American Realistan

Today’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis brought back the memory of a warning issued by someone who should know against the decayed condition of American roads, bridges, and waterways.

In a previous incarnation, I looked at this issue, which Trish over at Pensito Review blamed on Bush’s tax cuts. (Once all of the neo-anderthals have rushed over to their keyboards to defend The Deciderer, I’ll resume.)

Sure, this assertion could be dismissed as mere liberal fulmination by those who don’t want to admit that Dubya’s Terror War For Oil led to unnecessary American deaths. But they should listen to one of their own desired economic class.

Back on March 30, 2006, UPS CEO Mike Eskew addressed the Houston Forum. During his talk, Eskew referred to the 2005 report card issued by American Society of Civil Engineers:

“… let’s put it this way: if your kids brought home report cards like this, someone would be grounded…
… aviation system got a D+; navigable waterways a D-; roads a D, and rails a C-.”

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John Dean, in his 07/25/07 post, says that “Conservatives fight dirty and dishonestly.” As a former member of the infamous Nixon White House staff, he would certainly know. Just today comes proof of Dean’s charge against the neo-confidence men:

“If there are cover-ups, the public has a right to know what has been covered up,” Mr. Bruno said, speaking to reporters at Saratoga Springs, the Associated Press reported. He said the [executive] office “has seen fit to abuse the power of that office to spy and track and attempt to really destroy what apparently the [executive] office considers a political rival,” according to the Associated Press.

Strong words! Do they emanate from a Congressional Democrat seeking to uncover the mysteries regarding the political terminations of US Attorneys across the land?

They do not.

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Democracy is the worst form of government ever devised – except for all the others.
- Winston Churchill

Gerard Baker, Times of London columnist and is US Editor, reminds us that

A central tenet of neoconservatism has always been that promoting democracy around the world is not only morally right, but also in the long-term interest of peace and stability.

In America these days democracy is living down to [Churchill’s] reputation … where vital national interests – and the security of much of the world – are being determined almost entirely by immediate, panicky political considerations.

The panic grows by the minute, but not in those intended to do so. Those who are easily panicked, such as Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss (who defeated highly-decorated Democratic Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland by running swift-boat television ads implying that Cleland was allied with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein), vociferously seek to discover a means by which the American people can be swayed to oppose the efforts of real military veterans (for instance, Vietnam Combat Veterans Democrat Jim Webb and Republican Chuck Hagel - co-sponsors of a bill to extend theater tour breaks for combat veterans).

Did Chambliss himself serve? You have to ask?

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Don Davis of Satirical Political has put up a timely and classic gem:

BUSH’S COMMUTATION OF LIBBY SENTENCE REALLY AN ‘iPARDON’

“WITH THIS LITTLE HAND-HELD GADGET, I NOT ONLY MARCH TO MY OWN TUNE, BUT FIND BANDS THAT CAN COVER MY ASS.”

Thanks to the compliant American corporofascist media, that ass is being covered quite nicely, thank you! Thus, it is left to Donna Marie Artuso, writing in the Winnipeg Sun, to expose the real reason why Libby was released from serving his time - to prevent embarrassing squeeling:

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Bush commutes Libby prison sentence

President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak investigation Monday, delivering a political thunderbolt in the highly charged criminal case. Bush said the sentence was just too harsh.

Is that what Bush would say to Genarlow Wilson, who is under a ten year prison sentence for consensual teen sex ? Would he have felt that way about mocking the appeal by Karla Faye Tucker to stay her pending execution?

HELL NO! That bastard usurper will forgive any sin committed by a Republican faster than he can condemn any act that goes against his wishes, especially if performed by anyone not one of his pet Republicans!

The Democrats are complicit in that their responses to this travesty of justice are so mild mannered as to be tepid. Take House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (PLEASE!):

“He has abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice, he has failed to uphold the rule of law, and he has failed to hold his Administration accountable.”

Check out some of the other lame retorts delivered by the “opposition”:

“The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own vice president’s chief of staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law.” — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at least acknowledges what is now the fact of legal life in our nation:

“When it comes to the law, there should not be two sets of rules — one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America.”

