I really do wonder what the hell happened to the Anthrax investigation.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
As with the FISA horseshit, I’m getting the distinct feeling that the direction this country is going is a lot uglier than most, myself included, expected. The new leadership in the Democratic party bargained away the 4th Amendment of the Bill of FUCKING Rights! Outside of the liberal blogosphere, the whole thing was framed as a victory for Bush or a capitulation to Bush by the Democrats. That parts of the FISA law signed today stand in clear contradiction to the Bill of Rights didn’t get quite the coverage Bush’s Senatorial rim-job did. Because no one cares. And anyone who does can easily be labeled with some form of social derangement.
We’ve convinced ourselves this country is indestructible and, for the most part, infallible in any meaningful sense; so ignoring laws or the Constitution is nothing to really worry about. That’s not a good prospect for the future of this country.
Yes. There are some ominous signs. The good sign is that the American people appear to be biding their time until they can throw the Right out of power and out of power decisively. If for any reason that doesn’t happen, we’re really in a lot of trouble.
I think we’re in trouble regardless. The problems in this country will not be changed when the alpha party hands the White House over to the submissive “opposition” party. The rot is not necessarily the leaders, it’s how this country has increasingly come to expect their government to work. People don’t want a government that governs, they want one that reaffirms their world-view and comforts them in the dubious knowledge that somehow this is the greatest country that has ever existed. There was a time, I suppose, when that argument had merit. But American Exceptionalism is over. It ended when we started systematically dismantling the middle-class (ya know, the part of America that made it exceptional) back in the 80’s. Which is not necessarily out of the ordinary. However, we refuse to let it die and instead hold onto it. Anyone who challenges it might as well be a traitor, in the real sense of the word, to a lot people in this country – of any political ilk. The worst part is exceptionalism is nationalism by another name and, dancing around Godwin’s Law, we know where that can lead: Debating the merits of torture, politicizing the administration of justice, attacking the judiciary when it doesn’t conform to your POV, “patriotism” as a political litmus test (essentially nationalism in that realm,) the mere fact we’re fighting two wars and no one really wants to talk about it. . .
NOTE – I realize I probably speaking to choir but I’m just relaying what I see outside of the somewhat comfortable chamber known as the “librul netreich.” (Yes, an acquaintance of mine sent me an email today and mockingly referred to sites like this and teh Great Orange Satan as the “librul netreich.” This guys no wing-nut either. Hell, his car is a rolling “fuck Bush” sticker machine as has been since at least 2003. Strange indeed.)
Perfect example of 2 people who know a lot of information about a case and talking in code in public.
Must be one of W’s Saudi Friends who was bankrolling the anthrax letters.
If the administration was complicit with the 9/11 disaster, involvement with the anthrax attacks is very plausible. What could be scaring Leahy and Mukassy is the sheer reach of the conspiracies involved. Why the Constitution itself might be endangered. And not by foreign terrorists but homegrown ones at that.
Imagine a fascist movement developing like a cancer in the body of America. And, the patient – our democratic republic – is just beginning to sense the danger. Will there be time for recovery or will the patient die? Stay tuned for additional medical alerts on the good old USA.
Off-Topic: Ignod, are you still coming to my town today? Haven’t heard from you and your planned location has been in flames for weeks now.
On-Topic: This creepy inkling that there is something very wrong but it’s not out in the open is how I’ve felt about this country for years. I think the analysis that the Republicans are the alpha party is not quite correct. I think that they are simply the political arm of the corporatists. If you want to fix the race it’s always better to control all the horses. Considering their history, I’m pretty sure that both of the Clintons have had a special relationship with the “ruling class” going back to the sixties, so the legislation that passed in the Clinton years was no fluke. And H. Clinton’s anti-FISA vote was for show after the votes were tallied.
If you look at who were there at the creation of the post-WWII intelligence community (think the Dulleses, for starters) you get a better understanding of who is actually running the country and why we get these inexplicable misbehaviors by the Dems (like FISA). And never trust a Rockefeller to protect your civil liberties.
