"Old Europe" Looks At "Change," Other USer Electoral Myths

The German news magazine, Der Spiegel, has an international edition to which I frequently turn for Continental points of view. DS long-time political correspondent, Gabor Steingart, outlines and discusses three crucial Murkin political myths for the electoral season: 1) "Washington is 'Enemy #1', 2) the power of lobbyists, and 3) the "One-Nation" fallacy.

Quite correctly, he makes the case that the last of these is by far the most pernicious, most debilitating for democracy, most destructive of actual action/change in Govt.

The third myth is the most dangerous of them all, because it shakes the very foundations of the United States Constitution. Critics across party lines claim that America is a divided nation, whipped up into a frenzy by both parties, which they insist are only capable of thinking in terms of friends and foes. All of the current candidates promise to put an end to the current atmosphere of polarization and forge a great consensus. "We are one nation," says Obama. So does Mitt Romney. And so does everyone else.

But this system of dialogue, of checks and balances, is precisely what the framers of the Constitution intended. It is arduous and often nerve-wracking, but it works.

One party keeps the other party in check. Sometimes the House of Representatives opposes the Senate, or both pounce -- when needed -- on the man in the White House. This is the way it works -- and it's the way it is supposed to work.

Democracy thrives on differences of opinion, which translate into differences between parties. Promising to put an end to this ongoing dispute makes about as much sense as a supermarket manager announcing plans to combine the meat and produce departments -- and justifying his decision by saying that the management wants to overcome the decades-long polarization between steak-lovers and vegetarians.

There is sommat with which to quibble--especially in regard to the alleged 'differences' between the parties, but you see the point: If someone starts raving about how the Parties should cooperate, you are probably talking to a fascist. Qubbles aside, the article is worth the time to read it.

Justice Department Accused of Blocking Gonzales Probe

I, personally, am shocked by these new revelations. SHOCKED! No One Could EVER Have Imagined Something Like This....Could they? I mean, really. These people at DOJ are sworn to uphold the Constitution, like everybody else, aren't they? It's not a different Constitution for them than it is for everybody else, is it?

How else do you explain this?

Richard B. Schmitt and Tom Hamburger report for the Los Angeles Times,

"The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales."

Remarkable! Just fucking REMARKABLE? This is Executive Insurrection. The refusal of the Executive to submit to the Legislative for examination is a forthright declaration of 'democratic' civil war. Where will they stop?

Is There A "False" Assumption Embedded In The "Change" Motif?

That assumption is that the Dims, or some "new" Dim president, actually will inaugurate a 'reformation' of the practices instituted by the Bushevik cabal which have stripped away increasingly vast swaths of citizens' personal privacy, security, and autonomy over the previous 8 years.

I believe nothing could be further from the truth.

I think/fear/forebode the next president will do everything in her or his power not only to hold onto the powers the Bush cabal have grabbed from the Legislative, but will work to consolidate and expand those powers. Whomsoever she or he is, they will not relieve the country of ever-more intrusive, comprehensive surveillance, for example, because surveillance is essential to the propogation and maintenance of an increasingly coersive, authoritarian CorpoRatocracy, which it is the sworn duty of every National Elected Official to serve, grow, and maintain. They won't retreat from the borders the Bushies have pressed, but will inevitably press further for more and more power.

So they will find a more benevolent spin for it. Perhaps a surge in the prevention of 'identity theft,' instead of the terrorism motif? I don't know, but I do know they won't willingly or gladly relinquish even a dram of the power now vested in the "unitary Executive," they won't eschew it, they won't abandon it, they won't weaken it. They just won't.

And there is no will in the Congress to retrieve it, the congress being in effective unison with the Executive on the desireability of the Nationa Security State, the "unitary Executive," and the authoritarian CorporatocRatsee. In 232 years, the Executive has NEVER ceded back to the Legislative any power it has assumed.

And here's where the beauty/genius comes in: because, of course, by refraining from bringing impeachment against the Busheviks, the Dims have helped to ensure there is no longer any institution left in the law of the country to compel them to do it, either.

Purty fuuking shrewd, nest paw?

Huzzah! McStain promises "More War"!

McCain: "There Will Be Other Wars"

By Eric Kleefeld (TPM)- January 27, 2008, 10:53PM

At a campaign even in Florida today, John McCain made a pronouncement that might not go over too well with the general public, should he be the Republican nominee: "There will be other wars."

