I Swear

Just when I think it's possible to have some respect for a Republican politician they go and ruin it. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called hearings on Dubya's evil wiretapping of American citizens without a warrant and called Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to come in for a good old fashioned grilling from the committee. "Great", I thought, "there is a Republican in the Senate who wants to make Bushie answer for his illegal actions. There is hope for our Republic."

But then he lets the Gonzales testify without swearing in. What the fu....? What kind of bullshit is this?!?!?! Just in case you didn't know, without taking the oath to tell the truth, well... he doesn't have to. He could sit there and tell the committee that the administration is only tapping calls to known terrorists from Giant Martian Purple People Eaters and they couldn't do anything about it. Sure, they can sit there and say they don't believe him, but big whoop. If we find out later, which I think we will, that our AG was lying to the committee about the nature and the scope of the spying program, there's not a damn thing they can do about it. You can't charge anyone with perjury if their testimony wasn't under oath.

So what we have here is just another Republican, shadow government, back room deal. The decision to swear in a witness is the sole discretion of the chairman of the committee, and that is Specter. This was a total deal with the White House. They agreed to let Gonzales testify as long as he wasn't sworn in, and one would have to be an idiot to think otherwise.

Yesterday's testimony was nothing but political theatre, designed to calm the moron masses' fears about the wiretapping program. There was barely any effort to pretend it was about finding out the truth.

The revolution may not be televised, but the rise of Fascism in America certainly has been.