Signal Ironies
IF ( and the if should be big as the S which begins Ulysses) the Plame case is the undoing of the Bushites -- as of course it should be -- it will be another of history's great ironies, or perhaps hubris in ironic action. Surely Wilson went to Niger becuase Dick Cheney wouldn't take the truth for an answer. Having been told that the African yellowcake story was bogus he armtwisted the agency into looking again, and perhaps again and again. Surely we'll never know. We only know that in one of the iterations the fact-finder went public and called bullshit on the administration's bullshit.
Scooter Libby was allegedly all exercised because Cheney never saw Wilson's report -- the CIA allegedly never sent it. But why would they have sent it? They already knew that the Bushites would not accept what it said.
Damn dirty hippies!
It’s a beautiful crisp Saturday here in the Imperial City – what a lovely day for an Anti-War March. I just happen to be in the office today, trying to dig down and find if there is a wooden stratum under these dunes of paper, and I note that the dirty hippies are gathering outside with their potty-mouthed signage, their Birkenstocks, their loco weed, their lovely children etc. I may just have to go out and stroll with them at the appointed hour, see if it causes any groovy flashbacks to my feckless youth, wins me the transitory affections of a white-squaw in braids, patchouli oil and tie-die, or just basically serves to provide good socionautics. I have already put my lovely attorney on retainer (movie, dinner) in case there should be legal ramifications. I predict a good turnout in the fine weather.
Some Deep Thoughts
“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” -Sinclair Lewis
...while snorting fat rails of crystal meth and being buggered by a male prostitute. It's not easy being Reich.
An Open Letter to My Senator
Dear Senator Webb,
We cannot know if George Bush doesn’t like the truth or doesn’t know the truth. But this is certain: very often he does not tell the truth.
Likewise, we cannot know whether the pronouncements, policies and practices of the Bush administration have been fraudulent or negligent, deliberate deception or reckless dereliction, but they have certainly been criminal – undertaken without due diligence and with utter disregard for their risks, consequences and morality. It is time to hold the authors of the Iraq fiasco (and so much else) accountable – to repudiate the actions, investigate their instigators, and where warranted, prosecute their crimes.
For decades America was virtually immune to the terrorism which has pervaded so much of the world, not because of our military might, but because we were rightly admired as a just, free and fair people. Now, by the reckless actions of this secretive and lawless administration, America has been so dishonored as to warrant this admiration no more. If we do not show the world that America can police itself, we will abdicate any claim to leadership of the free.
It is well past time we demanded truth of this administration. If George Bush doesn’t know it, or won’t tell it, then his every initiative should be resisted until such time as a more honorable and capable person can assume the office of President.
The Fish Rots from the Head
It is axiomatic, and perhaps even true, that organizations take their style from their leaders. And where did W get his style? Back in 1999 he went around on Ken Lay's corporate jet telling everyone he'd be a CEO President -- very much in the mode of his friend, mentor and benefactor, Ken Lay. If only we'd known how true that would prove. Bush does sometimes inadvertently tell the truth, and if you know it when you hear it, it's chilling
The Bushist style is sanctimonious flim-flam, betrayal of the public trust is standard operating procedure. Self licensed by unshakable conviction that the righteous can do no wrong, the Bushist uses his position like a pimp uses a farm girl. I would be willing to bet large amounts of money that the vast majority of Bush appointees, were they to be thoroughly investigated, we would find steeped in crimes of dereliction, conflict of interest, and outright graft. They feel that they're entitled, having taken up defense of noble mythological entities like the
Snowflake Babies, Free Markets, the Sanctity of Marriage and the Moslem Masses Yearning to be Freed by Blitzkrieg.
Here's a radical notion: how about we hold some of these people accountable, and maybe even hold accountable some of the people who resisted hold them accountable. When, oh when, can the de-Bushification begin?
The Faithful
On the Dogged Loyalty of W’s Fans
Certain people will always follow a leader,
as a lost duckling does a dog.
He need only pretend that he’s a Believer,
and he will look to them like a God.
