Aquarian Weekly 7/25/07
REALITY CHECK

THE BLAME GAME
Powerless Senate Debuts Finger-Pointing Show

Now that the latest surge of U.S. troops to Iraq has reduced our boy president to a cold-blooded murderer, we have the flaccid legislative branch of our government, which had its chance to refuse funding this slaughter months ago, join in as willing accomplices. The final indignation came this past week when the senate had the gall to turn what is fast becoming the most egregious mishandling of military operations in this nation's sordid history into political theater. Complete with spine-tingling video of cots being rolled in and pizza deliverymen rushing up the Capital Hill steps, hapless CSPAN speechifying and spin-room garbles, an exercise in futility was allowed to go on for 20 useless hours ending with nothing.

Meanwhile, the United States Army parades into its fiftieth month of policing genocide with no mission beyond keeping its collective finger in the dam. What is left of the Republicans claim there is still a war going on, one that is imperative to save the planet, while the Democrats, many of whom voted for this invasion in the first place, hope to wash their hands of blood. And it is becoming increasingly obvious that there is not a solid majority among them that can offer a binding decision on any of it.

People whose job description is to song-and-dance have rarely exhibited a more self-serving showcase of gutless pabulum. Considering the hilarious history of congressional dog-and-pony filibuster acts, this is not an easy benchmark to reach, but reach it they did on 7/17, when for all intents and purposes the directionless Democrats called out doom-struck Republican hawks in a clumsy schoolyard blame game.

Every day I sit down to pen this nonsense; I'm prouder than ever to be an American.

I'll say one thing, if I were a soldier in Iraq or the family of someone over there right now, I'd never pay another dollar in taxes again, vote anymore, and before moving off this continent, burn everything that reminds me I was an American citizen.

Can you imagine the level of horror and disgust in these people as they watch their elected officials convene for an endless debate on a fantasy bill submitting a spring deadline to the president for the withdrawal of troops when every one of them knows there is no way they'd even come close to enough votes for it?

Can you fathom the stinging bile that would be rising in your throat when you realize that this jockeying for position on who will be the architects of the inevitable face-saving pull-out next year or the year after, and which party might be better poised to gain the White House, appears far more important a goal than the safety and/or sane deployment of yourself or your loved ones?

Assuming, and this is a big assumption these days, that every senator understands the parameters of their position in the framework of this government, what other conclusion could a relatively objective observer come to but this staged event was nothing more than posturing?

This is as high an insult as a government can pay to its citizenry: "We know you have little idea and care even less how your system works, so we'll make a mockery of it to appear sincere and hope you're stupid enough to feel emboldened by our effort."

And now for the Reality Check portion of our presentation…

At this juncture of waging war or using troops to colonize a nation, the congress has no recourse to cease it unless it cuts off funding. The congress can declare war or hand over the power of using military force to the commander-in-chief when the subject is broached, as it was in the spring of 2002 when 296 representatives voted in favor of it, 215 of which were Republicans and 81 Democrats. The only other true power the congress has after this is to fund said conflict, which they continued to do by supporting the recent "surge". Of course they did so with a laughable non-binding resolution "disapproving" of the action; "I disapprove of you using this bat to beat the shit out of me, but here you go, sport."

Bills, resolutions, debates, and staged harangues are tantamount to feeding an unstable fellow a blotter of acid, handing him the keys to your car and daring him to hit 100 mph. Then as you're both careening off a cliff, you turn to him and plead for cautiousness. Oh, and to complete this stirring analogy, just before you plunge to your death, you make damn sure he knows this is all his fault.

Entering a fifth year of puttering around in the middle of a kill-fest, the American people, who have sacrificed family, life, limb, and billions in taxes deserve better than posturing, filibustering, and shameless name-calling.

I may have been mistaken or half-asleep or doped up, but I could swear Hillary Clinton has been running around giving speeches that the reasoning behind her 2002 vote was to merely allow the president the right to use force only if absolutely necessary. That's not even decent Clintonian double-speak. Is it possible that this drool is what Democrats now call an anti-war strategy? "I may have given my car keys to an acid head, but I was stunned he drove it off a cliff!"

Look, everyone without shit for brains knows that four years of exit strategy is as bad as it gets. The over-matched president, who no longer has to run for office, has checked out of the Hotel Reality. The sickly vice president is likely to be dead by next year. The secretary of state has pitched her tent on Denial Mountain. And now it looks as though congress, those of whom are not busy running for president, is so ill prepared to deal with its neutered position, you wonder why they show up.

Meanwhile this prop of an Iraq government takes August off, the press pays lip service to backtracking generals, and kids die day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day.

I'm sure if any of them were here, they'd be glad the architects of this abortion consider this is some kind of spotlight for their guilt, a soapbox for ideology, and have gone through so much trouble to fill a rotunda with blame.

Reality Check | Pop Culture | Politics | Sports | Music