"And I gotta give you some straight talk, my friends. It's a tough war we're in. It's not gonna be over right away," McCain said. "There's gonna be other wars. I'm sorry to tell you, there's gonna be other wars. We will never surrender, but there will be other wars."

(Via the Huffington Post)

OF COURSE there will be more wars. How could there NOT be more wars? When have there NOT been wars? The US has hardly spent 12 consecutive months at peace since 1789. The Busheviks are trying even now to install treaties by which the USofA will be just about irreversibly committed to a domestic and international politics of increasing authoritarianism and crony/predatory corporatism dominating the domestic relations, whilst globalist, militarist super-State extensions of power will remain the norm internationally...until the Empire tumbles, probably along with the sustainability of civilization when the climate crumbles, in about 50-100 years.

War for oil is, unfortunately, only the first of the innumerable conflicts for resources which will inevitably erupt as 1) real scarcities become common-place, and commercial scarcities further unsettle balances of power in unstable regions of the world. The Busheviks themselves, seeking to capitalize on the impending crises, have bought a bunch of up-land Paraguay, where there are the headwaters of several important rivers--as well as a government is traditionally hospitable to itinerant fascisti fleeing justice...

A Tail of Two "Willards"

Okay, That Gutless, Scum-sucking, Tea-bagging Shitwhistle, "Hairless" Harry Reid's Gonna Give Bush "Retroactive Immunity"

David Kurtz, at TPM, yesterday:

Capitulation

The handwriting has been on the wall for some time, but it now seems certain that Senate Democrats will pass a new FISA bill that contains retroactive immunity for telecoms, shielding them from lawsuits over their cooperation with the Bush Administration in its far-reaching warrantless wiretapping program.

Meanwhile, House Democrats have decided to postpone any vote on holding Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers in contempt for their refusal to testify to Congress about the White House role in the U.S. attorney purge. (Nancy Pelosi's 'leadership' is so notable, feculent bitch. Ed.)

Late Update: Sen. Chris Dodd has just reiterated his intention to filibuster telecom immunity, so maybe all is not lost.

Except that Reid's gonna make the Dems actually filibuster, instead of merely to threaten, which is always enough to kill any legislation the Busheviks oppose.

So, fuck yes, all is lost, for the 4th Amendment, anyway.

NB: I do not expect either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama to actually JOIN Dodd if he filibusters, even though they say they support the effort. This will be a litmus test for me between the two (whom I believe are destined to become prominent footnotes, not president, either one). Which ever one actually DOES support Dodd, I will enthusiastically support in their campaign, If neither does, I shall abstain from casting a presidential ballot, because they will conclusively have demonstrated their fundamental sympathy with the fascist regime now in power, and their inability or unwillingness to contest the powers that be.

The Rest Of The Pack: Dixiebelle, Hanna-Stella, & Budreau

Bon Voyage, "Mischief" - - 1995-2008

A Damn Good Girl

The House Dog's Grave
(Haig, an English bulldog)

I've changed my ways a little; I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream; and you, if you dream a moment,
You see me there.

So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
And you'd soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
The marks of my drinking-pan.

I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
On the warm stone,
Nor at the foot of your bed; no, all the night through
I lie alone.

But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
And where you sit to read--and I fear often grieving for me--
Every night your lamplight lies on my place.

You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
To think of you ever dying
A little dog would get tired, living so long.
I hope than when you are lying

Under the ground like me your lives will appear
As good and joyful as mine.

No, dear, that's too much hope: you are not so well cared for
As I have been.
And never have known the passionate undivided
Fidelities that I knew.
Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided. . . .

But to me you were true.

You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved.
Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end.
If this is my end,

I am not lonely.
I am not afraid. I am still yours.

Robinson Jeffers, 1941

Allons!!! Allons!!! Mes Enfants! To Arms!!!!

To Arms, mes Enfants! The fucking Congress is getting ready to pardon the Busheviks for their war crimes! According to this vid, the House has already passed the fucker; it awaits only Senate approval: and with gutless Harry Reid at the helm, that's gay-ron-fuukin-TEED, chers.

