Meanwhile, after two national elections in which a drug and alcohol dependent religious fanatic was the beneficiary of fraud and rigged tallies, there was only one national Democratic voice crying "foul!," Diane Feinstein, clearly the lone "elder statesman" of the Democratic Party. Ironically, despite being from San Francisco, this moderate Democrat had to watch incompetent ultra liberal fools like Al Gore, John Kerry and the adolescent John Edwards fail to represent their party's ideals. Now, she must sit and watch as her Democratic colleagues have passed a well intentioned, but fiscally incompetent health care bill, which they cannot possibly finance. Ironically, the devastated economy, Junior Bush's gift to our children, is showing signs of recovery. Perhaps, with overhaul of banking, Wall Street and insurance regulation, the economy may be rebuilt. With any luck, Clintonesque prosperity may enable this country to support the grotesque health care "program" for a few years before it finally bankrupts the entire economy again.
Despite a few die-hard moderate Republicans, sure to be soon unemployed, the party itself, is an anachronism. Somehow, the party of Eisenhauer, Nixon, Reagan, Ford, and the Senior Bush, the party of James Baker, Robert Dole, Barry Goldwater, and George Romney has been purged of the true conservative and libertarian spirit of its roots. It has turned into a remnant of the Dark Ages, a time in which all the knowledge and experienceof thousands of years existence were denied in favor of the abject ignorance of a feudal system. The Republican Party, in its undying support of oil companies, in its thirty years of obstruction of energy policy, has become the de facto champion of global Islamic terrorism. It directly and indirectly supplies these terrorists with more than half of their total funding. It supports and encourages expansion of the Military Industrial Complex and the manufacture and use of more weaponry than can possibly be used by the entire population of our planet. It denies the very existence of global warming, not just the debatable extent of mankind's contribution to the phenomenon.
Now, with Republicans' incessant demands for drilling offshore and in Alaska, their answer to the enormous BP oil leak is to first accuse President Obama of causing the problem, then to accuse him of not doing enough in response. I would certainly like to know what steps wretched creatures like Mr. Cheney and Mr. Delay took, at the outset of Cheney's administration, to purposely weaken and override safety regulations protecting coal miners and oil rigs and their workers? How many negligent homicides in coal mine accidents and oil rig explosions are their responsibility? How many future deaths will we be able to attribute to Senator Murkowski as she purposely obstructs legislation that would encourage such safety measures? In fact, I'd also like to know what is the great advantage of having oil companies drill fifty miles off our coasts? Do affected states receive even the usual meager two to four percent royalties if wells are outside the twelve mile limit? Does the off-shore company pay any taxes at all on its eventual earnings?
Political Prisoners like Don Siegelman, Harold Minor and Alex Latifi will find no justice in Mr. Obama's courts. Despite more than ninety attorneys general, one third Republican, claiming Governor Siegelman's case was a farce, Elena Kagan, Uncle Tom Holder and scores of corrupt Karl Rove loyalists will continue to ravage the "Injustice Department." Religious fanatics and political prostitutes like Leura Canary , Alice Martin and Louis Franklin will continue to suborn perjury in Alabama. Whistleblowers will be prosecuted instead of perpetrators. Alabama Senators Shelby and Sessions will continue to take money directly from Indian tribes in Louisiana and Mississippi, as will Governor Riley and almost every other Republican and a few token Democrats in the state. Their "middleman," Jack Abramoff is in prison, but his scandal goes on as our "Injustice Department" conveniently "looks the other way." Congressman Conyers, once brave committee chairman, forced to bow in humble submission to Karl Rove after Rove rejected his subpoena to testify, is nowhere to be found. I wonder what Democratic function our president has him performing?
Then, there is the matter of a "Truth Commission." I hate to think what will happen in a few years, when the current crop of baby Republicans mature into fully grown Rush Limbaughs, Glen Becks, Barbara Bachmanns, Dick Cheneys, Leura Canarys and Alice Martins? What happens when all of those pseudo-Christian "Jihadists" are free to come out of hiding so we can have permanent warrantless wire tapping, permanent "Patriot Acts," permanent Congressional seats with co-sponsors such as the Halliburton/Texas Senator or the Exxon- Mobil/Texas Congressman or the American Bar Association Northeast Congressional Coalition? Perhaps the next round of Supreme Court Clowns can all be graduates of Christian mail-order law schools? That way we could be free of the tremendous burden of that damn Constitution. No, we don't want to know how all those institutions were destroyed. We don't want to expose all of those Blackwater guys hired by the CIA to keep them from having to testify. We don't want to have to ask General McChrystal if he really did get any useful information out of those prisoners that "accidentally" died, you know, the "useful information" Mr. Cheney "sort of" had as proof that torture was effective. What is the problem with a "Truth Commission," especially if it grants immunity to those who testify?
Well, therearethose soldiers who were raped and sodomized at Abu Grahib for refusing to torture prisoners. Let's not release those pictures...
Allen Finkelstein, D.O.
The O'Finky Factor