Catchup, Phase Two

dr. elsewhere here

Whoa. Such a strange mindset to be away from the net connection for so long. Funny how the anxiety sets it; what am I missing? What has Joe dug up now? Is it Armageddon yet?

Again, my apologies, but we’re all here for Joe’s pearls anyway, so my contributions are just the occasional little candle on the cake, as it were. And I’m just grateful Joe invited me to sit in now and again.

It took no time at all for me to expose my absence in my query regarding the unitary executive. The commenter astutely points out that the "executive" refers to the branch and not the figurehead. Though I wonder if the spin machine has figured the dense minds of the masses (and moi) into the equation. But then, one wonders these days, especially this week, just how much real figuring these fools are doing in the midst of their floundering.

This week; what a week to be disconnected! I mean, it’s almost impossible to take in both the signing of the USAPATRIOT Act into even more extended law and the backing out of an investigation into domestic spying in one swell foop, is it not? And any week Rummy returns to the fore is always bound to roll some eyes, but he was in such rare form, it was almost like he’d been rehearsing for a Beckett play. First, he gives us an erroneous history lesson on FDR's approval ratings, supposedly to make us feel better about hating Bush. Then he insists that Iraq is fine, no civil war at all, and then he predictably blames the media for exaggerating the violence. The only good news here, Rummy, is the fact that defense workers have voted no confidence in your leadership.

And speaking of the media, Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) is introducing a bill that would make it a crime to print any classified information, and this applies both to the reporters and the whistleblowers. This is a law Britain has been beta-testing for years, and it’s pretty chilling; this is why reporters there were so hesitant to print the Downing Street Memos. (I hope to share some thoughts about the whole media nightmare soon; stay tuned.)

And of course, Cheney had plenty to say at the annual AIPAC conference in DC, where it seems it is actually ok to hate Muslims even if the prez says it’s not. The perfect forum for beating the war drums for Iran, Cheney’s speech included a thinly veiled threat that Newsweek's Zakaria is calling “supreme brinksmanship. Of course, as per Joe’s alert (via Xymphora) that the DPWorld ports deal is really quid pro quo for setting up our military for the invasion of Iran, all players are on board to see that that ship does sail. And oh, by the way, while Cheney and his blowhards are bloviating about Iran’s near-nuclear weapons, India is given free, if illegal, rein for its program by our renegade Chimp in Chief, and – far more scary – North Korea is testing its already fully constituted warheads.

I suppose the only nearly comic relief, aside from returning to the pervasive theatre of the absurd, could be found in the various reactions to Abramoff’s public complaining about being rebuffed, and the fallout from the Cunningham-Wilkes scandal. My favorite has to be Katherine's denials of wrongdoing, then cancellations of fundraisers, then hiding, then denials of pulling out of the FL Senate race, which she will undoubtedly be forced to do if Tom Rooney decides to run against her in the GOP primary.

Whew. A lot to consume. But there was possibly one advantage to missing out on all these events in real time, and that was it freed me up to sort of ponder “it all” from a few steps back. More in the “For What It’s Worth” department in the next couple of entries from moi. Please take them with a grain of salt….