The Reign of Error Continues

With Iraq relegated to the status of a "comma" in a typical fascism, and his place in American History described in his own words, ... "I don't really worry about my place in history. I don't believe — I believe history can only truly judge a presidency after a number of years have gone by." The here and now be damned, it seems King George II is set to exit stage far right and never look back. But as I attempt to foretell the remaining years and months of his reign, it seems King George has removed almost every obstacle in his path to continuing his "Reign of Error".

The Senate removed today all doubt that he can continue the detention and even perhaps, one day, the prosecution of the countless souls he has secretly seized in the course of his Reign of Error since 9/11. The terrorists, and cab drivers, messengers, ...Andd those with similar names to terrorists, cab drivers, messengers, ...Andd you get the idea. Oh, ... I forgot, ... King George II needs to sign the deed granted him which effectively reverses the Magna Carta with respect to the detentions of accused criminals. God willing, ... Bush will diveheadfirstt into a bottle of Jim Beam, ...Forgett to sign the damned bill, and thereby render it meaningless.

God willing, I say, ... for there is a chance that even in the face of a Democratic sweep of the races in November, and a reclamation of our nation from the Radical Reichpublican Right (RRR) which seems to have seized control of the Republican Party of every stripe, that King George II will continue his Reign Of Error for another two plus years, with the cover of Federal Statute enacted by the RRR and their sheepish brethren, both Republican and Democrat, who voted for this legislative piece of trash.

I have read many eulogies for the American Republic today. As is so often the case, these words, conflated and pompous as they may be, do not convey the tragedy of the moment of death as they should. They describe the loss to Mankind, and the risk to the sublime, ... but I want to know what it felt like for the Senators to stand before their brethren as the RRR drove a sword into the flank of our Republic today. How did you feel to see George W Bush drive a short sword through Her back, into the very spine of her laws, inherited as they were from our mother country so long ago?

Did he smirk as he so often does? Then did Dubya turn away, ... or did he watch as She bled from his first strike? Who was the first Senator to pile on his stiletto blow, ... Was it Frist, ... or did McCain, Graham, and Warner twist their musketeer blades into Her ribs to show their obedient acquiescence to the King? C-Span can be poetry, except at times like these when the Blood of Our Republic flows at the hands of criminals and assassins! Et Tu, Chafee? Et Tu Specter?

I can not tell you how disgusted I am by any Senator who stood watching within the chamber as this murderous vote was consummated against these States, and did not react, ... did not rebel!

I will memorize before my death the names of all those who signed the Declaration of Independence, ... and I will memorize the names of all those Senators who voted to pass this bill today. In a sense they are the beginning and the ending of a most beautiful mystical and musical work in Human History, ... for they define the beginning and ending of the democracy we have enjoyed.

I may not have properly marked the death of our Republic. She may linger in intensive care for a while. Make no mistake, however, ... she was mortally wounded today, more than perhaps any other day in Her Life.

Stargazer51

War Crimes Exonerated, ... Shame on Us!

When there still seemed to be a sliver of a chance that the sanctioning of Bush's torture regime might actually snag on the United States Senate's Three Military Musketeers, former Secretary of State Colin Powell waded into the political discussion, not realizing he was stranded once again into the sickly Home of the Mountain King, ... George II, when he spoke of his concerns about wantonly violating The Geneva Conventions, and the impact that legislation might have upon GI's who might fall into POW status in future or current wars.

God have mercy on Powell's soul, ... Bush, McCain, Warner and Graham led him once again to slaughter, ... only again to ignore his seasoned advice, and make a fool of him for standing up for his convictions. Colin stands alone this time, ... falling to the body fake of politics in our time, ... the false conviction of experienced legislators, ... a pass to the right just before they all head out of bounds.

