Wake Up and Smell the Coffee\r\nAuthor: Clark Kent\r\n<\/p>
Imagine waking up from a deep sleep and finding yourself in a strange\r\nroom. You have no memory of who you are or where you are. Someone\r\ncomes running into the room. He is in a panic. He tells you that you\r\nare in danger and that he is there to protect you. Confused, you ask him,\r\n\"In danger of what?\" \"The evil one,\" he replies. \r\n\"I am the good one, I am here to save you but you must do what I tell you\r\nto do. I cannot share with you any of the facts supporting my assertions,\r\nfor that would put you more danger. You must surrender yourself to me and\r\nI will protect you.\"<\/p>\r\n
At first, having no idea about who you are or where you are, you trust\r\nhim. You surrender your freedom to him and he pledges to protect you from\r\nthe evil one.<\/p>\r\n
Each time something disturbing or threatening happens, \"the good\r\none\" comes in and tells you that the evil one did it. He assures you,\r\nhowever, that if not for his gallant efforts, something even worse would have\r\nhappened. You have never seen the evil one and he provides no proof that\r\nhe has prevented something worse from happening, just anecdotes, names of people\r\nyou have never seen and do not know and more tales of the terrible things that\r\nwill happen, unless you surrender your freedom to him and allow him to protect\r\nyou.<\/p>\r\n
Nothing happens for a while and you begin to feel safer. You venture\r\noutside on your own, look around the world, and things seem relatively\r\ntranquil. In time you begin to question whether you are in any real\r\ndanger. At first you are quiet about it, but in time, tired of being under\r\nthe control of \"the good one,\" and seeking to find your own way in\r\nlife, you bring the subject up with \"the good one.\"<\/p>\r\n
\"Look, Good One, nothing bad has happened in some time and frankly, I\r\nwant to get on with my life. I have never seen the Evil One and I am not\r\neven sure he exists.\" you say to the \"good one.\"<\/p>\r\n
\"Trust me!\" says the \"Good One\". There is danger\r\nall around you.<\/p>\r\n
Later that day, as you walk out of the place you find yourself living in, a\r\nstone falls as you open the door. The stone falls on your foot. It\r\nhurts badly, but things could have been worse. It could have fallen on\r\nyour head. There is an inscription on the rock reading, \"Complements\r\nof the Evil One.\"<\/p>\r\n
Convinced that the evil one really is a threat, you trust in \"the good\r\none\", at least for a while. Once again, nothing bad happens for a\r\nlong time and you begin to wonder if the rock was just some strange random\r\nevent. \"Perhaps I've attributed more significance to this than I\r\nshould have,\" you muse. Once again you begin to defy \"the good\r\none\" and go about creating a life for yourself. The \"good\r\none\" notices that you are not heeding his warnings and accuses you of\r\nworking for \"the evil one.\"<\/p>\r\n
\"I'm not working for the Evil One,\" you reply. \"Indeed,\r\nI've never met him. I simply don't believe there is any real danger and I\r\nintend to have my own life. Thanks for your help, but I'm out of\r\nhere!\"<\/p>\r\n
You leave your abode, take a stroll down the street, and everything seems\r\njust fine. A few days pass. You are walking through a park and the\r\nswish of a bullet whispers into your ears. A bullet has just missed your\r\nhead and strikes a jogger running nearby. As a crowd forms around the\r\njogger, everyone in the crowd begins muttering to each other about the Evil One.<\/p>\r\n
\"Well, perhaps there is an evil one, after all!\" you think. \r\nYou return to your abode and \"the good one\" is waiting there for\r\nyou. He says, \"So, the evil one tried to get you again. Will\r\nyou follow my advice next time?\"<\/p>\r\n
You acquiesce, again.<\/p>\r\n
Your neighbor comes over to visit and begins talking to about his doubts\r\nconcerning the evil one.\" You explain your own observations and\r\nassure him that there really is an evil one. He leaves unconvinced. \r\nThe next day an ambulance pulls up to his house and his body is taken\r\naway. Some strange accident befell him.<\/p>\r\n
