George W. Bush turns 61 next week. What do you give a man who has everything but a brain, a heart and courage? The "director's cut" DVD of The Wizard of Oz?
His wife—the Good Witch of the Midland—has used the occasion of her husband's birthday to prove, once and for all, that she's as much of a bottom-feeder as the rest of the White House gang. She just penned a fundraising letter that encourages all loyal Republicans to "commemorate President Bush's 61st birthday with a gift our entire Party can share." ("President Bush"? How impersonal! Oh, that's right, he's the emperor, not Laura's husband anymore; he's married to all the rest of us and screwing us daily).
On top of that, I just received, through a third party, a fund-raising letter from Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He has taken the occasion to warn all good Republicans that the "liberal Democrats" want nothing more than "censure and impeachment of President Bush for his efforts to protect America and win the War on Terror." (Oh, how I wish this were true!). Kenny and Laura may as well have said that Democrats will, if left unchecked, skewer babies on bayonets, rape all virgins and mutilate puppies, for all the connection to reality that the Republican Party's latest "appeals" possess.
How much lower can they stoop? Indeed, that's the amazing thing about the Republican Party now. Just when you think they can go no lower, they shock you by finding a new level, beneath the fecal silt and the fossilized polyps into which they slither.
We can sit here and ponder the destruction Bush and his benighted political party have left in their wake& and do nothing about it. Or we can use Bush's destructiveness to our advantage. Indeed, thanks to Laura and Ken, I was visited by a golden fundraising idea that I would now like to share.
That is, to "commemorate President Bush's 61st birthday," I suggest that all good Americans of any party or persuasion make a gift that the entire world, the entire nation or the entire community can share. To give this symbolic act a more pointed meaning, the amount of that gift should be $61. The gift should be accompanied by a note describing the significance of that amount. And the recipient should be any cause that begs for an antidote from six years of GOP destruction and neglect.
Consider, for example, sending $61 to a friend who needs help with the bills after her recent illness and lack of insurance has wiped out her life's savings (I've got a couple candidates, if you're stumped for anyone who qualifies). Or consider sending sixty-one dollars to any prisoner jailed for political reasons. (My personal pick is Jeff Luers; for more information, visit http://www.freefreenow.org.) Or just send the $61 to the usual suspects who are out there on the front lines, trying to redress global crises and political repression: Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org), Earth First! (www.earthfirst.org), Wild Aid (www.wildaid.org), Population Connection (www.populationconnection.org), Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org), and Doctors Without Borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org).
The point is to send the $61 anywhere that offers hope, compassion, healing. That means, literally, anywhere but the GOP!
Just send it. Now.
Consider it a start toward undoing the damage, healing the wounds, rebuilding the world and the community after the most nightmarish political era in American history.
Sixty-one dollars. That's 12 packs of cigarettes or five six-packs of beer.
Sixty-one dollars. That's all it would take."
