November 21, 2010, Tempest in a tea party
We'll start with the preposterous moral/legal state we now find ourselves in, whereby the prospect of having a criminal trial for actual criminals is now so controversial, the Secretary of State has to defend it.. I remember back 'round a quarter century ago, when I personally had to take an oath upon joining the very same Department of Justice that is now asked to be the courtroom face of outrageous American governmental policies (like liquidation of enemies of the state, state secrets, the end of habeas corpus, etc., etc.)... and that oath required me to oblige myself to defend THE CONSTITUTION-- not the sitting executive or the ruling class or Goldman Sacks for that matter... but THE CONSTITUTION-- against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Seems to me that anyone-- members of Congress ESPECIALLY (Peter King, I'm looking right at you)-- who would assert that they have a problem with our Government's compliance with our Constitution is, himself (Peter King) one of those very enemies of the Constitution I swore to defend it against. Just saying.
Which is the sort of, you know, "liberal" statement that might make some of you surprised that I would reach the conclusion (after reading the Grey Lady's Frank Rich's attempted hit piece of Sister Sarah Palin (to the effect that she could well secure the GOP nomination, and at least in her mind, be elected President in 2012))... that if she does manage to get the GOP nomination (and Barack Obama gets the Democratic nomination), at least, as of this moment, Sarah Palin would then have my unconditional support... financial and rhetorical, and I might even work on her campaign. Vive la revolucion! I've supported what I considered to be principled Republicans in the past; right now, I'm willing to favor an unprincipled one, if my alternative is the ultimate in unprincipled Democrats. Give me the REAL Republican over the ersatz Republican (with the Democratic ballot line) every time. If Barack Obama wants to punch me in the gut in every conceivable way, complete with selling me out on expiration of Bush-era tax cuts for the uber-rich AND privatizing social security no less... well, at least with Sarah Palin, I'll do no worse, and actually have a chance that she (unlike Obama) might investigate and prosecute Bush-era torturers (up to and including Bush and Cheney themselves) simply out of a sense of personal payback... which, if you must know, is the real reason Karl Rove is leading the class-based crusade against Palin and her ilk. Did I say that out loud? [You'all know I have come to the conclusion that American national elections don't really matter anyway-- our corporate masters run the place, and the specific identity of the executive and legislative branches of the complaint department are as unimportant as most Americans (most of whom don't vote most of the time) believe them to be.]
Apparently, our government's reading our e-mail, listening in our phone calls, locking us up (or ordering our deaths) don't seem to bother most people ... probably because the people who matter (that is to say, White people) don't believe the government is really going to do it to them... of course, with air travel, the unreasonable measures of the total security state effect everyone, and White people get no special treatment... which, of course, is just not the American way... and hence, the huge kerfuffle over the new airport security measures, particularly out of the San Diego airport for some reason. What the regular media won't talk about is the fact that the new machines that pornographically expose your wife, mother and daughter... and you... to total exposure and gawking by a minimum wage screener... is that good old Bush-era Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who ran around the country telling us the sky would fall unless airports got the [untested] full-body scanners causing the Obama Administration to fall over itself to buy them... works as a lobbyist for the companies that manufacture them! Paranoia pays, bitches!
Quite frankly, my answer to all of this remains: just try not to let it bother you too much. Try not to go anywhere by airplane, or really, by any means other than public transportation or self-propulsion... try to "take yourself out" of the system. However you can, in ways big and small. You might start by looking at this ("the daily green"), and things like it. Baby steps will eventually add up to significant distance. Just saying.
This has been... tempest in a tea party.