Boehner of the Week...

....Or should I say "Bean man" of the week in celebration of the worst idea since the Urban Legend, English as the Official Language of the United States of America. On the surface, it isn't a bad idea but as presented, it's tied to the xenophobia that's splitting the Republicans (Yay!) and uniting the Democrats. Yes, it's splitting the Republicans, not that it makes it a bad idea. English, spoken as the mother tongue of 84 percent of everyone living here, is de facto the official language of the U. S. We have Spanish signs in some places but what does that bother us? Go through any airport in Europe and you'll see signs in the native language and in English. The road signs in the Arab states are written in Arabic and, you guessed it, English. Most of the world is comfortable with second (or third or hundredth) languages. We can be, too.

Yes, the Republicans are splitting, with some of their conservative patriarchs supporting breaking away from the party. That should be as much fun to watch as Ross Perot's abortive drain of conservative votes from the Republican party the last time we elected a good President. At last the Wingnuts are beginning to realize they're a marginal group in American society. Most of us are tolerant and open minded. Most of us realize that if you give a tax break to rich, greedy men you only get richer, greedy men. Most of us know that warrantless espionage within America is wrong, that alienating the rest of the world with a doctrine of preemption without the honesty to preempt what deserves it is a road to ruin. Most of us know that massive deficits will bankrupt us and that low wages and high stock prices are not a good economy. Yet there are the Wingnuts who have all the answers wrapped up in one little package. They deserve to bring the remainder of the Republicans down with them if they think they'll assume power on their own. America is too moderate for that.

And it's a sad day when the French via AFP can legitimately chide us over whoring for oil. We completely ignore democratic values when oil is at stake, witness our support of the dictator of Kazakhstan, our coddling of the Saudi royal family, our churlish attempts to chide Russia back into the "good oil supplier" lineup. The analysis of Washington rhetoric leads to one conclusion: Like any addict, we'll do anything, sell anything, whore for anyone to supply our addiction. Bush applies democratic criteria on a case-by-case basis, sowing confusion and distrust, the thing he's best at.

And the most frightening piece of news you'll read today, Alberto "VO5" Gonzales is claiming the right to prosecute journalists who reveal sensitive information. Get out the swastikas and the jackboots, boys, they're going after the freedom of the press and they're going after it hard. Tell me, how will we learn about any of the evils of the Bush Administration (or the follow-on Democratic administration or anything that goes on in Government) if there's no freedom of the press? "We have an obilgation to see that national security is protected," Gonzales says but at what cost? "It's a case-by-case evaluation", Gonzales claims, meaning we'll go after who we want to go after and holding a threat over all journalists: Toe our line or you will be one of the cases in the case-by-case analysis. This is the most frightening abuse of power yet under the Bush administration, a short step from fascism.