Little do they think or know that the world has every reason now to count the House of Representatives and (given the recent trend toward a vote by week's end) the United States Senate as accomplices after the fact to the war crimes George Bush has already committed and intends to commit in the future. Exonerating him after the fact is a little known, but essential Republican feature to the bills in the legislature. Legislating his dissolution of Habeas Corpus makes it a domestic crime as well in my opinion. One has to wonder why any legislator who hopes to run for office again for Federal office, would yield to the imbecile child king who rules us now. Two plus years from this evening he will recede into ignominy. Today, you exonerate him from crimes against Humanity? What are you thinking???

The war crimes tribunal against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al. was to be a small affair up to this point. But if you insist, Gentlemen and Ladies, upon making it a huge party, then so be it. If you are willing to sign your sacred honor to this fool's crimes, then I pity you more than I pity Colin Powell for once again surrendering his honor for a cause that left him long ago at the curb. I trust he will have the good sense to retire into retirement. Bless him!

The rest of you who will vote or have voted for Bush's War Crime Exoneration Bill should be ashamed, ... but even more so, you should be afraid. You can not now willfully say that you did not understand that Your President had committed War Crimes, ... if you absolve him of the crimes he committed, ... right?

I did not think so.

Shame on you all who voted in the House and might vote in the Senate!

We record your votes. For we are better than you, or will be again soon. We will vote for or against you based solely upon your record and your promises, ... whatever they might be. What, ...? Did you think we would forget? What did you think the Internet was for?

As I wrote before, ... Shame on you!

Stargazer51

The End of Rule By Law

In the nearly six years of King George II's reign over America, it can be argued this Administration has heavily abused it Constitutional role. President Bush and the phantoms who stand behind him in the shadows have issued signing statements which declare his unwillingness to abide by the letter of many laws passed by this Congress. He created "enemy combatants" from whole cloth so as to deny such designees any legal safeguards, either Domestic or International. He created a gulag on Guantanamo to provide them no tenable jurisdiction on American or foreign soil. He committed and continues to commit illegal espionage via wiretaps against American citizens without the requisite warrants, whether or not they fall under foreign surveillance laws. And in all these things, King George II has been rebuffed in court rulings and legislation at the local, state, and Federal levels, and even in the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been told repeatedly that his actions violate the laws of this land, provisions of international law, and of treaties such as the Geneva Conventions, which the Constitution assures the stature of American Law.

The Three Military Musketeers of the Reichpublican Party, Senators McCain, Warner, and Graham, stepped forward last week to challenge the most recent demands of the President that he be allowed to continue with his policies of illegal torture and interrogation of our enemies, illegal kidnappings, or “special renditions”, of suspects in this and other countries, and adherence to the provisions, long understood by rational minds here and abroad, of the Geneva Conventions.

While but a few weeks or months remain in the political life of this worst of American Presidents, these three stalwart Senators, supposedly so convicted to the assurance of a strong and prepared military, seem, after their sudden fury and challenge to the White House, to have wholely caved to pressure from President Bush and his keepers.

McCain, the Lion of Oz, … courageous in the face of his experience as a POW, … Warner, … the Tin Man, … the heart of experience at the zenith of US Navy Commands, … and Graham, … the Scarecrow AG attorney, a clear and learned advocate for adherence to the Geneva Convention and Laws of War.

The Three are the perfect smokescreen for the Reichpublicans to advocate passage of laws to approve what this President demands that this Congress say we must do under Geneva. It will not change what Geneva means to our allies, nor our enemies, … nor our Courts. So in this sense, the legislative compromise the Reichpublicans structured among themselves (when did ‘compromise’ cease to include more than a single political party?) is meaningless, and there should be a “signing statement” attached to any acts by Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, and the Green Party, to assure the Reichpublicans that the law they will attempt to pass and have signed by this President, … to his assumed benefit, will not dissuade future Americans from prosecuting Him and all his co-conspirators for destroying the safeguards of the Constitution, violating International Laws and Treaties, and committing War Crimes in our Nation’s name.

