It's a Police State!

I hate having the Republican National Convention here. Almost everybody does. It's pretty creepy to be walking to work, to the store, etc. and see cops on every fucking corner, in every subway, on every train. They're directing traffic, they're blocking off streets, they even told me to cross the street to the other side yesterday. I guess I'm threatening. Roar!

Last night on the roof of my building (well, I'm actually moving out TODAY!), which is one of my favorite places to be, I gazed lovingly at the Empire State Building, like I always do. It was lit up in festive red, white, and blue, no coincedence. Disturbing this lovely site were a posse of helicopters, noisily encircling the ESB, and shining lights like a small sun around the city as they turned. I must be a few miles away from the building, and everytime that helicopter turned in my direction, it was like someone had just trained an interrogation light onto my face.

I watched some of the RNC, including a chunk of Arnold's groan-til=you-want-to-puke speech. How many people in this world saw Nixon on TV and were so inspired they had to be a Republican?!?!?! Clinton, JFK, even Reagan, okay! I can see them being sufficiently impressive to make you want to be like them and be in their party, but Nixon??

Then onto the joking and smirking bad-girls, the Bush twins. The "we're so cute and precious, *nudge* *wink*" speech really inspired feelings of hostility in me. Why is that everytime I see some of these Republicans speak, I get an overwhelming desire to first destroy my TV, and second open-fire on Madison Square Garden? I'm a pretty docile lass, and I can't even imagine owning a gun (what the fuck for?), but listening to some of these people and the unbelievable things they say is like some sort of psychological, hypnosis-induced homicidal tendencies switch. When Rudy Guiliani said we owed it to the victims of 9-11 to vote for Bush, I had the intense simultaneous feeling of screaming, crying, and projectile vomiting.

Then there's Laura Bush who my roommate believes is the smartest politician at the whole RNC, since she has everyone snowed over with her "I'm just a simple librarian with pure thoughts and deeds" persona. You picture her knitting in the white house while discussing how we really really really need to help "the children."

I can't stand all of this. I sometimes feel so overwhelmed (again) with that fact that there are still so many people who don't see "W" as this frightening force of destruction. Is a nice fat tax break REALLY worth fucking up the whole country over? And come on, how many people REALLY care if gays marry? How does that threaten or change YOUR life (scary, prejudiced, straight Christians) in ANY way? If Bob and Steve marry, does your own life just fall to pieces? Give me a break.

Maybe it's because I'm older, maybe because I'm more aware of politics, maybe because I really do believe in the Democratic party, but I am really afraid of Bush winning again. And at the risk of sounding like a wacko patriot, I am really afraid for my country.