Our Many Gods

I don't like you for what you've done to me. You pumped up my country's
children on Ritalin because you didn't want to deal with them. You
medicated their minds to prepare them for the New World Order. You
are trying to re-program America but I will resist.


Just one God? Don't be silly. We have many Gods in the United States. Allow me to name a few:

Prozac
Cipramil
Aropax
Zoloft
Tofranil
Pertofram
Deptran
Aurorix
Arima
Nardil
Parnate

Welcome to America, the land of antidepressants and LOTS of depression. Why are we so unhappy? The United States is the land of plenty, of opportunity, come on! How can anyone be miserable?

In Atlanta there are shiny new fences on all the overpasses. Everywhere I drove yesterday they were all over the place. Some are curved inward and all are high. The fences are to keep people from jumping off.

Two apparent suicide tries forced the closing of two Atlanta area interstates Tuesday, raising concern among officials that media reports are fueling a copycat trend. The two incidents were the third and fourth times in three months a metro interstate has been closed because of suicide threats.
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/16/04

Jumping off bridges? Come on, we are in the land of utopia where tanks rumble in the desert and conservative religious leaders touch the "abortion button" to mobilize their legions for the November vote.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell boasted Friday that evangelical Christians, after nearly 25 years of increasing political activism, now control the Republican Party and the fate of President Bush in the November election.
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/25/04

Oh, yeah, so why are people trying to jump off bridges in Atlanta? Well, one of the jumpers comes from my hometown. Fortunately, he survived the 30-foot jump.

In Cobb County, Gregory Layne Light, 26, of Powder Springs stood on the edge of the Windy Hill Road bridge over I-75 for more than two hours at midday May 27, prompting officials to close the interstate in both directions for much of the afternoon. He told negotiators he had no job and no money and that everything had gone wrong in his life.
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/16/04


Meanwhile, the Republican Party, now controlled by the hard-right Christians and Industrialists are amassing their forces for the final kill. Their goal is to exterminate the Democratic Party and create a one-party fundamentalist state, similar to Iran.

"I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag. You don't know until election night."
— Ralph Reed, Bush-Cheney '04 Southeast Regional Director, past interview

Having worked in political campaigns against Republican Candidates, I can assure you that the zealots now working for the Republicans lie, mislead, and deceive to achieve their ends.

The Democrats are taking a beating, perhaps because they are too principled to fight back. Maybe it's too much of a shock to see the way that Karl Rove and Ralph are now playing the game. All I know is that the cynicism and ill will they are creating is destroying what's left of our ailing democracy. But, isn't that the ultimate goal anyway?

Maybe Jerry, Ralph, and Karl should come to Powder Springs and hang out with Gregory Light and try to find out why he jumped off the bridge. Maybe then, the world will begin to change.

But in reality, the doctors will just pump Gregory with Prozac and Zoloft and send him on his merry way. In the meantime, the Department of Transportation is spending $3.5 million to build fences on Atlanta overpasses. That money could buy a lot of Prozac, or it could even pay Gregory's power bill. But building fences is how we react to problems here in America.

Unless we change our ways, we are doomed.