Politics of Trivialization
by John Constantine
When the winds of change blow
hard enough,
The most trivial of things can turn into deadly projectiles
-
www.despair.com
Well, just
when you think reality has just left the building on a holiday, the Bush
administration peels another layer back from the onion and reveals a completely
new level of surrealism. Just in time for the holidays, we learn that none
other than Henry Kissinger himself will head the independent commission
investigating 9/11. Amazing. Rather than choosing a republican
beyond reproach, Mr. Bush's choice for such a sensitive political apointment is
someone who's past consists of shadowy cover-ups, political intrigue,
assassinations and the Vietnam war.
The most entertaining part of all this (not that ANYTHING is
funny about it at all) is the republican apologist's attempts at putting
lipstick on this pig. They trot out the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 1973
as a flaccid attempt of propping up this man at the same time they are
denigrating and making jokes about Jimmy Carter's Nobel Peace Prize.
Keep 'em coming guys.
I'm sure that the dupes out there just love this stuff.
I'm sure that those who lost their wives, husbands, parents, sons and daughters
in the tragedy of 9/11 will be truly pleased with your choice.
Yep. I'm sure that Kissinger will get right to the bottom
of the issue and then bury it where no one will find it.
Seeing Bush appoint Kissinger to the 9/11 investigation
commission just reminded me of another fine choice of Bush. Harvey Pitt.
The man was amazing. Even the Wall Street Journal was calling for his
resignation long ago. But Bush stands by his choice, no matter how stupid
or wrong it has become. After all, loyalty is a trade mark of this
administration. Loyalty no matter what.
“But out of the gobbledygook, comes a very
clear thing: [unclear] you can’t trust the government; you can’t believe what
they say; and you can’t rely on their judgment; and the – the implicit
infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is
badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the President wants
to do even though it’s wrong, and the President can be wrong.”
-- H.R. Haldeman to President Nixon,
Monday, 14 June 1971, 3:09 p.m. meeting.
It's eerie how much this administration is looking like Nixon's. I was
very young during the whole thing, so I hadn't a clue about what was going on
and didn't read the papers. But I have to wonder if this is what it was
like during those times.
I was listening to
Daniel Ellsberg on that commie leftist public broadcasting station of ours in
the Bay Area. For those who don't know Dan's history, you should take some
time to
read about the man. The most striking discussion was about how this
kind of crap can happen. The interview was making the point that Dan KNEW
it was wrong. He KNEW this was immoral, but he DID IT ANYWAY. How
could this happen?
Mr. Ellsberg's response is quite illuminating. Basically, he said, it
comes down to loyalty to the President. Loyalty to the man, not the
position. Loyalty so strong that you'd follow him right through the pit of
hell that he has you digging.
Scary
Harvey Pitt was nothing if not loyal to his President. And Bush was loyal to
the end to his friend Pitt. Even when Pitt really stepped in it and appointed
William Webster to an accountancy oversight board while neglecting to tell
anyone that Webster himself was under investigation for accounting "issues".
After all, Pitt was just following his instincts and George Bush trusts those
instincts.
And as
icing on the cake - as if we needed more sugar on this polished piece of art -
we have good old Bob "Mr. Access" Woodward giving us the parasite's eye view of
George W. Bush's colon in his block buster book,
Bush At War. I have yet to read the book, so perhaps my view will
change. But from what I can tell from the excerpts in the Washington Post
(where he works) and from what those who both love and hate the book have to
say... Well, let's just say he's way beyond kissing ass now and has
literally become a symbiotic organism with this administration. And that's
being kind, because at this point I think he should be considered a parasite
infection. It's pretty sickening to see this happen to the man who helped
break the Watergate Scandal.
But that is exactly what the sickening thing about all this is.
One day you're a hot shot investigative reporter living on the edge. Then
you wake up to find you can't see your own reflection in the mirror.
