I’m still uncertain what to make of this picture, but it’s definitely going down as one of Bush’s memorable photo-ops. Here is Dumbya, being offered by Misty-Mae Treanor to smack that. Apparently, all he resorted to was a restrained tap on the small of her back. Now, Clinton, may have had a full-blown (no pun intended) threesome with the team, but that’s just my opinion.

Moving on, at what point during the last few days did this warmongering president actually work up the nerves to speak out against Russian aggression? It all looks like an infantile little tantrum he’s throwing, because those “pink commie Ruskis” are stealing his battleground thunder. The hypocrisy is amusing. The current circumstances of the Georgian-Russian conflict over South Ossetia, however, not all that much. Here’s a historical timeline, for the sake of context.

Frankly, the whole issue just reeks of neo-colonialist attitudes towards self-determination and independence. At the point where government refusal to acknowledge its citizens’ collective demands escalates to violence and marginalization, guess who wins? Nobody. In fact, nobody wins so much that such conflicts will not end and will continue to reoccur unless one party, or both, reach a compromise. Sadly enough, citizens tend to forget that the only reasons government has power is because we, the citizens, let it. Common human interest and passion has always triumphed over organized government, even in the face of unfriendly odds and unfriendlier firepower.

That sounds a bit anarchist, I admit. But so be it. I don’t think of anarchy as social entropy or a chaotic dystopia. Quite the opposite: successful anarchy happens when we, as humans, take full responsibility for our actions and our fellow human beings to the point where government becomes weak, and unnecessary.  Somehow, violence has been a historical path that many have (and will continue) to take to discredit a political system that refuses to acknowledge or address the needs of citizens. Communist Manifesto proclaims that the proletariat will rise up and topple the entire system; Fanon argues that, for the oppressed man, violence is the only true solution to freedom.

Maybe the roundtable is, after all, obsolete and over-rated. Or a likelier explanation: we humans are unreasonable and violent creatures capable of driving ourselves extinct before evolutionary processes nudge us to a higher and better state of thought, reason, and innovation.  And if we were to get to that level of advanced monkey-dom, well … I have a feeling we’ll probably be making better bombs or some destructive shit like that.

One good thing about misery and destruction: it actually motivates and feeds good art.  The last time I checked, Picasso’s Guernica still kicks the shit out of Bob Ross’ happy trees and smiling clouds.

Yay, humans! Yay, big shitty mess!