I have no idea why, and I'm sure you don't, but I'm going to try to make the following post as serious as possible. Bear with me, here.

I received in the mail yesterday a letter from Tom Daschle (D-SD) telling me that now was a trying time for Democrats all around the country. He included a snippet, purported to be from the Roll Call, that focused on a non-profit organization making every effort to destroy Mr. Daschle's political career.

Normally, I would sit here and espouse the evils of a 501-(c) taking political action of any kind. Technically, it's illegal, as nonprofits aren't supposed to have any sort of public political agenda. That's why they're able to be nonprofits, rather than the run-of-the-mill political action groups (PACs).

But.... this is different. I've been doing a lot of reading lately, mostly on those alternative, fringe, independent news sites, and I've come to a conclusion. Despite my great desire to do so, I can't really trust my government any more. And, as such, I really can't bring myself to care about Tom Daschle anymore, because he is an agent of that government which no longer lives up to my trust.

First, let me clarify my news reading. I don't go around reading Pravda or anything, cuz that's just a generally fucked-up paper, but I do read the Daily Rotten (see the sidebar) for articles on otherwise reputable websites: The Washington Post, CBS, The New York Times, and their cohorts. I generally leave the editorializing to the Daily Rotten staff, who, frankly, has more balls than I do. Large steel balls, they have.

Back to not trusting the government. There is a difference between not trusting the government and wishing it to be overthrown. To be sure, I am a big fan of our representative government system, if it's used properly. The problem, as I see it, is that our government, rather than being an agent of the people, is being used by people who have no desire in love beyond accumulating as many references in the Times and the Post as they possibly can. To do so is beyond petty; it is pride. And pride, as many of these self-proclaimed Christians should know, is a deadly sin. One of seven, as I recall. Vengeance is another, but that's a topic for another day.

I think my lack of trust started in March, when the Post stated, quietly, that some of the evidence that Colin Powell presented before the UN Security Council was falsified, including the key piece of evidence that pointed to Iraq attempting to build nuclear bombs. To enrich uranium, you need aluminum tubing. And Saddam Hussein, according to this letter which was the only real body of evidence, had attempted to purchase that tubing from an African country. The problem is, the letter was a forgery.
(See the story here. I've read the original, this is a direct plagiarism.)

Now, honestly, I don't think that Colin Powell made up that letter. But somebody did, and that brings me to a portion of my point. How in the world can I trust the Secretary of State of the most powerful nation in the world (with the biggest chip on its shoulder) if he's going to make such an unabashed lie to my face? And, by extension, how can I trust that nation itself? The answer to both questions is that I can't.

This point was driven home again today by a story from CBS saying that our military's decapitation attack on the Iraqi leadership's bunker was actually an attack on...drumroll please...nothing! We bombed a house, which is great, if that was what we were going for. But we attempted to blow the living bejeezus out of someone we dubbed an international terrorist when he wasn't anywhere around. Now, I distinctly remember hearing from the major news outlets that "Saddam had been seen on a stretcher, being loaded into an ambulance," when apparently he wasn't. Where'd the footage come from? The story said that no evidence of a bunker was ever found. So we apparently bombed somebody else into oblivion, and somebody either jumped to conclusions or was pushed to them. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said, "There is no question the strike...was successful."

No, it wasn't. (See a blurb here, and another story here.)

This is the sort of thing that makes me wish I were in Canada, or something. Honestly, the idea that any government anywhere will lie to its own people in the interests of maintaining its own leadership (which can really only hope to last a maximum of 8 years anyway) is so disgusting to me that I honestly feel sick. I wish that I had some sort of political clout, so I could make some sort of waves and do more to draw attention to this sort of deception. Unfortunately, I don't, and I suppose I'll have to wait for somebody else to do that. It's a shame, it really is. And I have finally lost faith in my government, and finally started to lose my idealism and hope that my elected officials have my best interests in mind. So screw you, Tom Daschle; Tom DeLay too, and the horses you all rode in on.

I'm sorry if I made you sad, or angry, or whatever. I promise I'll return to giddiness for the next entry.