Just watch.
Then go get your neighbors and a fucking torch and a pitchfork, and head for the offices of your local legislators, and tell 'em nobody goes home til that fucking bill is DEAD!

The Democratic Senate: Gutless Enablers or Sold-Out Co-Conspirators? Hmmmmm?

The Bushevik Crime Cabal has put forth the name of yet another despicable, gynophobic, oppressive Neo-con fertilogue, one Richard Honaker, as a candidate for a life-time seat on a federal appeals court.

If Honaker's anticipated life-span were equivalent to the vermin he most closely resembles in his opinions, one might not oppose the nomination, on 'humanitarian' grounds: his like don't live long anyway. Unfortunately, the rabidly "pro-life" Honaker has inherited some human dna along with his less attractive antecedents.

We are entitled by our (shredded, almost unrecognizable) Constitution the right to petition for the relief of grievances. Honaker is a walking, breathing, shitting grievance. If you have the energy, still, write you Senator to protest this travesty. The Senate should not be complicit in any FURTHER packing of the Federal judiciary with reactionism.
Unless they agree.
If that's the case, the owe it to the 'folks' to tell us.
Minimum.
Fuckers...

Homeless Vets: Send This To Faux News' Maxi-Fucktard, Mega-Blowhard, Bill O'Reilly

Yes, the do exist.

Not all wounds bleed. At least not visibly. One vet in 5 comes home with a traumatic, concussive brain injury, according to a recent report. Readjustment to ordinary life is a life-threatening experience, according to many therapists.

But BillO', himself a chickenshit chickenhawk, would surely say those damaged souls were just 'weak.'

I really, truly, honestly hope a gang of homeless vets catches O'Reilly in a dark alley, and beats him senseless, mebbe with a prosthesis; just beats the fucker til he whimpers, soils his pants and crawls away whining in shame and humiliation.

President "Present"?

As I have been saying, annoyingly to some, for at least three years, candidate Barack Obama seems to have perfected the art of triangulation which, ironically, was so successfully introduced and extensively practiced by the spouse of his current rival, Hillary Clinton.

Who says irony's dead?

Anyway, Obama's penchant for being "present" on crucial votes is one thing that causes me pause in selecting him as my nominee.

Well, that, and his evident contempt for the accomplishments of people in my age cohort--it's not a generation, per se; too few years, only about 15, 1945-'60-- on many of whose shoulders (and bodies) he is standing to heap his dismissive rhetoric.

Excessive? Well pardon me! Fuck him!

Alternative Energy: Where It Isn't, and Why

There is no practical reason why there isn't a solar-collecting device of some kind on the roof of every building in the US.

There are political reasons, having to do with the purchasing power of the Oil/Coal/Nuclear energy industry and the bargain-basement deals by which they have purchased the country's elected 'representatives.'

The immediate result of such an installation project would be immense, both in terms of creating new jobs, founding new, green industries, and reducing domestic industrial energy consumption.

There you see the problem, because there already are existing jobs, industries, and energy monopolies, which would lose some, if not all, of their clout.

And all those investments in Congresscritters would have been in vain.

So, until there is a top-to-bottom awakening in the energy industry, serious intervention by the Feds, and there emerges a way for all the people with all the power (as it were) to hold onto their power, wealth and perquisites, nothing's gonna change.

Devote 1/10 the amount of r&d money to solar (pv or water) cells that is being devoted now to "clean coal" (which is total bullshit propaganda nomenclature fuckers, coal is coal) and the thing'd be done.
An opposing view:

The reason is price. Until recently PV cells cost about 50 cts/kWhr vs about 8 from the utility.

Now that they are getting down into the 20s and many are paying close to 20 and we have some subsidies they are starting to make sense and production is exploding.

Which leads to the 2nd reason this is bollocks. In the short run every bit of PV production is sold out. There's no capacity to put a cell on every building in the country.

Markets are not perfect and don't solve real problems, but you can't get people to pay 10X for things very easily.

The reasons you cite, while true, are not VALID, because they free-ride the energy corps which want t preserve the status quo at any price...they get these HUGE breaks, both tax and regulatory. They don't wanna see the gravy train end, and they've been promised by the various Powers that it won/t be, qand fuck the planet, the people, and you if you can't take a joke.

