Dubya obviously believes members of his Evil Cabal are better than average Americans. They're above the law. They certainly don't belong in jail. Given this deeply held belief, what else could King George do but commute the jail sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice?

Libby's lies made it impossible to determine what really happened relating to the outing of covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, which struck a serious blow to America's ability gather intelligence on nuclear weapons. But Scooter is one of the boys and was looking out for the team! Why should he go to jail for that?

In the topsy turvy world of Bush justice, Paris Hilton deserves to spend more time in jail than someone who lies to a grand jury on an issue of national security.

But members of Dubya's own party seem to think that perjury is serious business. They also believe that it's a fundamental principle of American justice that all men must be treated equally.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) showed little tolerance for special treatment of the powerful:

How can parents instill values and morality in their children? How can educators teach our children? How can the rule of law for every American be applied equally if we have two standards of justice in America--one for the powerful and the other for the rest of us?

Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) agreed, pointing out that the Senate does not take perjury lightly:

He is not above the law. If an ordinary citizen committed these crimes, he would go to jail. Many senators have voted to remove federal judges guilty of perjury, and I have no doubt that the Senate would do so again.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) had some inspirational words as well:

[S]omething needs to be said that is a clear message that our rule of law is intact and the standards for perjury and obstruction of justice are not gray. And I think it is most important that we make that statement and that it be on the record for history.

I very much worry that with the evidence that we have seen that grand juries across America are going to start asking questions about what is obstruction of justice, what is perjury. And I don't want there to be any lessening of the standard. Because our system of criminal justice depends on people telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That is the lynch pin of our criminal justice system and I don't want it to be faded in any way.

Of course, all of these senators were talking about Bill Clinton in 1999, not Scooter Libby in 2007. They're oddly quiet this time around. But does that make their words any less true?

And note that Bush commuted Libby's prison sentence. He didn't pardon him. I've heard several people speculate that this is because Libby can continue to appeal the fines. The White House has repeatedly lowered the Cone Of Silence over "an ongoing investigation", so the stonewalling can continue. But Scooter receives his "Get Out Of Jail Free" card because, of course, he's better than the rest of us.

It seems inconceivable that Bush would take such a huge dump on the American judicial system right before Independence Day. But lately Bush is like a torpedo shot toward the ocean floor, sinking lower all the time and showing no signs of slowing down.

Sometimes life catches up with our weirdest ideas. This happen recently when I read a story about how NASA planned to repair the space shuttle Atlantis.

I'm a two-time winner of Phandemonium's "Dark and Stormy Planet Contest". It's a science fiction take-off on the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which is described as "a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels."

One of my winning entries was:

As Commander Marc "Crash" Crazinski strode confidently through the cool Florida night toward the shuttle, which lay nestled amidst the searing white beams of the spotlights, the staples and duct tape on its wings shining majestically, he finally accepted the wisdom of making NASA a faith-based initiative, knowing that only a miracle would save him and his crew.

Staples and duct tape on the shuttle? How silly. Until...

Mission Atlantis: Astronauts to Rehearse Shuttle Fix, Stow Solar Array

...which describes how Atlantis' damaged thermal blanket will be repaired while in orbit...

Next, the repair requires a double row of staples using the medical staplers along the tear's edges, and finishes with the use of a dental tool and stiff nickel chromium pins to secure the torn blanket and part of an adjacent one into nearby tiles, Shannon said. The crew will take six staplers with them, each with 15 staples.

Still don't believe they're using staples to fix the shuttle? Here are photos!

What more can I say?

People never cease to amaze me, and not in a good way.

Last night I attended a performance of "The Diary of Anne Frank" at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. As I left the theatre I overheard someone comment, "It would have been cooler if it had been a true story."

You must understand that there were posters in the lobby of the theatre describing the actual events. There were photos of Anne Frank and her family. There were photos of letters Otto Frank wrote to try to obtain visas to come to America. There were photos of the extermination camps where they died.

We all hope that the world will never again see the horrors that became Anne Frank's life. But I wonder how we can avoid them if people can be so ignorant about the truth of those horrors and how they came to pass.

