the silly regulations and the reaction of the public are both priceless.

it's not like a bomb falls on a crowd of innocents in cleveland every time it happens in bagdad, but at least america is paying some kind of price for being mass murderers.

he's a politician. he's applying for a politician's job. he's using politician's methods. he can't help himself, he has to do these things in his line of work. no doubt he internalizes his activity, as we all do, but he's not a saint. he's probably not even a nice person. most whores don't have hearts of gold, most pollies would street their grannies to win a precinct.

it's not their fault: it's your fault. you vote for them, in the face of all experience. you don't have to, you could try democracy. but that would require effort. it would require self-education. it would require character. it's just so much easier to despise pollies, than to make them obsolete.

the problem is not which pollie runs the nation, it's that the nation is run by pollies.

the cure is democracy, it needs citizen initiative, and that needs citizens. unfortunately, not many of that sort in the u s of a. just civilians.

check out mike gravel's site, he's the only public figure that knows what the country needs and is willing to say so. or continue hoping for the tooth fairy to take an interest in politics like a good little civilian.

it's a concourse of pirates carving up the public with no principle but "catch me if you can." why should it be otherwise? no one expects hyenas to be vegetarian, or sharks to munch on sea-weed.

there are too many people now, too close together, too mutually dependent, to continue to rely on the law of the jungle as the basis of social relations. some kind of socialism is necessary, if society is to be stable, and inclusive of all.

the important question is, shall it be a socialism run by a political elite acting in concert with the rich, or shall it be a democracy?

i'm betting on the former: national socialisn with a dictator. it's called fascism. in america, it will be called 'americanism.'

yearning for power. that's why the primary enemy of any people is not their neighbor, but their government. the cure is democracy, the rule of the people over the clerks who carry out political functions. until americans assert their rule of the nation, there will be an unending stream of 'cheneys,'' bushes,' and 'nixons.'

but for the slow learners, the pressing problem is this: should the government be allowed to nominate who is a criminal, of any kind? the constitution says 'no'. if you think the government will stop with defining terrorists as 'persons of middle-eastern appearance', you're mortal ignorant of history, and it will kill you.

serves you right, but you're bungled genocidal grasp for middle-eastern oil is making life harder for by-standers. indeed, it commonly ends life for bystanders. so pretend to be civilized, if you can.

what's really scary is, they have no notion that they can do anything about it, beyond complaining to their representative.

that ain't gonna do it. the politician caste has no interest beyond getting elected, and dare not do anything that would anger those people who voted for fascism because al gore was an 'empty suit', not a beer-drinking companion.

look at all those letters, rage, disgust, fear in abundance, but no one says: "if we had citizen initiative, we could fix this. then we could fix are other problems too, they're mostly caused by politicians anyway."

'no notion' is the characteristic of powerless people, submissive subjects of an (elected) king. but by now you should have some idea of the consequences of relying on the morals, good-will, and sanity of the politicians caste. so maybe it's time to take a further step in political evolution, establishing democracy as a fire-wall against fascism. continuing to do nothing is not survival-oriented.

the government official who sees 'nothing wrong', 'does what he is paid to do', 'under orders from above'.

or the hack who makes a living out of reporting these activities, week after week after week, with never a word on what should be done. i take the view that gg and his guild are moral dung beetles: living on shit, protesting vigorously about the smell but either too ignorant to suggest a remedy or basically content to report 'the sky is falling' (because it's a living, innit), week after week after week.

i presume most of his readers agree with him: "ain't it a shame," they think, week after week after week. but they do nothing. like the good people of weimar germany, they watch fascism grow week after week after week, and do nothing.

on his watch, america stopped pretending to democracy, at home or abroad. mind you, the hypocrisy index still went up due to the creative lying that torture, rendition, collateral damage, preventive invasion and total surveillance seem to require still.

gg is making a living out of the collapse of political morality, for much the same reason women buy magazines purporting to outline the lives of the famous: morbid curiosity, not any intention or ability to participate.

"you get the government you deserve" describes the situation, the american character is too debased to maintain any kind of morality among their masters in the political class.

clear demonstration that americans don't want democracy, they prefer to be ruled by people they wouldn't trust to baby-sit the kids.

is to make sure is to make sure the 'right' people run the country.

marvelous what 'education' can achieve, the cattle don't know they are cattle, cuz they're told they are citizens. simple, innit?