The Logical Conclusion

For many years, at least since the Reagan years, Republicans have raged about The Government and have made Small Government a mantra. When it was impossible to eliminate The Government, Republicans have seemed to make it their business to break it. Now it's broken and many major Republican constituencies need help, so what happens?

Hey John McCain!

...do you plan to pardon Cheney and Bush (and those in their administration) for their crimes domestically or shield them from international prosecution?

Let's think about this, even though there have been distinctions drawn between civil and criminal prosecutions, breaking the law is a crime and there are laws about hiring, contracting, revealing the identity of CIA agents, torture, wiretapping, archiving, secrecy, and so many other activities that were carried out by this gang of thugs and thieves. Will they be brought to justice? Will the new administration (whichever one wins) say, "Let's put the past behind us" and let the lawbreakers walk away from the mess they made?

The damage that's been done is nearly irreparable. Nevertheless, we are ostensibly a nation of laws. There still is an international criminal court (despite this administration's flaunting and denial) which does have jurisdiction over international crimes. Justice should be served and carried out with all due process.

I ask again, would John McCain preemptively pardon his predecessors or shield them from international prosecution?

Oh, Huh!

When my sister was younger and found herself backed up against a logical wall, she would frequently respond to facts with a vehement, "Oh, huh!"

Recently, I've discovered the root of this: our own dear mother. I don't particularly remember her 35 years ago resorting to any presentation of uncomfortable fact about a Republican with something like, "Well, did you hear what Hillary did?" She may have, and it really is the rhetorical equivalent of, "Oh, huh!"

There comes a time when we must converse like adults, and the fact that "Oh, huh!" is not the answer to a parry or point.

Irony alert: my mother is currently a professor of rhetoric at a small sectarian college in the Northeast, where she is proud of how she is able to stand her ground against the Liberals.

Oz on the Potomac

It has occurred to me that the way the Cheney/Bush years have been operated much like Oz. To enter Oz, one needed to wear unremovable emerald glasses. The alternative universe that Cheney and Bush have contrived necessitates accepting a world in which the rule of law is suspended (via signing statements) and everything else is SECRET. (Why are you asking? Why do you hate America?) And when they get caught it's OK, or made OK retroactively.

Most recently the Wizard has decreed that everyone will get a check from the Treasury to take and spend on the consumer good of their choices. Where does this money come from? The budget surplus that President Clinton left behind was given away long ago in the form of tax cuts. Similarly, far more than could ever be afforded has been borrowed so that they could buy munitions from grateful defense contractors to attack a country that might or might not have oil that can be exploited by other friends and relations, nevertheless Halliburton makes money coming and going.

Today is the 40th anniversary of Eddie Adams' photo of the South Vietnamese officer shooting a Viet Cong guy in the head. That was back when we had freedom of speech. Now we have embedded journalists whose work must be approved. So we'll never see any atrocities or disturbing images from the occupation.

So it goes.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Do you want the terrorists to win?

Election 2008: The Tickets

On this eve of the New Hampshire Primary 2008, I will make my ticket predictions.

D: Obama/Richardson
R: McCain/Huckabee