by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

This story about Cat Stevens being denied entry into the US is absolutely unbelievable. It is, of course, a tale of bureaucracy gone psycho. But we also have to remember that any bureaucracy will mirror the personalities of those in charge. In other words, the paranoia exhibited here finds its roots in the personality of the man occupying the Oval Office.

I don't know how anyone could fail to see this as a direct assault on all our First Ammendment freedoms. Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens, is no longer a true celebrity--or, rather, he is, at best, a minor celeb still riding the coattails of his popularity of 25+ years ago. He has done nothing other than live his vision of the Islamic faith since his conversion back in the 70s, and his version of that faith is oriented exclusively towards the peaceful aspects of Islam rather than its more militant side. He is, in fact, just the type of spokesman that faith needs at this moment in time. So, the obvious conclusion to draw from this action is that the Bush Administration does not want to fairly portray all sides of Islam; the Bush Administration needs to demonize rather than humanize Islam in order to justify its assault upon Iraq. He is, in fact, trying to promote the equivalent of a modern Crusade against the "godless heathens" who control all that oil.

Ooops...did I say "oil"? My, my...heh, heh...Freudian slip! Perish the thought that Bush's own personal agenda includes American (read "his friends") control of Middle Eastern oil. Now, I have no faked memos to document this, but I'm sure that Mr. Rove can whip up som using the same computer he used to forge the "National Guard memos". 'Nuff said...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005