Vague Comparisons Some say that history is a broken record, others see it as a logical harbinger for that which lies ahead. I see it as entertainment, much like one of those parking lot carnivals that pops up quickly, sucks in a bunch of cash from the locals, and then moves on. The rides are fun, the food is great, the crowd is big... Sometimes people get scared, or hurt, but mostly everyone has a good time. America is again enjoying one of those memorable moments when the clowns roam freely among the population. Haven't we seen all this before, though? The older one is, the better the breadth of one's perspective must be. The presidency is an excellent example of this ferris wheel, with George W. Bush cutting his own figure from our national cloth. His unique visage may never adorn Mount Rushmore, but his legacy is already indelible. It is more than fair to say that the terrorists tumbled the first domino on 9/11, but we have controlled the placement of each domino to fall ever since, and therefore we are responsible for where they land, if only in the history books. The problem is, our guy lied. No matter what conservative revisionists will say, the texts of the speeches, the audio and video, will remain forever. Nobody can erase the clips of Bush and his accomplices conjuring up the specter of Armageddon, frightening the American people into the most expensive war ever booked. It's almost as tragic a joke as their stated expectations of overjoyed Iraqis greeting our troops with bouquets and boxes of candy. They can't blame the intelligence; it was provided by the CIA, an agency which works for the White House. They can't blame Saddam - those much-maligned U.N. inspections, which produced no weapons of mass destruction, have since been verified by two administration-appointed investigators. Plain and simple, Bush lied to the world, the result of which has been a horrific spilling of blood and treasure. Now, why did Richard Nixon resign again? It doesn't seem nearly as bad now, does it? But it happened, and it's happening again. The difference is that, last time, something got done about it. The Oval Office is hardly the only place to relive our painful political past. Bush has developed a wonderful relationship with Congress, one like no other before. It's a great deal: Our representatives give Bush the green light on whatever he wants, so he never has to veto anything they do. To them, the potential for deficits must seem as vast as the killing fields of Heaven. And if ever any abuse of power should occur, the majority of heads will turn away in unison. There before us all stands Tom DeLay, a former vermin engineer from Texas. His well-recorded ethical breaches are bountiful, and he has rubbed elbows with some of the most foul lobbyists imaginable. When faced with the sort of in-House pressure that had previously deposed such brutes as Jim Wright, all he had to do was change the rules, with the sincere blessings of his fellow Republicans. It was as easy as voting himself a pay raise, or giving his wife a few hundred thousand dollars to work for his campaign. Even the Vice President gives off a chilling sense of deja vu. Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, didn't even have to pull any strings to get no-bid contracts with the United States government. Through the duration of the Iraq war, there have been several discrepancies concerning how much money was going down the funnel to Halliburton, and just five weeks ago, an internal Pentagon report turned up $1,400,000,000 (for those of you who can't read clock faces, that's one point four billion dollars) in questionable expenses. If that's what Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon is willing to admit to, it's only the tip of the iceberg. Even if the company is made to pay it back, who knows how long they've been sitting on the taxpayers' money, using it to earn interest through whatever means they deem appropriate? Nothing will ever happen to Halliburton. They're insulated. And Spiro Agnew was made to slink out of office because of fudgy taxes. Still, there is no cause for alarm. Not in America, where nothing is new, and everything is temporary (some call it "disposable"). So go ahead. Send in the clowns. Paul Heller 8/02/05 << back to the archives
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