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?