- It's a sad commentary on the state of American democracy,
on the instincts of the American citizenry, and on the standards and judgement
of the American newsmedia that the unsavory advances of a pathetic Forida
congressman can have the nation in high dudgeon, while the ramming through
of a patently illegal piece of legislation undermining a crucial 13th century
civil liberty (habeas corpus), and the Fourth and Eithth Amendments of
the constitution, and the secret planning for an illegal and catastrophic
attack on Iran, both merit almost no complaint or mention.
-
- Far be it from me to complain if Rep. Mark Foley's sexual
obsession with teenage boys ends up sinking Republican hopes for hanging
onto the House and Senate. But how sad that it would be if it is this,
and the coverup of his crimes by the Republican leadership, that undoes
the Bush administration, when its real crimes are of such grandeur and
seriousness?
-
- How are we to compare seeking to screw an underage youth
with totally screwing the Constitution? How are we to compare secret email
solicitations with a secret plot to attack a nation of 62 million that
poses no immediate threat to the U.S.?
-
- How are we to compare the Republican Party's cover-up
of a member's efforts to corrupt young pages with the same party's conspiracy
to cover up the Bush administration's ineptness and possible foreknowledge
of the 9-11 attacks, and of the campaign of lies and misinformation it
used to drum up hysteria for an illegal and totally unwarranted invasion
of Iraq?
-
- How are we to compare the media feeding frenzy over the
Foley scandal with the profound silence about Bush's Iran invasion planning,
and with the deliberate brownout about information regarding a growing
popular movement to impeach the president for his crimes?
-
- And finally, how to we to compare the public revulsion
over Foley's indescretions with the widespread acceptance or, or even
support for abuse of American captives in the War in Afghanistan, the Iraq
War, and the so-called "War" on Terror, which has included rape,
sodemy, sexual humiliation and torture of all kinds, and murder--especially
when it is known that the vast majority of those captives were either
guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or of
simply being honest fighters for their respective countries, deserving
of decent treatment under the Geneva Convention, and of a fair hearing
into the propriety of their detention?
-
- What kind of nation have we become?
-
- At least the Foley saga makes it clear why the farcical
impeachment of Bill Clinton for his extramarital escapade moved forward
through the House to a Senate trial, while George Bush, whose crimes far
exceed those of any president before him, including Richard Nixon, and
place the whole American experiment in jeopardy, has not even faced censure,
much less a bill of impeachment.
-
- Democratic Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry
Reid should be ashamed of themselves for leaping so boldly to the attack
over Foley's crime and the Republican leadership's cover-up, while continuing
to assert that there will be no effort to impeach the president for his
own crimes even if they manage, with Foley's assistance, to wrest control
of the House November 8.
-
- The American media should be ashamed of themselves for
wallowing in swill, when there is a cancer in the White House that is
attacking the very foundations of the nation.
-
- The American public should be ashamed for its sheer inanity
and inattention to the responsibilities of citizenship.
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