Geesh. It's like it sucks your soul out of you. 'Course it happens
to all of us here at Hellblazer central, too. After all, we're just a
bunch of rank amateurs and have sold our souls so many times they are considered
derivatives. In fact, it's just a financial instrument for the collective
anyway - but I digress.
The point is, what a beautiful piece of propaganda the Woodward
book would be - if we believed there was an actual conspiracy. I mean...
Gee. What would one have wrote if one were actually trying to produce
standard World War II era propaganda? He's managed to capture the whole
thing and wrap it up all in a bow all by himself - they didn't have to do a
thing. He casts no reflection. He has become undead.
The common narrative is getting pretty strange. Really.
I'm not kidding. I actually read a Republican quoted as saying
(paraphrased) "The Coasts are like the bread in a sandwich. The meat of
the sandwich is in the American heartland, the Midwest." This was in
reference to the 2004 elections. Now what he was saying, in no uncertain
terms, was that he believed the coasts are basically democratic. But
because of the way our electoral college works, the Republicans could still win
because they control the states where there are few people, and they control a
slim majority. What the Republicans are saying is that even though there's
a majority democratic vote in the next presidential election, they'll have the
majority of electoral votes. "Bush country" they call it.
I love these guys. They crack me up.
Because it's just a power game with them. They are HAPPY
that they're gaming the system such that they don't have to have the majority of
the people behind them. They just think it's so cool that they can put the
power into the hands of the right people - a slim minority - and they can
control things from there. We won't have to worry our pretty little head
at all. They seem to think it's something to be proud of to claim they are
actually elected with the minority of the vote.
And
then there's the religious right. I just listened to Pat Robertson on
This Week With George
Stephanopoulos. He's trying to defend his incredible comments about
Islam being a violent, not a peaceful religion. Well, DUH! I mean,
ALL religions are violent. Why do you think Christians had the Crusades.
Why do you think the Catholic church carried out the Inquisition? Why do
you think they burned witches in Salem? Huh? All religions are
really violent when ticked off. After all, what about Abortion clinics?
I wish I'd see Pat Robertson running around complaining about death threats,
bombings and assassinations at Abortion clinics. I mean, it's only the law
of the land, Pat. Don't give me none of that relativism with the law, now.
You tell us we should believe in absolutes... Geesh.
It was pretty entertaining, though. Pat is getting pretty
old, and the Ralph Reed generation is shining up their shoes getting ready to
step in. I think they're getting nervous, Pat. Watch your back.
And
then there was Jerry Falwell. Man, what a frickin' piece of work he is,
eh? According to that bastion of well researched information, Jerry
Falwell, there is no
such thing as global warming. See, he drives a SUV. A big
honking SUV. I suppose he needs it to haul his ample ass around, so I'll
give him that he can probably justify the rural argument for utility class
vehicles. But can you actually believe he's telling everyone that Jesus
would drive a Hummer?
C'mon Jerry. Even if oil is going to last us forever,
driving this kind of car just simply means you're shoveling money from your
pocket into Saudi Arabia's pocket.
What makes it even funnier is the fact that Jerry Falwell is
making fun of the What Would Jesus Drive? campaign. I mean, here's the guy
who's the king of "What Would Jesus Do" saying that these people really
shouldn't be bringing religion into commerce like this. I mean, what does
oil have to do with anything going on the world today? Do you really think
anyone would care about the middle east if there wasn't oil there? It's a
frickin' DESERT. They have to burn oil to desalinate enough water keep it
wet enough to grow stuff so they can live.
But it does have oil. Lots of it. And where are all
these pesky terrorists getting their money? Do you think it could be from
oil? Or is there some cabal that I'm not aware of that is funding all
these guys. Kind of like a James Bond film - some international crime
syndicate. I don't know, maybe it's tobacco money.
And here is a man trivializing the issue of oil. It
doesn't matter! Go out and buy the biggest gas burning animal killer you
can find! After all, that's what Jesus would drive.
