Bush & Blair: The Last Whimper

Are the gods of history inspired by stars of ironic destinies? Or did the White House plan this trifecta of historical coincidence?

Did the sovereign leaders of the greatest powers on earth actually stage "The Last Whimper" in hopes of trumping the lot?

As we opened our windows to media input this fine spring day, we were greeted with the news that justice is sometimes justice for all – even the most privileged of the privileged, the most pampered of the elite. After four long years, justice delayed is not in fact justice denied: Jeffrey Skilling and "Kenny Boy" Lay were found guilty on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. There is no media mention of Enron’s intimate connection with the Bush White House but we remember: They were tied by umbilical cords.

Now it seems the smartest men in the room will be the smartest men in the prison library.

Once they were princes, the toast of Washington and Wall Street, the wonder boys with a dollar for every dime. They miss the old boys down on K Street.

For the rest of America, progress is slow but in motion.

As we retuned our radios, we caught something about House Speaker Denny Hastert and Jack "The Hammer" Abramoff. Hastert is the luckiest man of the day: His dance with corruption will be rendered to page 17.

Our attention was captured by the latest news in the grinding Valerie Plame-Wilson case: The names of Karl Rove, one time architect and most trusted presidential advisor, and vice president Dick Cheney zoom to the fore. It seems Rove received the first phone call from Robert "The Leaker" Novak after the story broke. It seems Cheney wrote extensive margin notes on certain articles and will be called to testify under oath (for the first time in his vice presidential capacity) in the trial of his former Chief of Staff, the honorable Scooter Libby.

Third charm on this day of ironic wonders, Britannia’s fallen Prince of Labour took his final bow at the court of the fallen Emperor and the Emperor failed to notice.

King George, Emperor of the Western World, should have pulled out his trusty sword (the one Lee carried at Appomattox) and knighted the noble warrior on the spot.

He will be remembered as the one who never risked a dime of his own money yet lost everything: his title, his legacy, his welcome and his good family name.

The Emperor should have showered him with plundered treasures, citations of courage and integrity, the highest Medals of Honor. Instead, he issued platitudes befitting his modest level of comprehension.

It was painful listening to the Prime Minister of England arguing a tired defense of the continuing occupation three years beyond redemption. Tony Blair, the once renowned orator, the silver tongued boy, set up a false dichotomy and defended it with a ferocity that belied a desperate grasp at a reality that does not exist and has not existed through three years of occupation.

Because we have pushed through elections, in which selected Iraqi citizens were allowed to choose from among occupation approved slates of candidates (most of whom they did not know), little Tony asserts that the latest incarnation of a unity government is democratic beyond doubt. He further asserts that since the new government has not requested immediate withdrawal, the people of Iraq have somehow forfeited the right to demand an end to the occupation.

It is fallacy upon fallacy.

Of all the absurdities ever uttered by the Knights of the Great Neocon, this was its pinnacle. In light of the fact that all objective polling reveals overwhelming Iraqi support for the immediate expulsion of all foreign agents, the raw mendacity of the assertion bites at the lip of its speaker.

It was painful to observe this former Olympian of public discourse reduced to the tired platitudes of a simpleton president: They hate us for our freedom. They want to stop our way of life. They cannot stand the thought of democracy.

Reality mandates a harsher judgment: There is not a nation or a people on earth that desire the kind of "democracy" we have erected in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If this be democracy, so the saying goes, give me the Emperor!

Burdened by the most expensive propaganda machine ever employed, the American people are the last to recognize the absence of royal gowns. We are the last to decode the Bush-Blair doublespeak. Like his adopted mentor in Washington, there is no place on earth where the former prince will be welcomed for his charm and faith have withered.

Whatever good will he might have engendered, he has forfeited all by taking hold of the Emperor’s sleeve as He christened a new age of conquest, replete with doctrine of aggressive warfare and Orwellian propaganda.

As we with baited breath await the sunset of post-modern imperialism, perhaps the former Prime Minister could tutor the infant King on the works of George Orwell. Now there was an Englishman we could admire! Perhaps he could sing enchanting tunes recalling the history of old King George the Third, a man who overreached, lost everything and spent the waning days of his reign locked away in his dark castle and the mad confines of his mind.

At times such as these, it is best to sit in silence until the truth emerges. Those who are most disgusted with the empire of George W. Bush are: Scooter Libby, Jack Abramoff, Denny Hastert, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Tony Blair.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON DISSIDENT VOICE, THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, PEACE-EARTH-JUSTICE AND COUNTERPUNCH.

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