A recent report from Salon.com says that Sen. Arlen Specter is attempting to pass a law that would remove judicial oversight from any wiretapping that the Bush or future administrations seeks to enforce.
No oversight. No judicial process. No checks and balances. Nixon would've been proud.
The headline says "Echoes of the Nixon era," and it fit nicely with some of what I've been thinking about since my Route 66 trip.
Namely: Bush and Nixon were equal in the "bastard" rankings.
After reading "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" (a very non-objective - hell, not even fair - account of that election, with McGovern getting thrashed by an incumbent Nixon), I couldn't help but notice the similarities.
Maybe we should start with the differences. Bush has found Jesus, while Nixon worshipped Satan the Dark Lord. Bush faces terrorism during his term, while Nixon fought hippies. Nixon actually signed some pro-environment laws, while Bush burns them to keep his cold dead heart warm in the winter. Bush got us into a heckuva mess in Iraq, while Nixon had to airlift us out of the mess in Vietnam. Bush lies through his teeth, helps cronies, takes away the very freedoms he swore to protect, and feels a god-like elitism to stay above the law.
Oh wait. Nixon did all that too.
"It's not illegal if the president does it," Nixon was reported saying, and I'm pretty sure, when he's cramped on the shitter his lies built, Bush whispers the same thing to himself.
Nixon saw nothing wrong with abusing presidential privileges to achieve his own ends - namely, to destroy the poor saps on his "enemies list," and to intimidate anyone who thought the president was just a mortal Protestant. Law and order, man. That was the order of the day.
Bush feels the same, but masks the naked power-grabs as means to "defend freedom."
Right. Defend freedom by taking it away. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery.
The Nixon Administration imploded when, drunk with power and lurching in the alleyway with the tycoons looking and cheering him on, Nixon's stupidity and ego rose to the surface like toilet paper in a porta-potty.
And with each new round of the news cycle, some new report comes out about how Bush and company are taking phone lists, supressing "you-think-you're-so-smart" scientist and science, handing out no-bid blowjobs to corporate golf buddies, and watching - stupidly - as Iraq burns itself to glass.
It makes me want to puke.
I've often used "Nixon" as an insult, as in "that bastard would have agreed with Nixon's law-and-order philosophy," or "Jesus, you're as ugly as that goon Nixon!" Maybe I should start saying "You voted for Bush, didn't you, you hairlip prick?"
It's really the only recourse left. We sure as hell can't subpeona our government - they're too busy debating flag burning, gay marriage, and...well...do they talk about anything else?
The Greeks knew what happens to bastards like this. Pride, in the Grecco-Roman world, was the worst thing a man could subscribe to.
So to the next jerk that putters along in the passing lane, I'll yell, "You're about as prideful as that horse's ass Bush!"
What else can I do?
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