Putting some kind--ANY kind--of a solar collector atop EVERY building that has a roof would immediately reduce the need for 'industrially produced' (oil/coal/nuke) by more than half...then the energy companies could sell what they produce to the manufacturing companies at a fair (instead of a subsidized) rate. You see the problem?

I know that, for exactly that reason, it is unlikely to happen, but I personally won't support the candidacy of any nominee who doesn't include such provisions in their platform.

Yeah, okay, so I won't be voting for the PRez this year, mebbe...I cannot see, with the candidates in the picture now, that it will make any difference.

Woody's pre-Spring-time Fashion Tips: Looking Good In A Hat

"There is one sure-fire way to look fab in your fancy, new, vernal fedora...

"You gotta THINK you look fab in that fancy, new, vernal fedora...or, as the photo illustrates, in a condom, for that matter..."

MLK's Sermon Announcing His Public Calling Opposing The Vietnam "War"

It is no accident that King's "I Have A Dream" is the one which shaped his posthumous public image. It is certainly his best known, and that is not an accident, either.

In April, 1967, King announced he was expanding his civil rights work to include the injustices he recognized as being immanent in the already fearsome, and always expanding, bloody intervention by the USofA into the civil war between North and South Vietnam. I have heard it was this sermon that got him killed. King was NOT talking to the black population alone; but his gravitas there might well have poisoned them to the injustice of the 'war' and deprived it of necessary cannon fodder, and was thus not allowed to long persist. The date of this sermon is April 30, 1967. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, while leading resistance in a labor dispute in Memphis. The man walked it.

Btw: Driftglass had this vid today. The comments there got me thinking. He's got a kewl site.

Remind me why the USofA Invaded, Conquered, Occupied, Raped, and Pillaged Iraq?

1) To void all those energy exploration and exploitation deals that Saddam and his ministers had signed with French, Russian, the Chinese, and other Governments, which excluded Anglo/Murkin 'interests,' and to forge new agreements which rectified those previous 'oversights.' Saddam and his guys weren't gonna renege on the previous deals, so they had to be "replaced" (i.e., 'killed'). The jewel in the crown is the new, proposed Iraq Oil Law, which grants huge favors and concessions to Anglo/Murkin concerns. Read all about it. It's passage will ratify the 'transformation' of Iraq into a 'working democracy' and guarantee the sitting Iraqi prime minister--mebbe, by then, Ahmad Chalabi will have popped up again--the title of "the Washington of the Tigris," or the "Lincoln of Mesopotamia" or some shit.

2) To launch a land-based air-craft carrier battle group into the heart of the resource-rich, hotly contested, tumultuous trans-Caspian energy pool. From bases in Kirkuk, for instance (which just happens to be the locale one of the four huge, 'temporary' bases nearly built now in Iraq), every population center--as well as every oil terminal, pipeline and depot--from the Bosporus to the Kyber Pass is within the effective, tactical range of supersonic, USer fighter-bombers. This is a vital necessity, if the USofA hopes to contain the energy ambitions of the Chinese, the Indians, and the re-emergent Russians. They didn't/don't call it the Grand Game for nothing.

3) To eliminate Iraq from the actors threatening Israel. Saddam Hussein probably signed his own death warrant when, during the 1st Gulf 'war,' he fired those ridiculous SCUD missiles into the Negev. His fate was sealed by the elevation to power in the US of the Chimp, a psychotic asshole "Sonny" who couldn't understand that Saddam's trying to off GHWB was just "bidness.' The denaturing of Iraq as a threat to Israel would be best accomplished by the Balkanization of the country, which could also be an outcome of the Iraq Oil Law, mentioned above.

Workers Steadily Losing Ground To Inflation: It's The Economy, Dumb-fux!

On YahooNews this morning there was this:

Gas, food spur inflation jump in 2007

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Wed Jan 16, 5:50 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Consumer prices rose in 2007 at the fastest pace in 17 years as motorists paid a lot more for gasoline and grocery shoppers paid higher food bills. However, falling prices for clothing and new cars offset some of those gains.

The Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006. Both energy and food prices jumped by the largest amount since 1990.

Prices were also up sharply for health care, housing and education. However, these gains were offset somewhat by falling prices for clothing, new cars and computers.