That’s why I am convinced that it’s important for true progressives to understand how this all came about and accept that the country’s been run by what is essentially a crime organization of rich men for the last fifty years. Once you understand that you understand not only the bizarre behavior of the country’s Left leadership, but also what they are up against.
Until there was an official recognition of The Disppeared and how that happened Argentina couldn’t move forward. Everyone’s got to have the courage to admit what happened.
Off Thread–Hi Bob, sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but my Esalen workshops got canceled due to the huge fires in Big Sur. Just got to a computer today at my son’s home in Michigan. Perhaps, another time we can get together, when and if this crazy weather settles down. I will be in CA sometime in the not too distant future using workshop credits. I will try to go there doing the rainy season. Warm regards, Ignod = Dongi = Don.
The heat wave is ending, at least in my little burg. I can see the fog slipping in over the top of Montara Mountain. Nevertheless, it’s still far enough away for me to knock down another juice bar or two.
Bob, I think your assessment of the corporationists and their political allies, as well as the problems of the progressives, is spot on. I agree also that insight and courage are indispensable and that “the people” will prevail. As Martin L. King once said, “We shall overcome.”
Last week’s article on the MI5 director falling into a coma got me to thinking about a state sponsored – as in Russia – anthrax attack. Not impossible for them to acess that strain of anthrax and they certainly are experts at the poisen gambit.
Since the state actually controls the strain of anthrax that was used (it came out of Fort Detrick), is not a great leap. To think otherwise requires several great leaps.
“since the state controls…” exactly why it could have been compromised.
If one assumes Cheney was behind the anthrax, everything falls into place. The fear and paralysis of the Dems makes sense. The failure of the investigation makes sense. The failure to explain a very, very dangerous event makes sense.
If such is the case, it will come out when Cheney no longer has power. If this is not the case, then the explanations become multifarious. We shall see soon enough. Or not soon enough, as it is long overdue.
Beyond Cheney.
By the way, any followups to Obama’s plane’s “mechanical problems” last Monday?
NTSB
thats dammn creepy..
Let me add another case: A US assistant DA was gunned down in his home on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle at the start of this decade. He was investigating illegal firearms sales. The government never tracked down the killers there, either.
And of course USA John MacKay held the investigation asa top priority until Rove’s DoJ intervened. Interesting that Wales was roommates in college with Kennedy.
I have a personal theory that the federal prosecution of Michael Vick and some of the athletes accused of steroid use have been prosecuted through the federal courts for political reasons.
I know this is old news, but dog-fighting has always been a state crime. Considering that the CIA up the road in Langley, VA has been kidnapping people off the streets, carting them across state lines (out of the country) and torturing them, you’d think that the federal prosecutor in Virginia had better things to do and would have deferred the dog-fighting stuff to the state courts where it belongs.
Also, why spend ten million dollars on prosecuting an uppity negro like Barry Bonds on a pretty weak perjury charge when you’ve got that white pitcher from Texas who’s apparently perjured himself in front of Congress? Because demonizing blacks helps the Republican base.
I must say that I think the anthrax scare is a strong candidate for a false flag operation — both because of the way it was exacerbated by the government (and it’s timing) and because of the way the investigation was dropped down the memory hole, as if it held no value.
Given the fact that it was apparently a very serious attempt at domestic terrorism, perhaps even more serious than the World Trade Center & Pentagon bombings, there is no rational reason for it being ignored at this point IF it was truly an act of domestic terrorism. Nothing about the case adds up.
I just wanted to add one more suspicious event to the suspected false flag list — “dirty bombs.”
Dirty bombs never had much utility as a weapon of war, so their mention deserves scrutiny. It’s quite possible that their mention merely reflects the scientific naïveté of the person raising them as an issue. But, on the other hand, considering the actual threat risk, it’s also quite possible that their mention indicates that someone is hyping a threat for political purposes, as well as who.