CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

Get yourselves ready, children! The fat lady's about to sing!

Do mine eyes deceive me - or are the Democrats FINALLY starting to show some long, lost courage? Is this but a dream from which I have yet to awaken? Can it be? Can it really be? Oh, heart of mine, be still!!

The decision last week by White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House Council Harriet Miers to ignore a congressional subpoena (they were ordered by Bush to do so) is utterly, without precedent. If you'll be kind enough to remember, during the Watergate Hearings in the long ago summer of 1973, when summoned to appear before that very same committee, the Nixon Gang (for all their faults) honored that summons. Maybe it was pure arrogance on their part; maybe they actually believed that they could pull one over on the Ervin Committee. Who knows? The key players in that drama took their secrets with them to their graves. Like Ms. Miers, John Ehrlichman and H.R. "Bob" Halderman were former employees of the White House - having left the administration in disgrace the previous April. As cunning and devious as Dick Nixon was, I'm sure it never even occurred to the old bastard that he could simply order two ex-aides to ignore something as serious as a congressional subpoena. And even had he done so, it is an absolute certainty that Halderman and Ehrlichman - unlike Harriet Miers - would not have been stupid enough to comply with his demands. Say what you may about Bobby and Johnny, they were two fairly astute guys.

Late last year, in an OP-ED piece in the New York Times, Paul Krugman stated that in the final two years of the Bush presidency, the American people should expect, "a rolling constitutional crisis." Talk about understatement! What you have here is George W. Bush vs The Founding Fathers: a battle between the selfish whims of a disgusting, inarticulate, half-witted frat boy who somehow (as a result of his father's connections) managed to get himself elected president - against the philosophy of checks and balances put forward as the law of the land over two hundred years ago by the men who founded this country - men like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Question: who are YOU rooting for??

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:
"White House Council Fred Fielding has said Miers, Bolten and other top presidential aides are immune from congressional subpoenas. The Justice Department [umm, that would be the Gonzalez Justice Department] told the committee that any House-passed contempt citation that might be forwarded to the U.S. attorney would not be allowed to proceed."

In other words,
"FUCK THE CONSTITUTION. FUCK THE SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES. FUCK THE FOUNDING FATHERS. FUCK THE LAW - WE ARE THE LAW! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT"???

Here's what we're gonna do about it:

We are going to make sure that George W. Bush and the the tidal wave of walking excrement that comprises this nightmare of an administration are punished for the crimes they have committed against the people (That's "people" as in, "WE THE..."). We are going to make sure that a dangerous precedent is not set wherein those at the pinnacle of power are immune from being punished and imprisoned for breaking the law. We (you and I) are going to make damned good and sure that justice is done, baby!

That's what we're gonna do about it.

Do those words sound like the insane ramblings of a dangerous, left wing extremist? It's a fair question. I always tell people in "the movement", "If you only knew how conservative I really am, you'd be surprised and maybe even even a little appalled." The best way to describe myself would be as a meat and potatoes, New Deal Progressive (We can't use the term "Liberal" anymore. In the last twenty-five years, we've allowed the right wing to turn that once-honored word into an expletive). In other words, by the standards of today, I am an ever-so-slightly, left-of-center Moderate. One does not have to be a Nation-subscribing Lefty to be outraged and offended at the crimes that have been committed by the most corrupt administration in the history of human stupidity. (FULL DISCLOSURE: My favorite singer is Bing Crosby. Now honestly, how dangerous can I really be?)

In the mean time, the performance of Alberto Gonzalez during his July 24th testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was nothing short of pathetic. In a poignant effort to correct the obvious contradictions with reality that his previous testimony had revealed, the Attorney General merely succeeded in creating more doubt and distrust of his corrupt management of the Department of Justice. It is obvious to everyone paying attention (including, I might add, a number of Republicans) that he perjured himself on several occasions and there is now serious talk of bringing him up on charges of lying to Congress. Are there any loose cannons at Justice who have the courage and fortitude to buck the system and prosecute the hideous little twit solely on the constitutional merits of the case? It could very well happen - only time will tell. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont was brutally frank, telling Gonzalez, "I am not willing to accept a simple statement of 'trust us'. I don't trust you."

We do live in interesting times, don't we? We really do! Watching these despicable people literally self-destruct right before my very eyes is a joy that I can't even adequately put into words! Somebody pinch me! I must be dreaming!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net