Such cruelty never springs into the world fully formed. It grows little by little over time. The reemergence of the political techniques that nurtured such horror is what could pose a threat to the future. The only way to avoid these manipulations of society will be to recognize them for what they are and put an end to them before it's too late.

So the next time you dismiss someone as an alarmist when they draw comparisons between contemporary events and historical ones, make sure you know the history. No nation was ever convinced to kill millions of innocent people by accident. No group was ever convinced to launch a suicide attack and kill thousands of innocent people by accident. It's always carefully planned. History is the only way we have to recognize such plans if we see them again.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
     - George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

Dubya had some harsh words for Congress on its possible vote of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales:

Now, you asked about Alberto Gonzales. He has got my confidence. He has done nothing wrong. There's been enormous amount of attention on him -- that there's been no wrongdoing on his part. He has testified in front of Congress. And I, frankly, view what's taking place in Washington today as pure political theater. And it is this kind of political theater that has caused the American people to lose confidence in how Washington operates.

I stand by Al Gonzales and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues. And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage.

Click here to hear the quote.

Click here to read the entire transcript.

The Hypocrite in Chief may have found something that he actually knows about. After all, George W. Bush is the Corky St. Clair of political theater.

They say that in college you learn how to learn. This hinges on developing your ability to defend a hypothesis with a coherent, fact-based argument. If you can't defend your position and your opponent can, you must reevaluate your position. That's learning, Sparky!

It elevates my blood pressure to see anyone who thinks reasoned discourse involves putting your fingers in your ears and screaming "Lalalalala...I'm not listening to you!"

Stephen Colbert did a masterful job of mocking just such a person on The Colbert Report. Here is The Word for your enjoyment, complete with Orwellian Newspeak. It's double-plus good!

NOTE: This video will expire on 6/16/2007. I tried to place it on YouTube so you could enjoy it indefinitely (and it would promote The Colbert Report indefinitely), but Viacom were whiny bitches and made YouTube remove it.

During the Republican Presidential Candidate Debate on May 3, Tommy Thompson showed that he's probably doesn't have the chops for The Oval Office.

The following exchange was part of that debate:

The next day Thompson backpedaled so furiously that he could have won the Tour de France in reverse. He called CNN's "American Morning" and claimed that "he 'misinterpreted' the question and should have asked to have it repeated."

There are two possible ways to view this. One is that Thompson is a bigot who enjoys a good round of gay bashing. His retraction may be a way to distance himself from his hateful remark after garnering approving nods from his homophobic "base". It's the same tactic as printing a smear on the front page of a newspaper and then printing the retraction a few days later on page 27.

But let's take Thompson at his word. He's an addlepated numbskull who can't understand a question asked in plain English. He couldn't be bothered to ask for clarification. He just answered whatever it is he thought they asked and hoped they'd leave him alone.

Does this seem like the kind of man you want controlling America's military? "What do you mean you launched 'missiles' at Iran? I thought you said 'missives'! I just wanted to send them some strongly worded letters!"

President of the United States is one of the highest-pressure jobs on Earth. The campaign helps Americans learn the candidates' views on issues. But it also shows who may fold up like a cheap card table under the weight of the job. No matter how you want to take Thompson's comment, he's shown us what he's made of.

It seems like George W. Bush is a little fuzzy on what constitutes "micromanagement".

I know. Why am I wasting your time pointing out something that Dubya doesn't understand? What's next? Pointing out that the sky is blue? Water is wet? I'm just annoyed by his unending stream of brainless nonsense.

In his weekly radio rambling on March 17, 2007, Bush said, "Unfortunately, some in Congress are using this bill as an opportunity to micromanage our military commanders, force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and spend billions on domestic projects that have nothing to do with the war on terror."

He's robotically repeated this point right up to the time he vetoed the "U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007", (H.R. 1591). (Note the "Katrina Recovery" part. That'll be important later.)

Merriam-Webster defines "micromanage" as "to manage especially with excessive control or attention to details".

Even someone as delusional as Bush would be hard pressed to find anything excessive in the redeployment requirements in the bill. There were no specifics on how to perform the redeployment. That would have been up to the generals and their expert military knowledge. They were asked to undertake it "with a goal of completing such redeployment within 180 days." However, since it was only a "goal", it offered the generals flexibility if circumstances made this dangerous or impossible.

