the rix mix

The Shock & Awe of the massive hole at Ground Zero, while listening to New York fat cats & big shots fight over what new monument to American hubris will be constructed there.

The Shock & Awe of seeing the terrible condition of New Orleans, & the makeshift trailer parks & tent villages of the Mississippi coast five months after Katrina.

The Shock & Awe of Bush's "approval ratings" - how they make no difference in what he does or in what the American people expect & demand of him.

But thou forsooth must be a king,
And don the purple vest,
As if that foolish robe could wring
Remembrance from thy breast.
Where is that faded garment? where
The gewgaws thou wert fond to wear,
The star, the string, the crest?
Vain froward child of empire! say,
Are all thy playthings snatched away?

from Ode To Napoleon Buonaparte
by George Gordon, Lord Byron

Not to compare George II with the Corsican, but with a loony wearing the bicorne hat, hand thrust in unbuttoned jacket.