Indelible Marks: Same Whip, New Stripe

Indelible Marks: Same Whip, New Stripe

PEJ News - C. L. Cook - These last weeks, last days, have borne more fuel for a Bush political pyre greater than any ever witnessed, but the cinders have yet to prove their promise. Sparks that would certainly have torched previous governments lay smouldering and largely unattended. Unprecedented scandals, flowing now over America in waves fast as a tide-surge, and with a disturbingly increasing frequency beg patience: "Is it too soon to hope for the fall of the House of Bush and all the great misery its operation encompasses?" Today, more revelations of wrong-doings perpetrated by more of those inhabiting the rarefied, if shrinking, impunity bubble so far surrounding this administration.

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Here Come Da judge!
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Indelible Marks:
Same Whip, New Stripe
C. L. Cook

PEJ News
September 29, 2005

Yesterday, Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, George Bush's political bully boy heard an indictment in a long festering case of political gerrymandering in the Texas state elections. DeLay is now accused of diverting corporate political donations illegally from national Republican coffers into the hands of select state representatives in Texas for, what has yet to be proved, quid pro agreement of a redrawing of electoral districts that unfairly favoured Republican prospects in then upcoming federal elections. The man whose influence has long been thought second only to Karl Rove's is now staring at jail time and heavy fines for activities done in service of the Bush campaign for president.

There have already been "liberal" allowances made as per court appearance delays, the case now scheduled to convene in late October, but the legal ball is set in motion for what could be a trial capable of bringing down the White House long before 2008. But, before those who would welcome the premature demise of Mr. Bush celebrate, it must be remembered: American Justice is firmly in the hands of those operating in concert with they who would be judged.

Of course, it's no surprise George W. Bush would nominate a cretin politico on the throne of American Justice. If it wasn't John Roberts it would have been an equally vile partisan, sent in with marching orders drafted by the way-out policy wonks running the White House.

Today, the U.S. Senate endorsed Mr. Bush's nominee for Supreme Court Justice, John Roberts 78-22. Roberts' all-American looks and manicured manner mask a hard core ideologue, whose history is intertwined with the original sin against the American constitution that was the inaugural "election" of George W. Bush in 2000, something Danny Schechter, long-time media maven and founder of MediaChannel.org, an influential news site, details. This means a further tilt of a court already skewed enough to grant an unprecedented edict determining the results of a general election.

Timing is everything in politics, and common among PR professionals is simultaneous news release: This is where you send out flak designed to wow the press and, hopefully throw your client's public perfidy into the shadows of a greater mendacity.

That precept may help explain a second explosion in Base Bush today.

Republican Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist is now the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of his divestment of stocks in the family business, the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), moments before a spectacular dive in its stock value. Think Martha Stewart on steroids. HCA had already been the subject of the single largest fine in U.S. corporate history for its defrauding of billions from government MediCare and MediCaid programs. As prominent as billionaire Senator Frist is, DeLay's disgrace, he being as close to the inner ring of the Bush administration as is possible, is difficult to top.

Just in case the relatively subterranean Frist is too small a log for the diversionary fire, former Reaganite, Bill Bennett made news today for his impolitic suggestion an Indira Ghandi-like abortion campaign against Black America would do wonders for reducing the nation’s crime rate.

There couldn’t be more. Or, could there?

Judith Miller, the New York Times employed Bush administration hack, and rumoured CIA operative, has been released from her inconvenient internment for contempt of court, stemming from her refusal to reveal high-level sources in the Valerie Plame case. If this can be interpreted as her capitulation to Patrick “Bulldog” Fitzgerald’s Grand Jury investigation of that act of treachery, there are more than sparks to come for the Bushists.

On a more parochial note: "Canadian" Senator, Kenny grasped for media straws, wilfully provided via CanWestGoebbels, to double Canada’s military budget. All in view of “Defense” Minister, Bill Graham's crusade to transform traditional Canadian foreign policy to more correctly mirror his government’s cohesion with its southern cousin.



Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. He also serves as a contributing editor to PEJ News. You can check out the GR Blog here.