I've been muttering and darkly predicting for months that the Democratic nominee, if elected, would spin like a dervish while righteously slamming the door on holding the criminal misfeasors in power accountable for their actions.

Once again, I relate this to my assertion that ethics and principle have become quaint obstructions to the para-corporate technocrats occupying elected office. Even Obama, supposedly a profoundly spiritual intellectual and comprehensive thinker, is capable of cooly waving off the prospect of breaking from the settled tradition of hypocritically abandoning the pursuit of justice in favor of the expedient, Faustian false dawn of reconciliation and conviviality.

There's a much-repeated reference to Obama tapdancing around the question of holding the present gang of Executive Branch crooks accountable, in which Obama seems to promise that he will instruct his Attorney General to thoroughly investigate or review the conduct of the present occupants, with the intention of letting the chips fall where they may-- i.e., if criminal prosecution is warranted, it will go forward.

Obama's SOP strikes me as the same method used by that charlatan John Conyers. Earlier this month, some vet activist posted enthusiastic comments to a Common Dreams article about his group meeting with Conyers, and Conyers seeming surprisingly receptive to taking action on impeachment. Demonstrating his obvious lack of familiarity with Conyers' post-2006 history, the poor guy earnestly explained that Conyers was looking for solid arguments, and that (mere) passion wasn't helping to advance the prospect.

I was merciful, but a dozen others who had long since seen through Conyers' shtick gave this naïve chap a rude awakening; even Cindy Sheehan chimed in to ruefully note that she actually read bits of Conyers' own book to him supporting impeachment-- before he had her and those with her arrested and dragged from his office.

Anyhoo, Obama plays the same game. He will thoughtfully and gravely nod, and give the credulous and unwary listener the impression that he really wants to take the high road. But eventually, he'll somberly conclude that no, it just isn't on.

I'm from Philadelphia, and the 1985 MOVE debacle was as profound a catastrophe as the JFK assassination. In the aftermath, I experienced a negepiphany-- a powerful, but dark, insight: I realized that in the US, justice for criminal and malfeasant government officials typically works exactly like the so-called "Indian Rope Trick".

The apocryphal Indian Rope Trick consists of a fakir magically causing a coil of rope laid on the ground to unwind, one end rising straight into the air as if it were a snake. Then the fakir supposedly climbs this rope. When he reaches the top-- poof!-- he disappears!

So it went with Philly's mayor, and police and fire chiefs, who collectively authorized the ingenious plan of dropping a satchel of C4 explosive onto the roof of a fortified row home occupied by the MOVE scofflaws. The resulting fire swept through the entire neighborhood, destroying entire blocks.

Perhaps Glenn could ask Cass Sunstein if he's familiar with the Indian Rope Trick, and whether Obama indeed finds it an appropriate alternative to the daunting, risky, and inconvenient pursuit of justice.

The best thing about lesser-evilism is its universal applicability.

♪ Spare me, Cass Sunstein

You droning Sunstein

Such condescension

And specious views!

They could not withstand

Glenn's strong rebuttals

Next time come prepared

With some clues. ♪

Sorry about the earworm thing.

But it occurs to me that earworms all must originate from a malignant seed that ricochets inside the host's own brain until the host is compelled to spit it out with the widest possible dispersal.

Then it becomes everybody else's problem. ;)

Jane Freaking Fonda?

[channeling Amity]

PS: Good work, Glenn. I can watch workaholics all day, and I hope I can listen, too, without wearing myself out.

I haven't been able to "catch up" with you in comments lately, but I have been pleased to read your reports on Cindy's campaign.

Cindy pops into the comments at "Common Dreams" occasionally; I don't know if you visit that site. ( http://www.commondreams.org/ )

I also saw, and strongly concurred with, your comment to the Cintra Wilson article about Code Pink; I don't know if you saw mine.

OK, I do try to limit using comments as if I were passing a note to someone across the room in grade school. But sometimes ya just gotta send that note! Hope you see this.

That's a pretty big insult considering I much older and wiser than you.

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Yeah, Glenn-- she much older and wiser than you!-- ya punk; ya prick ya!

She a legend in her own mind. Precious.

"President Bush met with five Chinese freedom activists to discuss his concerns about human rights in China," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

I assume she came out with this statement of mindboggling hypocrisy in a room full of reporters. And I also assume not one of them looked up from their note pads to pose the question, exactly what about human rights in China is a concern to Bush given that he promotes many of the same policies here.

-- paulpsd7 - 06:44 AM

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I think it's fairly self-evident that President Unitard was concerned that in the delirium of conviviality accompanying the Olympics, the Chinese government might inadvertently encourage human rights. This backwardness is wholly incompatible with modern trends in government, and presents a real threat to the US Hegemony.

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Currently, I'm reading Cory Doctrow's Little Brother.

-- bystander - 08:27 AM

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What's this? There's a book entitled "Little Brother"? Why wasn't I informed? Cut me off a piece of that! Glenn, are you still accepting clients?