This type of direction is called management. There's nothing "micro" about it. It's how one party informs another of the result they should be trying to achieve. The result in question, withdrawal from Iraq, is desired by a majority of Americans. Congress is doing its job by exercising the Power of the Purse to enforce the will of the citizenry. But it's not surprising that Bush doesn't recognize effective management, especially for those of us familiar with his track record as a businessman.

Bush has also made the boneheaded assertion that the generals shouldn't be required to take direction from politicians. What does this idiot think he is? The U.S. military is required to answer to civilian authority, like Congress, which is the only branch of government that can declare war. Yet Bush said that in the Congress vs Commander contest, "I'm a commander guy." The only type of government where the military doesn't receive its orders from civilians is a military dictatorship.

The Commander Guy's fearmongering over setting a date for withdrawal is also ridiculous. It's time to acknowledge that our military has completed its mission, namely removing Saddam Hussein from power and securing Iraq's WMDs, thus keeping America safe. That was why went sent them. There's nothing they can do to end a civil war between Iraqis. We need to honor the fact that they'll follow orders, no matter how stupid, by giving them orders that make sense. A good start would be to order them home and let the Iraqis figure out how to run their own country.

Bush has a point that the bill contained "domestic spending that is completely unrelated to the war". However, this is just another indication of his aversion to the written word. The title of the bill also includes "Katrina Recovery", remember? The NASA funds he chastised Congress about in his radio address were reimbursement for damage from Katrina. The "peanut storage" funds he mocked were dropped from the bill before he ever saw it.

The bill did try to do something that Dubya has repeatedly failed to do, namely support our troops. If the bill had been passed, units would not have been allowed to be deployed unless they were rated "fully mission capable". Bush has reduced desert training to showing recruits a hand full of sand and saying, "This will be everywhere."

The bill also prohibited deploying troops for more than 365 days, (210 days for Marines). Bush just extended tours of duty to 15 months. Remember? It was the day after he warned that this bill might keep troops away from their families even longer. To avoid micromanagement, H.R. 1591 specified that this "shall not be construed to require force levels in Iraq to be decreased below the total United States forces levels in Iraq prior to January 10, 2007." In plain english this means "you can maintain troop levels as of the start of 2007, but no surges".

I don't think the problem with this bill was one of micromanagement. The problem was one of microcephaly. The problem was that the President is a pinhead.

Just a brief note from the Department of Institutional Inertia:

"The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy - then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece. Probably the rarest form of life in American politics is the man who can turn on a crowd & still keep his head straight - assuming it was straight in the first place."
- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72"

That's right; this quote predates the 1972 election where Nixon stomped McGovern.

So take heart, Gentle Reader. The current state of affairs is nothing new. We simply have to hope one of Thompson's rare life forms emerges from the viscous ooze of contemporary politics. It's a slim hope, but it's better than nothing.

I've just finish watching Ghosts of Abu Ghraib on HBO and I'm ashamed. This documentary by Rory Kennedy is about the awful events at the infamous Iraqi prison. It reminded me of just how naive I can be.

At the time that the photographs were first leaked I wanted to have faith in my country. We were the good guys. Our reputation was of defending human rights, not violating them. I assumed that the media was just hyping these photos to grab ratings and sell newspapers. In a blog back in May 2004 I said, "It seems to me to be an insult to actual torture victims to call posing for goofy photos torture."

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. Less than six months after my initial comments I'd already admitted that even humiliating pictures were unacceptable. A moral friend had convinced me that even a little bit of evil is too much.

But until tonight I had no idea. The last bits of my innocent faith in my country, which I'd clung to since childhood, have been crushed. I'll never forgive George W. Bush and his Administration for that.

Prisoners in the custody of my countrymen were unable to sleep in Abu Ghraib. It wasn't because of heavy metal music being blasted from a boom box to harass them. It was because of the begging and screaming of their fellow prisoners who were being tortured. God bless America?

Watch this documentary. Don't get defensive or indignant. Don't start making ridiculous claims, like that people who oppose such treatment want the terrorists to conquer America. You don't have to be an animal to dispense justice. Watch it and remember what America is supposed to be. Watch it and try not to weep for what America has become.