CAUTION: To stay safe on the twenty-eighth, don't buy a fifth on the twenty-seventh!

(The Absinthe Drinker by Edgar Degas: On the verge of her

demise from an overdose of George W. Bush hyperboles?)

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One of my earliest (and most regretted) posts on this blog occurred in June '05 with the suggestion to make a drinking game out of an upcoming president Bush address to the nation. As rare as those were, Bush felt it necessary to go on prime time TV and relate to us, the little people, the progress the U.S. was making in Iraq.

It was never my intention to hurt anybody. I never meant for anyone to drink themselves silly or into eternal oblivion. But a little perspective on how this could have happened might be helpful.

By the summer of '05 we had been mired in Iraq for over two years in what was supposed to have been a cakewalk. American's were sick of the same tired Bush rhetoric. Unable to punish the perpetrators of 9/11 in Iraq because we couldn't find any, or their nonexistent WMD's, Bush's mission had evolved. We were now Iraq's benefactors, heaping huge doses of "freedom" and "democracy" upon the Iraqis (whether they wanted it or not).

Astute observers by then were already convinced the nation was the subject of a dangerous Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels-esque mind experiment to see if Americans, told a big lie over and over enough times, would wolf it down sans even a small burp.

We were in a new and interesting period. Just as we had been watching the state of Israel evolve into the very Nazis who had exterminated 6 million of their own, America was now becoming the same oppressive state it had fought so hard to depose in World War II.

With such a sobering reality, I decided to promote the drinking game idea. To make more palatable Bush's playing loose with his hackneyed use of Iraqis new found "freedom" and "democracy." I thought chugging a gulp of one's favorite spirit each time we heard either of those words might make it easier to swallow the bullshit for those masochists determined to watch.

But the news in the paper a day or two later left me shaken. A local woman had been found face down in a ditch, barely breathing. "Rushed to a hospital, her condition is currently unknown," the paper said. Could I have contributed to this woman's demise? Had she played the Bush drinking game?

I had never expected that in the brief span of Bush's 23 minute speech he would mention "democracy" 15 times, "freedom" 35 times (!) -- more than enough to kill the country's heaviest drinkers several times over.

I don't know if that woman found in a ditch played the Bush drinking game. Nor do I know if she recovered. But it was a somber thought I might have shared some responsibility for her demise.

All of this flashback was triggered with Bush's impending last (hopefully) State of the Union speech to the nation this coming Monday. An e-mail I received Thursday morning revived the idea a drinking game based on words you chose to watch for in his speech beforehand. I would only suggest caution if deciding to play this potentially dangerous game, i.e., it might be wise to lock the liquor cabinet beforehand and bury the key in the middle of a pile of Fido's canned dog food (where, once devoured, it will be unaccessible until at least tomorrow).

While I'm all for a little fun through responsible alcohol consumption, the George W. Bush Speech Drinking Game is just a joke, much like his State of the Union addresses (save for their deadly consequences, of course). Knowing the president's actions have killed way, way too many people, please take care not to join those lost souls Monday evening by becoming a victim of his words!

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