All Hat, No Cattle - Don't call him a Cowboy

Don't call him a Cowboy until you've seen him ride

Okay folks, here's the run down. Scooter Libby - and others outed CIA agent, Valerie Plame in retaliation, ostensibly because her husband, Congressman Joe Wilson wrote an OP-Ed piece in the NY Times questioning the Bush Administration's 'evidence' regarding the now-deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his alleged efforts to secure raw materials for the purpose of creating nuclear (not, 'noo-cue-lar' as our president repeatedly mispronounces such a critically important word) weapons of mass destruction.

Apparently, the good Congressman's information turned out to be right - Saddam was not trying to get yellow cake uranium for the purposes of building nuclear bombs. Despite Wilson's claims to have approached the Whitehouse with the results of his fact-finding mission to Africa prior to the US attack on Iraq, the Congressman was not only ignored but his wife's identity was revealed by columnist Robert Novak and two other journalists who are known for their support of the current administration's politics. As it turned out, revealing the names of CIA operatives is against the law and despite a year-long investigation by Special prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald, only Scooter Libby; Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney was identified as making false statements, obstructing the investigation and committing perjury. It has become evident that Libby got his information from the VP - according to documents in the form of memoranda. And these charlatains called President Clinton, 'Slick Willie'?

The investigation revealed that the Bush Administration's top justification for waging war on Saddam Hussein turned out to be a big fat lie. Yesterday, the American Death toll in Iraq topped 2,000. The casualty list for American Troops is substantially higher - roughly 10 times that. The Iraqi casualties are even more nebulous - because Iraqi lives, injuries and deaths are of no consequence to the Bush Administration whose strategy appears bent on killing the patient in order to make the operation a success - the fruits of having no exit strategy.

Unfortunately, the reality becoming more obvious every day regarding the Bush Administration are of no better quality than the ones which they railed against so loudly regarding the Clinton Administration.

In my book a scoundrel is a scoundrel regardless of party affiliation. What bothers me the most regarding this current administration is how they threw down the morality gauntlet and claimed to be of pure intent when in reality it was nothing more than a ruse, custom made to decieve the American public and win popular support. Americans like to be entertained and love appeals to nationalism, apple pie and God. They don't care if the devil delivers the message just so long as it is delivered.

We Americans have systematically lost our ability to seperate truth from lies and I agree with President Bush on one issue; we have becomed a dumbed-down nation. That is precisely why we elected this current group of liars into power. Donning his cowboy attire, our fearless leader repeatedly gets on television and inarticulately appeals to the sentiments of the majority of Americans, "I am a simple man, I caint speak them big words, I screw up in my words but I am a good guy - I believe in Mom, Apple Pie and kickin folks asses when we ain't square." President Bush speaks and America's bullshit meter goes into, 'suspend mode' - well 51% of the nation anyway - if you believe Bush and Company's claims. Of course with wimps like Al Gore rolling over and exposing his belly how can you expect these bullies to back down? For Bush and Co. its pretty hard to respect a guy who is the town coward.

I am only certain of one thing regarding American politics; Americans are by their nature good and trusting but they can be manipulated by morality pundits. They are willing to place their votes behind people who stand up for truth and justice but they are too lazy to do the real work of figuring out when they are being lied to. While the process is slow, Americans do eventually come around - example; Nixon and Watergate.

What concerns me the most however is that now the Media has become involved in this high stakes game and the agendas have become blurred as wealthy networks actively engage in foisting misinformation, disinformation and outright lies on the American public under the aegis of news. The rest of the media has shown no backbone or courage in standing up and reporting against the powerful Neo-conservative machine that dictates what is news by exercising their power over who to allow into the Whitehouse Press room and what questions - if any - are going to be asked. So our First Amendment is pinched and squeezed into ineffectual words relegated to dusty civics books. Why? because no press exposure = no 'news' = no sponsors = no advertising = no revenue.

Plain and simple, 2000 American soldiers are dead as a result of lies that have taken an inordinate amount of time to expose because of the tireless efforts of a few journalists and, quite frankly, because the Media cannot continue to cover-up such blatant lies - and still call themselves news agencies. Unfortunately, the monster currently rearing its ugly head in Washington DC still has a tremendous amount of power and if the American public does not become more discerning regarding the faux-news, we - as a nation - are in big trouble.

President Bush has no doubt been weakened by these recent revelations but he is by no means finished. He still enjoys popularity because of what he stands for - truth and justice. The simple-minded have a tough time accepting that they've been had but the truth is slowly coming out. Nonetheless, how much longer before the veil is pierced? What is it going to take to make America's Joe Six Pack or Fred Bible Thumper realize that they have been deceived? It is tremendously embarrassing to reach the realization that one has been duped and, if for any other reason other than to admit that one could be wrong, the vast majority of us prefer to ignore the obvious - that we have been lied to. So, we elect to ignore what is painful - like for instance admitting to ourselves that the man we put into office - and all those he is associated with are nothing more than poor imitations of the real thing - TRUTH & JUSTICE. They are nothing more than a bunch of lying con-artists that have manipulated our emotions to serve their own political ends and that is the most disconcerting thought of all.

Personally, I will be glad once the next election comes around because by then the American public will be fully aware of the bullshit and lies which have translated in to skyrocketing national debt, deaths of American soldiers but - thank heaven - no presidential semen on blue dresses. Personally, I would prefer a few hundred thousand dead sperm on the dress over even one American Soldier's death or injury in a desert country because of a presidential lie.

Meanwhile, Osama Bin Laden is still running free - he is directly responsible for some 3000 + American lives lost and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate destroyed - but he is still able to elude the most sophisticated intelligence available on the planet. Never the less, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney carry on about compromises in American security.