The "I" Word

MANIFESTO

While I see little practicality in the following, I certainly subscribe to its basic tenet:

There are two systems of justice in the United States: one for the rich and powerful and a far different system for everyone else. Rob a bank and you go to prison; loot a savings and loan as an executive and you're likely to get a hefty fine, if that. Every day, we read about corporate executives who mismanaged their firms, caused the layoffs of thousands of poorly paid workers, and then danced away with millions of dollars of severance pay. We see what happened to the architects of the disaster in Iraq: Bremer, Franks, and Tenet got the "Presidential Medal of Freedom," Rice and Wolfowitz got promoted, as did the invasion supporters within the Pentagon. There was no accountability; they got away with it. So far.

That's why the impeachment of George W. Bush would send an important signal to other elected officials, and the power elite. It would be an indication that the American people are tired of Washington business-as-usual and serious about holding our leaders accountable for their actions. I'm not suggesting that the focus be exclusively on Bush, because I think his whole crew - Cheney, Gonzales, Rice, and Rumsfeld, among others - should go down, too. However, the logical place to start is with the guy at the top: the decider-in-chief.

As the Sage of Baltimore once said: "Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice." Indeed, we've seen how "justice" has been handled by the Bushies, especially lately as a high DOJ official and a member of the civil liberties watchdog board have resigned. It's clear from the resignations that justice doesn't exist (Or, as Chuck Schumer said, "It seems ironic that Paul McNulty, who at least tried to level with the committee, goes while Gonzales, who stonewalled the committee, is still in charge.") and that the protection of civil liberties is a joke. If even such a moron as Lanny Davis (Lanny Davis!) can see the malevolence of the Bushies, we're in even more trouble than might have been previously imagined.

UPDATE — Here's more evidence of "justice" from the Bushies.