-V-
01/01/07, 03:19 am
The funeral extravaganza for Gerald Ford this week reminded younger Americans of 3 things.
1. that Gerald Ford had still been alive up until this week
2. that Gerald Ford had once been President
3. that Gerald Ford is best known for having granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon who, despite his own sweaty lipped claims was, indeed, "a crook".
Though, at the time -- in 1974, 75% of Americans disapproved of the pardon, people like Dick Cheney and other GOP revisionists would now have history record that the pardon was a courageous act in the best interest of healing this country!
That's like a jury pardoning OJ Simpson because the Black community had already been put through enough.
(or is that exactly what did happen?)
(regardless)
I maintain that it was as cowardly and costly for America then as it would be today for the Nancy Pelosi led Democrats to "take impeachment off of the table".
Yes, I know the half dozen or so rationales for looking the other way regarding the corruption of the Bush administration. It would be a distraction, by the time Bush was finally impeached his presidency would almost be over, it would give the GOP a chance to set up their next candidate in the White House as Bush's replacement, and so on and so forth and eat me Nancy...
What America needed in 1974 was accountability, justice, and punishment and that's what America needs in 2007, and if we had gotten it in 1974 we might not be needing it again in 2007.
EVERY POLITICIAN NEEDS TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR BREAKING OR BENDING THE LAW that starts with them losing their jobs and ends with them bunking up with some big dude named Sasqwatch behind cold iron bars just like every other ordinary citizen who screws with other people's lives.
I don't care what Nancy's short term agenda is, but for the long term future of this country she needs to stick to her first, gut reaction of "draining the swamp" instead of wallowing in it with the pigs in order to make some headway on healthcare reform before another GOP President or Congress takes over in '08, repeats the cycle of corruption, and sticks her day planner up her lilly white ass.
Here's my 2007 agenda: Investigations conducted with impeachment fully on the table with stuffing and all the trimmings and election reform. Then, at least, with honest elections and more honest politicians we'll have a fighting chance at more permanent solutions to all the other problems we face.
No, it won't be pretty but neither is a cop pulling over your drunk uncle, taking away his driver's license and throwing him in the can before he kills somebody. We can't have drunks driving cars and we can't have corrupt politicians driving this country, period. In Bush's case, he's been guilty of both.
As a liberal, I'm not calling for Bush to pay for his war crimes with a rope around his neck the way Saddham Hussein did a few hours ago. I'm just asking that the red "power" tie that is now around his red neck is traded in for a striped suit and that every other politician and aspiring politician watches him pay -- making U.S. and Iraq license plates for the remainder of his natural life.
On this last day of the year, his passing didn't get the press coverage of Gerald Ford, Saddham Hussein, or James Brown. But this day a young American named Jordan W. Hess was the 3,000th soldier to die for Bush's illegal war. How many more will follow in the days and decades ahead before America has the courage to get its hands dirty cleaning up its own White House???
1. that Gerald Ford had still been alive up until this week
2. that Gerald Ford had once been President
3. that Gerald Ford is best known for having granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon who, despite his own sweaty lipped claims was, indeed, "a crook".
Though, at the time -- in 1974, 75% of Americans disapproved of the pardon, people like Dick Cheney and other GOP revisionists would now have history record that the pardon was a courageous act in the best interest of healing this country!
That's like a jury pardoning OJ Simpson because the Black community had already been put through enough.
(or is that exactly what did happen?)
(regardless)
I maintain that it was as cowardly and costly for America then as it would be today for the Nancy Pelosi led Democrats to "take impeachment off of the table".
Yes, I know the half dozen or so rationales for looking the other way regarding the corruption of the Bush administration. It would be a distraction, by the time Bush was finally impeached his presidency would almost be over, it would give the GOP a chance to set up their next candidate in the White House as Bush's replacement, and so on and so forth and eat me Nancy...
What America needed in 1974 was accountability, justice, and punishment and that's what America needs in 2007, and if we had gotten it in 1974 we might not be needing it again in 2007.
EVERY POLITICIAN NEEDS TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR BREAKING OR BENDING THE LAW that starts with them losing their jobs and ends with them bunking up with some big dude named Sasqwatch behind cold iron bars just like every other ordinary citizen who screws with other people's lives.
I don't care what Nancy's short term agenda is, but for the long term future of this country she needs to stick to her first, gut reaction of "draining the swamp" instead of wallowing in it with the pigs in order to make some headway on healthcare reform before another GOP President or Congress takes over in '08, repeats the cycle of corruption, and sticks her day planner up her lilly white ass.
Here's my 2007 agenda: Investigations conducted with impeachment fully on the table with stuffing and all the trimmings and election reform. Then, at least, with honest elections and more honest politicians we'll have a fighting chance at more permanent solutions to all the other problems we face.
No, it won't be pretty but neither is a cop pulling over your drunk uncle, taking away his driver's license and throwing him in the can before he kills somebody. We can't have drunks driving cars and we can't have corrupt politicians driving this country, period. In Bush's case, he's been guilty of both.
As a liberal, I'm not calling for Bush to pay for his war crimes with a rope around his neck the way Saddham Hussein did a few hours ago. I'm just asking that the red "power" tie that is now around his red neck is traded in for a striped suit and that every other politician and aspiring politician watches him pay -- making U.S. and Iraq license plates for the remainder of his natural life.
On this last day of the year, his passing didn't get the press coverage of Gerald Ford, Saddham Hussein, or James Brown. But this day a young American named Jordan W. Hess was the 3,000th soldier to die for Bush's illegal war. How many more will follow in the days and decades ahead before America has the courage to get its hands dirty cleaning up its own White House???