big or bad, shot

from the “left wing talk radio can be just like right wing radio at times,” department, I had to switch off a radio station because the callers on ed schultz’s air america show persisted in questioning the particulars of the dick cheney shooting incident.

the thing is, I don’t care which direction he was facing or if the sun was behind the victim, how the ground sloped or what quail do as they fly in relation to the ground. i don’t care if cheney was drinking before, during or after the incident. accidents happen. i accept that and i doubt cheney intended to shoot his friend on the ranch of the woman who hired him to run halliburton some years ago.

the problem is in the cover-up and in the expressed posture of cheney as vice president being somehow above the law.

Main Entry: ar·ro·gance Pronunciation: 'ar-&-g&n(t)s Function: noun: a feeling or an impression of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or presumptuous claims

in the united states of america we pride ourselves on a perception of justice as being blind and on the idea of all men being created as equal. of all people, our elected leaders should embody these values. instead, dick cheney has, at every turn, exhibited arrogance. he has questioned those who would question him and the actions and/or motives of the administration he is a key member of.

when asked recently if he regretted saying the people of iraq were in the final throes of insurgency, (a statement clearly seen as false today,) he said 'no.' he could not bring himself to admit an error and this is the behavior that pisses off so many regular americans.

the fact that cheney and his accomplices in cover up did not quickly report the incident and act like law abiding citizens, and the fact cheney did not follow the ambulance to the hospital, are two reasons to believe he likely was hiding something. (something like his being intoxicated.) but, the cover up was successful and now the incident is merely old news.

and this is how our current crop of leaders behave. they do not speakup and are not forthright in any way, shape or form. when questioned, they become indignant. they often ask us to trust them. they out covert cia operatives then refuse to answer for it, relying on the best attorneys and our legal system to wiggle out of answering for their actions. they practice cronyism to such a degree, one would think they have the market cornered. whistle blowers who formerly worked on their side but have come to criticize their policies and their work, are routinely subjected to campaigns of slander. on and on it goes.

"Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy ... [sic] censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything —you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." -robert heinlein