"I am the State"
The Real State of the Union Is Censored
JIM KLOBUCHAR
Whenever George Bush goes before the American public to account for his government's performance, all of the applause-milking stage props are usually in place. The mikes, flags and notables are there. It's described as a moment thick with epiphany, when the democracy renews itself.
Somebody plays "Hail to the Chief" and the show is on.
What's missing is a polygraph on stage.
No American citizen should be deprived of this basic piece of protection when the White House's Humpty Dumpty-in-residence comes before the public wearing the moral garments of Michael the Archangel.
Bush on Tuesday night is going to pretend to tell the nation how his government is working in the beginning of his sixth year in office. The history of Bush's state of the union speeches tells us his version is going to be an Olympic class con job delivered with relentless sincerity. But it's also going to be tardy. The real picture of how Bush's government works came out—again—over the weekend.
Bush held a news conference Thursday in an atmosphere thickened by the impression that a once-widely loved American democracy that was good enough for Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ike Eisenhower is now too slow and awkward for efficiency experts like George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank was there. Like the rest of the assembled scribblers, Milbank couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. The reporters wanted to know why the government was spying on innocent citizens, invading thousands of houses electronically without an easily obtained warrant. The reporters wanted to know how the government could justify putting a freeze on investigations into the Katrina hurricane that became a catastrophe because of the clear and deadly bungling by the impressive roster of incompetents in Bush's government, beginning with Bush himself.
"In all," Milbank wrote, "Bush uttered nearly 7,000 words in his 45-minute Q&A. But his message could be summed up with a brief phrase in his least-favorite language: L'Etat c'est moi." It's French and it means, "I am the State."
It's a neat out if you tend to be a bungler. They asked Bush why he wouldn't release pictures showing him shaking hands with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has admitted felonious political payoffs. "They're not relevant to the investigation," said I Am The State. Case closed.
About invading the lives of thousands of innocent Americans in pursuit of terror suspects: "As I stand here right now, I can tell the American people the program is legal."
Don't you feel comforted? Albert Gonzales says it's legal and Bush would bet the stars on Albert Gonzales' opinion because Bush appointed him. The moles are sifting your emails and monitoring your phones and you're scared to death to write "Muslim" on the internet when you're talking about religions because that may be one of the surveillance keys; and don't be caught redhanded writing "illegal torture," because that may be another invitation to paw through your garbage can.
And how long is this going to last?
Said I Am The State: "The executive branch conducts the war." And how long is this war on terror and therefore the illegal surveillance going to last?
Forever. That is the decision. The country is in a state of war forever, and the president conducts war.
Or it will last as long as the country keeps electing imposters like George Bush.
Somebody at the news conference asked how could Bush refuse to give Congress testimony about the federal government's disastrous response to the hurricane. Where's the national security dodge there? Hundreds of people were killed because of the government's chaotic blunders; because, by inference, of Bush's incompetence in picking money raisers and klutzy corporate pals to run jobs that mean life or death to innocent people. How can you freeze that kind of information from the public?
The answer: "That's just the way it works."
We run the government, he was saying, all of it. We've got the White House, the Congress, the Supreme Court, most of the media, and you sit there arguing whether it makes sense to filibuster Alito when we've got it wired, and we're laughing our heads off at the show.
Sunday the New York Times told the story of how an internationally respected NASA scientist has been muzzled by his superiors after he gave a lecture whose premise was that at the present rate of greenhouse gas emissions the world's global warming may soon be irreversible.
NASA, the story said, now requires people like Dr. James E. Hansen to be accompanied by political officers if they are to give interviews. [See "The Tipping Point" below.]
In the Cold War, we laughed at Soviet political officers traveling ubiquitously with Russian athletic teams, cultural exchange students and conference delegates.
It's not that laughable when our own scientists, our own private citizens, are the ones being gagged. In the Cold War we called that a block-headed tyranny afraid to let its people see the truth.
