On Dec. 30 I had dinner with a friend who operates bookstores in five states, and he told me that 2001 has been the best year ever.
"Why?" I asked. He gave me a litany of reasons; "People read more after 9-11," he said.
Reading is one of my favorite things to do, therefore, I feel all the books I buy each year helps the authors, publishers and retailers - not to mention me. For example, right after the Bush II coronation by William "the Conqueror" Rehnquist (as opposed to William of Occam), I (out of pure unadulterated self-defense, not consolation) read Mark Miller's "The Bush Dyslexion." Miller dissects Bush's grammar and syntax and exposes a man illiterate but not ignorant who could give a rat's behind about his shortcomings.
Why?
Barb loves him and W. gives his mother goose bumps. I enjoyed Miller's categories - from Bush II's evident-to-himself tautologies to his deflective self-appraisals - helpful tools to becoming a better royal-watcher. I now know that W. is reading his speeches better since Andrew Card increased the font size, aka senior-citizen large print, not because God micro-manages his speeches or because of Sept. 11. Just font size.
From reading Joan Didion's "Political Fictions" my mind was cleaned by learning that on Sept. 11 Bush II announced that he believed fighting terrorism was why God made him President. I thought the three musk-a-rats of the U.S. Supreme Court, aka Antonin Scalia, William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas, had named W. president. Not to mention his brother, Jeb.
What to do? I read James Gilligan's "Preventing Violence" for a reminder of something Gandhi pointed out: "The only people on Earth who do not see Christ's teachings as nonviolent are Christians."
One thing is clear: "George bin Bush" (Kate Clinton) needs to read up on 17th-century Massachusetts, where Puritans and Puritan-leaning Protestants banned dancing, gambling, drinking, colorful clothing and sports of all kinds, especially womanizing. It was of course immensely successful in America. Of course I'm recommending Samuel Hunnington's "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" to Bush II (and to Lynne Cheney).
These comments may put me on Lynne Cheney's "Committee to Protect American Civilization" list, aka "the new McCarthyism," not to be confused with "The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice." That sounds like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or Bill Bennett. I'm just kidding; it was the Taliban. Can you imagine Tipper Gore getting away with a committee like the one headed by "Lon" Cheney?
Regardless, Huntington makes it clear the civilization can tilt in either direction. And individuals - whether they listen to Moses, Jesus, Muhammed or whoever or none - have a choice to make between freedom, on the one hand, and religious totalitarianism on the other.
Personally, I was happy to see the meltdown of the so-called Christian Coalition because it was an attempted marriage between church and state - a marriage that failed both institutions.
After Sept. 11, I felt an urgent need to educate myself about "Osama Bin" (as Andrew Card and the other Texans in the White House call bin Laden, like he has two "Billy Bob" front names) and Afghanistan, and Ahmed Rashid's "Taliban" met the urgent need. Excellent work.
Believe it or not, W. "read more documents, I mean, very thick documents, about the stem-cell issue," Card told NBC's Tim Russert to re-assure Russert that Bush II can actually read. Can you believe it was necessary for Card to say this? Bush? Yes, but not Card.
Finally, the simple fact that the television industry has circled its wagons around the flag pole and burned up all the oxygen in which a larger debate might have been conducted about W.'s undeclared war on terrorism - a war that is impossible to win. Nevertheless, W. can float benignly above the "talk" in the all-of-a-sudden knowledge that he's our leader in this time of war that he hopes will continue for another year.
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