So what is the difference between Bush’s behavior to this point, and the “compromise” with the three musketeers of OZ? To this point, Bush had committed his crimes alone for the most part. Now, he has solicited accomplices in Congress to permit him to commit future crimes, and absolve him of his past crimes, … all in one filthy backroom deal. Damn them one and all, … for from this point on, nothing prohibits these same men from charging you or me with crimes written “after the fact” into law.

These very words you are reading, …. Even the reading of them, might, in the future, be deemed seditious, and prohibited after the fact, by law. I could do time for even thinking them, let alone writing them. My freedom to speak may have imposed on it limits hereto unforeseen, … except by this party of thieves and fools.

And so the rule of law in America dies a sad, quiet death, when and if the Reichpublicans can excuse past crimes, or future crimes with the stroke of a pen, … Laws that have served as pillars to this nation for nearly 220 years, … until now.

I am sickened, not that this has occurred, for Empire meets its end at such moments of crucial change, but that our Nation slides toward its untimely death at the hands of such an imbecile at the helm, and with such sick accomplices in the shadows behind him. The rule of law it seems, will die with a whimper.

September 24, 2006
Stargazer51

Just Before Sunrise

The election on November 7, 2006 will have dramatic consequences for the American Republic. There is virtually no way I foresee that it will not, for the waning powers of a Republican Party are at risk of being called to task for years of abuse. Or, in a reverse scenario, the Republicans manipulate an electoral retention of Congress despite all predictions to the contrary.


One tool to that latter end may be legislation just passed in the House and headed for the US Senate, which requires specific ID at polling places, a move already ruled illegal in Missouri and Georgia in the runup to the election. This bill, if passed and enacted by the Republicans into law, may render this election even more contentious than the election of 2000 for President of the United States. This action is remarkable from a party that pleaded before the Supreme Court of the United States, that Florida should handle the outcome of the Presidential Election in 2000. And now, that same party proposes rules to influence the election at the states' level to the House and Senate. How conscientious on their part to be concerned about such matters from on high!

The focus of Republican efforts to skew the outcome of the election to their corporate and collective liking appears to cut along two lines. First, ... Deny as often as possible the right to vote to citizens on the margins, ... The poor, the elderly, the homeless, our deployed military, and the aged. At the same time then to demand the promotion and utilization of electronic voting machines produced largely by corporations run and owned by inveterate politicos, ... Universally, to my knowledge, Republicans by party affiliation. The demand for verifiable paper records to be produced, verified by the voter, and retained for recounts is resisted at every turn by the Republicans. One has to wonder why, if the intention is accuracy in counting the vote, and a desire to have a valid outcome to the election reflecting the wishes of the American electorate. How can a manufacturer be proud of a product whose output can be easily corrupted in such a critical environment? Does Diebold provide that same level of security and traceability to its banking customers? Do you find their ATM's are handing you more or less money than you requested from your accounts? Do you get money from other people's accounts? Do you think this is a different company, ... Or rather the same company with a different purpose?

This election will not be close. That is to say, the outcome will be clearcut, however it is legally achieved, or illegally contrived. The morning of November 8th will either be a day of rebirth and opportunity for America as a democratic republic, ... Or the beginning of an even darker chapter in our recent immersion into a gentle but sinking American Fascism.

Benito Mussolini, 'Il Duce' must beam from below at the fact that his concept alone, and neither the Deutscher Fuhrer's, nor the Japanese Emperor's approach, was the first to rise from its grave and seize the Corporate imagination in America. America does not require that all journalists be Republican, as Il Duce required of Italian journalists, ... to be fascists. As did Berlusconi, ... Republicans or Corporations own most news outlets, broadcast and print.

This Winter of the American Republic may be only about to deepen, ... Or be nearing its climax. The darkness may lift, or be lifted, to allow a sunrise toward Spring. My concerns notwithstanding, we must, each and everyone of us, vote! We can not concern ourselves whether our vote is properly counted at the moment we cast it. If you feel concerned about any circumstance surrounding your vote, ... Write down and record the particulars. Record the names of pollworkers, registrars, and election staffers. If they will not give you their names, ... Make notes to remind you of their appearance, the time of day you voted, and the surrounding events and comments made.