The pattern strikes you. You are now convinced that \"the evil\r\none\" and \"the good one\" are one and the same. As you leave\r\nto tell the world, a rock falls when you open the door. This time it\r\nstrikes you on the head.<\/p>\r\n\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"We have met the enemy and he is Bush.","numcomment":5,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/06\/112988.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":112998,"heading":"Portrait of a silly, silly fool","article":"PORTRAIT OF A SILLY, SILLY FOOL\r\n\r\nHe returns to his abode from another protest. No one on the street even bothered to fart in their direction...more "proof" the "brownshirts" control the crowds with chemtrails, forcing them to NOT be receptive to Kucinichian ideas like making all rainbows Honorary Mayors of Left-ville.\r\n\r\nHe flips on the tube. The first news story is about sandnog savages sawing off the head of a defenseless American hostage. The second story is about how, hours later, the ringleading piece of shit murderer and a few of his butt-buddies are gunned down by heroic Saudis. \r\n\r\nNeither story evokes any reponse from our hero. \r\n\r\nInstead, he goes online as if nothing has happened in the past 4 years, no beheadings, no 9-11...and types that in a world filled with tyrants and despots, BUSH is the evil one.\r\n\r\nWhiskey \r\nTango \r\nFoxtrot. \r\n\r\nThe subnormals run the asylum.\r\n ","author":"Elephant Shuffle","parent_id":112988,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-20 15:09:27","modified":"2004-06-20 15:09:27","fileurl":""},{"id":113001,"heading":" He flips on the tube.","article":"So stop watching the stupid thing and paying for getting lied to and sold things you don't need, can't afford and is unhealthy.\r\nWhat an idiot...","author":"that's a problem","parent_id":112988,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-20 16:17:26","modified":"2004-06-20 16:17:26","fileurl":""},{"id":113063,"heading":"another stupid story","article":"Imagine something really bad happens to your country, like a terrorist flies a plane into the World Trade Center.\r\n\r\nAfter that terrible event, a guy named Bush, who everyone agrees is a toad and not very smart, tells you there's a War on Terrorism, and then starts to push for war in Afghanistan, then Iraq.\r\n\r\nImagine that, before the disaster, a cabal of empire-builders who believe in pushing the American Empire to all corners of the globe, realize that they won't get support from the populace, who are generally isolationist, unless there's a "Pearl Harbor" scale situation to mobilize people to carry out their nefarious plan.\r\n\r\nThank goodness this story isn't true! \r\n\r\nIt's a good thing that Bush isn't a wealty puppet of the energy industry!\r\n\r\nIt's a good thing that Dick Cheney isn't a crooked dealer who was CEO of Halliburton, who now has all those reconstruction contracts!\r\n\r\nIt's a good thing that the politicians gave it good to the bad guys at ENRON! Bad bad Enron!\r\n\r\nAnd, it's a good thing that there are a lot of Patriots who love to defend anyone who slaps a Stars-and-Stripes bumper sticker on their forehead. Where would we be without these team players?","author":"more rational","parent_id":112988,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-21 22:44:51","modified":"2004-06-21 22:44:51","fileurl":""},{"id":113070,"heading":"an even more ridiculous story","article":"after 911 bush&them decided to not take the fanatical islamic threat too seriously, based on cost, rights, the UN, and world opinion.\r\nAyear later the admin. congratulated themselves on saving the american people 200B$, respecting world opinion and saving a few lives overseas and propping up the UN for a more Pcorrect world. a week later an islamic cell detonated a suitcase nuke in LA.","author":"rat poison","parent_id":112988,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-22 00:32:57","modified":"2004-06-22 00:32:57","fileurl":""},{"id":113079,"heading":"Suitcase nuke","article":"Geez we would never had thought of that. No pesky evidence.\r\nOopps. We're sorry.","author":"CIA","parent_id":112988,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-06-22 03:17:16","modified":"2004-06-22 03:17:16","fileurl":""}]}