Remember that rhetorical relic from 2000? Republicans scrambled to put some polish on that little slogan that has turned out in their 8 years in power to be as empty and worthless as Lehman Brothers stock.
The first rule of law that we little people better learn to accept is that some people are above it.
Don't like torture? OK, don't call it torture...redefine techniques so that in the technicalities of language you aren't torturing people. Furthermore, call into question the validity of long-standing rules of humanitarian conduct like the Geneva Convention. Again, technically redefine your victims until through a fiction of law and custom, as Mark Twain might say, they are no longer protected by international law.
If politicians are willing to so blithely trade over 200 years of (symbolic) tradition of being a "city on a hill" and a "beacon of freedom" in order to stay in power, then it should come as no surprise that the same core leadership has simply declared that it no longer is subject to any sort of legal action...no longer even at pains to defend itself...it can simply walk away and refuse to take part in the rule of law.
Aides to Gov. Sarah Palin won't comply with subpoenas issued by state lawmakers investigating the firing of Alaska's former public safety commissioner because Palin "has declined to participate" in the probe, her attorney general says.
Isn't that special?
I think it's brilliant. Imagine the possibilities: DC says you can't park on the sidewalk? Simply decline to participate in their partisan witch hunt. Up for murder charges? Oh, no...I decline to participate in your political circus. Use your influential position to pressure underlings to carry out personal vendettas? No need to worry...simply decline to participate in the silly charade.
Prediction: there are nearly two long months before the election...McCain/Palin will not be able to sustain their strategy of massive resistance to official investigations or media scrutiny.
2 comments:
I really appreciate your sentiments here. What we're seeing is, if I my coin a popular phrase......more of the same. But with the media in their pockets, the wind from the hill at their backs, will it make a difference? Can WE make a difference? I would would like to think we can. But in a reality where on the second worst financial day in recent US history, when CNN elects to run a story about two racists who've released a Waffle mix with degrading illustrations of who (I hope to hell) will be our next president...it's doubtful. But I thank you for trying.
Palin gets on my nerves, Cuff!
Okay. I feel better now. :)
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