John Bolton, resident bull in a china shop at the United Nuthouse, reportedly delivered an “outburst” over a UN resolution expressing regret over the loss of innocent lives in Gaza. It seems that “Israel can do no wrong” is the all but official policy of the United States.
And frankly, considering what we are doing in the Middle East, it might appear hypocritical for the United States to join in expressing regret over the loss of innocent lives there.
It appears that, with the Democrats in control in the Senate, Bolton’s days at the UN are numbered. I am tempted to say "Good riddance," but in a way, Bolton’s departure would be a loss of candor for this administration, which clearly has little to spare. No one, save possibly Dick Cheney, more accurately represents the face and the heartlessness of the hollow men of this "compassionate conservative" regime than John Bolton.
A friend takes issue with my characterization of this lawless administration as "Nazi" or totalitarian of some stripe. A lawyer, he claims to believe in the jury system when it comes to tort reform, but in at least some criminal cases he is "okay" with a determination of guilt without a trial. The detention, without charge or trial, of Jose Padilla for three and half years has troubled him not at all. Neither did the United Nations’ claim that our economic sanctions against Iraq had, by 1996, resulted in the death of 500,000 Iraqi children.
"Better them than my kid," he shrugged. How the Iraqi children were threatening his child is something he never made clear. It would appear he never thought about it. He doesn’t have to think. He has the word of the Bush-Cheney gang that we are spreading peace and democracy in the Middle East and protecting our "security" here at home.
He finds some solace, apparently, in a 1942 Supreme Court ruling which held the right of the United States to try even American citizens in military tribunals. But at least the laws under which we were then operating did not preclude a court review of the tribunals’ actions, which the latest military tribunals bill specifically does. The Congress was pleased to pass that law, ceding more unregulated power to the executive branch. Yeah, as Cool Hand Luke said, "Them poor ol’ bosses need all the help they can get."
Suspension of habeas corpus. Secret prisons in Eastern Europe. Torture as an "alternative means" of interrogation. Tell me again…Who won the Cold War?
My lawyer-friend suggests I am irresponsible for having cast a write-in vote for a former state senator, long retired, instead of voting for our Republican congressman, who is, for the record, Jeb Bradley, though that hardly matters. He is virtually indistinguishable from the rest of them and has shown no evidence that he wants to be any different from the rest of them. Now he is out of office like the rest of them.
My friend, who is pro-life, finds Bradley, who is "pro-choice," slightly less in favor of the legal defense of killing babies in the womb than his Democratic opponent. Slightly less infanticide in a New World Order! What a marvelous reason to vote Republican.
They have spent more money, expanded executive power more and waged more war against peoples who have not offended us than the Democrats at their malevolent worst could possibly have done. And if you still insist at looking at politics through your two-party blinders, answer me this: What prominent Republican or Democrat objected to the government’s killing of Randy Weaver’s wife at Ruby Ridge in 1992, the last year of the Bush ’41 administration? Who objected when the Clinton gang and its attorney general, Janet "El Bandito" Reno, committed a massacre at Waco in 1973? Who objected when the same Gestapo witch sent storm troopers on a pre-dawn raid of the Gonzalez home in Miami for a government kidnapping of Elian Gonzalez in 2000? Did Gov. George Bush of Texas? Did Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida? Did Sen. John McCain of Arizona? I can think of only two: Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida and Sen. Bob Smith, R-NH.
Admit it: neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have any more interest in defending freedom in America than a hyena has in higher education. The Cold War is over. The Communists no longer rule Eastern Europe. The Nazis are in charge in Washington, D.C. And their lackeys, dupes and sympathizers are in every city and town village and hamlet in America.
Manchester, NH, resident Jack Kenny [send him mail] is a freelance writer.
