Imagine...making a complete disaster, not only of your life, but of

[Raven]

a Country of many millions and of the world. Imagine. Imagine that you made this disaster because you did not really care to take the time to think or to read or to listen carefully. Imagine being responsible for scores of deaths because you thought you had all the answers because a guy named Cheney said you did and you didn't have enough self-discernment to question that. Imagine how absolutely crushed you would be realizing that, rather than contributing something (even a little something) to this world, you rained down grief, death, sorrow, distruction...Imagine this.

I have been trying to wrap my mind around the concept and how the man who has accomplished all of this can live with himself. I can't imagine how I would live with what this man has done. I guess this separates us from him and maybe all feeling thinking humans ( and dogs and other critters)from his ilk. There is no excuse for what he did and I hope there is nowhere for him to hide. I have to think that, deep in the recesses of his mind, he knows what he has done. My wish for this awful, awful, man is that it might haunt his dreams until he passes from us.

And, on another note, being a mother myself, I hope something haunts Barbara's last dreams too.

I personally don't really know whether I believe in a God or not but I have always felt that I was accountable to something or someone for my actions in this life. I really would hate to be George W. Bush. I would really hate it! In some ways this thought gives me comfort.

[Taverner]

1. We are all accountable to the Social Contract

And Bush pulled an EPIC FAIL in that regard

[bdamomma]

2. apparently bush is oblivious to everything he has done.

and I hope he chokes on his arrogance and ignorance.

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. He is not oblivious, He just doesn't give a SHIT!

[bdamomma]

28. he doesn't give a crap.

[liberalmuse]

3. Bush does not have a soul.

I've seen the lack of it firsthand. He has no soul. Flame me if you will, but I'm right. He simply does not give a fuck. People like this, many who are attracted to Fundamentalism and the Republican Party, do not have nor want the capability of feeling empathy. Remember a couple years back when the meme was spreading that people who feel empathy were the ultimate in selfishness? They'll stop at nothing to justify, or cover up the fact, or more accurately, the SHAME that they HAVE NO SOUL.

[Raven]

6. I wouldn't flame you. I think you have nailed it. The soul does not

to be a religious thing and that was what I was trying to get at when I said that, God or not, I think I am, as a human being in this society, responsible for at least not doing damage and, at most, doing good.

I can't imagine being him and I'm a long shot from being Mother Teresa...but I can't imagine being that man.

[PerfectSage]

13. I don't remember that meme

That means RWers would consider the Dalai Lama to be a psychopath.

How fuckin' absurd. :rofl:

[That Is Quite Enough]

4. But the thing is, Bush seems completely unaware of the damage he's caused.

He seems a bit remorseful that nobody likes him anymore, but he seems to not understand just how horrendous his actions and residency have been.

[truedelphi]

33. I think your description of who Bush is comes closest to the

Truth.

We are the ones at fault, as we don't get his wisdom, or his truth, or his strength of character. Just the other day he was saying that historians will look on what he did in Iraq with the approval that comes from the objectivity of decades having passed.

Well, of course he didn't use the word "objectivity." But that seems to be his meme - we the unwashed masses, who are so clueless and unaware, do not realize the success that has occurred in Iraq.

I mean, there is that one water sanitation project our service people got up in running in Southern Iraq and...

[Stephanie]

5. He could not care less. He's only sad about having fewer servants.

[tavalon]

31. I keep thinking that Laura is going to leave his ass in the dust,

but then I remember this is the mafia and wives are in for the duration. I wonder if that counts if he ends up at the Hague?

[stellanoir]

7. K & R'd

I've been thinking about this for a long time. . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3569357

That's more about * than Cheney.

But here's something you might find interesting.

Since Arabic languages are far more multi leveled and somewhat more poetic than Greek, Latin, and English, I've long been intrigued by the scholars who are fluent in Hebrew and Aramaic who translate the verses directly into English.

The etymology they present is really quite fascinating.

The Aramaic root of the word "enemies" is a "tangled knot."

The Aramaic root of the word "evil" means "unripe."

