Kerry and the Pirates

I love the fall of the year: the crisp cool air after sweltering all summer, the color of the trees and Octoberfest Beer. I was sitting in Burnies Bar on a late September afternoon enjoying a bottle of Hacker Schorr Octoberfest from Munich when Bobby B came in. I’ve known Bobby most of my life; we’ve been over the hurdles together. He’s a husky Italian boy who likes to laugh.
“ Max, have you seen the add on TV by the the Progress for America Voter Fund. They show pictures of Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Mohammed Atta and ask if you " Would you trust Kerry up against these fanatic killers?" I think its hilarious. Probably the stupidest use of television time in history,” he said.
“Why do you say that, Bobby?” I asked.
“Because the obvious answer is of course I would.”
“Again, I’ll have to ask you to explain yourself.”
“Kerry’s track record. He took on fanatic killers in the past, the Viet Cong, and he defeated them. Compare that to what Bush did at the same time, hide in the Air national Guard.”
“I see where you’re going.”
“I think this whole thing of making a tough guy out of Bush is the height of stupidity. Through out his life he got into one mess after another that his Poppy had to bail him out of. He’s a failure. He’s Poppy’s spoiled girlie boy if he’s any thing.”
“Gee, Bobby that’s pretty rough.”
“You have to be rough when the future of your country’s at stake, Max. Four more years of Bush screwing up everything he puts his hand to will destroy the United States.

Connie and the Hypocrit

Burnie tries to run a decent house, a bar that a lady can come to and feel comfortable. From time to time we do get a lady stopping by and Connie has become a regular. Not that Connie needs any coddling, she’s one gutsy chick. It was a beautiful day in late September that I ran into her in Lincoln Park which is on my way home from Burnie’s.
She was sitting on a park bench, enjoying the great weather and invited me to join her.
“Did you hear the hypocrites speech at the UN,” she asked.
“No, I didn’t. You can’t believe anything he says, so why bother?” I responded.
“ It drives me nuts that the media allows him to get away with the crap he spews out. Lie after lie and the media says nothing."
“ Can you give me an example,” I asked.
“ Yeah, I can. I bought a copy of the Times with his speech in it and I can say exactly why I feel he’s lying.”
“Go ahead.”
“Okay, how about this.”

Terrorists and their allies believe the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Bill of Rights and every charter of liberty ever written are lies to be burned and destroyed and forgotten. They believe the dictators should control every mind and tongue in the Middle East and beyond. They believe that suicide and torture and murder are fully justified to serve any goal they declare.

“So?”
“What Bill of Rights was Bush observing when he rained bombs down on the people of Baghdad and the other cities of Iraq. He was the initiator of the murder of civilians and it’s a lie for him to denounce the very thing he’s guilty of doing. As for controlling minds and tongues, it’s Bush’s corporate henchmen who have bought up all of the US Media and stifled any disagreement with his brutal policies. ” Connie said.
“ Wow, that’s strong. Have you anything else?”
“Sure I do. How about this?”

Freedom is finding a way in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we must continue show our commitment to democracies in those nations. The liberty that many have won at a cost must be secured.

Today the Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom.

“That’s pure bullcrap; both nations are in turmoil. The people in Afghanistan and Iraq don’t want any government that’s going to be a tool of the United States and they’re willing to fight to get a government that answerable to them and their beliefs. That’s why the US can’t stay in either country, because the people there don’t trust Bush and the liars working with him and won’t really try to get their country in order until he’s gone. Senator Kerry would have a much better shot at getting those countries working towards a better state if he just says he regrets what has happened and wants to help set things straight.
He should try to get other countries to come in to maintain civil order and get American troops out as quickly as possible,” Connie said.
“Jeez, Connie you’ve rally thought this through, haven’t you?” I said.
“I could go on and on, Max. But its too beautiful a day to let the liars in Washington ruin it. Look, I have a six pack in this cooler here. Do you want one?”
“Do you see now why I like this lady?’

Girlie Men

We get a lot of different people in Burnies’ Bar, Dan was one of the quieter customers. He comes in every afternoon at four and sits in the same seat at the end of the bar and has three beers and then leaves. He never talks to anyone and when in the past I’ve tried to strike up a conversation, he didn’t have much to say. He’s not a big guy at all, so I was surprised to learn that he put in two tours of duty in the Marines. Given all this I was surprised when one day he came over and sat next to me.
“Max, I’ve overheard some of your conversations about the elections and I believe you’ll find a thought I had interesting,” Dan said.
What’s that Dan?” I asked.
“Do you know how President Bush never really was in the military, how Dick Cheney was never in the military, how John Ashcroft wasn’t in the military, how Paul Wolfiwitz was never in the military, how Douglas Feith was never in the military and how Carl Rove was never in the military. Yet, they’re eager to send others who are in ther military out to get their butts blown off.”
Yes, Dan I’m aware of al that. Sol what?” I replied.
“Could it be our government is being run by a bunch of ‘girlie men’?”
“Whoa, Dan. That’s going a bit far. That’s Arnold Swartzenneggers expression. I don’t think he’d apply it to the present administration.”
“That’s another thought I had Max. This Mr. Universe thing, this body fetish. Women get into that kind of thing, but do real men? And the play acting. Is that really manly?”
“I almost swallowed my cigar/ “Dan, you’re not saying Arnold is a ‘girlie man’ are you?”
“I guess not, Max. It was just a thought.” Dan answered.

