How much more outrage can we take?

It turns out that at the very moment Cheney insists that Guantanamo is absolutely necessary for the war on terror his company, Halliburton, has been awarded a huge multimillion dollar contract to expand the facilities there. One hundred and thirty million I believe the figure is. No conflict of interest here because we all know Cheney has assured us he no longer has any interest in the company - even though they continue to pay him in the hundreds of thousands annually. Is this not outrageous?

Tomlinson, the head of the organization to separate Public Broadcasting from any political influence, is now blatantly violating that charge and insisting that PBS become merely another arm of the Bush/Cheney administration. There is just too much liberal bias, according to Tomlinson, that needs to be countered by having more conservative programs. The Republicans have long wanted to get rid of Public Broadcasting and, while having tried and failed in the past, now think they can at least cut its funding by half - that, of course, would go a long way toward getting rid of it entirely. To do this Tomlinson has engaged in no end of illegal maneuvers to bring it about. Nothing outrageous about this I guess.

It seems that the Bush/Cheney bunch actually lied to their almost only ally (Britain) in the "war" against Iraq. They claimed they did not illegally use napalm (or a new version of that obscene weapon) in Iraq. But it turns out they did. They may have used it in Falluja as well as elsewhere. Nothing outrageous about lying to your only real ally.

When Congressman Conyers wanted to hold a session devoted to the Downing Street memo scandal the Republicans would only allow them a very small space in the basement somewhere. A room that was terribly overcrowded and designed to minimize whatever impact such a meeting might have. Not only that, they also scheduled eleven votes on important pieces of legislation for precisely the time the Conyers meeting was to take place. Again, nothing outrageous here, just good clean Republican fun. It had never occurred to me until now that Republicans would control even the assignment of rooms. I would have thought there must be an office in charge of such things. You know, like a bipartisan arrangement so that both Democrats and Repubicans could ask for space, etc. Republican paranoia and fear seems to know no bounds.

Oh, yes, the Schiavo travesty. We now know that the poor woman's brain had shrunk to half the size it should have been and in addition to that she was blind. You would think that Frist, DeLay, and others might actually apologize for their outrageous claims that she was sentient and trying to communicate, etc. But no, even her parents refuse to accept reality. Outrageous? Not for Republicans. After all, medical science is no more useful than prayer when it comes to such things.

At least we now have the beginnings of a Resolution of Inquiry, the first step toward possible impeachment. Whatever comes of this, John Conyers should go down in history as the first hero of the 21st century. And what should come of this is clearly impeachment, long overdue, perfectly obvious, and merely the first step in the very long and difficult road ahead to restore American credibility and honor in the world (if, indeed, by now that will even be possible). The enormity of the crimes is such that Americans seem unable to comprehend the situation. It is so bad that outright denial seems to be the only defense. No one wants to, or even can accept, what Bush/Cheney and their gang of international thugs has wrought. I am reminded of a great book title which is certainly appropriate here - PAST ALL DISHONOR.