Bombs in the Basement

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Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:18:24 -0400 (EDT)

OpEdNews: Bombs in the Basement

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ernest_p_050828_bombs_in_the_basemen.htm

 

Bombs in the Basement

 

by Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor, The Crisis Papers

 

http://www.opednews.com

 

By all outward appearances, the Busheviks and the Republicans have it

made. They are, as the late Red Barber used to say, " sitting in the

catbird seat. " They own the White House, the Congress, and soon the

Federal Judiciary. The mainstream media are safely corralled, with

just enough dissenting voices (such as Krugman, Rich, Dionne and

Oliphant) to give credence to the absurd right-wing complaint of

" liberal media bias. " Potentially devastating news developments and

issues, such as election fraud, the Downing Street Memos, Plamegate,

political corruption, growing domestic dissent and international

hostility are not refuted in the media as much as they are ignored –

crowded out with trivial reports of runaway brides, disappearing

teenagers, celebrity trials and romances, etc., ad nauseum.

 

For all that, the Bush regime has reason to be nervous. For its

continuing success depends totally on the public's inattention to,

apathy toward, and even ignorance of several potentially explosive

issues which, if brought to light, publicized, investigated, and then

criminally prosecuted, could demolish the House of Bush and the

Republicans. These " bombs in the basement " of the GOP establishment

are not disarmed. They are fully armed and ready to go off, if only

the opposition can get to them and mobilize the public. And the

Busheviks know this all too well.

 

I am not referring here to mismanagement or incompetence on the part

of the Bush Administration and the Congress, although there is

certainly plenty of that. Instead, I mean criminal activity –

indictable and impeachable violations of the law. Amazingly, many of

these crimes are no secret, rather they are open and plain to see by

all with eyes to see. What additional crimes lurk beneath the surface

is anyone's guess. Even so, the crimes that are out in the open do not

arouse the media or a significant portion of the American public.

Abroad, its quite another story, as the foreign press freely reports

and comments on these crimes, and international outrage at the

Bushista outlaws continues to grow.

 

Among these open and confirmable crimes:

 

--- Lying to Congress is a crime.

 

--- Disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence agent is a crime.

 

--- Perjury is a crime.

 

--- Influence peddling ( " graft " ) is a crime.

 

--- Torture of prisoners and violation of the Geneva Conventions is a

crime.

 

--- Violation of civil liberties (denial of rights to counsel, trial,

etc.) is a crime.

 

--- Failure to obey a court order (i.e. of the Supreme Court) is a crime.

 

--- Misprision (i.e., incitement) of a felony is a crime.

 

--- Voting fraud is a crime.

 

--- Obstruction of Justice is a crime.

 

Yet the Congress refuses to investigate, and the mainstream media

refuse to investigate and report, which means that the Congress and

the media are (in an unindictable sense) " accessories " to these crimes.

 

Each of these is a momentous offense, totally incompatible with a

political order that claims to function under the rule of law. Yet

there they are, recognizable and still unpunished – and tolerated by a

public that appears to be unwilling or unable to appreciate the

gravity of the crimes openly committed by their government.

 

But for how long? History teaches us that public opinion can be

" turned on a dime, " by a catalyzing event. On December 6, 1941, a

majority of Americans opposed entering the war. That all changed the

following day, when the bombs fell at Pearl Harbor. Senator Joe

McCarthy had the Congress, the Press, and even President Eisenhower

intimidated until the day that an obscure lawyer, Joseph Welch, stood

his ground and said to the Senator: " have you no shame! " The public,

as it turned out, was more than willing to listen.

 

Regimes also die gradually of a thousand cuts. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson

soundly defeated Barry Goldwater by twenty percentage points, and four

years later recognized that he was unelectable. In 1972, Richard Nixon

was re-elected in an electoral college landslide, carrying every state

but one. A year and a half later, he was forced to resign in disgrace.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, George Bush's approval ratings were above

80%. Now they are half of that, and falling – the result of which is

still to be known.

 

And so, if, at last the public at large comes to appreciate the

magnitude of the crimes of this administration, the Bush crime

syndicate will soon be swept from power, despite the best efforts of

the captive media to prop it up.

 

But can the public be aroused from its slumbers? On that question,

history will turn.

 

In the meantime, uneasy sits the junta in the mansion atop the

unexploded bombs.

 

However, we, the public, need not sit silently, as helpless

spectators, hoping for a reversal of fortune while our democracy is

being taken from us. In fact, a significant and growing portion of the

public is taking action, as the Bush administration and its bodyguard

media lose credibility. The public is acquiring immunity to the

official lies and Karl Rove's smear machine. They worked against Al

Gore, Max Cleland and John Kerry, but against Joe Wilson and Cindy

Sheehan, the slime appears not to be sticking. The mainstream media,

having shed its sense of responsibility to the truth and to the

public, is now losing circulation and ratings, while it remains

answerable to its stockholders. That media might thus face the choice

of either becoming irrelevant or, to avoid bankruptcy, practicing

honest journalism again.

