First entry of 2006

It's another year, and I am so glad to be on the planet! This looks to be a year in which those who have been abusing their power may get their day of reckoning. George Bush, who lies for a living, was caught red handed, assuring people in 2004 that "whenever you hear about the government wire tapping, there is a court order involved." It turns out that W has acually been authorizing wire tapping of American Citizens and others including members of the United Nations since shortly after 9-11. The argument that it would jeapordize National Security to go through legal channels to get this authority doesn't hold water, as the administration could have tapped any phones they wanted to and then gone back retroactively for formal authority, if they had wished to. Why didn't they do it legally if it was that easy? That, my friends, is the 6 million dollar question, and if you ask the right questions, you get some interesting answers. Could it be the administration was wire tapping political opponents and others who may have opposed their policies but in no way shape or form posed a threat to the security of our nation? I believe this may be the case. After all, this is the group that got on the TV, stared straight at the cameras and talked about "mushroom clouds" knowing all the while that Sadaam Huissein didn't have the ability to launch a bottle rocket at us at the time. So today, Bush says "I assure you that everything I have done is perfectly legal, otherwise I wouldn't have done it." Richard Nixon was famous for saying "if I do it, then it is legal, because I am the president." Shrub has fallen into the same sort of circular logic, and it may end up being his undoing. "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely." I don't remember who said that, but it was one of the first things I learned in college in a political science class. Whether you are the president of the United States, the leader of the 700 club, an administrator in charge of federal employees or a guy in Rome in a $10,000 hat, if you start assuming that your actions are right because of who you are, you WILL paint yourself into a corner eventually. It is assuring to me to know that, because then I don't feel like it is my responsibility to "right all of the wrongs" I come across. That is a big fucking job, and a person could wear themselves out trying to do it. So hears to you and yours. My New Years wish for myself is that I breathe in gratitude and breathe out forgiveness every day this year. If I do that, I will have a good year. This much I know to be true. Peace.