THE HATE MACHINE IS GEARING UP

Dunkin' Donuts just canceled an Ad featuring Rachael Ray wearing a scarf wrapped around her neck. It was a beautiful scarf, worn in the style that many women have worn, wrapped around the neck with the ends tucked together to frame the face. Dunkin' Donuts canceled the Ad because many Conservatives complained, saying that the scarf resembled one worn in Palestine. If Ms. Ray wore this scarf, they said, it appeared that she was supporting terrorism, that she approved of Palestinean terrorists.

The Ad was pulled. Once again, we have been the victim of radicals!

As a nation, we have sunk to ridiculous levels. When a woman wearing an innocuous scarf in a manner that American women have followed for years, its resemblance to the scarves worn in another country should be ignored. It would take more than a scarf to turn Rachael Ray into a supporter of terrorism. She is usually busy cooking up pots and pans of American cuisine, about as distant from terrorism as one can get.

Then, to add insult to injury, I opened my computer mail system this morning to find a message that said "This is Very Frightening." What was it about? Well, it listed every terrorist activity for the past ten years or so, and I agreed that this is very frightening. Extremist Muslims are frightening to me. Extremist Christians also frighten me. I am frightened of radical behavior in every form.

When I continued to read the list of terrorist atrocities, the writers of the article went into another subject. Why, it said, we are about to elect a Muslim Extremist as President of the United States! Added to this warning was another.......this one concerning the AntiChrist! Evidently, they want us to believe that Barack Obama is the AntiChrist, a charismatic bogeyman come to lead us to our annihilation or, even worse, straight to Hell.

They listed their reasons. Barack Obama, the article stated, is a Muslim Extremist. He is from the East, is very charming, and definitely fits the Biblical description. But I disagree. Perhaps John McCain is the AntiChrist. Or maybe it is Dick Cheney. Or, Heaven forbid, it might even be that little Middle Eastern clerk in the tobacco store on our Main Street! One never knows.

Obviously, after listening to the Rev. Wright, we realize that Obama is Christian, even if his pastor sounded a bit looney. He graduated from Harvard and surely we cannot believe that Harvard University has been teaching the AntiChrist. He was president of the Harvard Law Review, obviously not a collection of deviants, aiming to destroy civilization and deliver us all to the arms of the Devil. Of course, the Conservatives despise "liberal professors," who teach such things as independent thought. A liberal professor ranks with Al Gore and Barbra Streisand as among their mortal enemies.

I have attempted to read Revelation and I can honestly testify that, to me, it is a scramble of gibberish. One could interpret these words in any manner one wishes, twist them, distort them, declare that all sorts of predictions have come true. I would just as soon place my faith in predictions on my big toe, which is supposed to tell me if it is going to rain, but frequently falls down on its job. In fact, it is totally useless as an oracle of future events. Along with losing faith in my big toe, I have decided to leave the Second Coming to God.

Politically, we have descended to sheer lunacy. Scott McClellan writes a book and tells a truth that we have all suspected and known for many years and he is branded as a "disgruntled employee." Let me tell you, if you do not believe that the propaganda used to sell the War in Iraq was composed of twisted and untruthful intelligence, if you do not believe that the War in Iraq was unnecessary, you are either completely ignorant of world affairs or you are a radical Bush supporter, fond of annihilating Muslims and yearning with a strangely suicidal wish for the Second Coming. Bush has admitted the war was for oil. Alan Greenspan has admitted the war was for oil. Patrick Fitzgerald has written..."There is a dark cloud over the office of the Vice President!" Could one put it any clearer? Of course, to those who believe Barack Obama is the AntiChrist, only sheer propaganda is clear to them.

I will vote for either the Democratic or Independent Candidate, because I feel that the War in Iraq was an attempt to grab the resources of another country and that we had no business being there. I think it is high time some of that money was restored to the people of our country, who desperately need attention. With the oil companies and CEO's of large Corporations making huge profits, the working people of our country are descending into poverty, many of them homeless, deeply in debt, victims of mortgage fraud that will never be punished, never be corrected as long as the Bush Buddy System stays in place.

Unfortunately, before this election takes place, we will be subjected to more of this character assassination. The Republican Hate Machine is gearing up. It is on the prowl, seeking out scarves and AntiChrists, ready to Swiftboat its way to the White House once again. If the American people are fools enough to believe this load of manure, we deserve what we will get, years of war, years of yowling radicals complaining of such superbly important items as a scarf wrapped around the neck of a lovely, talented woman. It is like handing the keys to the country and our freedoms over to the hands of raving lunatics, drooling nonsense and slavering bigotry.