Holy Divers

Just... just read this.

As if it wasn't bad enough that the dissenting voices in this country are already being sytematically silenced in the media and the hallowed halls of government... now it's okay for the majority party to go back into the Congressional record and edit the words of the opposing party? Make them look like idiots, crackpots, liars or worse?

Here's one example from the article:

DEMS: a Nadler amendment allows an adult who could be prosecuted under the bill to go to a Federal district court and seek a waiver to the state’s parental notice laws if this remedy is not available in the state court. (no 11-16)GOP
REWRITE: Mr. Nadler offered an amendment that would have created an additional layer of Federal court review that could be used by sexual predators to escape conviction under the bill. By a roll call vote of 11 yeas to 16 nays, the amendment was defeated.

What the fuck? What makes anyone think they can go back and edit the Congressional record? I can't even fathom this practice. Changing the text of ammendments, floor debates and resolutions in what has always been a sacrosanct record of once-transparent events in Congress? Just to... what? Create pithy quotes to use against the Democrats in the '06 elections? To test the water of changing laws that the voters have passed? Are the Republicans really that drunk with power right now? How low will they go?

This is absolutely chilling.

Let's review: the Republicans have the majority in the House. They have the majority in the Senate. They own the Executive. The majority of judges in District and Appeals courts are -or were appointed by- Republicans... yet still the rapture-Rightists are fighting to change the face of the Judiciary to better serve their selfish, short-sighted, anti-American agenda.

The filibuster -the last weapon the minority party in the Senate has- is under attack, and if it's shelved, why even bother with the "up or down" vote? That die has been cast, my friends; the vote would be for show, at best because this majority won't rest 'till it rules.

What you're staring down the barrel at? It's a one-party system.

You can hope for a change in '06... I certainly am... but thanks to the magic of gerrymandering and black box voting, I'm fully expecting to hear that on election night, despite the fact that every poll* that evening shows that Americans wholeheatedly disapprove of this Neocon agenda (I'm thinking a 40% approval rating for the current administration and congress by then), that somehow, no incumbents with an "R" after their name will lose their seat, and lo and behold! Many new "R's" will join the fold, and learn the secret handshake before sundown the next day.

Remember the salad days? When Dubya said "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator," and we could still laugh... if nervously? Remember how it was alarming... but funny too, 'cause come on! How could he say that? Sure, he was a doofus, but how much damage could one pinhead doofus do? It was ludicrous... right?

Yeah, well now I'm not laughin'.

To paraphrase Ronny James Dio and Black Sabbath: "If you listen to fools, it's one party rule."

*Oh, and don't be surprised if preliminary polls are all you'll get in coming elections. When BushCo. got away with that "inaccurate exit poll" bullshit last November, they not only stole the White House, but they effectively smashed the viability of exit polls. Despite the fact they've always been an accepted (and generally accurate) tool for gauging election results, now that they've been tarnished, they'll take a back seat to flashy graphics of log cabins and bar charts, and Fox news anchors announcing the winners before the polls even open on the West Coast.