The Great American Spiritual Desert

Goddamn Bats

WHEN THE GOING GETS WEIRD, THE WEIRD TURN PRO
And that, I think, was the handle-that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark-that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.

from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter called Las Vegas~~~The Savage Heart of The American Dream~~~and so it is, but The Real American Dream died and was buried a long time ago~~~as most of her remains are scattered about the grounds and rolling hills of Robert E. Lee's old homestead~~~aka~~~Arlington National Cemetery. American Mythology? She's embalmed in all manner of smiley faces~~~locked behind the corporate gates~~~of Disneyland. America's had a tough time of it~~~we haven't had a good spiritual rain since The '60s~~~and the drought has startlingly revealed some very ugly characters. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sarah Palin~~~cardboard people with plastic values~~~Christ I don't even wanna' take the time to name them all. Drought takes it's toll. The character of people that America has produced has reached another low tide. Rabid Fundamentalism~~~a 'kin to that ole Manifest Destiny that 'et up most of the original Americans and their buffalo~~~is a viral infection in merica's thinkin'. There are a lot of Spiritual Idjiots on the loose these days~~~all 'a thinkin' that they can't be wrong 'cause God is on their side. Holy Smokin' Jesus~~~I wish that Hunter had lived to see this crazy-assed party we're having here on Desolation Row~~~or maybe it's Highway 61~~~I don't know~~~maybe Dylan does.