Hitting a brick wall

I can hardly believe my eyes this morning, but it seems that the Bush Administration has scored a hat trick after a concerted team effort to stymie any investigation into its illegal or unethical behavior, and to ram through approval of the Patriot Act with few necessary changes. As the Washington Post reports:

• "Alberto Gonzales brushed aside requests on Thursday that he remove himself from the investigation of Jack Abramoff and the lobbyist's ties to Bush administration officials and members of Congress." The fox continues to rule the henhouse, while he in turn is monitored by a Congressional committee led by Tom DeLay. I'm sure we'll uncover the truth here.


• "The Senate pushed the Patriot Act a step closer to renewal Thursday, overwhelmingly rejecting an effort to block it." In a "war" without end which isn't really a war at all, Congress votes to allow a perpetual violation of our privacy and civil liberties. By a tally of 96 to 3!


• "The Bush administration helped derail a Senate bid to investigate a warrantless eavesdropping program yesterday after signaling it would reject Congress's request to have former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and other officials testify about the program's legality." Bush bagman Pat Roberts, who is still delaying his promised report on the misuse of intelligence prior to the invasion of Iraq, abruptly announces that he's cut a deal with the White House that makes an investigation unnecessary. Nyeh nyeh ne nyeh nyeh!

I'm so angry, I barely know what to say. The momentum for holding Bush and Company accountable that burned so brightly just a few weeks ago now seems to have crashed into a brick wall. With the help of a few well placed friends and a familiar campaign of misdirection and stonewalling, the President, it seems, is going to successfully dodge the very issues that should have brought his ruinous reign to an end.

Be sure to read this editorial in today's New York Times, which seems equally flabbergasted by the same turn of events. Beyond that, I have no words. We are hostages to an imperial government obviously beyond responsible control. And I shudder to think that the only recourse the American people appear to have left as a means of regaining some of that control, is open insurrection against these Tyrants of the Beltway.

Gather those pitchforks, kids - the moment may be closer than you think.