But there are, Senator! And there have been - ever since your party passed the Patriot Act without reading even a summary and then voted for Bush’s STAR(K) Chamber [See definition at the end of the post]

“Accountability has been in short supply in the Bush administration, and this commutation fits that pattern.” — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

I’m sure you’re shocked by this revelation, Senator! Are you finally ready to push those subpoenas through the mail slot at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Of the 2008 Democratic Candidates, only New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson expressed real outrage:

“The arrogance of this administration’s disdain for the law and its belief it operates with impunity are breathtaking. Will the president also commute the sentences of others who obstructed justice and lied to grand juries, or only those who act to protect President Bush and Vice President Cheney?”

The only other expression of real outrage comes from former Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife’s career as an undercover CIA agent was sacrificed on the altar of political revenge - the very act for which Libby was convicted for blocking the investigation:

“[Today’s presidential decision] “should demonstrate to the American people beyond a reasonable doubt how unbelievably corrupt this administration is from top to bottom. At end of day, it’s allowing a neoconservative cult to engage in special pleading.”

It should be clear to all sentient beings on this planet that there is no longer a government of law in the United States. It should also be clear that there is no one in the Democratic Party worthy of taking power away from those who should never have had it in the first place!

But then, that’s what the STAR(K) Chamber was created to prevent! What is the STAR(K) Chamber? That is the extrajudicial cabal made up of Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, and sometimes (K)ennedy, a group whose task is to torture the law until it screams, provided that the outburst is in favor of the desires of the Deciderer. As the ultimate arbitrator of the law, they get to say it means only what they decide it means, without question or oversight.

America, we hardly knew ye!

It occured to me observing all those brave “knights errant” rushing to the defense of Ann the C after that “horrible attack” from Elizabeth Edwards over the last several days that the neocon chansons de jest are nothing more than brash cubs. Wolf cubs, to be exact.One of the reasons I equate The Followers of The Wrong with wolves (apologies to Canus lupus) is the means by which young wolves are fed. According to Wikipedia, wolf pups eat regurgitated food, very reminiscent of the manner in which the followers spew the regurgitated sayings of their GOP pack alphas like Coulter. If one of The Followers ever came up with an original idea not previously approved by the Republican National Committee, they would be sacrificed on the Altar of The Cult of Uniform Individuality.

The membership of the 25% of Americans who slavishly follow the Cheney-Bush cabal like to think of themselves as self-made, and yet actually doing something to prove it is beyond their capabilities. For one, it requires independent intelligence, and I submit that particular quality is lacking in them. Anyone who thinks that The Followers are intelligent should read their words in the comments of my latest blogcritics post.

Lest these whining howlers think that equating them with wolves is an honorific, I remind them to note that the wolf would now be extinct except for the efforts of a few humans to save them - something being reversed under Cheney-Bush - but said protection isn’t likely to save them for very long. Not even the national symbol - the Bald Eagle - is under federal protection anymore, so who is going to care about a few mangy political mutt packs?

Wolves have always been seen as dangerous to profitable animal husbandry and those involved in that industry cheered when the Cheney-Bush cabal tells them they can again hunt and kill their competition.

Said elimination, hopefully only in the metaphorical sense, could also happen to The Followers. Certainly, with the clear understanding around the world that the Cheney-Bush cabal is finished, one can understand why eliminating the threat of the neoconfidence packs would be seen as a vital necessity.

The first step, now underway, is to limit their range. The rest of the process will follow as the new leaders emerge to replace those without brvery and those without sense.

Just the other day, Cindy Sheehan announced that she’s had enough and isn’t going to play in the jungle known as the American political scene anymore. She was quite harsh in her comments, saying among other things:

“I’ve been wondering why I’m killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush”

The lame excuses offered by the Democrats for doing so can be sampled here.

Sheehan also added this scathing observation:

“I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the ‘left’ started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used.”

I’ve been in her shoes, trying to lead those who are too busy, or have “other priorities” which prevent them from doing the heavy lifting necessary to achieve common goals which they claim to desire. But fail to realize these wishes, and you have become the lowest of the low, lower even than those who cause delayed gratification, and you discover who your friends really are. It isn’t a long list.

In addition, Cindy Sheehan had this assessment of her fellow Americans:

“Casey did indeed die for nothing … killed by his own country, which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. You are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it. It’s up to you now.”

