Dammit, you're smarter than her, sitting there in your den with your diploma on the wall behind you, your mouse crowding the stacks of unpaid bills on your desk, your fat thighs making the office chair squeak when you shift your weight. Those unfortunate but real boobs and asymmetrical features... your lost youth... your bratty kids and inattentive spouse...

I've written much about the politics of fear that took hold shortly after the world changed on September 11, 2001. The pure, naked opportunism of the Bush administration was apparent within a few short weeks. Taking lemons and making lemonade is one thing. Taking several thousand dead Americans and greasing the gears of your ideological agenda with their blood is another thing entirely.