The forest and the trees

Before commenting on the topic du jour - you know, those troublesome "ports operations" that have grabbed everyone's current attention - I first have to wonder if we're in danger of losing the momentum of righteous indignation at the Bush Administration that seemed to exist just a month ago, given that so many more egregious issues of government corruption, incompetence, and illegality (and our collective outrage at them) seem to have dropped off the radar.

"Not true," you say? I know that those of us in the blogosphere, who toil every day to find and highlight the ever-growing number of Administration schemes and scams, see the inter-connectedness of the offenses of our "leaders," and continue to hammer away at unresolved issues that no longer make the front page. But what of the average Joe, who receives his world view from a half-hour of local news and a few moments of The O'Reilly Factor each evening? Is he remembering that last week's scandal is not only unfinished, but more often than not unaddressed?

As an example of what's bothering me, I had a conversation yesterday with my mother that went something like this:

MOM - "So what do you think about this port situation?"

ME - "Well, there are a lot of factors involved that aren't even a part of the official story yet. What I want to know is, whatever happened to the wiretapping investigation and the lobbying scandal and the Katrina bumbling and-"

MOM (interrupting) - "I thought they solved all those things already."

I'm concerned that, in its zeal to focus primarily on the latest example of Administration idiocy, the traditional media - and, by extension, the people in general - are failing to connect the obvious dots, to see the overall picture of a government out of control. Somehow, it seems they've been subtly manipulated into treating each new catastrophe as a self-contained event, instead of as a part of the larger insidious whole, something connected to a demonstrable and recurring pattern of ineptitude and criminality which should by now have resulted in the removal of the entire Executive branch.

You know, that whole forest and trees thing.

America has apparently become a nation with an advanced case of ADD. The MSM and the populace flit from one Administration crisis to another, allowing crucial issues to simply fade from the headlines before demanding that they be fully explored and resolved. In the same way that each new blog post pushes yesterday's hot topic further down the main page until it finally disappears from view, the nation as a whole pushes the revelations of the day before into a back corner of its collective mind, to make room for today's newer scandal.

And as a result, Bush and Company are succeeding at escaping accountability for what is already an overwhelming amount of "crimes and misdemeanors" in virtually every area imaginable.

Of course, maybe Mom is right. Maybe "those things" have been examined to the fullest extent that they'll ever be, thanks to that collective sense of ADD. Let's see...

It's pretty obvious that this Administration did not "win" the 2000 election, and that there were enough irregularities in 2004 to call its results into question as well. But investigations into those irregularities aren't a sexy story at all, nor are efforts to correct the voting system nationwide. Besides, anyone still complaining about those items is just a "sore loser," right? Case closed, I guess.

There have been important questions raised about the true nature of the 9/11 attacks, particularly as regards the almost pristine "collapse" of three World Trade Center buildings. In addition, the 9/11 Commission issued a scathing critique of the failures throughout our government institutions to anticipate the attacks themselves, and to take effective steps to strengthen our internal security afterwards. Yet to this day, nothing has really been done by the Administration to address those failures. No one has lost his or her job. No personnel have been replaced, no new security measures put into place, no success achieved at bringing the masterminds of the plot to justice. But we're examining shoes and forbidding Zippos on domestic flights, so we must be safer now, eh? After all, we haven't been attacked in four an a half years, so Dear Leader must be on the ball.

New evidence has appeared almost monthly indicating that the President and his minions planned to attack Iraq from the moment those planes struck their targets on that brilliant September morning. Overwhelming proof abounds that this Administration lied to Congress, the U.N., and the American people to rush us to war with a nation that posed no credible threat to the U.S. Thousands have died, and more are killed with each passing day. We have demonstrably destabilized the Middle East, and have energized terrorist organizations worldwide. Yet the whispers of "impeachment" have all but disappeared, and the architects of this calumny have in many cases been promoted to higher positions within the government. Guess that's OK, though, 'cause we're spreadin' the light of democracy and freedom. The fact that it's freedom from electricity, women's rights, and general safety is just the price those grateful Iraqis should expect to pay for such a generous gift, I suppose.

