"One of the worst incidences [sic], frankly, that I can recall in my career."

Those are the pearl-raining words of the immortal Richard Cheney, former Vice President of the United States under the Administration That Must Not Be Named, regarding the 'scandal' about the assault on our embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

Quite frankly, I think that Cheney, who was Veep on 9/11 when over 2900 Americans and others were killed, needs to be tested for Alzheimer's.  Immediately.

American embassies were also attacked under Bush, and diplomats were killed.  Not a peep about impeachment over those (apart from repeated calls by Rep. Kucinich).

Darrell Issa's maunderings are "sending planes over" and "it takes a domestic flight seven hours to get there" merely indicate how unutterably clueless he is.  Surprising, since Rep. Issa was himself the target of a pair of terrorists back in the 80s or so (of course, those guys get a pass, as they were Jewish extremists, and Issa's a Christian of Lebanese extraction).

And a number of people polled couldn't find Benghazi on a map, and while the GOP screeches, the rest of the country yawns.  Most people realize what the Republicans are trying to do - their target isn't Barack Obama, but Hilary Clinton's possible Presidential aspirations in 2016 - and she hasn't said whether she's even contemplating a run.

Of course, if she does, she'd crush any possible GOP contender based on current polling.  And her alliance with the Great Bill Clinton Penis (which still strikes terror in the heart of all Republicans, everywhere and going back in time all the way to Robert Taft) must not be set aside.

So it's all a storm in the Beltway Bubble for this.

"By My Hand . . .

"By my hand and for the good of the State, the bearer has done what has been done."

There are three supposed scandals running about the dystopic Fantasy Island known as Washington DC right now, and this post is about the most recent one.

(Don't worry; I'll get to the others in due course.)

This latest tempest in a chamber pot is the uproar raised by the Associated Press upon learning that the Department of Justice had gathered records on the AP's phones, ostensibly to find out the news organization's sources to see if they were interfering with an anti-terrorism investigation.

Got that?

Good.

So the AP's breathing forth fire and slaughter, saying that the collection of its phone records was illegal and posed a threat to its effectiveness as a news-gathering organization.

Please.

That's a very pre-9/11 attitude to have, especially when the D of J can simply invoke "national security, bitches" to justify any action they take - just like the NSA, the CIA, the D of D, and any other department of the Executive Branch.

"National Security" can be used to justify anything nowadays:  Torture, extraordinary rendition, massive trawling of emails, phone calls and Twitter accounts, and so on and so on ad infinitum.  This is the natural result of the unreasoning panic and inchoate fear that descended on the Federal Government like a shitmist in the wake of Black Tuesday.

So the next time some egregious act by the government happens, don't be too surprised if the guy or gal hands you a slip of paper with this post's opening statement written on it.

We have only ourselves to blame, really.

Well, THAT was Interesting

I passed my fifty-first birthday last year (yay me!) and a recent blood test indicated a heightened level of liver enzymes. The levels were falling, which was a good thing, but my doctor insisted I get certain things checked out.

One of those things is a Certain Procedure that every man over fifty is supposed to undergo.

Yes. A colonoscopy.

Just got home from it, and apart from a twenty-minute gap in my memory I'm perfectly fine. One "small" polyp was recovered, and will be waterboarded in order to obtain information. Yes, I routinely authorize torture of any anomalous bits hacked off of me - it's a post-9/11 attitude.

I was told that I will have to take it again - in another five to ten years, depending on what info the polyp coughs up.