George W. Bush & the Temple of Doom

I love being right. Not only does it serve my sense of ego ( who doesn't like to be right? ) but more importantly, when things play out as I had predicted, my thought and logic processes-- two things near and dear to me-- get validated. Why this sudden rumination? The Republicans, dear reader, are imploding. Those good folks who have lead our country into our current economic, political, ideological, scientific and domestic morass are starting to show their true colors to Everyman Joe. It's almost too good to be true. Sad that it takes this much scandal and bad judgment to wake Idiot America up, but still welcome. Better late than never.....so they say. What will eventually come from all of this has yet to be determined, but it sure is a hoot to watch. Much as the Jews weep over the ruins of the temple that Herod built, the Republicans must be fast erecting their own Wailing Wall to weep over the house that W. built. So many cracks have appeared in Bush's Temple that one more might just bring the whole teetering contraption down. Let's look at the Temple's current state of affairs..............

• Plamegate continues to nip at the President's heels. Even when he's out of the country ( provoking mass anti-Bush demonstrations ) he can't escape this transparent retaliation against someone at odds with his administration's policies. Funny thing is, the Republicans have just started their own investigation into how details about the U.S.'s secret prisons were leaked to the Washington Post. As Salon reports, Senator Frist and House Speaker Hastert were first "alarmed" by the "dangerous trend" concerning the leaking of sensitive information. This smacks of so much irony; apparently the outing of a CIA undercover operative doesn't alarm these folks. They quickly changed their story though when it was revealed--by Trent Lott nonetheless-- that the leak was most likely connected to Republicans. Now they seem more worried about the existence of these secret prisons rather than how they came to light. Secret prisons in the shadow of Abu Ghraib does not look good for our Fearless Leader. But its a nice seque into the next crack in George's Temple!

• Dick "Big Time" Cheney has spent the better part of the past week lobbying in the Senate for a CIA exemption on torture. When confronted with this astonishing fact, Bush and mouthpiece Scott McClellan answered with their usual directness. Scott suggested we check out Dick's website for answers. WTF? For this administration to be contemplating government-sanctioned torture is almost unthinkable. Apparently, the Geneva Conventions don't apply to the War on Terror. Rumsfeld and Co. plan to get their faulty intelligence........one way or the other.
  

• All 8 members of the crack Dover, Pennsylvania school board who approved the inclusion of Intelligent Design in biology classes were given the heave-ho. I now have renewed faith in my home state. Now if Rick Santorum would just spontaneously combust................

• In light of "scooter" Libby's indictment, Bush is sending everyone back to ethics school! Wow, I feel better now. The Times also reports that Libby is accepting donations for his legal defense; sorry Salvation Army, I already gave!!
  

• Senator Carl M. Levin released a 2002 intelligence report to the Times detailing how the administration was warned about likely faulty intelligence. Of course, little things like this were not going to deter Our Fearless Leader from marching us to war, so he ( and a good many others ) used this information to convince the American people that war was justified. This is a particularly damning piece of information and I hope it serves as the kindling that will light a much larger, all-consuming bonfire.

• Tom Delay may actually have implicated himself in the fund-raising scandal swirling around him. In what amounts to an admission of guilt, Delay " acknowledged that he knew about and supported a plan to transfer $190,000 in mostly corporate campaign contributions from his political action committee in Texas to the RNC in Washington and then back to Republican candidates in Texas. " Who did he say this to? The lead prosecutor Ronnie Earle. Delay may want to get a copy of " Campaign-finance Money Laundering For Dummies " and skip to chapter 5 where it covers the topic of "the coverup". Silly me.........he probably doesn't read.

None of this changes the fact that we have 3 more years under this corrupt, inept administration, but at least with all of this drama, it will be fun to watch. With Bush's popularity at an all time low, he is desperately clinging to the events of 9/11 to keep his administration afloat. He invokes it constantly, using it as a pretext for his War on Terror and to keep the "fear of a terrorist attack" alive and well. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's planning a sequel to building his Temple of Doom: George W. Bush & the Last Crusade.