The battle to come may not be political, but legal. No one can know the affect their own vote, either counted or corrupted, can make for our nation of states. Remember for whom you voted. Write it down before, during, or after you cast your vote. This will be a very important vote in your life, of that I can assure you! Whatever your predisposition and persuasion, I want your vote counted. You should as well.

Stargazer51

Truthout No Longer A Place To Share The Truth

For those familiar with Truthout.org, you will likely have a mental image of their recognizable format, ... predictable three column layout, and proclivity for progressive and liberal news feeds from other sources. On occasion there was original reporting, most recently when Jason Leopold used Truthout(TO) as the news outlet for his research and writing on the Plame affair in Washington. Specifically, Leopold's research on the crime of her public revelation as a CIA NCO operative led him to believe, and TO to publish, that Karl Rove was charged in a sealed Federal indictment as part of the ongoing investigation of that crime. Many TO Forum regulars defended TO's stand to publish Leopold's article, I among them. The jury is literally still out on this investigation, and whom will be indicted remains unkown and under seal to this day.

This forum will not address that article, nor the substance or lack thereof in the article published on TO. This forum is devoted to a discussion of the support TO and Leopold, ... and TO's Executive Director Marc Ash received in the aftermath of the publishing of Leopold's expose. Moreover it is focused upon Truthout's devotion, or lack thereof, to its readership and contributors.

Truthout had long hosted a public forum for fresh ideas from individual contributors (diaries) and as many websites do, TO also invited, indeed thrived, on replies to both diaries and original articles such as Leopold's, and in response to many other daily news article feeds TO republished from other sources. The exchange was lively, moderated, and voluminous. Some on every side of the political aisle would argue that it was not always "fair", ... but a quick survey of other blogs reveals that it was, in general, respectful.

I say "had", for last Friday Truthout decided, ... or at least acted upon a decision perhaps taken earlier, that the Truthout Forum was no longer a proper business pursuit for that website. A clearer definition of TO's business model, as stated to me by TO's executive director, is that Truthout is a news reporting agency. Other sites provide forums for the exchange of ideas, but TO's purpose is not that, ... it is to report the news.

Perhaps TO's readers and contributors would have been better served to have understood that from the very beginning. I, as I suspect many of TO's devoted readers and contributors, both wrote and read the many threads about TO's news feeds and its original reporting, when there was some. For my part the exchange there in the TO Forum helped me to better grasp the full meaning of the news feeds on TO.

Truthout is not the first website to be confused about its business intentions versus its true role in the new world of internet publishing. But TO stands alone perhaps for its inept timing in removing the Forum at a crucial moment in the runup to the Fall elections. If Truthout does not feel the elections are critical, then they are alone in that belief, ... and stand in stark contradiction to those readers who have flocked to TO over the last several years, and poured out their thoughts on the Forum there.

What TO was thinking in their decision to stifle the exchange of ideas this close to the election will remain unknown to the world, I suspect. The lack of a moderator, or the lack of the intention to host a forum at all, both seem pallid in comparison to the need for an open, clear and free speech forum on every progressive venue to marshal energy and participation in the vote. That TO has opted to abandon its most fervent supporters in Mid October tells us something. What that is to become is perhaps the first topic for forums here, or elsewhere that TO readers go to share thoughts again with one another.

The town meeting which was the Truthout Forum is dead, a place where reflections on the pieces of news we all read could be shared.

I will drink my coffee elsewhere and share my thoughts in other places, for I am intent to do so as part of my being Human and aware. I'll get my news from any sources I might choose in the market, ... but I will always discuss it solely with my many friends. I found many in the TO forum, and will retain at least a few from there. But I can not feel that TO itself was a friend at all, ... just a business, ... run by business types, whose intentions are inscrutable, ... and impersonal. For my part, ... I'd rather spend my leisure time with friends. We have things to do with and for one another, ... and we need a place where that can be accomplished!

Stargazer51