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If there is one thing that can be said to characterize the White population of the United States, that one thing might be defined as a sense of entitlement, an innate belief that Whites DESERVE the prosperity enjoyed since the end of World War II as the reward for three centuries of conquering all that stood in the way of the progress of the self-appointed superior race. After all, did White Americans not gain a vast territory to exploit at the expense of the Red Natives and their Brown cousins? Was not the first measure of agricultural abundance and prosperity for the elites created through the enslavement of African Blacks to provide almost-free labor? Did not the early modern American Industrial Revolution (in the form of the railroad) benefit greatly from the exploitation of the Yellow men of Asia?The one problem for the White population of the United States is that if one race seeks and achieves dominance, one must also accept the fact that the other races will seek to become the replacement dominant. Such an effort on the part of perceived inferiors would create the fear-driven imperative in the existing dominant portion of the society to maintain a privileged position and a superior status lest they suffer the fate that they themselves inflicted on the others to become dominant. In other words, when one enslaves another, one is himself enslaved. One cannot ever let down as Master lest Slave take over and reverse the roles to be played.

Such is the case today. The exploiters of the many for the benefit the few (read: the wealthy and racist elements of the Republican Party) are facing the growing likelihood that their days as top dog are numbered and dwindling. Nothing strikes more fear into their hearts than the idea that they soon won’t be Number One.

Eventually, they won’t even be Numero Dos.

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As time passes, it’s becoming clear to me that much of what is occurring politically in this nation today is motivated by a desire to reestablish white supremacy in this nation. I’m going to document this in coming posts, but I had to get the topic framed in my own mind in order to get organized about my presentation. I hardly know where to begin.

Perhaps the place to start is in the assertion of investigative reporter Greg Palast that the coming 2008 presidential election is already in the process of being stolen. Palast tells BuzzFlash that

When I say the 2008 race has already been stolen, about a million and a half voter registrations have been turned down. Even though there have been massive voter registration drives among Hispanics and African Americans, as the churches fill up the bucket, there’s a hole in the bucket where the registrations are being dumped.

If you’re reading this and you’re white, you don’t know what a provisional ballot is. If you’re reading this and you’re black, you were the ones that got one. It’s that simple. We have one ballot for black folk, one ballot for white folk. And the black ballot is a provisional ballot and it does not get counted. And that’s how it was coming down in the United States of America.

Vote theft is mainly a racial issue in America, and it’s a class issue. …it’s the millionaires versus us. The last thing that they want is poor people to vote.

The prosecutor firings were 100% about influencing elections… Karl Rove directed a guy named Tim Griffin to target suppressing the votes of African American students, homeless men, and soldiers. White voters better start thinking about the need to protect the black vote, because your vote ain’t safe if it gets cancelled out by Karl Rove when they take away a Hispanic voter’s right to vote. You can have a nice, neat paper ballot they will count, but they’re laughing at you because they just purged fifteen Hispanics.

I mentioned something about this to one of my Black coworkers, and he said “It’s alright. I’ve still got my gun.” It’s an attitude that is matched across the race divide, and that is only the beginning.

Time does not allow me to continue this further, but I will return to this topic. I have much more that indicates we are headed in the direction that will destroy what’s left of the republic, and that the people are being subtly massaged by stories in the so-called liberal media and by emotional appeals to “reason” emanating from the Republican Party.

Guardian photographer Sean Smith is on his fifth trip to Iraq, embedded with the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division near Baghdad. He describes the massive disparity between White House happy talk and the reality in Iraq:

I am seeing the country through the eyes of the occupiers. There is no way I can tell the whole story. It reminds you of John Boorman’s film Deliverance; you never know what will be around the next corner.

The only contact the soldiers have with the local population is in stress situations - when a search is being conducted or IDs checked. Mostly, the locals know what to do when they are confronted by a patrol - stop whatever they’re doing, get out of their car, explain who they are. And do it quickly - or you run the risk of being shot.

This isn’t about governing Iraq; it’s just trying to demonstrate nowhere is out of bounds. There is no effective administration here and the Iraqi army is a fiction. I can’t emphasise enough what a slog this is for the troops. They’re good soldiers, sent to do an impossible political job, so at the moment it’s not much more than putting one foot in front of the other and showing they are there.

Showing they are there is about all the Congressional Republicans are managing to accomplish in their dealings with the White House. “There are a lot of people on the Republican side who are not happy with the situation,” said Trent Lott.

Don’t stop there, Helmet Hair!

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