A Mirror for Monsters

This little rant got its start in a comment I did to a piece of Jeff Cohen's which James posted at his PsychPatPad.

In my comment, I found myself calling the Codpiece a monster, and frankly folks, I was a bit shocked when I found myself referring in such manner to this great man who has done nothing but Serve his Country while defending Liberty, Freedom,
Democracy and the American Way and will continue to do so as long as he thinks he needs to.

The picture to the right was taken from the website of a store that actually sells mirrors that look like this!



Well, it looks like they really are going to hang him and just by coincidence, coincidentally just like the coincidence which brought his conviction just before our elections in November, just by coincidence life will be drug from his body most likely not long before the State of the Union speech in January.

Since he has this odd thing about executions, heads in a box and ex-dictator's pistols, the Codpiece will probably really get his rocks off on this one.

Fortunately he'll be standing behind a big podium so no one will be able to see if he gets a hard-on. As long as he doesn't cream in his jeans, every thing should be okay.

Seriously and all snark aside, it is disgusting and improper to take joy in or celebrate the death of anyone. It doesn't matter if they are a bloody dictator, a more common run of scoundrel or just collateral damage that got in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There is a story in the Midrash, that, when Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the Red Sea, choirs of angels in heaven began to sing praises of Ye-God. However, a Voice commanded silence -- a hundred thousand of my creatures have just perished and this is a time for singing?

The Osage priest Black Elk related that when his people returned from the war path, they painted their faces black, the reason being that they knew what they had done was wrong and they wanted to hide from Wankan Tanka, the Great Spirit.

Of course they knew that they could not "hide" from God. The point is that, however strongly you may believe in the necessity of going to war, a perceived necessity does not justify war.

St. Augustine had his head up his ass -- there are no "just" wars. The fact is, all the bombs are in the hands of terrorists.

There was this old fellow who died not so long ago -- he was the one who staged a coup on an earlier September 11 back in the '70s, murdering thousands, including a lawfully elected president, and had many more thousands tortured.

After he stopped breathing and they could see it was not yet another attempt to avoid trial because of poor health or mental incompetence, a letter was published where he said that what he had done was out of patriotism and love of his country and that he had prevented things far worse from happening.

The letter didn't mention the hundreds of millions of his country's funds he stashed away in bank accounts around the world. Ah, but it is a heavy burden one must bear as dictator and savior of one's country and I suppose he was only making sure that nothing worse happened to the money...

After Saddam gets his neck snapped in January and, assuming the two monsters get to meet up someplace, I suppose he and Pinochet will compare notes. They'll probably brag a bit, the one about being a martyr and the other about successfully managing to die in bed.

One thing that is certain is that they will both agree they were treated poorly, that they were misunderstood and that they were the ones with the "backbone", the "intestinal fortitude" and the vision to see what had to be done and did it, by golly!

Such is the way of monsters! They are incapable of seeing themselves as they really are.

I am glad when bleeders of mankind no longer wield power and wish that all such could face justice for their crimes. However, I take no pleasure in their death or execution.

My only wish is that they could be made to see themselves in that sort of mirror in which a monster is reflected in all its ugly reality.