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Dowd: Season of the Witch
The New York Times ^ | 10/14/2001 | maureen dowd

Posted on 10/13/2001 5:28:21 PM PDT by Pokey78

WASHINGTON

When I was little, my older brother used to play classical music for me.

The record I loved best was Rimsky-Korsakov's romantic "Scheherazade," about the young Islamic woman who spellbinds an Arab sultan with 1,001 tales. The record that frightened me was Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," the surreal celebration of evil during the night of the Witches' Sabbath — so vividly animated in "Fantasia."

The lord of evil and death, swathed in a dark cape, stands atop a jagged peak, as ghosts, witches and vampires swirl up to pay homage. At dawn, the church bells drive him off and the spirits return to their graves.

More anthrax scares popped up on Friday, from Tom Brokaw's office to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and St. Petersburg Times newsrooms to the State Department to a Microsoft office in Reno to an L.A. movie studio (it was a sign of the times that envelopes of white powder, once redolent of partying in Hollywood, now reeked of plague).

America has entered the season of the witch.

From his jagged lair, Osama Bin Laden was summoning up a swarm of demonic creatures to invade our brains. It will take more than the power of good, or the power of bunker busters, to knock this lord of evil off his Bald Mountain.

Maybe terrorists were responsible for the spewing of spores — some real, some hoaxes, some still being analyzed. Or maybe it was the work of tormented spirits who, according to the F.B.I., have been inspired to mayhem by the jihad. Either way, it plays into bin Laden's diabolical plot to infiltrate our subconscious.

Only five weeks ago, we inhabited a paradise of trivia, wallowing in celebrity, consumerism and cosmetic-surgery advances. Now we inhabit a paranoia of trivia, worrying about potential mortal threats in everyday actions — opening a letter, getting on a plane or train, going to the mall or a football game.

America was singularly unprepared to go through a season of the witch. We were optimists, a big, bold S.U.V., Sex-and-the-City society, confident in the security that our geography afforded, flush from the 90's, happily absorbed in the secondary questions of existence.

There were awful things — Waco and Oklahoma City and Columbine — but no primal threats that forced us to turn to primary questions of life and death: Whom do you love and who loves you? What would you grab if you had to run from your house or office? Whom would you designate to raise your children if you died?

The president, an Andover cheerleader, was doing his best to pull the nation out of its despond. He was suddenly engaged, on top of the issues, reflecting our pain and puzzlement. His message was, by necessity, schizophrenic. "Our nation is still in danger," he conceded on Friday, adding that we had to get on with our lives, to shop, travel and play.

But how could we? There was news of frightened New York Times and NBC employees getting tested for anthrax. And there was Tom Brokaw calling this "the ultimate nightmare" and becoming emotional, on the "Nightly News," about his assistant contracting the disease. "This is so unfair and so outrageous and so maddening," he said. "It's beyond my ability to express it in socially acceptable terms."

The president urges us not to be "cowed" by terrorists, even as the vice president worries that they may be spreading these plagues.

Antidepressant sales are soaring, and people are drinking and smoking more. Beyond that, we will need to toughen up and learn to be alert but not inert, to go about our business and pleasure while we are in a wigged-out state of apocalyptic readiness.

The president says the government is "responding as quickly and as forcefully as we can." And we trust that the government is trying. But any idea that there was a federal firewall has been shattered. So we're flying blind on a lot of things we've never encountered before.

We were living too much in the present when the terrorists struck — we were not ready to be attacked from the inside, not ready to overcome turf fights and identity crises at the C.I.A. and F.B.I., not ready to fight a spidery global war with medieval brutes, not ready to take on the hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia and Egypt on terrorism, not ready to combat bioterrorism.

So now we have to live too much in the future, on watch, even though we're not sure what to watch for. 


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
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To: Pokey78
America has entered the season of the witch.

Technically, according to those who've sponsored 99.9% of terrorist cells and training for the past century or so, it's THE PERIOD OF ESCALATING VIOLENCE en route to the World State. Surely she knows this much.

Besides, it's good for goverment. Both the GOP AND the Democrats will tell you that much. They fully anticipate that Americans will decide it's the government's job to protect us and -- further -- that it's perfectly reasonable to trade liberty for "security" on the off chance our gabillions in intelligence activities might prevent a WTC "next time".

The Message They're Sending is Essentially the Same

41 posted on 10/13/2001 6:50:55 PM PDT by Askel5
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To: janus
"She must have got hold of some powerful weed. Prose like that can only be produced by a good dose of Maui wowie."

No, more likely it would be Jacksonville homegrown.

42 posted on 10/13/2001 6:51:14 PM PDT by Aedammair
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To: Pokey78
Only five weeks ago, we inhabited a paradise of trivia, wallowing in celebrity, consumerism and cosmetic-surgery advances.

That's you, Mo. Not all of us inhabited that vacous universe of life, thank God.

