourhood asking for cigarettes and telling everyone to "Fuck off!".

So is Bush's God an idiot? I'm not sure what kind of God Bush worships. True there's only one God but I see God differently to how Bush sees him. Bush might think that God is there to protect America, that Americans are the chosen people, that the Bush family are above the rest. Bush may think that God hates homosexuals, muslims, liberals, or whatever. I don't know. But it's not how I see God.

Bush might think that he can communicate with God and that God supports him. If so, he is as severely deluded as some of his supporters who post on these forums. But let's not blame God for the mess this world is in. It's up to us, after all, to change the world.

[guyone]

There's so much self-loathing on this site.

[chefmike]

There's so much self-loathing on this site.

Dont be so hard on yourself, G1!

[guyone]

I'm not. I'm commenting on the venom.

[eggbert]

My apologies to those of you who wanted a "there is no god, but bush is the god of idiots" option...

I accept your apology. My vote for the above.

[trish]

There's so much self-loathing on this site.

you'd hate youself less, neo, if you just go and enlist. support our troops...join them in search for WMD's, i mean in their battle for democrac...no that's not it...join them in their fight against the insurgenc....oops! help them referee a civil war in Iraq.

[chefmike]

It's more than just a civil war, trish.

It's a civil war SURGE...

[chefmike]