What do we call this?
JIM KLOBUCHAR
Whenever George Bush goes before the American public to account for his government's performance, all of the applause-milking stage props are usually in place. The mikes, flags and notables are there. It's described as a moment thick with epiphany, when the democracy renews itself.
Somebody plays "Hail to the Chief" and the show is on.
What's missing is a polygraph on stage.
No American citizen should be deprived of this basic piece of protection when the White House's Humpty Dumpty-in-residence comes before the public wearing the moral garments of Michael the Archangel.
Bush on Tuesday night is going to pretend to tell the nation how his government is working in the beginning of his sixth year in office. The history of Bush's state of the union speeches tells us his version is going to be an Olympic class con job delivered with relentless sincerity. But it's also going to be tardy. The real picture of how Bush's government works came out—again—over the weekend.
Bush held a news conference Thursday in an atmosphere thickened by the impression that a once-widely loved American democracy that was good enough for Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ike Eisenhower is now too slow and awkward for efficiency experts like George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank was there. Like the rest of the assembled scribblers, Milbank couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. The reporters wanted to know why the government was spying on innocent citizens, invading thousands of houses electronically without an easily obtained warrant. The reporters wanted to know how the government could justify putting a freeze on investigations into the Katrina hurricane that became a catastrophe because of the clear and deadly bungling by the impressive roster of incompetents in Bush's government, beginning with Bush himself.
"In all," Milbank wrote, "Bush uttered nearly 7,000 words in his 45-minute Q&A. But his message could be summed up with a brief phrase in his least-favorite language: L'Etat c'est moi." It's French and it means, "I am the State."
It's a neat out if you tend to be a bungler. They asked Bush why he wouldn't release pictures showing him shaking hands with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has admitted felonious political payoffs. "They're not relevant to the investigation," said I Am The State. Case closed.
About invading the lives of thousands of innocent Americans in pursuit of terror suspects: "As I stand here right now, I can tell the American people the program is legal."
Don't you feel comforted? Albert Gonzales says it's legal and Bush would bet the stars on Albert Gonzales' opinion because Bush appointed him. The moles are sifting your emails and monitoring your phones and you're scared to death to write "Muslim" on the internet when you're talking about religions because that may be one of the surveillance keys; and don't be caught redhanded writing "illegal torture," because that may be another invitation to paw through your garbage can.
And how long is this going to last?
Said I Am The State: "The executive branch conducts the war." And how long is this war on terror and therefore the illegal surveillance going to last?
Forever. That is the decision. The country is in a state of war forever, and the president conducts war.
Or it will last as long as the country keeps electing imposters like George Bush.
Somebody at the news conference asked how could Bush refuse to give Congress testimony about the federal government's disastrous response to the hurricane. Where's the national security dodge there? Hundreds of people were killed because of the government's chaotic blunders; because, by inference, of Bush's incompetence in picking money raisers and klutzy corporate pals to run jobs that mean life or death to innocent people. How can you freeze that kind of information from the public?
The answer: "That's just the way it works."
We run the government, he was saying, all of it. We've got the White House, the Congress, the Supreme Court, most of the media, and you sit there arguing whether it makes sense to filibuster Alito when we've got it wired, and we're laughing our heads off at the show.
Sunday the New York Times told the story of how an internationally respected NASA scientist has been muzzled by his superiors after he gave a lecture whose premise was that at the present rate of greenhouse gas emissions the world's global warming may soon be irreversible.
NASA, the story said, now requires people like Dr. James E. Hansen to be accompanied by political officers if they are to give interviews. [See "The Tipping Point" below.]
In the Cold War, we laughed at Soviet political officers traveling ubiquitously with Russian athletic teams, cultural exchange students and conference delegates.
It's not that laughable when our own scientists, our own private citizens, are the ones being gagged. In the Cold War we called that a block-headed tyranny afraid to let its people see the truth.
What do we call this?
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