paper graffiti

According to NPR this morning, Karen Hughes is in the Middle East, trying once again to put a positive spin on the image of the United States. Listening to this really pissed me off. PR is not what the United States needs right now. Using advertising techniques and looking for target audiences is not going to help us. The damage has already been done, the scars run deeply. Parts of our target audiences are the ones calling jihad on America and blowing up the tube in London, and I seriously doubt they could give a rat’s whether or not Karen Hughes is in Egypt trying to make us look pretty.

I met Karen Hughes my senior year in college when I went on a trip to Washington D.C. with my department. She was one of the few top officials we still got to meet, since the city had been locked down tight for a month. I left Dallas on October 11, 2001 and got back home the day after anthrax had been discovered in Tom Daschle’s mail. It was a different city than I imagine it had ever been before, and I have to say it was utterly fascinating to be there. We spoke with Karen Hughes during a lull in her extremely busy schedule–you can imagine what the President’s top communications official was going through in the weeks after 9/11. Even then, I was not fooled by the slick, pretty PR exterior of the “campaign” that was going on to boost the opinions of America in the Middle East. The meeting with Karen Hughes left a bad taste in my mouth, and part of my drive to move up to DC and work there as a press secretary or lobbyist was fueled by the fact that I just didn’t buy what they were trying to sell the rest of the world.

Now, don’t get me wrong–I want nothing more than for the Middle East, as well as everywhere else, to have a good opinion of America. But they won’t have a good opinion of America until we change our foreign policy, and frankly I don’t blame them. I am not a very big fan of our foreign policy, either. I am also not a big fan of our policies at home. The United States is so concerned about matters abroad that when we have a devastating natural disaster, it turns into a giant clusterfuck. The hierarchies of power are skewed and nobody really knows who is in charge. The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, and *nobody* knows what W is up to. There are people going hungry on American streets every day, children not getting the kind of education they deserve, and now there are entire cities that don’t exist anymore and homes that have been washed away in a matter of minutes. No matter what our foreign policies are, how could other countries respect any of our actions abroad if we can’t even take care of our own people at home?

A shiny PR veneer isn’t going to fix anything. Sending advertising campaigns and slick “Yay Team USA” infomercials aren’t going to change anyone’s mind. It’s putting a band-aid on a bullet wound, and it’s not going to be enough until the government makes a real change. So…maybe 2008?

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So I’m doing a sweep to make sure the wank is actually dead, and I find more ranting and raving that actually has NOTHING to do with the whole KIWank, yet apparently she assumes I am the cause of it. HYSTERICAL! I couldn’t resist commenting on the community, where she can’t delete anything. She’s onto our little game, y’all! I swear, have your own opinion about anything and this chick goes OFF. It’s like dealing with my mother, only scarily way less rational. I wonder if she and Pat Robertson will start blaming me for Hurricane Rita hitting Texas.

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The wank continues!! Seriously, as if this weren’t funny enough on its own, the sheer fact that she has gone on for THIS long is hysterical. I can’t MAKE this shit up. I’m sure I’ll be “very, very sorry I have Internet access” by the time she’s done with me. OMG y’all, she’s going to take me out! And if you’re not careful, she’s going to take you with me!! Babs, please be ready with the SWAT team to come find me in Idaho if I do mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, her own COMMUNITY is telling her to cut it the hell out. I shudder to think at the veritable army she must be amassing right now to make me PAY!

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Apparently I provoked the ire of OMG the biggest Kids Inc. fan EVAR! I should be shot for even having suggested that I was a fan of the show when I was 10 and didn’t know the difference between good and cheesy. I am apparently also a cunt and a bitch for daring to snark on Fergie et al. I mean, there’s nostalgia and then there’s psycho and obsessed. Guess where this chick falls? I’ll let you be the judge. Meanwhile, Unhinged, party of one? Your table is ready.

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I am really afraid that I didn’t do well enough today to earn the move I’ve been shooting for at work for months. I know what I did well on, and why I didn’t do well on a few things, but considering it was a test-only atmosphere with no interview or discussion or anything, I don’t know if they’ll see that on practical application of everything I did really really well. So I couldn’t remember the exact wording of the rule on clauses or conjunctives or whatever. I can apply everything correctly, and correct mistakes. Isn’t that what matters? It’s not like I won’t have an AP Style Book, APA Style Guide, Chicago Manual of Style, etc. PLUS at least three different dictionaries and a thesaurus on my desk at all times. I am stressing OUT and quite disappointed so far. I feel like I should have been more prepared, though I don’t know how I could have been. So, if you pray, pray for me. If you don’t, send good thoughts and hopes my way.

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