"For the record, We didn't break up. We just took a 12 year vacation."
-Don Henley, referring to the Eagles reuniting.
Ok, so it was only a 3 month vacation from my blog but seriously, have you tried keeping up with all of the crap going on in the world? Honestly, I have 5 or 6 half-written blogs that I never finished because the Right-wingers did some new asinine thing that went ahead and topped the last asinine thing they did the day before!
So let's see, where to start? First, Joe Lieberman, an 18-year incumbent Senator, got beaten by a complete unknown in his primary. And much like a clueless date who can't understand why you keep canceling, old Joe is carrying on as "Independent Democrat." Or as I prefer, a Liebermenist. But seriously, if Joe isn't there to undermine the Democrats who's going to do it for him? These things just don't happen by themselves people! And also, what about the Lobbyists who have been in bed with Lieberman all this time? Who's thinking of them?!? Do you know how much work it will take for them to buy another senator? Geez, some people are just plain ungrateful.
Second, I have learned quite a bit about alcoholism in the last few months. Apparently this disease makes you A) Anti-Semitic, and B) Cyber-Stalk and sexually harass young boys. Who knew? I mean, yes, no one I've ever known who was an alcoholic did those things, but apparently they are side effects if certain crazy movie stars/congressman's lawyers are to believed.
Third, so yeah, remember that whole crazy "I'm a constitutional originalist" slogan the Republican's used to throw around? The one that helped show how moral and traditional they were because they didn't believe that the constitution was a living, breathing document? Um, well apparently they were just kidding. At least in regards to that whole ambiguous “Protection from unreasonable search and seizure" thing. You see, with the passing of the new torture bill congress (read: The Republicans) have given the POTUS the power to suspend Habeas Corpus. Yes, the same man who believes that God told him to invade Iraq and once referred to the constitution as a “God-Damned Piece of Paper" now has the power to declare anyone he wants, including American citizens, an "Enemy Combatant." WHAT THE HELL? If Bill Clinton had tried this he would have been impeached and arrested, but because of 9/11, GW is granted almost universal power?
Some people probably think I'm exaggerating when I say that this truly is the end of democracy in America but let me tell you a little hypothetical "What-if?" and you can tell me whether or not I'm crazy for being worried.
(Once again, this is a hypothetical) Let's take a controversial Bush critic like, oh I don’t know, Michael Moore as an example. So let's say in 2007 Michael Moore comes out with "Fahrenheit 911 part 2." Now in this latest movie he has an interview with a member of Al Qaeda. Not a positive "Al Qaeda members are great" interview, but let's just say one that just shows their point of view. Now, George W. Bush and Michael Moore have a long running feud so GW decides to use this contact with terrorists as his excuse to get rid of a frequent critic and declares Mikey an "Enemy Combatant" and sends him off to Gitmo, or maybe one of those secret CIA prisons we have heard about.
So first what happens next? Well the first thing you get the morning after he is taken is Tony Snow, the white house spokesman saying how Michael Moore was interacting with terrorists and we have "Reason to Believe" from a "Qualified Source" that his anti-American rhetoric and ideological support for Al-Qaeda had progressed to "Material Aid." Who cares who the actual source is, or what, if any proof there was because now you have the under-funded Washington press corps repeating these charges on every network. Next, you get Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly talking all morning about how they always knew he was a terrorist and how you just needed to see his movies to understand that.
Then the right wing blogosphere erupts as several "anti U.S" remarks he has made in the past are posted and commented on ad infinum. As the day progresses you get Sean Hannity, Fox News, Hugh Hewitt, Ann coulter and every other Right Wing half-wit joining in the chorus of how this is good for America, and how if you question this decision you probably think everyone at Gitmo should go free. And finally, just to make sure people are completely propagandized, you have FOX news repeating the same trumped-up White House press briefing.
But real journalists and the Democrats would protest this wouldn't they? Well yes, and no. Sure, several of them would come out against his arrest, but many more would have "no comment at this time" and would want to wait " to see all of the evidence." But by the time that happens, if it happens, the court of public opinion has already decided that even if it's not completely true that Michael Moore is a terrorist, there had to be something there because otherwise George Bush wouldn't have had him seized. That kind of thing just dosen’t happen in America.
But even if I was wrong about that last part and more people did start to get upset about this, well then something else would just come along to fill up the 24-news cycle. Maybe it's another missing blond girl, or some random flashy murder, or maybe another congressman is found with another intern. Either way Mikey's story would be pushed back to page 4 status as legal moves were made, and then denied, and then appealed.
And then, three years later he dies in prison. Maybe it was his weight problems that finally killed him. Maybe he was killed in his cell. Maybe it was suicide. Who knows? And at that point does the fact that he was seized with little or no reason and declared an enemy combatant really matter? Yes, there would be outrage, but for how long? Because after all there is now that matter of congressman X who was just taken away to Guantanamo and he too has had a long history of making Anti-American remarks. But we tell ourselves this one is different because they wouldn't take an opposition elected official away, would they?
