It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of
a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into
privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing
algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the
planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times. An April 9, 2004 press release from the United States Department of the Treasury includes the following assertion in boldface type: "America has a choice: It can continue to grow the economy and create new jobs as the President's policies are doing; or it can raise taxes on American families and small businesses, hurting economic recovery and future job creation." Citizens around the country complained that this kind of partisan campaign statement should not be released using taxpayer dollars. And they were right: it is in fact against the law for taxpayer dollars and government employees to be used for such a purpose. The Hatch Act forbids such activities. When it was suggested to Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols that making such a statement was an improperly partisan action, Nichols responded, "That is nonsense, baseless and groundless." Then a visitor to pandagon.net turned up a press release from the Republican National Committee, dated April 2, 2004. The press release includes the following assertion in boldface type: "America has a choice: It can continue to grow the economy and create new jobs as the President's polices are doing; or it can raise taxes on American families and small businesses, hurting economic recovery and future job creation." So not only is the Bush Administration breaking the law to get their guy re-elected, they're lying to cover it up, too. We've seen this sort of "whatever it takes" ethics before. Come November 2004, we need not see it again. (Sources: U.S. Department of the Treasury April 9, 2004 press release; Republican National Committee April 2, 2004 press release; Associated Press April 10, 2004) Return to the Irregular Times Main Page
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