Surgery Is A Beginning!

In these days before we know for certain whether Karl Rove will truly be indicted for any federal crime at all, we need to consider the social force of any indictment, and its potential outcome.

A patient I cared for some twenty years ago comes first to mind. She was admitted to the ER with classic symptoms of a stroke, ... slurred speech, and hemiparesis, ... paralysis of one side, characteristic of a large bleed in one side of the brain, ... or a sizeable blockage, ... usually a clot, in one of the major arteries providing blood to the brain. A CT Scan is the first way to determine if there is something awry in the brain, ... a blockage or a hemhorrage. The pictures are different, ... but the symptoms are often the same.

For this patient the news was even more grim. The CT scan revealed that the blockage of circulation was actually a tumor. She had an enlarging tumor the symptoms of which mimicked a stroke, perfectly.

For her family the question was what to do. They listened to the sage advice of the neurosurgeon, and had the tumor, ... which was not even the primary source of the cancer, surgically removed. She lived another 16 months, ... although the cancer eventually consumed her, and brought her early death at the age of 58 years old.

The cure to our American Malaise will begin soon. I am certain that Karl Rove is not the "primary" tumor of the Republican Party. That medical term indicates an original source of "cancer" that then spreads to other organs and other functions of the cancer victim. That cancer, has actiually been a part of the Republican body politic since around 1972, perhaps.

In Nixon's Swan Song election, there was, even among Republicans, a sense that the predicatable vectors of the political universe, the Toricellian twists of spirit that constitute the reckoning of the public awareness with the Political Purpose writ large, were turning against the Emperor Richard.

In short, America was ready to throw Nixon to the wolves. He had bought his way back into office by fractionating the American Parent from the American Student, ... and had lost. Boomers outnumbered Parents by perhaps 2.1:1. The Emperor's War Was Doomed!

Fast Forward America to 2006: The Children of the Revolution now own America. They are CEO's, CFO's, and Retired Directors of the Corporate Collective Wealth of America. I know a couple, ... met a few more. They do rightfully organize and direct the money their investors grant them for their stewardship. They do it well. A few of Emperor Richard's fledgelings remain, ... Cheney, Rumsfeld, ... Wolfowitz, ... God help us, they never found other gainful employment. They thought that they might someday have another opportunity to seize the powers of our government by way of the vice-presidential elective of the presidential candidate. I.E., ... Agnew was run with Nixon, ... and Cheney with Bush, so as to avoid the matter of the electorate.

Elect the attractive presidential cdandidate, ... who, under the aegis of his party's leaders, ... selectes the VP.

So, ... whither Rove? Oh, ... He will soon be dissected away from the governance by indictment. But the primary tumor(s) remain. They will until another day. For now, ... we apply the chemotherapy of public opinion and renouncement.

No one, ... NO ONE, Should believe that Rove was ever a cause of more than a night's indigestion. He was a jester of the court, ... a fool who thought himself a king. The True tumors reign to this day, ... some in both parties, who need to be excised to prevent a loss of the People's Freedoms forever.

We know their names. Throw out first the skulls and bones to clear the deck. The flesh is harder to find, ... but is as rotten as the skeltons already cast overside.

There is no reason not to begin anew! Are there left no sons of Jefferson, and Washington, of Douglas and Lincoln? I know better. They are everywhere in our land ready to serve!

I would cast my lot with any of them over the sons of Morgan and Stanley, Ford and Rockefeller! How far down the road to perdition have these latter led us?

Capitalism, ... Yours,... not ours!

When did you even give our capital a chance to compete.

No, ... Sirs.Our Nation begins again today!

Stargazer51

Who Bought The Beer?

On Wednesday General Hayden, nominee to head the CIA, indicated he might be willing to modify the FISA law to accommodate the President's warrantless wiretapping program. That would be like raising the blood alcohol level retroactively to, say "0.25" instead of "0.08", to absolve the President of a DUI charge! Were it not for the fact he is chauffered everywhere, that might come next, ... who knows? The President has expressed no interest or need to change a law he disregards altogether.

The law is the law until it is changed by Congress and signed by the President.

Now DOJ says they are stymied in their investigation of the wiretaps, because they can not procure the security clearance for their investigators to view the records. NSA, of course, issues the clearance or not. NSA, Hayden and DOJ all are complicit in a cover-up, ...

It appears to me they are playing that (under)age old game of "Who bought the beer?" now that they were busted in a corn field.

When confronted by the investigating officers the first spouts "I couldn't have bought it, ... I'm under age!".

"No one here has a beer in his hands, do they?" asks another.

"We drank it all so that no other young people would get hurt or killed drinking it!", spouts one of the more feeble minded among them.

Then on the edge of the party scene, ... the host of this sad beer fest, the former Sheriff's minor son, lies amid the stalks, bathed in his own vomit. He looks up bleary-eyed at the officers' Maglites, trained on him, and pronounces, ... "It's my G**Damn Beer! I drank it! I've drunk at least 40 of 'em, ... and I'll drink again, any damn time I want! So just change the damn law about age and blood alcohol levels, and get over it!"