43 posted on 10/13/2001 6:56:29 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Howlin
The bitch could use million dollars worth of cosmetic-surgery and my dog would still run!!
44 posted on 10/13/2001 6:58:49 PM PDT by HoustonKevin
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To: Pokey78
What meds is she on? Her writing gets worse and worse and worse. Someone please, put her out of her misery.
45 posted on 10/13/2001 7:03:22 PM PDT by nmh
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To: survivor76
Question? Who would you want as daughter? Hildebiest,Dowd or cutsey Couric? you gotta choose if you're a boomer because you gave birth to these idiots.

I could have raised any of them up to be good, God fearing Americans.

46 posted on 10/13/2001 7:05:37 PM PDT by KingKongCobra
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To: HoustonKevin
Like this:


47 posted on 10/13/2001 7:23:28 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: coo-coo-for-coco-puffs
So true! When I was little my brother used to blast Jimi Hendrix and Cream. This music, I remember used to scare the heck out of me . . .
48 posted on 10/13/2001 7:40:28 PM PDT by QBANA
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To: Pokey78
Got a kick out of her opening remarks -- such a blatant phoney. Is she trying to convince us that she's a (hee! hee!) intellectual? Or is she trying to convince herself. The latter, I think. I loved Fantasia as a kid; it was my favorite Disney flick. The music didn't scare me. Maybe Mo needed a therapist as a kid -- it sure shows now that she did.
49 posted on 10/14/2001 12:04:35 AM PDT by EastCoast
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To: meyer
But any idea that there was a federal firewall has been shattered. So we're flying blind on a lot of things we've never encountered before.

It is terrible to see Mo's little illusionary bubble popped; but welcome to the club. Although I believe the government's main job is national security and defense, I am still mature enough to know that we live in a not-so-nice world with a lot of terrible people. You can't control most of what is going on, but you can certainly guard against it.

Maureen and her NYT buddies are hopelessly ignorant.

50 posted on 10/14/2001 8:22:36 AM PDT by pchuck
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To: Diddle E. Squat
ROTFLMAO.
51 posted on 10/14/2001 10:23:08 PM PDT by FReethesheeples
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To: Arkie2
"We're living the hangover from 8 years of inattention and rule by a president who thought more about his libido tham the security of this nation. The parties over. Time to sober up."

Right on!

52 posted on 10/14/2001 10:27:27 PM PDT by RobbyS
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To: Pokey78
The record that frightened me was Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," the surreal celebration of evil during the night of the Witches' Sabbath — so vividly animated in "Fantasia."
[snip]
America has entered the season of the witch.

Maureen, if you're going to mention music in the same essay that you use the phrase "season of the witch", for god's sake, give some credit to Donovan.

53 posted on 10/14/2001 10:28:55 PM PDT by Dan Day
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Comment #54 Removed by Moderator

To: RandallFlagg
With any luck, she'll be chased around by little Christina Augillera monsters nipping at her soles....

In Dowdy’s world, the little monsters look like Catherine Zeta Jones.

55 posted on 10/15/2001 7:39:55 AM PDT by dead
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To: Dan Day
Quite rightly.
56 posted on 10/15/2001 7:41:01 AM PDT by dead
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To: Diogenesis
Has anyone here actually read Maureen Dowd before today? She's no friend of Clinton -- her columns took a chunk out of him every time they were published. When she was the White House beat reporter, they constantly complained about her coverage.

She snipes at everyone, conservative or liberal alike. And she absolutely can't stand Al Gore.

Sheesh, talk about a knee-jerk reaction.

57 posted on 10/15/2001 7:49:01 AM PDT by JeffMill
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To: JeffMill
You've got serious reading comprehension problems. Every third of fourth column, Dowd would take a petulant little swipe at Clinton. And her gripes were always that he should have kept his zipper zipped because he hurt her precious liberal democrat cause.

After each pathetic little snit, she would make amends by writing two screeching columns slamming Ken Starr or Henry Hyde or anybody else who tried to hold her impish rogue president responsible.

She writes a schoolgirlish, incoherent gossip column, and remains blissfully ignorant of the damage Clinton and his Administration did to this country. She's a twit.

58 posted on 10/15/2001 8:03:13 AM PDT by dead
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To: dead
Agreed that her columns are trite. But she criticized Clinton for having no scruples, no sense of honesty, no sense of loyalty and suborning everything, including national policy, to inflating his own public image.

Harsh stuff.

That said, I think her columns are catty. Now Gail Collins, there was a columnist ....

59 posted on 10/15/2001 9:01:05 AM PDT by JeffMill
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To: JeffMill
Nonsense. Most journalists during X42's criminal reign were limp and wussies in his direction.

OTOH when it came to justice -- they obstructed it.

60 posted on 10/15/2001 9:22:22 AM PDT by Diogenesis
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