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Columns

Rhonda Chriss Lokeman

Barbarians at the gate
March 17, 2007

These people truly are pathological, so comfortable are they at lying that they make no distinction between the mundane and the monstrous.

Crows are white; doves are black. Night is day. Day is night. The Bushvolk keep reinventing reality and revising history.

Why? Because they can. Because they keep getting away with it.

Scandals have become routine in the Bush II years -- so much so, that the response is formulaic.

You know the drill. Scandal erupts in the free press (not to be confused with Fox News, our very own state-sponsored medium.)

Bushvolk claim dubious deniability. The president robotically appoints a blue-ribbon panel. When really in deep poop, they pull out their favorite whipping boy, Bill Clinton.

That's the current defense of the political firings of U.S. attorneys known as the Gonzales Eight. Old habits die hard, fellow patriots.

Next, Congress holds hearings. After the hot air and histrionics, the legislature slaps the executive branch on the wrist. Then it's back to the business of deceiving the American people and creating a climate for unconstitutional upheaval.

Maybe the next time Alberto Gonzales testifies on the Hill, he'll be sworn in. Folks, when you raise your hand and swear to uphold the Constitution, you're supposed to really mean it. Same with that part about "the truth'' and "the whole truth.''

This is the most no-account, know-nothing administration in our nation's history. Unfortunately, it is up against a do-little electorate. This nation escaped tyranny through bloodshed and has since been improved through non-violent acts of civil disobedience in the public interest. Doing nothing is not an option for us.

If people aren't watching what's happened to this country, don't blame the media. Most of us do our part to defend democracy. It's your turn.

Better hurry, though, because I'm starting to get battle fatigue. You may have to start the revolution without me, fellow patriots. I may be too busy watching "American Idol'' from the couch to care about our democracy being damaged by dunderheads with poker faces and fat-cat benefactors.

You may recall that they didn't know there were no WMD in Iraq aimed at America. ("Darth'' Cheney still doesn't know.)

Didn't have pre-9/11 intelligence about a terrorist plot to slam airplanes into the World Trade Center. (A must-read is Frank Rich's "The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth.")

Didn't know killer hurricane Katrina would devastate New Orleans and compromise the levees.

Didn't know a male prostitute was planted among the White House press corps to daub pro-Bush softball questions at news conferences.

Didn't know crony counselor Harriet Miers was a card-carrying Theocrat when nominated to the Supreme Court.

Didn't know about Walter Reed's problems until The Washington Post expose.

Didn't know who in the White House manipulated media and outed the covert CIA wife of a published detractor.

Didn't know about detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib until the hardcore porn hit airwaves and newsstands.

Didn't know those 16 words in the president's pre-war speech about Iraq were false and misleading.

Despite contrary evidence, didn't know White House apparatchiks conspired with the Justice Department against some of the Gonzales Eight.

Didn't know about the Dubai port deal until news stories broke and lawmakers took notice.

Your first instinct is to suspend belief when the Bushvolk look you in the eye and lies spill from that hole in their heads. Is it any wonder this White House wants to keep presidential papers under seal?

If we knew the awful truth, we might just want to kill ourselves. But that would be an act of cowardice and our founders deserve our fortitude, not our surrender. So roll up your sleeves and get to work.

Take a stand and push back at the barbarians who have stormed democracy's gate. Don't worry, dissent is in the Constitution.

Rhonda Chriss Lokeman (lokeman@kcstar.com) is a columnist for the Kansas City Star. To find out more about Rhonda Chriss Lokeman, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC

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