Let's Go Skating or : Why Did I Polish My Pitchfork Anyway?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I keep expecting to see someone punished.

Bush has skated. Cheney and Rumsfeld and Condi have skated. Scooter skated. Rove skated. Ohio skated. The anthrax killer skated. Osama skated. Dibold skated. Torture skated. FEMA skated. Gonzales skated. Ignoring Congressional subpoenas skated. The telecoms skated. (I could go on and on - this is a highly edited list)

My point being that I keep encountering clearly documented illegal, unethical, sometimes even homicidal transgressions that are occurring right in front of us on a regular basis, and yet NOTHING EVER HAPPENS to the perps. Except maybe an itsby-bitsy flare-up in the MSM. Bloggers (like all of us) weep and wring and gnash and excoriate and wait expectantly for the miscreants to be frog marched and indicted. Which they never are. If they are very very unfortunate they may have a few uncomfortable moments in front of a Congressional Committee, but soon all will be forgotten. They probably have pictures of themselves at their grilling lining their media rooms ,embellished with Presidential autographs that say "Great Job! Love having you in my bunker. All the best, W."

This expectation that wrong-doing gets punished is very hard for me to give up. When I was little, it's what stopped me from pinching jelly beans. Today it's why I play it straight on my expense accounts. It's actually a fundamental expectation that defines a lawful and orderly society.

Of all the things that have happened in the mutant Bush administration, this is what bothers me the most - this suspension of the Rule of Law and the knowledge that these evil doers have nothing to fear from our Congress or courts. What then is a reigning influence on them? How about nothing.

What constituency does the telecom industry have? None. Then why would our Congress pass a bill that simultaneously recognizes and forgives retroactively their transgressions? The Congress placed the interests of the telecoms above that of their citizens to the Rule of Law.

I believe that Americans have a pent-up lust for justice, punishment, revenge, retribution, call it what you like, that goes unanswered. It is why we have lost faith in our institutions, like the Congress and the Courts. They have been infiltrated and perverted into accommodation devices for the wealthy, the connected and the criminal. THAT is the source of the outrage at the FISA bill - it's just one more slap in the face. One more nail in the coffin of a just society. Another pearl in a long necklace of disappointed expectations that our Congress would do the right thing.



So, we can put away our pitchforks or use them for hay.

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. Nice rant...

Ive lost all faith in our justice system and its ability or willingness to prosecute those in power.

www.wearableartnow.com

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Thank you.

I'm trying not to be too down or hopeless, because I really do feel that there is this actual thirst for justice by the American people that is being ignored currently but cannot be squelched forever.

Although, you have to wonder at our group docility. If Marie Antoinette were around today, most would say - "Sounds good. Love cake."