Josh's perspective-

"Okay, enough. The president fired US Attorneys to stymie investigations of Republicans and punish US Attorneys who didn't harass Democrats with bogus voter fraud prosecutions. In the former instance, the evidence remains circumstantial. But in the latter the evidence is clear, overwhelming and undeniable."

"It's yet another example of how far this White House has gone in normalizing behavior that we've been raised to associate with third-world countries where democracy has never successfully taken root and the rule of law is unknown."

I think that in all the Muckraker's and Josh's commentary so far, this is the first time I've really seen his usual "Just the facts, ma'am" objectivity strained to the breaking point.

For myself, I've been sort of nostalgic all along for, say, tar and feathers- public flogging- a trip to Gitmo, batteries included. I've been pissed off since day one with these hucksters, snake-oil-salesmen to the world of cheap tricks disguised as values. I'm not an entirely religious man, but I would never tread where these blasphemers have gone on the oft-chance there is a God...

I've been sort of busy in the past two weeks looking after some international visitors for work. They are from many of the third-world countries Josh references above. When they have seen me, lost in a passed-by tv screen watching this travesty unfold over the past week, they have given me comfort, as those who have been through tragedy and loss reach out with saddened eyes and sheltering embrace.

They know I will probably never have to see what passes for the rule of law that many of them have seen in their countries:

Tom DeLay and the Duke-stir political corruption, renditions kidnappings, abu ghraib and gitmo torture cells, warrentless wiretapping and national security letters secret police and informers, well I could go on and on....

I say over and over in comments that we traded bullets for ballots long ago and I for one would never go back to where those international friends of mine at times find themselves. Many times their lives are disrupted by a hail of bullets to signal the change in "leaders".

Our rule of law and the peaceful transition from one government to another relies on the honest ballot. It's the only thing that keeps us from descending into the chaos. We now can look over that brink, and I believe recognize the fine threads, woven with Rovian Machiavellian precision that could bind and blind us as we fall.

If our newly elected legislators need to see support for the "showdown" with the Bushbots, then we should give it. For the timid, cards, letters and email. For the more active, march it right it to the Capitol steps. But write it, show it, say it, scream it- the lies and deceptions have to stop.

Alphonse ( Al ) Kada
Iranians are fighting the Americans in Iraq so they don't have to fight them on the streets of Tehran