An Open Letter to Ex-President Bush

Mr. Bush (Get used to this)

With all the excitement of removing you from office many have forgotten you're still there. I haven't and I wanted to show you with this final letter. Please read on if you've not been distracted by something shiny.

We did it!
Well you didn't per se. You sat around and looked confused wondering why John McCain avoided being seen with you for the past year. I'm sure that you were pulling for your older protege. You probably thought he'd do a good job but as we know your judgment has never been sound. Fortunately, I guess we'll never know.

I wanted to let you know how much my faith has been renewed in my country. We have seen your direction. There's no way to sugar coat it, you've thrown us in the crapper. You started two wars, ignored our people when their homes were flooded, bankrupted our economy by spending billions on the aforementioned (that means "already talked about") wars we cannot win and did not capture the man you set out to. I did mean to tell you, it was Bin Laden not Hussien for whom you were looking. I don't know if I can express myself monosyllabicly enough for you to understand but--YOU FAILED.

Finally we can raise our heads up and say once again, "I am American and I am PROUD!" I have not felt that for a long time. 8 years to be exact.

Traveling abroad and currently living abroad I have had to defend myself time and again against the horrors you have wrought upon the world.

NO LONGER. Now we have a president, not a war monger, a man not a monster, a leader not a decider, someone of genuine intelligence not a propped up idiot-monkey-puppet, someone of principles not a partisan pander.

Did you in your lifetime think you would see a landslide victory like this?
349 electoral votes and almost 53% of the popular vote. This, EX-President Bush, THIS is what a mandate looks like. Not skirting by, by a measly 1 %.

I hope in the future you enjoy your time on your ranch while we try to clean up your crimes against the earth and the country you pretend to love.

I, along with the rest of the American people, have one thing to ask. We know you're only around for another 3 months. Please Please Please, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. Don't start any wars. Don't interrogate people illegally. Don't abuse prisoners of the wars you started. Don't even eat a taco without clearing it with the president elect. I know how much you like tacos but hang in there. Why not do something nice? You have three months. Why not protect some wildlife or plant a tree? Something to prove you have a soul.
Oh and please release Dick Cheney into the wilderness somewhere to die in peace. We know he's only held together with cybernetics and steroids.

I have said that if McCain won this election I would think twice about coming back to the the country of my birth. Well not anymore. I'm coming home America but this time to MY president.

MY president who promotes peace. MY president who graduated Magna Cum Laude. MY president who can speak in complete sentences. MY president who cares about MY country. MY president and I are taking back our country. Guess who's coming to dinner Mr. Bush and it ain't Sydney Portier!

If you made it this far I applaud you for this is much more than you ever read of the Constitution.

Devon Carroll

Republic Day in Turkey

And we're back...
I write quickly as I have no idea when my blog will again be blocked, but for today we are live!

Today we'll be discussing Turkish 4th of July! So there we were hoping to go see our friend last night when out of the blue Turkish 4th of July fell on us like a cart fully of disgruntled chickens.

They closed roads leading everywhere in every direction. Immediately we were stranded. So when in Rome...but we weren't in Rome we were in Istanbul, we did our best to blend in but failed miserably. It's hard to look like you belong when you don't know the patriotic songs and such. I tried to sing along with the American national anthem, no dice. The streets were completely flooded with excited revelers. It was literally difficult to walk 10 feet without being whacked with a Turkish flag.

As with any holiday the occasion brought out the entrepreneur in everyone. There were almost more places to buy paraphernalia than there were people. It was like seething sea of red and commerce that lapped upon the sidewalks and culminated at the main park near our house.
As we walked every 500 meters there was a huge television screen blaring patriotic music. Unfortunately for us they had the volume turned up loud enough for those to hear who were actually around for the founding of the Republic (1923). Sadly there are only 3 patriotic songs so we had to listen to them ad nauseum as we walked. At one point everyone stopped to recite what seemed like a pledge of allegiance: shown below.
We waded through the crowds until we finally emerged at the park. There was a bus decorated with lights and banners. On top there was a man chanting patriotic rhetoric into a microphone. The crowd became as thick as 3-day-old oatmeal as they chanted along in a kind of call-and-answer style. We had think pretty thin to push through.

Finally we emerged into the park where the fireworks show began. There in the middle of the park not 20 feet from passers by they launched the fireworks. All that separated us from the launch site was a flimsy plastic police line. This would not happen in the US.

We watched, as you can see below, for a few minutes but the sound grew deafening so we headed (finally) back home.


One more cultural experience in the bank. Hope you all are well.