Blinded By The Right

So I’m standing in the Y’s locker room this AM, listening to the TV news about the bombs going off in the London subway and on a bus. News reports are still sketchy, and Katie Couric is busy running her mouth about what little bit she actually knows about what happened.

Standing beside me are two Naked Old Guys. And N.O.G. #1 says to his pal: “Thank God we re-elected President Bush.” His equally nude friend says, “Yeah, no terrorist would dare try something like that on his shift.”

Okay, two words: SEPTEMBER 11. Hello??? Did we forget already?

It seems to me that terrorism has no boundaries, and the scumbags behind this U.K. attack could really give a rat’s ass who is in charge across the pond in America. If they want to spread fear and panic, then by God they’ll do it. And as for Bush being the Great American Protector Against Terrorism, who the hell do you think is responsible for even more of the world’s population hating us than ever before? Why, that’d be the fella who dragged us into an unjustified war in Iraq, that’s who. So why wouldn’t the terrorists want to strike when Bush is in charge? What better way to say “screw you” to America than to embarrass the guy who dared them to “bring it on” in the first place?

Okay, deep breath. Sorry about that – I swore I wasn’t going to turn this blog into another one of my political rants. I did enough of that for two years as a newspaper columnist, and when I retired my column last January I said I would lighten up.

But it’s blind, one-sided attitudes like the Naked Old Guys possess that really get my goat. Can’t people see that there’s more to the world and our ability to survive in it than the one guy parked in the Oval Office? When it comes down to it, Bush will do what he thinks is appropriate to defend the country – just as any President would do. But he’s not frigging Superman – not by a long shot. The sight of old W. in his cowboy hat clearing brush on his farm isn’t enough to leave the terrorists quaking in their robes. Why some people insist on following along behind the far right-wing blather without looking from side to side every now and then is beyond me. Such close-minded piety is just...just dumb.

So now terrorism has hit London. And as a reward, we’ll get to have Red Alerts and increased security here at home, along with another couple of rounds of guaranteed gas price increases. (Hey - if it rains, it’s a good reason to jack the gas prices.)

Regardless of who is in charge and how you stand politically, there’s one thing we all have in common: Nobody likes to live in fear. Not me, not you. And I for one refuse to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder and wondering if I’m the next mark for a terrorist’s bomb. Life is too short to spend every waking moment wondering if you’re next on the chopping block.

Lord, I need a drink...