Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
This is not schadenfreude
As I and millions of other Americans await Pat Fitzgerald’s announcement this morning, I want to point out that my barely restrained glee is not schadenfreude. This is not partisanship, either. The atrocities committed in America’s name in Iraq began with Bush 41, continued under Bill Clinton, and achieved maximal evil fruition under Junior. Junior is merely the ripe-to-rupture pustule on a boil that’s been growing for some time now.
No, this is about seeing justice — well, I was about to say prevail, but we’re a long way away from that still. Today, justice will get its nose through the doorway. With luck, it’ll muscle its way into the room and not budge until it flushes every last crook and liar down the drain.
Over at Huffington Post, James Moore writes in The Criminalization of Criminals:
Leaking the names of CIA agents is not politics; it is a crime. Lying to congress about evidence for a war is not politics; it is a crime. Failing to tell a grand jury that you met with a reporter and talked about the CIA agent is not forgetfullness; it is a crime. Deceiving your entire nation and frightening children and adults with images of nuclear explosions in order to get them to support a bloody invasion of another country is not politics; it is a crime. Anyone other than Karl Rove and Lewis Libby and Tom Delay who does not get this, please raise your hand. The three of you will need to stay after class for further instruction in civics.
That’s putting it mildly. We’re talking about DEATH, people, DEATH on a grand scale. Check out the images of terrorized and wounded Iraqi children on Maryscott O’Connor’s diary at Daily Kos. We’re talking about the death of CIA operatives left out in the cold thanks to the Cheney Cabal’s vendetta politics. We’re talking about the death of 2000 American soldiers, and counting. We’re talking about the death of tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children — look at those photos. How many of those Iraqis were insurgents, and how many were innocents? And this, all of this, is being done in the name of the American people.
Time after school is the least of it. These bastards need to be deprived of power, shamed, humiliated before the eyes of the world, tried and punished for their crimes against humanity (Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, extreme rendition, the continuing savagery in Iraq). Even now, Dick Cheney and George Bush want to retain the power to torture detainees.
Impeach Bush and Cheney. Throw out every Senator and Representative who supported this war and still lacks the gumption to say this was and is WRONG. As pointed out in a recent Kos diary, the decision to go to war in Iraq wasn’t a mistake. It was criminal . . . and criminals should be punished.
I’ve seen every cherished American principle perverted under this Administration of thugs. If justice intrudes on this gang’s party — no matter how small, be it only a single indictment for perjury — then it isn’t schadenfreude if I break out the champagne and celebrate myself silly. It isn’t schadenfreude at all. It’s hope.
D.
Amen
and here…just for a laugh, 12 step program for bush addicts.
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20051024Young.html
I can’t speak about these kinds of topics without getting apoplectic and looking like I’m on the verge of a stroke or something. Thus, I’m just going to post a link ’cause it gave me some chuckles… Fox-y History .
What’s the punishment for treason, I wonder? Perhaps it should be, for these guys, watching Fahrenheit 9/11 repeatedly with their eyes propped open a la A Clockwork Orange.
I’m only shocked that it took THIS FUCKING LONG for something to be done. What is WRONG with people?
Nothing to do with anything, but: I briefly visited a conservative woman’s blog today, and she was making fun of women who didn’t like football (the Superbowl, to be specific) as un-American, unpatriotic and unfeminist. I had no idea that liking organized sports in which guys repeatedly slam into each other in an attempt to capture an ovoid ball is a reliable measure of patriotism.
People have the oddest ideas of what being an American should constitute.
Great links, folks. You’re filling the humor vacuum here at Shatter.
Candy — what’s wrong with people? A pig-headed reluctance to admit they were stupid enough to vote for the guy. A lot of my co-workers at the hospital voted for Bush & continued to support him . . . don’t know if they still do . . . but these are otherwise intelligent people. I really don’t get it.
Not to propose a cure for the Democratitis that is slowly killing the comments section here, but there is another side to this story (for the benefit of that tiny, fragile segment of Republican-haters out there with an open mind). Then again, I’m not a Republican (or Democrat) lover, and I hate speaking about politicians less than 500 years dead, so allow me to refer you to Livy. Of course, he says nothing about meglomaniacal dictators pursuing a policy of genocide against the Kurdish minority residing in his own country, nor about missiles found – immediately pre-war, mind you – that out-distance the U.N. sanctions imposed, which were fitted with chemical warheads (thus making them, ahem, WMDs); however, he does mention a little something about whether a war is just if it is brought against a tyrant.
Then again, I recall a certain few Euro-American authors who mention the same scenario (Jefferson’s “raving fathers killing sons,” Payne’s “Royal Brute,” et al.), and reach the same verdict. I wonder, should we bring posthumous charges against Geo. Washington? You realize that it was the same minority of people who wanted America to claim independence from Britain (25%) as elected a German fellow named Adolf Hitler. It’s sure a good thing America never put anyone in concentration camps during World War II, or we would never live it down! Oh, wait, my uncle was put in one, because my aunt married a Jap. Sure blows that “yay America” stance of mine, eh?
But, like I said, I hate to get involved in contemporary political discussions. And I would hate it even moreso if I were to lay into a bunch of kind-hearted individuals who were merely trying to avoid unjust wars, but there’s the rub. War is sometimes just. Anyone who doesn’t believe that, needs to recall the turn that 25% minority can force the world to take.
/rant off
And, yes, I can spell megalomania; my keyboard, on the other hand, needs some remedial english.
Alex, you lost me at “Jap”. Actually, you lost me a while ago when your racism came through on your blog — that bit about Asians having small penises. Har har.
My wife’s Japanese, FYI, but “Jap” would offend me even if my wife was Scandinavian.
–Doug the Kike
Racist? I complain about my Japanese uncle getting put in an American concentration camp during WWII, and you call me the racist? That’s friggin insane!
And, so we’re clear, not only is “Jap” what he calls himself, but it is also short for (gasp!) Japanese. It would be like me getting offended at being called an Anglo. I pick on everyone equally (white males like myself included), so calling me a racist is ridiculous.
Then again, this is what I get for trying to talk sense to Democrats (and Republicans). They just invent reasons to close their minds and crawl back into their safe world of blackness and whiteness, good and evil.
Have fun in holier-than-thou-land, chief. I’m sure your moral high ground has a wonderful view!
-Alex the Cracker
I’d say bravo in bold, italics, all caps, and in 77 languages if I could.