Parables

I've just started reading the late Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Talents, which depict an America gone insane -- broken, desperate, in the midst of an apocalypse of our own making.

And this morning I ran across these stories on Pam's House Blend, about John Gibson's comments on Fox News, Michael Savage's recent comments on his show, and a post by John Derbyshire (although I'm convinced Derbyshire's piece has to be an audition for The Onion), via Andrew Sullivan.

Then I saw this news story:

Bush's speech Monday night is intended to build support for broad immigration overhaul by taking substantive steps to secure the border. His focus on the military echoes statements he made after Hurricane Katrina, saying the military may need to play a stronger role in disasters. He also later suggested he would consider using the military to enforce a quarantine in the event of a bird flu pandemic.

"We need to beef up those (border) operations and the cost will be substantial," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in an interview. "People are just not going to accept comprehensive immigration reform unless they are assured the government is going to secure the border. People have lost confidence in the federal government because they simply haven't addressed this in a dramatic and effective way."

Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, asked officials earlier this week to offer options for the use of military resources and troops - particularly the National Guard - along the border with Mexico, according to defense officials familiar with the discussions.

Cornyn said state officials are also looking for more unmanned aircraft, ground sensors, surveillance cameras and military training to help with border patrols.

I really think everyone -- right, left and center -- should read these books. Just so you know what's coming. (OK -- I'm too optimistic to believe we're really going right down the toilet -- until I think back over the past five or ten years, about the growing influence of demagogues like Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, Sheldon, and their ilk, and the fact that a majority of Americans think that it's OK for the government to be spying on us, and stuff like that. Then I wonder.)

Go ahead. Have nightmares. Someone needs to.