Quote of the Day

Via Seth Roberts (inspiring post by the way):

... I learned that if I really wanted to, I could conquer my fear, and do what I needed to do ...

I know people who have refused to live because of fear. Refused to experience new things, try a new food, travel to a new place. Now, I know fear can be paralyzing. I don't know if other combat vets have noticed this, but I've found you can narrow the human race down to two basic divisions. It all revolves in how people handle fear. When the shit hits the fan, a person will do one of two things. Either:

a) Panic and freak out, run like Hell or curl up in a corner drooling sucking their thumbs, or,

b) Stop, collect themselves, and do your best with what you have to get out of the situation alive.

That's it. Doesn't matter whether you're white, black, yellow, brown, or red, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, man, woman, or child, you will do either 'a' or 'b'. Training and conditioning can move you toward choosing 'b', the course that will most likely save you if anything will, but you don't know how you'll react until you're actually in the situation.

My point, roundabout as it is, is that after 9/11, a lot of Americans chose 'a' and, thanks to that choice, we are in the situation we are now. The Bush administration and Rethug Congress took advantage of that fear. We've given up our civil rights, allowed our treasure and chidrens' lives to be squandered, all in the name of keeping us safe from the big bad terrorists. For 6 years, fear has overridden common sense.

"Let us do what we have to," Bush said and the majority of you let your fears control you. "We'll protect you," is all most of you wanted to hear and in your panic, you let them read your mail, deny you access, and waste your money. Never mind the lives.

Well, you're about to be scared again. After seeing the VP on Wolfie's (Digby has a good take on Cheney's demeanor), Bush and Cheney are going to do what they want. We just might see a constitutional crisis before we get them out and when you hear the scary things, that the nation can't withstand it (what we heard just before Ford pardoned Nixon), be assured the Constitution will survive. It survived the Civil War, it will survive Bush and Iraq.

It is high time, for the first time in our nation's history, to remove a President and his Vice President and put them on trial, for all the world to see. Our nation will survive and be better for it. It's time to do the right thing and not let fear of crossing into the unknown, the unmapped, scare us to inaction. We should look to it with eagerness and use it as an opportunity to heal our nation.

Either that, or you can let them scare you into curling up into a corner and drooling again.