 

There is movement afoot and the public is beginning to stir. As gas

prices and interest rates rise, the disastrous consequences of

Bushenomics are coming into view. Some conservative pundits appear

ready to wander off the GOP reservation. " The I-word " – impeachment –

is heard more frequently. And yet, amazingly, and disgracefully, the

Democratic Party establishment appears reluctant to play a significant

role in this movement.

 

Thus it remains the responsibility of each private dissenting citizen

to join the struggle – a thousand, better millions, of " points of

light, " to use George H. W. Bush's metaphor in a manner he never

intended. The citizen can act with boycotts, letters to editors,

demonstrations, and by supporting progressive voices in the

independent media and the internet. The citizen can act by being heard

in public meetings and private conversations, and, if sufficiently

resourceful and courageous, with acts of civil disobedience.

 

But can private citizens make a difference? Ask that question of the

protesters at Camp Casey, and you will find your answer. Joseph Wilson

made a difference. Cindy Sheehan made a difference. Colleen Rowley

made a difference. Who's next? Maybe you. As Margaret Mead once said:

" Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can

change the world: Indeed it's the only thing that ever has. "

 

What, if anything, might set off the bomb that puts an end to the Bush

regime? Possibly Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation. He has no

shortage of indictable felonies to deal with. The great unknown is the

courage of Fitzgerald, his legal team, and the grand jury. Also

unknown is whether Bush's Justice Department dares to fire Fitzgerald,

possibly igniting a Nixonian fire-storm.

 

To my mind, the most vulnerable line of attack against the Bush/GOP

machine is voting fraud. The evidence is compelling (see Dennis Loo's

" No Paper Trail Left Behind " and The Crisis Paper's " Election Fraud "

page). The best that the GOP and the media can offer as rebuttal is

(a) stonewall silence, (b) the laughable, unsupported and refuted

hypothesis of " the reluctant Bush voters " at the exit polls, and ©

predictably, smearing the election-critics by calling them " conspiracy

theorists. " Substantive proof that the paperless e-voting machines and

central compiling were totally honest is non-existent. That's the way

the e-voting machines were designed.

 

Nothing, except perhaps a collapse of the economy, is more likely to

move the public to open revolt than proof, possibly in the form of

criminal indictments and conviction, that their votes were stolen, and

that the administration and Congress in Washington have put themselves

beyond the reach of recall by the voters. Despite the determination of

the mainstream media to ignore the issue of voting fraud, it will not

go away. Occasional doubts of the integrity of the ballot break

through the media's wall of silence: first Keith Olberman, and just

this week, Paul Krugman. Citizen doubts must now be relentlessly

expressed. As more White House lies are exposed, as casualties mount

in Iraq, and as the economy darkens, more and more citizens will be

open to the idea that they've been had – at the polls.

 

Obviously, the Congress and Bush's Attorney General will not

investigate the issue of voting fraud. But no matter. National

elections are administered on the state and local level, and thus any

state attorney general or local district attorney is authorized to

investigate and bring charges of voting fraud. One must wonder why it

hasn't happened yet. (Perhaps such investigations are underway and the

media won't tell us about them). Citizen pressure has more clout on

the state and local level than on the federal level. So that's where

demands for action must be made.

 

The Bush Administration is energizing a formidable array of opponents:

foreign governments that it is bullying and betraying, ordinary

citizens that it is robbing of social services, health care, and job

security, military personnel that it is sending in harm's way to Iraq

(and who knows, next Iran?), and the grieving parents, spouses and

children losing their loved ones in that atrocious war.

 

And finally, the Bush Administration is engaged in a contest against

the truth and against reality, as it spins out lie after lie, and as

it rewrites and censors scientific reports. This is a contest that it

must eventually lose. Presumably, the primary objective of the

Busheviks now is to prolong their charade until January 2009, when

they leave office. Our job as responsible citizens is to pull away the

curtain and expose the wizard as soon as possible, to minimize further

damage to our country – to its economy, to its international

reputation, to its honor.

 

For, to quote the late physicist Richard Feynman in his dissent to the

Challenger Disaster report, " reality must take precedence over public

relations, for nature cannot be fooled. "

 

 

Copyright 2005 by Ernest Partridge

 

 

 

http://www.crisispapers.org

 

Dr. Ernest Partridge is a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field

of Environmental Ethics and Public Policy. He publishes the website,

\ " The Online Gadfly\ " (www.igc.org/gadfly) and co-edits the

progressive website, \ " The Crisis Papers\ " (www.crisispapers.org).

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