"If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action."
---Al Gore
Not that the overall metaphor is entirely apt, but it's an interesting (and funny) idea. And, one could argue, very endemic of how our Congress acts-- the White House could be burning around them and until America smelled the smoke, they'd just sit there hoping no one noticed. If Americans weren't up in arms over heading into year 5 of a potentially endless beach-volleyball match (only with burkas and IEDs) in Iraq, there would be little talk of pulling out. Yet as soon as reelection was at stake last year, a whole bunch of Republicans saw this coming and turned on Bush like wild fucking animals (to be fair, some formerly hawkish Democrats did the same thing). If Americans actually cared about the abridgment of their civil liberties and put together a protest that made the Million Man March look like a tea party, Harry Reid might just bring the Patriot Act out himself for us to burn. On Capitol Hill, your ultimate aspiration is to be Strom Thurmond (minus the racism and sexism... okay, just the racism, and only openly) and Strom didn't last for decades upon end by being risky and taking initiative on controversial topics because it was the right thing to do (where's Gavin Newsom when you need him?). Which makes me question Obama's approach (no, I didn't call him Osama-- the Chairman of FOX news should be shot out of a cannon into a barrel of broken glass strapped to the back of a shark for being such an outstanding cunt, along with Anne Coulter and Richard Land). Barack could do ten daring things right and be America's savior, but as soon as he botched one, especially if someone died because of it, he would be crucified and we could all watch his political career disintegrate before our eyes.
Anyway, it's only 10:30am but I read that Gore quote and couldn't wait... nothing to drink yet, but I'll amend this accordingly later.
Aaaaand I'm back, with another awesome quote, this one from the magnanimous Lou Dobbs, who I find to be correct about 70% of the time:
"An incompetent attorney general, who says he wasn't fully aware that nearly 10 percent of the U.S. attorneys who work for him throughout the country were being fired and permitted the 110,000-person Justice Department that he leads to give inaccurate information at best, or simply lie about it at worst, to the Congress and the American people, has the full confidence of the president who's lost the confidence of most people. And this is what passes for a big-time, dramatic, historic constitutional crisis in 21st century America? You've got to be kidding. This is the most partisan, politically driven administration in history, and we're all supposed to be surprised by its conduct and motivation in the firing of these U.S. attorneys? Please."
Good old Lou. Sorry, don't know why I'm so long-winded and political today, but it does seem a fair bit pointless to force some sort of constitutional showdown over Gonzalez' conduct by issuing subpoenas to Harriet Miers and Karl Rove. First of all, of course they'll refuse, and secondly, the man who would be responsible for forcing them to testify is Albert Fucking Gonzalez. Don't hold your breath for Karl Rove to ever answer a question under oath-- the man has enough dark secrets to shame Darth Vader and he's far too smart and powerful to ever land in such a position.
In all fairness though, Australia's not faring much better. John Howard's administration is cracking and his approval rating is skimming the water just above Bush's. The Labour party has their highest poll rating in 20 years, and two interior ministers were sacked in as many weeks. Most recently, the minister in charge of caring for the elderly had to step down when it came out that he had stock in a company which created a conflict of interest. He called it an oversight, apologized, sold off the stock and gave all profits to charity. All well and good, until a deeper dig into his finances showed, as he put it, "several more oversights." When asked how many, he calmly said "Fifty or sixty." Turns out the number was actually over seventy, and the man had a hidden portfolio a mile long of stock in companies who's success depended on fat government contracts which he handed out about as fairly as you can imagine. Kind of like Cheney's ties with Halliburton and some of the illegal contracts they've gotten, except it's expressly a crime here, and people actually care.
Fucked up situations aside, in the land of drought and festivals I did have a fairly productive day. Drank far too much coffee and got super jittery, which led me to the conclusion that my addictions are limited to depressants and not stimulants. God knows I don't need any more help in the edgy and nervous department. Had three glasses of wine while gutting Banana Trees based on mine, Martina's and Katey's observations. If it doesn't emerge better than ever I'm putting it exactly back the way it was and sending it off that way. There are far too many stories to write to spend any more time tinkering with the one that Phillip said was publishable as is. Unwound (as if I really needed it) at the British with two pints of VB and some neighborly company. Then watched Boondocks, talked about my childhood, wrote this, and passed out.
Sleepy time.
Drink Count: 5
Another barbecue picture... told you I was way behind on the posting thing.
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