Quote:
I said he wasn't much of a lamb, and compared to leaking the name of an active duty agent. Yes, "only" is fitting.


Well, I'll confess I got mad when I read "Note that no one has actually been indicted for the leaking itself. Only for obstruction of justice, perjury and the like." on a couple of fronts.

1) "Note" - Like we didn't know??? Need to be reminded in case we didn't read all the way to the bottom of the page? Or did this opening just strike me like the right-wing blowback I expect I'd hear if I could tolerate tuning to 570 on the local AM dial.

2) "Only" - Perjuring oneself to try to sleaze out of charges of sexual impropriety, well that is pretty serious. Perjuring oneself when trying to cover up illegal political character assassination undertaken to advance an unjust war that has killed tens of thousands of people? Well, *dang*, that seems really bad.

So maybe this wasn't what you were trying to convey, but I am puzzled by what would motivate you to point out some facts of the situation in this way, and "only" gave me a sense of low standards.

Have no doubt, larger crimes were committed here for which we may never see indictments, be that Cheney/Rove/Bush revenge against Joe Wilson or the larger crime of lying to the world to go to war and the war itself. War criminals, them.

I am nonetheless gratified by these limited indictments. Indeed I take comfort from any embarassment this evil administration suffers -- Scooter, Harriet, whatever. Not that these are good things. Do I lie awake wishing for other people to suffer Katrinas and visits from military chaplains so that the evil ones can be embarassed? No. But to the extent that any indictments or self-created tribulations cause these evil ones to be less focused, less potent, then I can only be thankful for that.

This past week's indictments perhaps offer just a *glimmer* of hope that our political system isn't completely in the toilet. But I think the grand jury is still out on that and I am afraid they are likely to return a conviction.

Unable to sleep my extra hour of Standard Time this AM, I heard a report on BBC that gave a reasonably precise estimate of the numbers of Iraqis killed by *insurgents*. This is remarkable. We can arrive at an estimate of Iraqis killed by *other* people, but not of Iraqis killed by us.

But back to the main point, does The Onion ROCK, or what?
_________________________
Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.