It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.
– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, about the era of the French Revolution
Under the Microscope
by Glynn Wilson
It was the worst of times, the best of times, but now it’s over. Thank dog for the passing of August, 2007 – the hottest month on record in much of the United States and Alabamaland.
The dead leaves from the drought-ravaged trees in the area are already falling and the fall bird migration has officially begun.
But while August was a rough month to take in many ways, let’s not forget some of the best political news of the past seven years. President Bush’s amoral political aide Karl Rove and his incompetent but loyal Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have left the building – the White House that is – and slunk back to Texas in disgrace.
Senator Larry “I am not gay” Craig announced his resignation yesterday, helping to bring the Log Cabin Republican story out of the closet before the masses and the mass media.
Not since Monica Lewinsky’s stained blue dress have so many media organizations struggled with where to draw the line in talking about sex and politics in the same breathless sentence.
It just makes my heart sing when truth and justice are actually in evidence in the good old US of A.
But there’s more work to do to right the ship of state that has been careening toward the abyss of history since the Bush gang decided to invade Iraq in the wake of 9/11.
If things go as planned, North Alabama lawyer Jill Simpson of Siegelman affidavit fame will be heading up to Washington in mid-September to brief the House Judiciary Committee staff on what she still sees as an injustice directed from the White House in that political prosecution.
While the Alabama Democratic Party and even Siegelman’s own lawyers still don’t seem to get this story, it is one of the most important narratives going in the drive to set the ship of America back on an upright course.
There are no guarantees yet that the Democrats in Washington will be able to grasp this information and seize the day to turn this ship around. But at least it’s worth a try.
On September 15, we are told, there will be a large mass anti-war march in Washington on the same day Bush’s general in Iraq is supposed to report back on the progress of the troop surge. We will be there to cover it.
According to several early stories about that report leaked to national newspapers, the news will not all be good. But since those stories have been out there, the report seems to be changing, at the direction – surprise, surprise – of the Bush White House.
According to all the TV punditry on the Sunday morning talk shows today, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus may now have more so-called “good news” to report, although it will still set off a contentious debate in Washington over what to do about the debacle over there.
Reports Add Fuel to Iraq Debate
If the talking heads are to be believed on “Meet the Press” and the newer Chris Matthews show on NBC, Bush is so politically savvy that he will turn the political debate over the war around and the Republicans will stand by their man and not help the Democrats do anything to de-fund the war or force the beginning of troop withdrawals from Iraq.
I think they are totally wrong from a political point of view and certainly in terms of what is right for the country. Apparently, however, establishment Democrats are still such a part of the Washington taint that they do not have the guts to take the fight to Bush all the way to ending the war and impeaching Bush.
Sources tell us that the Republicans have the dirt on every Democrat in Washington, including Rep. John Conyers of Detroit, Michigan, who was seen in Africa with Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana – the guy who got caught with a bunch of tainted cash in his refrigerator.
Before the 2006 mid-term election, Conyers was holding hearings in the Capitol basement and pounding the minority gavel saying if the Democrats regained control of Congress, he would move to impeach Bush, one of the worst presidents in American history and whose administration has been riddled with one scandal after another from Katrina to torture to spying on Americans.
Since the Democrats took back Congress, however, there has been very little talk of that, except from Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who is running for president but does not have an angel’s chance in hell.
A few weeks ago, there was a lot of talk about impeaching Gonzales. But he did the Washington two-step and got out of town while Congress was on vacation in August, right after Rove announced his resignation and just before Larry Craig announced his. The result? A buried story.
And now it’s football season, so the masses are paying even less attention, especially in Alabamaland.
Nick Saban seems to be on the right track with the Alabama Crimson Tide’s 52-6 season opening victory over Western Carolina, but let’s face facts. The Hoover High School football team could have beaten Western Carolina. It was no true test.
Let’s just hope the worst of times are over and that the best of times are still ahead. I don’t have much faith. But you’ve got to hold out some hope in life.
At least we’re all not dead yet. And as I often like to say, “you can’t win if you don’t play.”
So let’s take the fight to them! What do you say?