So I simply just have to laugh
If it weren't so
frickin' tragic. After all, war is a damn serious thing. Now that we
have a war without actually declaring one, we can see that the government has
really scary powers. In the just ended lame duck session of congress, they
just granted the administration a boatload of new scary powers. Arguably,
this is the most unfettered Executive branch in the history of the United States
of America.
And what I loved about watching the whole thing was how the
reactionary reporting developed. It was only days after the Homeland
Security bill passed did I start hearing about the
Information Awareness Office.
Stories about how scary this was, and Ooooh... won't this be bad for our already
eroding privacy rights? Connie Chung reports tonight in a special
investigative charade.
Uh, guys. Why weren't you talking about this BEFORE the
vote on the Homeland Security bill? Oh. Yea, I forgot. You're
a REACTIONARY press and media, not an investigative, pro-action fourth estate.
I'll keep that in mind next time.
But I did find it funny to hear the press and other media
zombies talk about it. Letting us all know what we'll be in for. I
think of the press and talk show undead as the
Butt Plugs for the American body politic. They are here to stretch the
truth so it doesn't hurt as much when they ram their legislation through a
divided congress.
Bet that's going to leave a mark, eh? Not if they do their
job right. Just ask Bob Woodward. It happens so skillfully, you
don't even feel it until it's all over.
And who's running this Information Awareness Office? <drum
roll please> Yep, it's none other than retired Admiral John Poindexter.
Remember him? Something about Iran-Contra? Yep, it's becoming more
clear. I remember now. Admiral Poindexter is a
convicted
felon. The man outright lied to Congress about a minor deal he had
with the Iranians. Seems he was helping the Contras by selling weapons to
our sworn enemies. Convicted.
But the conviction was overturned. Note that this is
pretty much where the common narrative stops. I was listening to
Robert
Novak defend John Poindexter on
Crossfire the other
night. He was lecturing
Paul
Begala about how the justice system works in the USA. Robert made the
point that his felony convictions were overturned, and thus the justice system
considers him innocent. What everyone keeps failing to point out is that
Admiral John Poindexter's conviction was overturned because it turned out that
the Congress had granted him immunity for his testimony.
Gee. This is another fine example of the moral clarity we
have come to expect from the Republicans. Yes, his conviction was
overturned. But NOT because he was innocent. It was overturned
because the Congress granted him immunity.
When the Democrats use arguments like that, we get slapped down
and lambasted for our semantic squirming. I guess we're just rank amateurs
compared to you Republicans. You guys are experts at this moral
clarity thing. It's just a game that amateurs shouldn't play at I guess.
Leave it to you professional liars and moralists.
I still am
in awe of the Republicans, though. As I'm writing this,
no
one is owning up as the author of the
11th hour amendment to the Homeland Security bill which protected Pharmaceutical
companies from lawsuits regarding the vaccine preservative, thimerosal .
No one is willing to admit authorship. No one. So what's up guys?
Where's the good old Republican back bone you're always going on about?
Explain to me the moral clarity in this decision?
The funny thing is, I actually heard Republican pundits trying
to provide that moral clarity. It was painful to listen to, but the
pundits were trying to put lipstick on this pig and pass it off as a supermodel.
They trotted out national security - of course - and made the point that if Eli
Lilly and others fell into bankruptcy because of lawsuits by grieving
families.... Well, WHO would make our Smallpox vaccine?
As far as I could tell, the only patina of an excuse they are
trying to stand behind is the old national security baseball bat.
Basically, it seems, we are willing to give up ANYTHING for national security.
A thousand or so grieving families will just have to sacrifice like the rest of
us. After all, we need these guys around.
I think that's what really torques me off most of all. These
guys have the common narrative sewn up. They own the courts, the congress
and the executive branch. They pretty much control the debate. And
so far, all they seem to be debating is how fast to eat this pig. Arguing
over what condiments go best with pork.
Party of ideas? Party of leadership? Party of the
majority? Yep, that's the Republicans. Moral clarity and transparent
accounting for all. Amen.
You guys just crack me up sometimes.
December 1, 2002
