Short Stories, Long Odds

So I think I figured out why I’ve had such a hard time writing since Bush’s poll numbers began to tank and the GOP’s party-wide corruption began unraveling for public display.

I think its because I was right, and now everyone knows.

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Marcus Porcius Cato (for you antiquity buffs out there – Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor) used to punctuate every speech, motion, and point of order on the floor of the Roman Senate with this phrase. It means, basically, “Carthage must be destroyed.” He would append it to every declaration. Imagine.

“We recommend that taxes shall be raised on olive exports and, further, Carthage must be destroyed.”

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How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man. – Johnny Cash

Uh-oh. You need a subscription to read it, and if you’re too lazy, let me get you up ins: We are mad at Syria and our diplomats, particularly our Ambassador to Iraq, are angry at Syria. Sure, we were angry at them earlier this year for their occupation of Lebanon, but that worked out better than expected. What we’re really mad at now is what we’ve been saying for a while: Syria is aiding the insurgency in Iraq.

“Our patience is running out,” said the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad.

How ominous! Its almost as if we’re now openly discussing some sort of plan to go after other countries in the Middle East!

The smart money now is not on aggression against Syria. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to go after such an endeavor. This could be a rogue diplomat with his credentialed panties in a wad. But considering how thick we are into Iraq now, I somehow doubt such a hardline statement would come out of the diplomatic corps without some sort of okay from State.

Unless! Unless Iraq is planning on attacking Syria on its own! While totally implausible for at least a few years, that Iraq could mount any sort of military operation on its own, it still sort of makes you break out in a low-grade greasy sweat, doesn’t it?

Its cool though, I’m sure the civil war in Iraq will last way longer than Syria’s current regime.

On February 17th, Sensenbrenner and a few of his pals introduced this legislation:

109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 24

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 17, 2005

Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SABO, and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
`Article --

`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is repealed.'.

Despite what I think about how the 2006 midterms will turn out, if the GOP gets anything CLOSE to a 2/3 majority in both houses, hello Glorious General George.

This is real – its made it through at least one committee. Its in the Library of Congress Congressional Record, and it hasn’t been killed yet.

I’m not usually one to run off to the Panic Barn and freak out about little things. Legislation like this gets proposed all the time – balanced budget amendments, to repeal the 22nd amendment, etc. Clinton got a party similar to this one started during his time in office.

I wouldn’t normally be worried about something like this, if not for the GOP making so many moves to consolidate power lately, chief among those being the nuclear option. I’m not saying the sky is falling, I’m just saying that this bears watching.

Or perhaps, what is and is not actually news. Or even, the halflife of news.

We’ve been inundated with the Pope for the last week. The Pope is still dead everytime I turn on my TV. I think airing his funeral was fine – he is, after all, an historic figure and as such deserves airtime – but the amount of coverage dedicated to the Pope in the last week created some serious problems.

For instance, this story ran on Sunday, April 3rd, and it gives details concerning an attack on Abu Ghraib by about 60 insurgents. At least 50 US soldiers were injured in the attack, that number up from the initially reported 20 and later updated to 44. Did you hear about this? You probably didn’t. It made page A-16 of the New York Times.

At the end of March 2005, the number of United States soldiers wounded in Iraq was 11,442. I don’t know how many of them lost limbs or eyes or will be broken for life, but war injuries tend to not be skinned knees.

Here’s an interesting accompanying fact for you – did you know that if you get wounded in action and cannot finish your tour of duty, if you received a signing bonus you have to pay it back? It enters repayment 30 days after you go home, and it shows up on your credit. I’m willing to bet this is also something you didn’t hear of.

Prince Charles got married today to Camilla Parker Bowles. He’s the man who might be King someday (if the monarchy lasts that long) so I understand why this would make the news. Maybe a 30-second segment with some shots of the ceremony. That’s fine. Hell, I’ll even give you a minute for it.

But I watched CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC in a rotation for three hours this morning, and I didn’t hear one word about the massive anti-American protest in Iraq. Nor did I hear about the CBS cameraman who was shot and then arrested by coalition forces.

You would think a story about a journalist getting shot and arrested in the midst of a conflict that the newspaper guild CWA and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists purport carries an extremely high casualty rate for media personnel would make the news. They even said so in a letter to President Bush. It is, in fact, news about the news, and it doesn’t make the news.