R*E*S*P*E*C*T

I’ve been accustomed to search the news sources for whatever outrage of the day hasn’t been adequately been commented on but the supply has been endless to the point where what once would have sparked a mass uprising only makes me yawn and hardly gets mentioned in the press.

Now of course, I’m talking about outrages perpetrated by the Bush administration; things the lowly peasants do still provoke comment by the media. Take Steve Colbert, for instance. His roast at the White House Correspondent’s dinner was trenchant and sarcastic and long overdue, but what he was doing was what the press should have been doing for the last 6 years and they don’t like to be reminded of it.

“Unfunny and rude” wrote Newsweek. As if pointing out the theft of a nation were something too private and personal to air in public. Newsweek and others still cling to the fabrication that we have a popular president who may be doing unpopular things for our own good and we children should continue to respect and protect him.

It’s appeasement, it’s collaboration with an enemy of the country and now that barely more than a quarter of us think he’s not robbing the treasury, embroiling us in an endless war and openly snubbing the rule of law it’s time for Newsweek to be a little less polite.

For my part, had Colbert abandoned the satire and simply called Bush the crook, liar, tyrant and traitor he really is, I would have applauded him, but Steven Colbert is far more polite than I could possibly be. Respect must be earned and so must contempt. Both are worthy of being mentioned.