Girlie Men

We get a lot of different people in Burnies’ Bar, Dan was one of the quieter customers. He comes in every afternoon at four and sits in the same seat at the end of the bar and has three beers and then leaves. He never talks to anyone and when in the past I’ve tried to strike up a conversation, he didn’t have much to say. He’s not a big guy at all, so I was surprised to learn that he put in two tours of duty in the Marines. Given all this I was surprised when one day he came over and sat next to me.
“Max, I’ve overheard some of your conversations about the elections and I believe you’ll find a thought I had interesting,” Dan said.
What’s that Dan?” I asked.
“Do you know how President Bush never really was in the military, how Dick Cheney was never in the military, how John Ashcroft wasn’t in the military, how Paul Wolfiwitz was never in the military, how Douglas Feith was never in the military and how Carl Rove was never in the military. Yet, they’re eager to send others who are in ther military out to get their butts blown off.”
Yes, Dan I’m aware of al that. Sol what?” I replied.
“Could it be our government is being run by a bunch of ‘girlie men’?”
“Whoa, Dan. That’s going a bit far. That’s Arnold Swartzenneggers expression. I don’t think he’d apply it to the present administration.”
“That’s another thought I had Max. This Mr. Universe thing, this body fetish. Women get into that kind of thing, but do real men? And the play acting. Is that really manly?”
“I almost swallowed my cigar/ “Dan, you’re not saying Arnold is a ‘girlie man’ are you?”
“I guess not, Max. It was just a thought.” Dan answered.

Arnold

It was the third day of the Republican convention and I was I was sitting in Burnie’s Bar trying to ignore the whole damn thing when Mario came in. Mario is an educated man, holding a number of degrees, and the Principal of one of our Catholic High Schools. And, though it might seem a contradiction in terms, he is a Republican and a strong supporter of George Bush. He’s not a regular at Burnies, but he stops in from time to time to pick on me.
“Max did you see the great speech on Television last night,” he asked.
“Do you mean Mrs. Bush’s speech? No I avoided it. She’s prejudiced.” I responded, pulling his chain.
“ No, Arnold Schwarzeneggers speech. It was great.”
“ Yes, Mario, I did see it. I’ve always admired the man, what he’s made out of himself. You got to admit he a great man, so I was very disappointed by him lowering himself like he did.”
I thought Mario would have a stroke. He turned pale and started to shake. “What are you talking about? You’re crazy. His speech proved the world that the American dream lives.”
“ It didn’t take him two minutes to reveal he wasn’t going to level with us. He said the country was in good hands. How can he say that when there are 35.9 million people living below the poverty line in our country today and Bush’s only program to help them is to give colossal tax cuts to the mega rich, like Arnold Schwarzenegger,” I answered.
“ You liberals don’t understand anything,” Mario shot back. “The point is that under President Bush the climate is set so that people who want to get ahead, can. Arnold did. He had nothing when he came to the states and he made himself a multi-millionaire.”
“ He made it sound like he was a poor waif when he arrived on American shores, hell he was Mr. Universe, a man with a fantastic body—made in Europe, under socialism—and a big rep. There were a lot of people here looking to make money out of that. I’ll give him credit for making sure he got his share. But, it’s right there that I have problems with his version of the American Dream. Those that have the stamina to climb to the top make up only a minute portion of the total population of America. The country just cannot be completely devoted to supporting their efforts; it has to also provide a decent life for everyone else. That’s not what’s happening under George Bush, nor has it ever really happened in the past. The history of America is comprised mostly of average people trying to make some kind of life for themselves and the big money hustlers united with the politicians getting in their way, ” I responded.

“Max, you’re a communist,’ Mario shot back.
“No, I’m an American. I believe in a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Schwarzenegger and Bush believe in a government of the rich people, by the rich people and for the rich people. The hell with the rest of us.”
“This country was built by men fighting to climb the economic ladder. That’s what America is all about.”
“That’s strange; I didn’t see that anywhere in the constitution. Yet I know what you’re talking about. You take edifices like, the New York Central, Standard Oil, Enron, all built by men fighting to climb the economic ladder, every one of them a pirate. Considering his disposition in such matters it’s not surprising to me that Schwarzenegger’s hero was Richard Nixon, the only American president forced to resign because of his dishonesty.
“There’s no sense talking to you Max Angst. You just don’t understand what America is all about,” Mario said, and he got up and ran out the door looking a little blue in the gills as he went.
“Mario’s wrong. I do know what America’s all about. Every day I see the working and middle class people in this country being lambasted by a system under the control of the Multi-National corporations. I hope and pray that some day soon that is changed. I’m saddened that a man who has been kind of a hero to me, Arnold Schwarzenegger, would support a system that hurts so many people.