In an excellent Joshuah Bearman blog article, Bearman points out the incredible blunders of Bush and the fact that he has once again trapped himself with his reckless disregard of Law and his preference for lies over truth. Bush, in his urgency to expand his Presidential power, eavesdropped on American Citizens directly, without bothering to go through the established legal procedures for this activity. In this, he broke the law. Further, we continue to witness the incompetence of Bush as a leader in not only his personal lack of morality, but in his choice of people to litter his administration.
“…Bush had been "protecting us" by plopping a feckless crony at the head of FEMA. Which reminds me that Bush's promise to review all those emergency plans seemed strangely similar to the statement he made in May, 2001 when he created the Office of National Preparedness, an agency inside FEMA, and put Dick Cheney in charge of "a coordinated national effort [to] do the very best possible job of protecting our people from catastrophic harm." Big success there! Looks like Cheney really dropped the ball on that one. Where's that story? Cheney's had the most important job in the country and has had zero results. Yet he and Bush go around the country calling themselves the great protectors and all critics unpatriotic…”
This administration of arrogance, thievery, and hubris have placed the American people directly in a bulls eye due to their absolute failure to fully fund and support agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. Both agencies were formed with the very clear mandate to keep Americans safe from disaster, or at minimum, be able to ameliorate the impact of disaster. Obviously they have failed, and failed with resoundingly embarrassing farts of cronyism, cynicism, and outright indifference.
Placing Dick Cheney in charge of the Office of National Preparedness, FEMA, and having FEMA fail so disastrously should have been grounds for impeachment of the Vice President or censure at best. Neither Happened. Sort of reminds me of the colossal failure of Rumsfeld in Iraq: ignoring military advice of Joint Chief of Staff and sending too few troops; allowing the riots and disintegration of Iraq after the invasion; failing to supply troops with adequate equipment; and having absolutely no post-invasion plan are all criminal failures that should have landed Rummy out on the sidewalk at best.
But this is a President that rewards loyalty and like-mindedness more than competence.
In another article by Arlene Getz, she ponders the question that I often ponder. If the Bush Administration is so clearly corrupt and incompetent, where in hell is the outraged American Citizen?
Sometimes it is possible to under-react to a situation because we do not have the perspective to realize what it all means. Desmond Tutu, Nobel Prize Winner has vast experience living in South Africa.
“…Tutu recalled teaching in Jacksonville, Fla., when Bush won re-election in 2004. "I was shocked," he said, "because I had naively believed all these many years that Americans genuinely believed in freedom of speech. [But I] discovered there that when you made an utterance that was remotely contrary to what the White House was saying, then they attacked you. For a South African the déjà vu was frightening. They behaved exactly the same way that used to happen here - vilifying those who are putting forward a slightly different view." Tutu made these comments to me exactly a year ago next week. I haven't seen any reaction from him about the latest eavesdropping revelations, but I doubt he is remotely surprised at the US president's response: a defense of the tactic, together with a warning that the government would launch an investigation to find out who leaked the news to The New York Times…”
(Where's the Outrage? By Arlene Getz, Newsweek, Wednesday 21 December 2005)
As Tutu points out, Americans have no idea of the treachery of allowing civil liberties to disappear. Americans are naïve to believe that Bush, or any politician, can be given carte blanche to ‘protect’ us. Every tyrant must establish fear in the hearts and minds of his subjects so that they can be more easily controlled. All politicians are capable of this hubris, and this is why the founders of this country gave us the Bill of Rights and the Vote. To give up our civil rights, even just a few of them, in response to a terrorist attack, is too roll over and show them our throat. They have won.
Further, Jay Bookman, in his article, “Bush and Wiretaps” points out the extraordinary situation American now faces. Bush has indicated that he is above the law. That he can authorize wiretapping of American citizens, without going to the courts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, because he is the President and reserves the right to do what ever he wants, any time he wants. This presents Congress and the American Citizens with a real choice: Do you allow a President to be above the law; or do you demand that the President live within the constraints of our tripartite form of government with checks and balances on the usurpation of personal power?
Will Congress and the American Citizen stand up and take back their country?
I say no.
Congress will not because even if the President turned out to be an axe murderer and wife beater, no Congressman will turn against a President of their own party. Republicans will not impeach Bush under any circumstances. They will just hold their noses and continue to do business as usual. The American Citizen will do nothing because it is the nature of humans to do nothing, instead they will rely on “hope’ to handle the problems they face. People prefer not to rock the boat, even if the boat is being dismantled out from underneath them. Lastly, even if we impeach Bush, who does that leave us with? Cheney? That snarling, sneering autocrat. Rice? The duplicitous bitch that never met a lie she couldn’t embrace. Hasert? Please. Bush has surrounded himself with thugs, liars, miscreants, and assholes. So who do we choose from this rogues gallery of evil to replace him?
I believe we will limp along for another three years, hoping that there are enough brave souls in Congress to reign in this blustering jerk. Politicians who would place duty and country over bribery and patronage. As for the American Citizen, I hold out no hope for them. A majority voted this collection of assholes into power twice now, and this level of ignorance is bone deep and not subject to enlightenment.
"Those who would give up essential liberty in the pursuit of a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."
Benjamin Franklin.
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