Off the Track

Since I've returned from my Florida break, I've been busy trying to get back into the groove at work, as well as catching up on all the news that I've missed while I was away. Perhaps it's because I was away from it all for a while & then got immersed in the news, but it suddenly all seems too much. Too much bad news. The country just seems to be in a god-awful mess.

Things like:

The Bush/Cheney regime's secrecy, disregard for law and executive power grab, which works to permit these petty little tyrants to amass power in the hands of the few, with the acquiesce of a compliant Congress.

Year 5 of the Worst War in History.

Revelations about the true extent of the Administration's torture program.

A major downturn in the economy, with the Administration arguing over whether this is a recession, while I worry that we're headed into a major depression.

Diminution or elimination of our privacy rights, with wiretapping and other intrusions on our constitutional rights.

A marriage of Church and State, with religious extremists calling the shots.

A press that obsesses over celebrity, but disregards reporting on the true state of affairs that is destroying our country.

Just when I'm ready to despair that hardly anyone gives a damn, I then pick up the paper to see that 81% in Poll Say Nation Is on the Wrong Track:

Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.

In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.

Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.

The dissatisfaction is especially striking because public opinion usually hits its low point only in the months and years after an economic downturn, not at the beginning of one. Today, however, Americans report being deeply worried about the country even though many say their own personal finances are still in fairly good shape.

I realize that the mood of the country is due in large part to the downturn in the economy (as well as the war in Iraq), but I think it has finally gone beyond that to a realization that the current gang in power has screwed us every which way from Sunday and won't stop until we stop them.

As the History News Network confirms again, in its survey of Historians, Bush is the all-time Worst.President.Ever. Ever? It's No Contest. Ever? Without.A.Doubt. Ever? And the Winner Is? He's Number One.

Which ties in nicely with Pink's "Dear Mr. President" video.

(Video via Americablog)

UPDATED to add cartoon by Steve Sack, Star Tribune