--- It's not snowing yet. And according to the weatherman on one of the
local stations we're actually supposed to have---gasp!---thunderstorms
this afternoon! I was finally able to turn off the furnace yesterday.
Exciting stuff, no? Considering the thing has been running non-stop
since last fall, this was a milestone. Today it's still warm and it's humid which is a completely novel concept. What? You mean there's an atmospheric condition that allows moisture to hang in the air, making everything feel all dewy? Wow!
I'm loving this. It will snow next weekend though. It's the Girls State
(?) Basketball tournament---reportedly that's the weekend it always
snows. I'm not sure about this one. Every state has their own mythology
about this sort of thing and I wind up getting them confused. In Iowa
it always snowed whenever we had the Boys State Basketball tournament.
I can't keep them straight. I'm assuming Mr. H.---aka the native---will
straighten me out on this one. All I know is that it's the middle of
March and while I should think that spring has finally arrived, I know
better. Winter will bitchslap me once more before it's all said and
done with. I know she will. She's mean and manipulative that way. --- Hell has officially frozen over.
Get out your skates and sticks, kids. It's time to play hockey using the devil's head as the puck!
GOAL!
--- As usual, Michele has beaten me to yet another really good idea that I was planning on using this morning.
Follow all the links. If it's not apparent to you that this guy is just
trying to sell his book by trying to tap into that Bush=Hitler
zeitgeist, well...perhaps you need to fine tune your cynicism
equalizer.
I watched the Richard Clarke interview on 60 Minutes Sunday night. The
husband and I paid attention until it was readily apparent that this
was a case of sour grapes/book pr launch/cheap, parting shots all
wrapped up into one interview with Lesley Stahl. Condi kicked him out
of the loop, and I can't honestly say I blame her. It's pretty easy to
surmise that Condi thought he was part of the problem that led up to
the embassy bombings, Khobar Towers, the USS Cole. It's also fairly
obvious to say that this guy didn't come up with any good ideas for
dealing with the problem other than shooting thirteen Tomahawks into an
aspirin factory in Khartoum and however many missiles into empty space
in Afghanistan. He had his uses---that of a mouthpiece, and Condi used
him appropriately in that regard. He was, of course, pissed off about
this. He was demoted. He was cut out of the National Security Council
loop---this meant he was actually responsible to Congress for his
funding and his activities. He got smacked with a big, wet trout and he
was smarting. Go figure that he would write a tell all the minute he
got out of government service. I don't think the guy is the
anti-christ. He spent thirty some odd years in public service---he's
got his retirement to think about. He needs the cash, hence it's in his
best interest to flog the hell out of this book. The problem with this
scenario is that he's flogging his book on the back of a nation that is
already bloody and bruised and is having some troubles with healing.
They've gone to the witch doctor (as a last resort, of
course---conventional medicine failed to heal their wounds) and they're
praying for some sort of resolution to the pain that has plagued them
over the past two and a half years. They won't get any healing out of
this commission. I hate to say it. They're going to get the same
answers that were readily apparent in the first few weeks and months
after 9/11. We dropped the ball. It's pretty apparent. We were hit in a
way we never could have thought we'd be hit (although, interesting side
note---remember the show The Lone Gunmen?
They predicted this sort of scenario---flying a jetliner into the
WTC---on one of their last episodes. It will never be seen again.) and
we suffered for our lack of foresight. I have a hard time believing
that this guy has dressed himself so flamboyantly in his
self-righteousness because he's really concerned about making sure this
sort of thing never happens again. Or to provide some comfort to the
9/11 families. The only patriotism he feels is due is to himself. It's
all about selling the book. If it were otherwise, why was the release
date moved up to coincide with his testimony before the 9/11
Commission? Why the inflammatory 60 Minutes interview? In other words
it's about greed. If you want to equalize greed with treason, go ahead.
I'm having a hard time making it there myself, but if you want to make
that leap, go right ahead. It's pretty simple: government pension=lousy
retirement in a double wide or
write inflammatory book about the current administrations failings in
an election year=Palm Springs mansion. Which would you choose? Being
the capitalists that you all are? Answer honestly, knowing you'd let
the chips fall where they might.
This, of course, doesn't excuse his actions. But it doesn't make him
evil---as in the d-EVIL made me do it!---either.
It just doesn't make him credible. His actions are suspicious. His
actions are not consistent with what he's done in the past. His
righteousness just doesn't jibe. This is why I'm having a hard
time taking him seriously. The problem here, of course, is that the
media has jumped on this story, like white on rice. They're loving it.
But think about this for a second: if he were really above scrutiny,
was speaking the truth and was right, where the hell is Kerry?
He's been conspicuously absent. He's the direct beneficiary of Clarke's
book---and yet he wants nothing to do with the man. I have faith that
people will see through this shallow ploy---at least the people who I
think have brains will see through this ploy. If you're one of the
folks that hang out at DU or Indymedia, you'll lap this stuff up. But
if you're a thinking person, which most people are, you will form your
own opinions about this case. The only thing that cheeses me is that
this man is playing with the hopes and fears of the people who want
some answers---those people who lost family on 9/11. By toying with
their emotions, he's being cruel. He should apologize to them, not for
dropping the ball on 9/11, but because he's playing with them to
supplement his retirement. Shame on him for that. He's using these
people. And that's what everyone seems to be ignoring in this debacle.
Very sad.