That suggests something that requires more sunlight (aka consciousness), nourishment, water (aka emotional support), and time (patience), though I've heard no one else elucidate it as such, but most metaphysicians don't live on farms. That perspective sure beats all the tiresomely unenlightened dualistic shadow projection that is bandied about so much these days.

"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" translated directly becomes "Blessed are those who soften their hearts (emotional rigidity) because they are open to the full powers of nature."

"Love thine enemies" was translated by Neal Douglas-Klotz. http://www.abwoon.com/ He was a guest on the visionary activist show recently. http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=24231 It's well worth a listen.

The host is a colleague of mine and she described his interpretation as "a vast instruction manual of great mystery."

"Love thine enemies" = "Love your enemies. From a hidden place, unite with your enemies from the inside. Fill the inner void. That makes them swell outwardly and fall out of rhythm, instead of progressing step by step. They stop and start harshly out of time. Bring yourself back into rhythm within. Find the moment that meets with theirs', like two lovers creating life from the dust. Do this work in secret. This kind of love creates. It does not emote."

That translation reminded me of this other one that I found many years ago though I don't have a clue of who translated it. I like it better than the one on Douglas-Klotz's site.

Lord’s Prayer*

Oh heavenly source of all radiance

Soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide.

Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission.

Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire.

Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish.

Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes.

Protect us from being seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the redemptive opportunities of each passing moment.

For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the creative power and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again.

*Translated directly from Aramaic to English instead of the traditional translation from Aramaic to Greek to Latin to English

[Raven]

9. Thank you for this. You made me cry and you made my evening!n/t

[stellanoir]

16. My absolute pleasure to do so in a joyous way.

You could see the rest of that text someday.

Have loved your's and your son's posts for years.

Wantta give you some plants one day. Hopefully in some spring.

best

[Political_Junkie]

19. Wow, thanks for these links.

This will keep me out of trouble for awhile! Very cool!

[BrklynLiberal]

23. Fascinating. Really!!!

I have often mentioned that the Bible the Fundies quote so often and take literally has been translated so often, from the Aramaic to the Hebrew to the Greek to the Italian to English.. etc..that only a fool could even consider taking the worlds literally.

Your other quote:
"Love thine enemies" = "Love your enemies. From a hidden place, unite with your enemies from the inside. Fill the inner void. That makes them swell outwardly and fall out of rhythm, instead of progressing step by step. They stop and start harshly out of time. Bring yourself back into rhythm within. Find the moment that meets with theirs', like two lovers creating life from the dust. Do this work in secret. This kind of love creates. It does not emote."

Makes me think of what Obama is doing right now...Perhaps we underestimate him.

[Patsy Stone]

8. He's a sociopath.

No need to wonder how he can live with himself.

http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

[Raven]

12. I've always thought so but don't those folks ever have a regret?

[Patsy Stone]

15. Sammy Sosa.

No, not usually. I don't think Manson, Bundy, or Dahmer never regretted a thing.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

10. I was going to say he could always just put himself out of his misery

but remembered he has no feelings

[madokie]

11. With the aid of his old friends the bottle

Jack Daniels and Jim Beam with a little bit of everything else thrown in for good measure. When and if he ever does sober up he won't last a week. Rubber rooms and jail cells are in his future.

[Greyhound]

14. Clearly, you have not spent much time with or around the parasite class.

This kind of self analysis or conscience does not exist. There is an impenetrable shield against any thoughts along these lines, each is absolutely certain, to the core of their being, that everything is either somebody else is at fault or it is an unforeseeable act of God.

Remember the "beautiful mind" comment the queen tick made after Katrina? She was not being sarcastic, the thought that her spawn might bear some responsibility never entered her mind for an instant. Marie Antoinette was not being sarcastic or mean when she uttered the infamous phrase "qu'ils mangent de la brioche", she was simply incapable of comprehending the plight of her people.

[Political_Junkie]

17. Agreed!

And that's what makes it so disgusting.

[madamesilverspurs]

18. One wonders

what damage was done to him to cause his inner void. It's too uncomfortable to believe that some are simply born that way. That said, it's horrible to contemplate what childhood experience might have robbed him of any semblance of either conscience or compassion. It is possible to abhor his actions while pitying the nothingness inside his skin. To be sure, it has been difficult to keep all that in mind, simply because he has surrounded himself with so many who are equally devoid of those same qualities. My task is to keep myself from following in their footsteps.

