Eroding Democratic Values

Interestingly, Bush admited a mistake today - remember, he's the guy who didn't do anything wrong his first term? He's now concerned about the erosion of democracy in South America. Wait, isn't that where they're having elections, although they're not going precisely the way the Shrub would have them. And how about Gaza, where a party not supported by the Bush administration won power in a free and fair democratic election? Yesterday I wrote about whoring for oil, the practice of turning a blind eye when the powers that be in countries possessing oil are, ahem, a bit less than paragons of Democratic values. The leaders of the anti-American democracies, either leftist governments or islamist/jihadist parties, share one thing: They don't trust the U. S. Given our record of preemptive war and whoring for oil, I wouldn't trust us either.

Meanwhile, democratic freedoms erode in our own country, mostly at the hands of Bush and his Neocon thugs. We've scrapped the fourth amendment in the name of security - the Bushies can listen in anywhere and any time they want and our gutless Congress won't do a thing about it. They're in the process of scrapping the first amendment, threatening to prosecute journalists who divulge information that they themselves can claim compromises national security. Habeas corpus has been scrapped in the name of enemy combattants, tried and sentenced to life in prison, often in other countries where torture is a way of life, by edict of the Pentagon or the Bush Administration. Republicans in Congress are taking steps to enshrine discrimination in our
Constitution by taking up a gay marriage amendment. The list could be continued but the point is that we have little room to castigate anyone for lack of democratic values when we, through our elected officials, so readily give up our own in the name of national security. It's an old question but one that bears asking repeatedly: What good is our national security if we give up our nation to get it?

One of our own is embarassing us. William Jefferson, caught on tape taking a $100k bribe, refuses to resign. His continued presence in the House only gives Republicans a ledge on which to stand and shout, them, too! Pelosi, quit the damned apologist routine and tell Jefferson to take a walk. If we can't police our own, we're no better than the Republicans. Anyone want to bet Rove's attack machine won't be on this like stink on shit? We can't run on our superior ethics when we support a bribed Congressman caught on tape and betrayed by the man who bribed him with weasel-worded statements that are almost direct quotes from the Tom Delay playbook. Do the ethical thing and get rid of this turkey.

Bush sees incremental progress in Iraq, a far cry from "mission accomplished". Can anyone tell me what that means? That sixteen died there in sectarian violence compared to twenty-four yesterday? Incremental is not "mission accomplished", George. Stay the course is not a strategy, nor is hope. Iraq's new government, elected at the point of an American gun, is not likely to heal the rifts we created in the land nor is it likely to root out "terrorism". In fact, now that there's an official government in place, what is going on there truely qualifies as civil war.

Finally, experts are predicting a less violent hurricane season than last year. Of course, they didn't predict last year's violence accurately, either. Last year, forecasters initially predicted 12 to 15 tropical storms, seven to nine hurricanes, and three to five of those hurricanes being major. I don't think I have to remind anyone that forecast didn't verify. Shaking my magic eight-ball: At least one hurricane will cause major disruptions in the oil supply and send gas prices over $4.00 per gallon. Following that, prices will "stabilize" around the $3.00 per gallon mark for the rest of our existence or until next year, when the oil companies will flirt with $5.00 per gallon.