I've been reading the news again. Really, I shouldn't. Hypocrisy abounds. Most of the news is SCANDAL!!! and gossip from the latest reality-tv-show-that-is-not-scripted-we-swear!!! People are spoon fed claptrap on body image and celebrity schtick. In the meantime, news about the fact that the biggest world economy on the verge of collapse and that big brother is watching you more and more (and you're letting him, cause you're too distracted by shiny pretty things and fake boobs on TV). The “most powerful” country in the “free world” is led by a moron who more than 2/3 of his countrymen think he's doing a crap job (at the time of writing this, Dubya has a 28% approval rating).
You have to give it to Bush though. Everybody knew that politics was dirty and that backscratching was commonplace. He had the chutzpah to actually do it to such an extent that it's right in the faces of the masses. The amazing thing though? He managed to blow smoke so far up their asses that they were distracted enough with other things. The tail truly did wag the dog.
What's the point of this entry? There is none, really. I read about how a U.S. customs agent barred a prominent canadian psychotherapist because he published scientific work on LSD in the 60s and this “admitted drug abuse” was enough to bar him foverer from entering the land of the free. He can appeal to the US embassy and “that for $3,500 (U.S.) plus incidentals, he'd have a 90 per cent chance to get an entry waiver, but it would probably be just for a year, and the procedure would have to be initiated again, any time he wished to cross the border. Each time, he would have to produce a statement saying that he had been 'rehabilitated.'”
This is insane. The US is going to implode under the weight of all its stupidity and two-facedness. It's puritanism gone to the extreme. It's ok to show solders being shot to hell and bombs exploding Marines to little bits of gooey shapnel on prime time TV, but God(!) forbid you see even the hint of a boob. You have freedom of religion to believe in God in any way you want (be it baptist, catholic or even protestant). You can get a complimentary shotgun when you open a bank account (but please refrain from bringing it to school, that's bad taste).
I don't know why I'm so pissed off about everything today. I think it's because the US is going to hell, and it'll drag everybody down with it. CIvil liberties are being eroded away in the name of “safety”. Britain is a prime example of this. Heath & Safety are going completely nuts. It seems that there is no sane middle ground. Everything is hazardous to your health. Warning labels abound (my favourite still being a “may contain traces of nuts” on a block of pure porc lard I bought from Tesco). The UK is following the US's lead and turning into a Nanny State and this is not a good thing in my opinion. It seems that personal responsibility is giving up and burying its head in the sand. Drinking 10 liters of coke a day made me fat so I'm suing Coca Cola because they didn't warn me about the health hazards.
I give up.
Go home, Turn on, tune in, drop out.