Good journalism, of course, constantly gets one in trouble, since the status-quo forces arrayed against truth-telling are legion and powerful. And these days, with an extremist regime in control in Washington, D.C. — one more inclined to avoid reality, even stomp on it when it appears — good journalism is all too rare. Mostly, the institutional, conglomerate-owned media (the owners of which reflect much the same economic goals and worldview as those in government) tend to flatter the rulers and shade and conceal the truth — in effect becoming another “wall” blocking our view of the real world. That’s why the free-wheeling internet is so valuable as a corrective, with numerous bloggers and reporters dedicated to opening windows on what’s really going on behind the ever-present spin barriers.
Those in power who put walls and fences between themselves and the hunt for truth cannot deal effectively with reality and risk societal disaster. Good example: How CheneyBush took America into the catastrophe that is the Iraq War. They are destined for ignominious failure because they long ago slid off the reality tracks, and refuse to acknowledge their mistaken judgment, ideology and policy. They are heading that sliding train straight for the cliff of ultimate failure and don’t seem to care if they take everyone else down with them.
CheneyBush have demonstrated time and again that their personalities are so stunted and insecure that there is no way they would be able to acknowledge the depth of their mistakes, their moral responsibility for failures, and their warped ideologies. This means that those of us desiring to save our country, and save those who are otherwise destined to die and be maimed by their participation in this militarist madness, need to remove our ostensible “leaders” as quickly as possible.
At the very least, there would seem to be sufficient evidence of enough high crimes, misdemeanors and malfeasance to justify the initiation of impeachment hearings ASAP.
There’s too much at stake to just let it ride; even with the Democrats starting to exercise their oppositional muscles, the continuing damage the CheneyBush Administration can do in the next year-and-a-half — including an unprovoked attack on Iran — is too excruciatingly awful to contemplate. It’s impeachment time — let’s get on with it.
Copyright 2007, by Bernard Weiner
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly two decades, and currently co-edits The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). To comment: crisispapers@comcast.net.