"What did he say?" the young officer asked his older counterpart. The senior officer had to translate for the younger policeman, as the drunkard's speech was garbled and barely comprehensible. Meanwhile the sheriff's kid threw back another long draught from the Corona in his hand, and immediately puked on the boots of the officers standing over him.

" Well, ... from now on, just drink where no one will find you!", said the officer, as he shook his leg to clear the mess. "It makes us look bad when you kids get caught doing this kind of stuff!"

"Yea, ... that's another thing, ... said the Sheriff's son, ... I want to know who tol' you we'd be drinkin' here tonight, ... jus' so I can fix their wagon good! It was s'pose to be a secret!"

"Yes, Sir, ... We'll let you know that first thing tomorrow mornin', ... when you're sober enough to do somethin' about it!", the officer finished.

And the Sheriff's son grew up to be Sheriff himself! His brother's even thinkin' about runnin' for Sheriff, ... And he and his family, and his drinking partners lived happily ever after. AS for the drinking parties?, ... Well, now, they have them anywhere they damn please!

SG51

PS: Any similarity between the characters in this story and real persons is purely intentional. Any patterns of behavior which seem to be repeated from one decade to another, or from one crime to another are, tragically, true to life.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell -
by Stargazer51 (Stargazer51@comcast.net) on Thu May 11th, 2006 at 07:16:42 AM EDT

The Press Protects The Child King!

I was having a difficult time comprehending the timid responses of the press to Bush's incredible incompetence, and it occurred to me, that at its heart, Cohen and others hold a subconscious pity for this President who is so pathetic, and pathological in his actions, that he is like a mindless child. They seek to protect him as they have no other president in my lifetime!

In America we love to see a great fight! We pay to see boxing and professional wrestling, and reality shows of every sort. But to have a comedian stand in a tuxedo and assail our President with words alone seems to have crossed an invisible line for some.

Like most lines, that one more than any, needs to be erased, with a sweep of our feet! I know of no other President in our history who was so small that such jokes, whether funny or not, would demean their stature in any way. And I know of no other President in the long life of our Nation, who deserved the verbal assault more.

I would suggest to the press that you review your allegiance to this man who, truth be known, would grind you under his boot heel to quash your words in a heartbeat.

Bush was insulted by what he heard? It is a good thing for myself and others on TO that he does not read! Or maybe KBR has not quite finished building the first concentration camp to secure our nation from known risks, ... like Our Freedom of Speech!

A free press, ... not simply free to print, but free to think, is the first bulwark against extremism. Our Other safeguards are the law, freedom to assemble and associate, and rights to privacy from government intrusion in our lives. Did you think they would peel them all away at once? Colbert tested the water for all of us who choose to speak freely. Turns out the water was damn near boiling!

I suggest the press not concern itself with the offenses directed at our King. He has the NSA, DOJ, and CIA to protect him, on scales well beyond what the press can offer. The real question is who will protect the press when they have failed to protect us?

SG51

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell -

Six Months and Counting!

Dear TIP Reader,

Only six months remain before America has its next opportunity to exercise, or some would say "reclaim" its freedoms by electing a clean slate of representatives to Congress, and one third of the United States Senate. That time will pass quickly and the tenor of the political firestorm to come can only be guessed at this point. What is clear is that the advertising will be at unprecedented levels, and the truth will be difficult to ascertain, as incumbents sell chicken at hundreds of dollars per slice, and turn those ill-gotten gains against the public interest in the form of scurrilous TV ads and radio spots against aspiring opponents on the ballot. What is also clear, at least at this late moment, is that the Republican and Democratic Parties have no incentive to offer wholesale change to the voter, regardless that the times call for nothing less. It is not in their collective interests to upset the status quo. Even the Democratic Party, locked out of sharing their Constitutional right to governance in the Legislature, offers palid resistance, and acquiesces to the packing of our courts, and stands by at the passing of sham bills which pretend to address ethics lapses throughout the government. The Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln. It has been hijacked by thugs and thieves. Similarly the Democratic Party is not the party of Roosevelt, but has developed an appetite for K Street influence peddling which muddies their thinking in favor of Corporations over the People. "The Independence Party" is a concept alone. A gathering of thinkers and voters who will not identify with either major party, but will reserve to cast its votes based upon the candidates' demonstrated commitment to vote the interests of the American People. It is a home to Progressives who will not excuse absentee legislators, shadow lobbyists, or undue influence. It will recognize those who demonstrate courage in their actions in our governance. It will not be a watering trough for big business, nor their fawning puppets in our government. I will seek to share here my thoughts, but more importantly, links to those of the wisest minds in our nation, and abroad, who are also committed to reestablishing our nation as an equitable participant in the community of nations. It will expose the actions of those who seek to destroy lives and nations anywhere in the world, and those who shame this nation by soliciting and committing genocide, torture and the systematic denial of Human Rights everywhere. The Independence Party will not sit on the fence in public debate, except for its insistence upon remaining independent of political entanglement with existing parties, at least until such time as they prove themselves independent of unwholesome influences upon their judgement. And so it begins!