http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/forum/story/6284957p-7238663c.html

By Jaime O'Neill -- Special to The Bee Published 2:15 a.m. PST Sunday, March 16, 2003

My computer is freaking out. It won't send my e-mails, and it won't let me access my files. A sign pops up in a little box telling me that "an unknown error has occurred."

Where in cyberspace has this error happened? Who made it? What was its cause? How might it be corrected? The computer doesn't say. Apparently, it cannot say. An error has occurred, the origin and nature of which is unknown.

Could it be that my computer is sounding an alarm? Sometimes it seems so. More and more, when I see that little box pop up, I think of it as an oracle. The planet is malfunctioning; an unknown error has occurred.

Nearly half of the American public believes that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center. Osama bin Laden has become a footnote in the war against terror, though his glee at the direction events are taking is almost palpable. An unknown error has occurred.

Our president refuses to take questions at a press conference from a woman who has been the dean of Washington journalists for a couple of generations. She is removed from her time-honored place in the front row and given a seat in the rear of the press room. She is 82 years old, but the president seems to fear taking a question from her. An unknown error has occurred.

The level of national fear is ratcheted around weekly, with meaningless changes in the color of that fear, and useless advice about how to deal with it. An unknown error has occurred.

Fighting the war against terror, our representatives, in their wisdom, alter the names of food in the congressional dining halls, changing French toast and French fries to Freedom toast and Freedom fries. These are, ostensibly, grown men. An unknown error has occurred.

Americans are asked to pay for a war in Iraq with the blood of their sons and daughters, but a tax refund that goes primarily to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers remains in play as deficits spiral out of control. Meanwhile, contracts to clean up the mess we are about to make in the Middle East are awarded to companies associated with the vice president, and meanwhile consumers are gouged at the gas pump by a 30 percent spike in gasoline prices in less than a month. An unknown error has occurred.

The governor of the richest state in the nation raises funding for prisons, but cuts nearly everything else -- education, health care, highways and human services. This same governor, a Democrat, proposes regressive taxation -- on cigarettes, on vehicle licenses, on retail purchases -- as a way of offsetting the budget deficit his managerial ineptitude helped create. An unknown error has occurred.

A man who helped provide false documentation to the 9/11 terrorists is sentenced to time already served -- five months. An unknown error has occurred.

The nation seeks diversion through "reality shows" mostly featuring people pursuing cheap personal victories at any cost. These shows tend to be mean in spirit, misogynist in attitude and shallow in values. An unknown error has occurred.

Anti-war advertisements are turned down by MTV, the television voice of young people. Other stations also turn down such paid advertisements. Colin Powell's son heads the FCC. No one seems to recall that the public airwaves belong to the public. An unknown error has occurred.

Our national leader, who failed to win the popular vote, rules as though his clouded election was a personal mandate to do exactly as he pleases. Those who don't agree are dismissed, threatened or derided. An unknown error has occurred.

Connie Chung. Jerry Springer. Howard Stern. Rush Limbaugh. Strom Thurmond. Maury Povich. Ted Nugent. Ann Coulter. Bum fights. Humvees. "The Man Show," "Joe Millionaire," "American Idol," "The Bachelorette." Bill O'Reilly. John Ashcroft. "Jackass: The Movie."

Bruce Willis. Tom Ridge. Michael Jackson. "Crank Yankers." Endless entertainment award shows. Adam Sandler. An unknown error has occurred.

Because we fear that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, we are prepared to bomb that nation with a weapon of mass destruction so massive that most of our bombers can't carry it. Meanwhile, we insist that the nation we are about to attack disarm unilaterally. More than half of the population of this nation we are about to attack is under 15 years of age. No one seems to know how long we will occupy the country, nor is there any definitive estimate of the costs. An unknown error has occurred.

It is reported that the president's sleep is untroubled.

An unknown error has occurred.

About the Writer ---------------------------

Jaime O'Neill, who teaches at Butte College in Oroville, has written for the New York Times, Newsweek and Reader's Digest.