doughyatt.org

Welcome to my personal web site! I am Doug Hyatt, an aspiring writer living in East Tennessee, as well as an expert in the field of bioinformatics (biology meets computers). Tired of the straitjacket nature of blogging software, I have finally decided to design my own pages. Instead of struggling to make sense of a single 'harmoniously confused' blog, my humble readers may now select which of my varied jumble of interests they wish to learn more about. Each mini-site features its own static content as well as a running blog detailing my latest exploits related to its subject. Enjoy!

The creeping power of the religious Right in this country will not now nor ever again be underestimated as it was in this election. The Christian masses proved to be the perfect target for Rove's ideologies. The simple message: appeal to fear. And it worked. Fear that their churches would be forced to conduct gay marriages (irrational, no church is forced to do anything, but that's the way these people think). Fear that terrorists would attack such great landmarks as the Corn Palace in South Dakota or Nebraska's Carhenge (as lampooned on the Daily Show, and, yes, there really is a Stonehenge somewhere in middle America built entirely out of cars). Fear that Democrats would run through the streets aborting fetuses and harvesting stem cells from their still warm pulsating little bodies (while laughing diabolically). Fear. Or, as my friend Todd Muldrew put it:

Another of my friends, Ian Watkins, wrote that Bush winning reelection is actually good for the country. While at first I recoiled in horror at the notion, I have since thought about it and am inclined to agree. Bush's legacy will be his incompetence. The quagmire he will find himself in, with a deficit spiralling out of control, madness run rampant in Iraq, the skewing of the Supreme Court to the extreme right, these will all come back to haunt him. I read a wonderful article on this subject in the London Times, titled Kerry Should Be Glad He Lost. The article draws numerous analogies between the incompetence of John Major and George Bush, and of how Major's incompetence galvanized the Tory party to produce a strong leader in Tony Blair.

The best article on anything related to the election that I have read so far, however, is also from the London Times: The Inevitable Triumph of God, Guns, and Apple Pie. I pretty much agree with everything the author writes in this article. And, finally, if you only have time to read one columnist, treat yourself to the acerbic wit of Maureen Dowd: The Red Zone is her wonderful article today. The scariest thing in this article is the description of some of the radical conservatives that got elected to Congress, hatemongers so conservative they make Bush seem like a liberal. Yes, we Dems lie at George Bush's feet, as she writes (actually she writes John Kerry's feet, but anyway), "in little blue puddles". But, like the T-1000, we will coalesce, re-form, and never stop stalking our enemies... If the country can survive four years of Dubya, by that time, it will be clear that he has been the worst president in my lifetime, and one of the worst presidents in American history. By that time, it will be clear not just to those of us who actually use our brains, but to the other half of the country as well. For even the brainwashed, if kicked in the shins enough damn times, will begin to realize "Hey... that hurts...."