27.9.05
When the Buried Bodies are Found
Don’t get me wrong – there’s a lot of collective blood on the collective hands of this administration. But the thing that brings down corrupt regimes, as it always has been, finding the specific blood on specific hands. And – well, innocent ‘til proven guilty and all, but the arrows sure are pointing in increasingly specific directions:
But see, and here’s the thing – while history will judge George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and all the rest as moral monsters, they are not pointing the guns and pulling the triggers themselves. They’re using the powers of a state to make war, something done justly and not, but for which there is a certain degree of individual detachment from responsibility for the leaders of nations (well, provided they aren’t captured or defeated). And then there’s the whole Us v. Them mentality of state-based warfare, where the opponents are demonized as not really being human, so their deaths aren’t really deaths to be worried about, etc. You get that.
And really, most citizens of most nations through time haven’t had a damne bit o’worry about their leaders flagrantly violating the laws of other lands, or the rights of other nations or peoples, if it’s all in the name of greater national glory. See, e.g., colonialism.
But - when members of the ruling regime (and surely, Jack Abramoff is counted among them) start acting like the basic laws of their country don't apply to them, people start gettin' kinda nervous. And pissed. 'Cause you're not above the law, and especially in a time and place where everything seems to be going to crap, these assholes in Warshington are livin' high on the hog, and actin' like they own the place. And you're out there, working a job for less money than you were making ten years ago, and the kids are screamin', and...well, you get the idea.
So - the law. Those same anal-retentive geeks who insist on shit like speeding tickets and the like - now you remember why you keep them around. And sure, maybe as the ruling regime is realizing how truly fucked they are, as they swirl in the toilet of their own making and flushing, they'll try an' shove around the judicial branch, try to fire some prosecutors, try to steamroll the FBI. And yeah, the FBI might be chock full o' Republicans (Mormons, even) - but they fucking hate crooks. Hate 'em; that's why they chose their profession, to fuck up some crooks. And a bunch of corrupt politicians who think they're the greatest shit to come down the pike - well, you've seen their kind before, and taken them down a few notches, too. At the end of the day, there's always another politician who can step quite happily into the void left by disgraced crooks. And those disgraced crooks will pull out all the stops as they go down, down, down, try to be the puffed-up bully again as they have so many times before - realizing only at the end, at the very bottom, in wide-eyed horror, that they don't scare anyone anymore and, what's more, nobody really gives two shits about them.
Yes, there's always another politician to step into the stinking vortex, wash his hands of those who came before. When regimes start associating with, and acting like, petty crooks, they end finishing their days regarded as just that.
Was Jack Abramoff involved in the murder of Guy Bolis? Fucked if I know. But it's a good question, isn't it? And a valid one. The fact that we're even asking it sure says a helluva lot about how far this administration has fallen.
Two men were arrested Monday and charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder in connection with the 2001 Mafia-style killing of Gus Boulis, the Associated Press is reporting.The people who are running this country are, without a doubt, criminals in politicians’ suits. Can we even begin to count the number of laws broken every day? And, yes, an illegal war that has killed tens and thousands, and counting, is a level of moral outrage that so dwarfs the death of one man, that it cannot be effectively compared. It’s the hundreds of billions in deficit to the thousand-dollar fender-bender.
Boulis was murdered while in the midst of a business dispute involving indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and the names of the two men arrested Monday -- Anthony Moscatiello, 67, and Anthony Ferrari, 46 -- may be familiar to anyone following the Abramoff scandal.
Shortly after Abramoff and his business partner, Adam Kidan, bought SunCruz Casinos from Boulis, Kidan hired Moscatiello to work as a food-and-beverage consultant for SunCruz, according to a May 2005 report in the Washington Post. The Post report said that SunCruz made three payments totaling $145,000 to Moscatiello, his daughter and a business the Moscatiello family ran. According to the Post, Kidan claimed later that the payments were for catering, consulting and "site inspections." "However," the paper said, "there is no evidence that any food or drink was provided or consulting documents prepared."
According to the Miami Herald, Kidan paid Ferrari more than $100,000, ostensibly for security for SunCruz.
But see, and here’s the thing – while history will judge George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and all the rest as moral monsters, they are not pointing the guns and pulling the triggers themselves. They’re using the powers of a state to make war, something done justly and not, but for which there is a certain degree of individual detachment from responsibility for the leaders of nations (well, provided they aren’t captured or defeated). And then there’s the whole Us v. Them mentality of state-based warfare, where the opponents are demonized as not really being human, so their deaths aren’t really deaths to be worried about, etc. You get that.
And really, most citizens of most nations through time haven’t had a damne bit o’worry about their leaders flagrantly violating the laws of other lands, or the rights of other nations or peoples, if it’s all in the name of greater national glory. See, e.g., colonialism.
But - when members of the ruling regime (and surely, Jack Abramoff is counted among them) start acting like the basic laws of their country don't apply to them, people start gettin' kinda nervous. And pissed. 'Cause you're not above the law, and especially in a time and place where everything seems to be going to crap, these assholes in Warshington are livin' high on the hog, and actin' like they own the place. And you're out there, working a job for less money than you were making ten years ago, and the kids are screamin', and...well, you get the idea.
So - the law. Those same anal-retentive geeks who insist on shit like speeding tickets and the like - now you remember why you keep them around. And sure, maybe as the ruling regime is realizing how truly fucked they are, as they swirl in the toilet of their own making and flushing, they'll try an' shove around the judicial branch, try to fire some prosecutors, try to steamroll the FBI. And yeah, the FBI might be chock full o' Republicans (Mormons, even) - but they fucking hate crooks. Hate 'em; that's why they chose their profession, to fuck up some crooks. And a bunch of corrupt politicians who think they're the greatest shit to come down the pike - well, you've seen their kind before, and taken them down a few notches, too. At the end of the day, there's always another politician who can step quite happily into the void left by disgraced crooks. And those disgraced crooks will pull out all the stops as they go down, down, down, try to be the puffed-up bully again as they have so many times before - realizing only at the end, at the very bottom, in wide-eyed horror, that they don't scare anyone anymore and, what's more, nobody really gives two shits about them.
Yes, there's always another politician to step into the stinking vortex, wash his hands of those who came before. When regimes start associating with, and acting like, petty crooks, they end finishing their days regarded as just that.
Was Jack Abramoff involved in the murder of Guy Bolis? Fucked if I know. But it's a good question, isn't it? And a valid one. The fact that we're even asking it sure says a helluva lot about how far this administration has fallen.
perma-linky posted by jkd : 13:45