Our President, Vice President, and key members of the White House have argued vehemently and openly in favor of torture, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions - and, I might add, basic American principles of human decency. Yet, only a handful of low-level grunts have been held accountable for the implementation of these heinous war crimes. And Mr. Bush himself, making use of "signing statements," has reserved the right to ignore legislation prohibiting the continuation of said policies as he sees fit. Oh right, I forgot - it's a "valuable tool." And with the conviction of Lindsey Englund, we must have solved the problem and redeemed ourselves in the eyes of the world.

The secret wiretapping and "data mining" of Americans is a violation of existing law. Period. End of story. But Congressional investigations appear to have petered out, and Administration obfuscation and outright refusal to answer reasonable questions are apparently going to be accepted because (don't forget, kids) "we're at war." In addition, the complicity of major telephone service providers with the NSA in allowing broad access to phone lines is illegal, and a violation of our privacy rights to boot.

But, cowed by years of relentless fantasies of suicide bombers lurking around every corner, U.S. citizens are generally willing to give this Administration a free pass on domestic spying, even though there is no real evidence of its effectiveness. I mean, the Attorney General gave us his word that, with his subjective reinterpretation of the law, it's within the President's prerogative to break that law when he feels it necessary for some greater good. Remember that logic next time you get a speeding ticket rushing to a meeting crucial to your company's survival.

And what of Scooter Libby, and the selective leaking of classified information under orders from the Vice President himself for partisan political purposes, and as an effort to suppress criticism of the Administration's fabricated rationale for an unwarranted invasion? Well, you say, "Libby's been indicted - what more do you want?" Guess you've set me straight! Oh, and while we're at it, better have the Justice Department prosecute the New York Times and Washington Post for leaking information about domestic surveillance and secret prisons, respectively. After all, those "leaks" are exactly the same thing, aren't they, and what's fair is fair?

Oh, and that Abramoff thing. What is possibly the biggest influence peddling scandal in the history of the nation, a scandal that was, is, and ever shall be an exclusively Republican affair, has been successfully addressed in the minds of the public by the synchronized return of all that tainted money, and a fruitful campaign by GOP mouthpieces to position this as a "bi-partisan" situation. Besides, Congress has taken the bold action of limiting free lunches to $20, and keeping lobbyists out of the gym, so I guess that one's well in hand.

Then of course there's the Katrina report, which exposes gross negligence, apathy, cronyism, thievery, and incompetence at the highest levels of government. Yet last time I looked, the White House had issued a counter-report of its own, and everyone involved in this inexcusable fiasco (with the exception of sacrificial lamb Brownie) still has his or her respective job. People died needlessly as a result of official negligence and unpreparedness. Out here in the real world, that's known as criminal negligence, a crime that at the very least warrants a simple firing or two, if not a prison term. Silly me. I forgot. Mardi Gras went off without a hitch, so we can stop worrying about that!

I suppose I could go on with my opinions concerning the U.A.E deal, but honestly, why bother? My guess is that this, too, will eventually resolve itself in the public's mind, and that Democrats will typically mishandle an issue that definitely is an outrage on a corporate level, but realistically is no more of a threat to security than British or Chinese operation of our ports has been for years. Let's face it - under their oversight, only 5 percent of all shipments entering the U.S. are being examined anyway, so what's actually going to change, other than the CEO's that stand to make a profit?

And, sadly, I'm reasonably sure that the Bush White House will regain its footing, and successfully misdirect the attention of the public toward opponents of this deal as opportunistic, and a serious threat to the image of America as a global trading partner. Besides, this issue pales in comparison to anything on the list above as a danger to the foundations of our society, and we seem to be letting those slide.

Plus, coming soon to a TV screen near you (especially if the ports issue begins to go South), the "horror" of an urgent Iranian nuclear "threat", complete with computerized graphics, ominous theme music, and visuals of mushroom clouds...

We must, as a society, regardless of political affiliation, start looking at the forest George and his friends represent, instead of selectively and momentarily focusing on each tree individually. By now, the U.A.E. deal should be a final straw in a basket that's already filled to the breaking point. Instead, thanks to a reliably short public attention span, each straw has been left by itself on the floor, easily blown away by a succession of cleverly-engineered breezes emanating from a White House coated in Teflon.