I don't have much hesitation in putting forward the idea (not original!) that lies are never good, although occasionally may be seen as the lesser of evils in a difficult situation - I don't intend to get off on a big philosophical ramble about it here - I'll write the friggin book some other time - but say, for instance, some crazy gunman was holding your family hostage, and some lie (that would not result in much greater damage to a lot of other people) would save them - most people would think that acceptable. However, the amount of lying that is going on "in high places" during this period in history does not really qualify under this kind of exception - all of these lies are being made for no other reason than personal greed and selfishness and agrandizement - and are being made at great expense to many other people - tens or even hundreds of millions, all things considered - one only need look at things like the recent Enron-Anderson corporate debacle, for instance, which cost millions of workers bigtime while the corporate criminals walked, or the Iraq war and the barrage of lying of the American and British governments in their attempts to justify the invasion (which had, excuse my french, sweet fuck all to do with making life better for average Iraqi people but a whole lot to do with stealing Iraqi oil for the benefit of American corporations). Yes, governments and individuals have always lied, and for the same reasons - it just seems much worse today, much more institutionalized, with fewer people daring to stand up and say "Wait a friggin minute - this is wrong!" These people, causing such destruction and grief everywhere they have influence, can be considered as little else but evil, I do believe. And those who willingly support them, and spread their so-destructive lies, must also share this condemnation. One of the names for that most popular mythological beast Satan is Father of Lies. There are times - like this - when I wish I did believe in the Christian God - just so I could believe also that Bush and the rest of them would truly meet their maker someday. If the God was actually a just god, as he is supposedly portrayed in the Bible - Mr. Bush and the rest would be spending quite a lengthy period of very hard time in the very lowest of Dante's seven circles of Hell. And those people running the media in this country, so central to maintaining the shaky legitimacy of these people in what are supposed to be democratic countries, would surely not be far behind.

But as it is, I do not believe in that god or any other one - we make our own heaven or hell right here on this earth. Or we accept the Earth and slavery that others would make for us. Fight or die. Nobody ever said it would be easy, as the old but true saying goes - but it can be good if you're willing to make the effort to make it that way.

Man, where'd all that come from? What'd she put in my beer tonight?!?! Truth serum or something, I suppose.