Justice DeLayed is Justice Denied.

I've been a bit busy and haven't had time to follow the whole political business out there. On a larger scale, so much of this shuffling can be summed up by the Who's immortal song "Won't Get Fooled Again," even if Townshend did try to back off the sentiment of that song:

Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.

I suppose one reason he backed away was that such a critique doesn't leave a whole lot of room for political organizing on anything below a revolutionary level -- as even the so-called revolutions seem in the end to be more of the same.

However, on the micro level, it's hard to imagine that things would be this bad if we weren't under the Bush regime. Would Gore have blundered into Iraq? Probably not. Would either Kerry or Gore have continued to be insist that global warming was "junk science"? I sincerely doubt it. So we have to play games of relative scale, which calls for compromise, both in its good and bad senses.

But there are some truly astounding stories out there. As a matter of fact, I just learned that Tom DeLay is not being indicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges -- he's being indicted because he's a Christian, or at least that's what Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reports many DeLay faithful believe.

I find it harder and harder to understand the criteria upon which this so-called Christianity in politics is based. DeLay's reputation was of a hard-nosed asshole. The Hammer. He is a mean-spirited petty jackass who holds grudges and punishes even his own flock for the slightest swerving from his fundamentalist political line.

Honestly, I have a hard time reconciling that deserved reputation with Christ's message of forgiveness and tolerance. DeLay I'm certain has never once considered turning the other cheek. I'm no Christian, since I have difficulty accepting all the mumbo jumbo surrounding virgin births, rising from the dead, and such, but I'm fairly certain that Jesus wouldn't have a whole lot to do with such a slave to temporal power.

Now of course, DeLay's alleged wrongdoing isn't the point, according to his defenders. It's simply that he was targeted for being an outspoken Christian. Here's Milbank's report:

"I believe the most damaging thing that Tom DeLay has done in his life is take his faith seriously into public office, which made him a target for all those who despise the cause of Christ," [Rick] Scarborough said, introducing DeLay yesterday. When DeLay finished, the host reminded the politician: "God always does his best work right after a crucifixion."

DeLay's fall from power being compared to a crucifixion? And let's be serious: the only crucifixion anyone ever really talks about or uses as a metaphor etc. is Christ's crucifixion, so basically Ricky is comparing shitbag DeLay to Christ, which I think should piss off a whole lot of Christians.

Bottom line: the dude is a thief and a racketeer, and his power plays would make even Machiavelli take notes. He's better positioned to play Barabbas than Jesus.