A Plague Descending; Thank God for Rock

So, I'm at Wakamba tonight. I don't know if you know this place. It's up on 8th Ave. around 37th street. It's cool. It's got this whole island, Carribean thing going for it and all of the chicks that work there dress like sluts. It's really clean. I like this bar. Anyway, I walk in, get my Bud, drain it, order another, and sure enough, the dude next to me has to start talking to me. It's like this guy sits in an office all day and everybody hates him and he can't wait to talk to somebody. I'm pretty good at shit like this so I allow myself to be engaged in conversation.
"You like Spanish chicks?" he asks me.
"Sure, man, whatever."
"They give the best head. Fuck the Mexicans. Too Catholic. The Dominicans, the Cubans, the Puerto Ricans, shit. They'll take your whole dick in their mouth. It's the best."
"Cool."
"So what do you do?"
I lie.
"I work as a janitor at the Hearst Building."
"Really?"
"No shit."
"You voting for Kerry?"
"Yeah."
"You're a fucking idiot."
Just like that. From blowjob tips to telling me I'm a fucking idiot. I remain cool. Say nothing.
"Kerry is going to hand this country to the terrorists. George Bush is the only person we've got who can tell these assholes when enough's enough. I was here when those towers fell. I watched my neighbor die. They should nuke that fucking country."
I'm confused.
"Saudi Arabia?" I ask.
"No! Iraq! Fucking terrorists. They should kill'em all."
"What are you talking about? There weren't any Iraqi terrorists until we created them. We..."
He cuts me off.
"Bullshit! You're like a poster boy for the DNC. Iraq, Iran, Korea, Syria -- we should invade all of 'em."
"What?"
"If Kerry wins, we're going to get attacked again. Those fucking terrorists will overrun us."
"So your answer to the international terrorist problem is to attack four more countries?"
"Fuck yes! And you know what? We'll win."
At this point, the guy goes to pee.
I take the high road, pay my tab, and split.

If there's a stray round out there, I hope this guy catches it right between his fucking eyes. I bet there's a few Marines who'd gladly let this asshole take a bullet for them. Fucking hawks and their grand ideas on what we should do. Like to see this guy going house to house in Najaf. He'd probably be a lot less glib with his guts hanging down around his knees.

I don't pretend to begin to know what it's like to be in combat. Sure, I've had the whole soldier fantasy thing. I worked it out. You don't have to read a whole lot of war books to realize the shit's scary. I believe in the Band of Brothers. I cannot even begin to imagine what it's like to watch your friends get their arms and legs blown off, their brains blown out, see the light fade from their eyes as they piss and shit all over themselves. I'm smart enough to know that war is a dirty, rotten business. Even if I only know it from reading books. That said -- How dare this fucking asshole tell me the answer to all of the world's problems is to keep feeding troops into the machine? What the fuck would he know about any of it? Here's a guy who knows less than I do and he's got a hard-on for killing US soldiers. Can't wait to see them die. Fucking Bush supporters. Hawks and killers. Why get your suit dirty when you can just recruit the shit out of the poor? Give'em no options, recruit'em and send'em off to war. "We'll win." Tell it to their mothers, and then cut their benefits.