We have our own "Mad Hatter" resident in the White House, presiding over the insane global policy of death and destruction. With each passing day within the unrealistic cocoon he has spun for himself, he grows increasingly madder and madder.

Was George W. Bush always mad? Or was it just his ascension to the throne of power that drove him to madness? Catching a whiff of unbridled power will certainly do that to some men; especially someone with the weak and insignificant persona of a George W. Bush.

As Alice said to the Cat: "But I don't want to go among mad people." "Oh, you can't help that, said the Cat; We're all mad here. I'm Mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here." -- (From "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll).

Indeed, it would appear that we are all mad, because we are here, in the midst of Bush's lunacy. There is no getting away from it, like a trip on bad acid, we try to ride it out or talk ourselves back to reality. But like Alice, we are no longer certain what is real and what is not -- since nothing is as it seems.

The madness goes on; today (January 13), Bush bombed houses in the Damadola village of the Bajur region of Pakistan. According to Sahibzada Haroon ur Rashid, a member of Pakistan's National Assembly from the region: "A U.S. spy plane has been flying in the Bajur region for three days. The plane did such a flight early this morning and bombed three houses of locals in the village." Rashid said that the plane first threw light and then made a circle around and fired eight missiles on the houses of three local tribesmen.

The madness continues; Bush killed 18 people in the attack, four others, including two children, were injured and are in critical condition. According to Rashid, no al-Qaeda members -- the ostensible reason for the attack -- or other foreigners were among the dead.

Madness as foreign policy; Bush has killed over 100,000 Iraqis in his "Democratization/pacification crusade. The hell of white phosphorus, and the burning flesh caused by napalm, means nothing to the detached-from-it-all madman in the White House.

Madness as domestic policy; Bush has ensnared us, one and all within his police state. Warrant less searches and eavesdropping; an attorney general who aids and abets the royal madness by playing the yes-man jester to Bush's folly. A cowardly Congress, collectively playing Tweedledum and Tweedledee, sputtering nonsensically while arguing over who spoiled whose rattle.

Madness as bombastic in-your-face; today (January 13), the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee said that outsourcing white-collar jobs to low-wage countries such as India has become a "global fact of life" -- and that "America must learn to live with it."

That's right America, Senator Max Baucus from Montana said you had damn well better learn to live with it! In other words, "Fuck you, America." "I'm on the pad of all those corporate blood-suckers who are sending your jobs to those low-wage countries, and you just have to learn to deal with it, because you can't pay me as much as the people who pull my strings." At least that's what it sounded like to this writer, what do you folks think it sounded like?

Madness is, as madness does; and Bush is one mad m_____f___er. Of course, we collectively share his madness by virtue of our apathy, stupidity, ignorance or worse. We are all mad.

Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
Did you ever wonder why we
Had to run for shelter when the
Promise of a brave, new world
Unfurled beneath the clear blue sky?
Did you see the frightened ones?
Did you hear the falling bombs?
The flames are all long gone, but the pain lingers on.
Goodbye, blue sky
Goodbye, blue sky
Goodbye, Goodbye.
(Goodbye Blue Sky -- Pink Floyd)

You can contact Frank Pitz at fpitz76@hotmail.com