[Stephanie]

21. His sister Robin

Died of leukemia when he was around six I think. They didn't tell him about it, just picked him up from school one day and said she was dead. Then they went golfing. I think that's enough trauma to do some damage. As an older he kid he tortured animals and shot his little brothers with a bb gun. I don't mean shot at them, he shot them. Neil has told the story. Maybe someday we'll know if he was also a bedwetter.

[Ilsa]

20. From what I've observed, Barbara Bush won't allow herself to be haunted

by any of *'s crimes on her deathbed. She's as self-centered as *.

[BrklynLiberal]

22. I do not believe he even has enough awareness to bother to look within himself at all.

Emotionally, psychologically, he never made it past about 9 months old. The world revolves around him and what he wants, and that is all that matters. Everyone else is here to serve him. There is no capacity for guilt or regret or empathy..or any of the other emotions and feelings that distinguish us as human beings.
He is a completely empty vessel, and he does not even know enough to feel that emptiness, and understand what a sad pathetic state it is..

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Aww Jeeze, He could not care less. I remember when he sold his share of the Tx Rangers

along with the deal he made with the Baseball Commish for the stadium,land that he ripped off from the Curtis Mathis family and made the taxpayers of Arlington TX pay for.. He said if the deal went through, he'd have more money then he ever dreamed of having. This a$$hole is completely devoid of any empathy, any emotion for real people. He doesn't have a clue and doesn't want a clue. It's the bu$h family's MO, rip US off, they have been screwing with Americans and the World for decades. George could not care less.

[FloridaJudy]

26. He's the ultimate narcissist

He seems to lack compassion for anyone outside his narrow circle of obscenely rich cronies. No matter what catastrophes he creates, he blames others for the disastrous outcomes. He cares more about his image in the history books than about the people he has harmed. I think Frank Rich nailed it in The New York Times editorial "A President Forgotten but Not Gone".

"He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby. He is smaller than life".

Fitzgerald knew the type well.

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and
then retreated back into their money or their vast
carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean
up the mess they had made."

And so he leaves the stage - not a tragic hero for whom one can feel a bit of sympathy, but a petulant buffoon.

[unblock]

27. shrub defined his world narrowly. he worked for those who approved of him, and to hell with others.

from the start of his presidency, he never treated the public, the poor, the liberal, the democrats, etc., with complete and utter contempt. he never tried to be the president of the united states, he was only ever the president of the ultra-rich wing of the republican party.

his strategy was to be a hero to that very narrow group that he revered, which surely will richly reward him in retirement anyway, at the expense of everyone else, but he was wired not to care for anyone else anyway, so why should that bother him?

[surrealAmerican]

29. A biography of this man will read like ...

... a Greek tragedy, all his flaws lead to disaster.

Belief in deities is irrelevant, we are all "accountable to something or someone" for our actions regardless. We are accountable to each other.

[FloridaJudy]

35. Nope.

To be a Tragic Hero he has to have admirable qualities, as well as fatal flaws. Bu$h has nothing but an over-developed sense of privilege, a vision so narrow it could be used to scan groceries and an inflated belief in his own competence.

I could see someone like Colin Powell as a Greek or Shakespearean Hero, but not Bu$h. He has neither the wit nor the introspection. He's like the spoiled brat everyone wants to see slip on a banana peel.

[undeterred]

30. His personality disorder prevents him from the truth about himself.

And if little bits of light start to seep in and expose him, he takes a drink or a drug to make the pain go away. Its a life pattern.

[Orsino]

32. You can't admit you're responsible...

...when you're fundamentally irresponsible. We installed a rich, spoiled man-child in the White House, apparently only to bolster his fragile ego. The nation that can even come close to electing such a president deserves at least some of the consequences.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

34. From all accounts Bush is a man ...

who is incapable of self-reflection.

How can one feel, imagine, or understand anything if one cannot step back and look objectively at ones actions? :shrug:

I don't know that the man will ever get/feel the full force of what he has wrought. :(