One Year of "The Rant"

My goodness! Can it be an entire year? Early on the morning of June 2, 2006, I received an e-mail from a person who had read my daily postings on the wonderful political website, AlterNet (a link to which may be found on this site), who told me, "You ought to start your own blog". Never having been very computer savvy, I inquired, "Well now, how the heck do I do that"? The person then directed me toward, Blogger.com and explained to me that starting one would be easier than I thought. By day's end I had posted my first piece which was called, George W. Bush: The Last Republican President. I have searched my files, trying in vain to find that e-mail but it has apparently, sadly, been lost forever. I can't even remember if the person who contacted me that morning was a man or a woman. Whoever it was, all I can say is thanks a heap! This has turned out to be one of the greatest things I've ever been involved in. Ironically, while George W. Bush may very well be the worst thing that ever happened to this once-great nation, the hideous little thug is the best thing that ever happened to me. As the Moody Blues once sang, "Isn't life strange"?

By the end of June, I had fifteen pieces posted. The sheer volume of output that first month was somewhat misleading; most of those postings were letters to the editors of two local papers here in Orange County, New York (some going back as far as nine months) that I dusted off and ever-so-slightly edited to bring them up to date (Reflections In A Hurricane's Eye from June 24, for instance, was originally published in the Goshen Independent and the Chester Chronicle in September of 2005). At the conclusion of the first piece, I predicted that Bush would be remembered as the first former president in history of this country to go to federal prison. I stand by that prediction.

After a full year, where do we find ourselves?

We're almost at the halfway point of 2007 and things are starting to get really interesting. The Bush administration is, quite literally, falling apart. The First Fool's original Texas Gang are starting to flee this disgusting White House like rats from a sinking ship. The official explanation is that they are just "burnt out" or that they "want to move on to other things" or (my personal favorite) "they want to spend more time with their families". Please. Any power freak will tell you that working in the White House is the most sought after, desirous gig in the world. One doesn't just "leave" that job unless one has a damned good reason. These people, unlike their boss, aren't totally stupid. They know good and well that the trillion dollar shithammer is about to come crashing down. Trust me on this one, campers: they don't want to be seen anywhere near Washington, DC when that happens.

Is it un-American to feel positively giddy (as I unashamedly do) by the implosion of the executive branch of the United States government? Not at all. Not when that government has proven itself to be as murderously corrupt and incompetent as this one. Make no mistake about it: the complete and utter failure of the Bush regime is the best thing for our republic.

Oh, yeah.... The next six months are going to be very interesting - very interesting, indeed, my dears!

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY.
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

Photograph of the editiorial offices of "The Rant" taken on May 9, 2007