what a difference an electon makes

With the Australian Parliament currently hamstrung by a Liberal/nationals majority in both houses, here is a far from comprehensive list of reasons why absolute power corrupts absolutely. The again I am in shock because that bastion of trite journalism, 60 minutes, has finally declared the Iraq war "LOST", how will the Howard government recover, I suspect by repeating the same mantra that it has for the last four years, wasnt our fault, nothing to do with us, look at the progress, they had an election.

Why I love checks and balances.

I keep waiting for the tidal wave of corruption to crash upon the shores, but it just keeps on rolling, getting larger and more ferocious as it enters the shallows, but still theres no sign of it landing. Since the November elections in the US, the checks and balances have meant that the past practices of the Bushies are now being exposed to a plethora of shining lights, and it just keeps getting brighter and ever so much weirder.

ie the resignation of Randall Tobias, the top foreign aid adviser in the State Department, the Bush administration's so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized by some for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.

The State Department's statement said simply: "He is returning to private life for personal reasons." Nothing to do with being named as a a regular with a washington $300-an-hour prostitute ring, still “I’m sad today,” said one person close to Tobias. “The president loves him and Condi absolutely loves him.”

Paul Wolfowitz: the casting couch affair plus

Wolfowitz Deputy Doctored World Bank Climate Change Reports
Juan José Daboub, a strong advocate of the Iraq war, was rewarded with a managing director post when Paul Wolfowitz took over the World Bank. In that role, Daboub appears to have been Wolfowitz’s designate to drive the conservative agenda.
Daboub has started to come under heavy criticism from the Bank’s executive directors for pushing a hard-right agenda that stands in stark contrast to many of the Bank’s long-standing policies. In addition to his efforts to undermine family planning policies, Bank scientists are now disclosing that Daboub also tried to eliminate references to climate change in official reports

Sacking of eight US attorneys: this one gets better and better the longer it goes on, roping in everyone from Karl Rove to Alberto Gonzales, who did a Downer and couldnt remember 60 plus times when giving testimony to a senate commitee in a spectaculary inept performance of his spectaculary inept performance. Already claimed the scalps of a few within the department and caused a senior advisor to plead the 5th. And despite the Justice department claiming to have released all emails relating to the affair a good month ago, they just keep dumping more emails out there, except those which they claim to be "destroyed" in contravention of several laws of the land. This one gets funner by the week, especially as Karl rove refused to testify under oath, or with a transcript or in front of the public and has signalled that he will fight this one through the courts, hilarious. The theres the plethora of prosecutions of Democrats prior to the November elections, which turn out to be somewhat politcal in their nature as they get thrown out by appeals courts.

Iraqi Reconstruction Performance: In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.
The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed. But this is the first time inspectors have found that projects officially declared a success — in some cases, as little as six months before the latest inspections — were no longer working properly.

Condi Rices refusal to testify before the Senate on Pre-war inteligence and Prewar Inteligence: her answer, "ive already testified". So now we know, all questions have been answered and thats that folks, what they said before the war, still stands, what they said in the few minutes after the war started is good enough for ya. Add in to this mix the downplaying of a 30% rise in terrorism this year as revealed by the annual McClatchy report, which Condi is planning on either not releasing (an impossiblilty) or burying, which contradicts everything that has come out of the Whitehouse and Condis mouth in the last four years.

Jack Abramoff: still going strong, still scandaling up the place and still getting Republicans raided by the fbi and still likely to get more placed inside with large men named Bubba.

another Karl Rove special, giving political briefings to appointees at federal agencies: in contravention on a half dozen laws (mainly the Hatch Act) and spread across a dozen layers of the Bush Admin.

Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch: how heros are manufactured in the Bushies image, till the truth is revealed.

Iraq: Slam dunk, where do you start and when does it end? Maybe with George tenants new book refering to the Bushies "despicable and dishonorable" conduct, but no, it will just keep getting better as the Bushies begin a smear campaign against their fall guy. The investigations on Iraq and the global fiasco it has become have barely started, we are only just getting to the beginning of the processes, and we are still waiting on the report that examines the political aspects of the run up to war (only two years late and still in the throws of being permanently shelved by republicans)

Gitmo: nearly a hundred of the prisoners have been cleared, but they still aint free, coz of a hundred different reasons.

No child left behind: no corruption practice left unused to ensure federal funds fall into the right republicans freinds hands.

Plamegate: still going, no final report released, and only the one Bushie in the line of a jailhouse backrub, so far.

Walter Reid: only the best urine and mould for our GI's to soak in.

Torture: and its variations on Gonzales declaration of the Geneva convention being quaint, watch for a any of the upcoming "terrorism" trials to be aborted over the dubious practices to gain testimony, eg Padilla.

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/04/candidates_on_torture.html

The role of contractors in Iraq: no ones even scratch the surface of this one, hearings on blackwater and haliburton are in their absolute infancy.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/05/ma_365_01.html

Huricane Katrina: the carpet is being brushed over and under with this debacle.

each and everyday, more and more is revealed, still talk of impeachment is barely discussed with any serious intent (despite numerous states and citys voting to impeach the Bushies) and only over the exagerated wailings of those venal weasils, the GOP. Support the troops, impeach Bush/Cheney.