Post Mortem

America is dead.

Perhaps it died last night, amidst hope stillborn; perhaps it died three years ago, as fear and hatred billowed out like smoke from two fallen towers; and perhaps it died four years ago, as a nation looked in disbelief at an election stolen away, still quietly mouthing to themselves, "It can't happen here. It can't."

But the nation conceived of two hundred and twenty-eight years ago by our founding fathers is gone. Their hopes of religious freedom, of strength for the common man, are shattered. We now live upon the mouldering corpse of their dreams.

Sixty-two years ago our grandparents were faced with the pivotal event of their generation, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, and our country was brought into World War II. That generation clothed itself in honor and was welcomed onto the world stage by every free country of Europe. It fought too, but it fought for the oppressed, for the common good, and when it was finished it said, "My time here is done," and having given back to Europe its hope also returned its freedom and its dignity.

Three years ago we were faced with the pivotal event of our generation and we instead clothed ourselves in greed and ambition. This time we were not welcomed as we took our war across the Atlantic; instead we accepted the disdain that was heaped upon us as if it were our due, that which should be rendered unto Caesar. We wallowed in the hatred, for it told us that we were strong, and the rest of the world merely jealous of the greatness that we had.

This time we are not the liberators; we are the enslavers. We are not the freedom fighters; we are the killers. The blood of a hundred thousand innocents already lies thick upon our hands. We do not fight against an Aryan Empire, built upon intolerance for our fellow man; we are that Empire.

Last night we were given a hope, a last hope, a chance to cry out into the night that we are not those men, those men who stampede across the freedom and dignity of the world, blind to all but our own ambition. But our cries into the night were unheard, swallowed up by the looming darkness.

We are those men.

If we are to have any hope left, it can be found only by looking one last time at Germany, the evil empire that we cast down sixty years ago. Today they are a vibrant and free country, a stronghold of finance, a home to dreams, to freedom.

As we once were.

As, perhaps, we can be again.

But not for a long time. Fifty years perhaps, sixty. I am not sure I will live to see the day.

And today, America is dead.

On the Bright Side ...

When our country has just decided, en masse, to mortgage off their childrens' future with another 4 years of huge budget deficits ...

... there's something to be said for not having kids, nor planning the same.

(Or, as one person on a forum said, "Gosh, I'm glad we're not going to have to pay for this!")

Sorry for those of you who do have kids who will.

End Gaming

Life goes on. I was entirely determined to head out to End Game tonight, either to have a fun night of celebration, or to take my mind off the slow destruction of our democracy; unfortunately, it was for the latter reason.

Heading down to BART, I must admit I was amused by the (otherwise sad) headlines. In huge, 90-point, bold font were the words "BUSH LEADS" (on two different papers). Heh. They'd clearly blocked out the space for an important, definitive headline, and just had to fill the space when things finally went to press.

End Game was jam-packed today. They were so full that people had to game at the miniature tables (being high tables, with stools, and raised edges to keep the miniatures from falling off). And, even all of those got filled. Dave G. and I attributed it to post-election gloom: everyone wanting to try and get their mind off how truly fucked our country is.

I got to play three games tonight.

First was Succession, a game from new American publisher Your Move Games. I hated it. It was a negotiation and auction and screw-your-neighbor game that took constantly wheedling and dealing. I'm also not convinced that the auction system really works.  Ironically, I've got a review copy of it in the mail, and I'd been sad that it wouldn't arrive by tomorrow, as I thought it would be a great post-election game. So, I got to play it anyway. I'm saving my review until my copy arrives and I get to actually read the rules, as I was suspicious of some of the ways things were explained. In any case, my assessment will be based on if the gameplay works, not my own like. I came in a very close second (on a tiebreaker).

Next was Clans, one of the games I brought because I like it and no one else I game with does. It was fun again. I won.

Last was The Settlers of Catan, at the request of a very well-behaved kid who was presumably 10 or 12. There was a much less well-behaved woman in the game who bitched through the entire game about her terrible position (and she was right, it was), and kept threatening to quit. I would have taken the kid anytime. I tried out my same new strategy that I tried in my last game, concentrating initial settlements on apparent rarities. It worked again. I won.

Other games that I saw going on, quite a mix: Web of Power (which I've been wanting to play), Colossal Arena, El Grande (one of my favorites; perhaps I'll bring that next time), Cloud 9, Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings, some train game called streetcar 1 or something  (which also caught my interest), Goa, Star Traders (an oldie), Dragon's Gold (another on my to-play list, because I'd like to get up reviews of the rest of Bruno's games), Puerto Rico, Star Wars Epic Duels (I kept hearing people talk about killing Princess Leia), Rumiss (a new Tetris-like game) and Modern Art. I think a game of die Macher never got off the ground, but I'm not quite sure what happened there. I'd love to play it, but it was way too long for an evening.

It's nice heading down to Oakland on my own power for these. I enjoy bopping around, just not being taxied around by someone else (as when gaming was down in Union City for a while).