I changed my avatar from Cindy [View All]

[AverageJoe]

to the upside down flag, the universal symbol of a nation in distress. For a while, I used Jack Kerouac, because I felt that to be a symbol of my tastes and personality. I changed to Cindy when I came to understand that the avatar is itself part of the message and I wanted my message to be on target all the time. No matter what else I was saying, I wanted to keep Cindy up front always. I still completely support Cindy, of course, as one of the heroes of this country and I am praying that she stays the course and brings greater shame and damage to The Beast in the White House. But I had to change my avatar because the game has now changed. America is no longer simply a rogue nation, starting wars of choice, staging fraudulent elections, screwing its citizens, and shredding its constitution. We are now a dying nation. 9/11 didn't really "change everything." All it did was give these criminals cover to do whatever the hell they wanted to do. They have exploited that tragedy at every turn and many, many of our fellow Americans have either simply gone along or actively cheered them on. Yes, this is horrifying and disgusting. But it's not New Orleans.

New Orleans has truly changed everything. It has exposed the federal government as either completely inept, completely uncaring of its people, or both. I suspect that "both" is the proper answer. The horror that is going on now on the Gulf Coast, and which will continue in some form for a very, very long time demonstrates that America is in her death throes. This in no way resembles the nation that I have loved passionately my entire life, the nation that existed as recently as six years ago.

It is possible that our country can survive, but I become less hopeful every day, almost every hour. If the House and Senate would step up to the plate and impeach The Beast in charge, we might survive. If the national media would cry out for his removal, we might survive. If millions of us marched on Washington and stayed there until the monster was forced to leave, we might survive. Cindy would be the perfect leader for such a mass and sustained protest.

But nothing seems to be happening. The media expresses outrage and horror, but I don't see anyone in power calling for The Beast's removal. Every second that ticks by now is one second of magnified horror.

So, my avatar is now the distressed flag, and it will stay that way until such time as The Beast is gone from power. God bless each of you good souls who still care about this nation. God bless you for surviving this terror. God bless the Gulf Coast. God damn The Beast.