March 7, 2007

Dear Sis~
I was more than a little surprised last week to find our counselor making rounds accompanied by a playful, yellow dog on a leash. Rusty is a "therapy dog", a male Yellow Lab/German Shepherd mix with one floppy ear and a frantically wagging tale. Our counselor brought him around and opened the tray slot on each of our doors so we could reach out and pet him. It was amazing how such a simple thing - just being able to touch a dog - cheered us up and brought a smile to our faces. This should not be surprising considering how we are perpetually locked down in small cells, deprived of virtually all human contact and interaction, with very little mental stimuli. I was told Rusty will be coming around once a week, but I'm skeptical. You rarely see anything progressive or innovative in prison, and if you do, it hardly ever lasts. The heavy forces of the status quo usually suffocate attempts at innovation...
I'm disappointed to see the Discovery Channel relentlessly running these ads promoting it upcoming new special titled Our Children's Children's War, described as "the war America will be fighting for generations". Ted Koppel, clearly drinking the Kool Aid, breathlessly narrates the program which is designed to indoctrinate Americans into believing that America will be "at war" with "Muslim terrorists" for many decades. This is merely a continuation of the fearmonging propaganda which the Bush/Cheney administration has been indulging in since the 9/11 attacks gave them a pretext to place our nation in a constant, perpetual, never-ending state of war. To be at war, you must first have enemies, of course, and what better enemies than some faceless, stateless entity which can never be "defeated" in the conventional sense. I'm so sick of this administration (and those powerful forces that profit from us being in a continuous war posture) trying to turn us into a fearful country, a nation of cowards who must quake in fear at all of the supposed boogymen populating the world. Sadly, many Americans have succumbed to this propaganda; many Americans do live in a constant state of fear and that fear motivates all of their actions and beliefs. We used to be a bold and fearless country; now it seems we're a bunch of punks scared of our own shadow. Actually, it seems like this country, for the past 60 years or so, has always desired to have an "enemy" to confront, real or imagined. In the words of John Quincy Adams, we are always "in search of monsters to destroy." (Competing with the "Muslim terrorists" for the top spot in our list of enemies, of course, is "the Chinese", and the vague but implacable threat they supposedly pose to our existence)...
Alright, sis, I'll get off my soapbox and mail this off. Keep your chin up and smile on your face!
With Love,
Bill