Workers' wages failed to keep up with the higher inflation. Average weekly earnings, after adjusting for inflation, dropped by 0.9 percent in 2007, the fourth decline in the past five years. The lagging wage gains are cited as a chief reason many workers have growing anxiety about their economic futures.
[...]
For December, the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent, slower than the 0.8 percent jump in November, as food costs were flat for the month and energy prices rose by 0.9 percent after an even bigger 5.7 percent jump in November. Outside of food and energy, core inflation rose a more moderate 0.2 percent in December.

The rising risk of a recession has prompted politicians to consider stimulus packages to give the economy a jump-start to either prevent a recession or at least mitigate its fallout. President Bush has said he may unveil a plan around his Jan. 28 State of the Union address. Democrats in Congress and presidential candidates in both parties are putting forward their own plans.

The 4.1 percent increase in overall prices last year was the biggest since a 6.1 percent jump in prices in 1990.

Overall energy costs rose by 17.4 percent this past year while food costs rose by 4.9 percent. Both were the biggest increases since 1990. Gasoline prices were up 29.6 percent, the biggest increase since they soared by 30.1 percent in 1999.

I'm not a math guy; my Ph.D.'s in philosophy. But it seems to me that, if consumer prices rose "4.1 percent for all of 2007," and wages dropped 0.9 percent, the net loss to the average worker was close to 5 percent.

Tell me how can a poor man stand such times and live?

What's The Point Of having A 'Police State' If the Cops Can't ACT Like It's A Police State?

Recently, apparently acting on a tip, police invaded a home in Lima, Ohio, whereupon the killed a woman in the house, and seriously wounded the infant she was holding when they shot her. The blogger "Stephen Crane" on MLW put it this way:

(A) Lima , Ohio SWAT team invad(ed) the home of 26 year old Tarika Wilson, an innocent woman whom they shot and killed. The trigger happy cops also shot the index finger off of Sincere Wilson, her 13 month old son, whom Tarika was holding in her arms when they murdered her. Tarika Wilson also had her other 5 children ages 1 to 8 home during the deadly raid. Police arrested her boyfriend on a charge of suspicion of possession of crack cocaine & marijuana. The cops also used a stun hand grenade during the raid even though they were fully aware her children were in the home.

Thom Hartmann frequently quotes the statistic that there are at least ONE MILLION police home-invasions in the USofA every year, the vast majority of which are putatively conducted in pursuit of 'drugs.' I was being (obviously, I hope) snarky when I replied:

I don't see the problem here. (0.00 / 0)
(Rightard 'sincerity):

Somebody in that house was apparently breaking the law.
This is a nation of laws, nest paw?
For the law to function, it must be respected.
If it takes occasional violent demonstrations--particularly against 'brown' people, who are notoriously disrespectful of the "law"--to instill respect for the law, then how is that problematic for democracy?

/Rightard 'sincerity'

Drug prohibition has worked astonishingly well at what it was designed to do: marginalizing and criminalizing drug "abusers." And everybody who uses an 'illegal' drug is an 'abuser.' By definition. Plus they're breaking the law. It's the 'perfect storm' solution to keeping the uppity folks in their places, and preventing them from participating... With a drug bust on the record, almost every option for a non-criminal existence is closed to you. Which perpetuates the culture of 'crime,' which keeps the jails full, the guards employed, the testers churning out their improbably expensive tests, and the cops confiscating 'drug-related' property.

See, it's win-win!

The War On Drugs is a war against the kinds of resistance that are emblazoned in the drug culture. Any drug "abuser" is always already suspect for other 'crimes.'

BTW: The gif at the top of the page came off the homepage of the Lima, OH, SWAT Team. Make of that what you will.

The Bush Cabal Puts "The Bully" Into The Bully Pulpit

They're, in effect, defying the legal machinery of the USofA. The CREW Blog has a piece up on the late-nite reply of the Regime to a law-suit seeking to discover information in the WhiteHouse about certain apparent ethical improprieties involving the desruction of certain historical, and Congressionally protected documents and records. According to CREW, they've effectively admitted to everything: Plame, tapes, torture, spying, everything. And they're saying: "So you gonna try to make sumpin of it, punk?"

The Bush Cabal is basically saying "Here's the final (or maybe only the peri-semi-demi-hemi-penultimate) insult, you poor mopes!" They know that if legal action against them is not brought by the end of this year, '08--and really, unless the complaints are in the system before about the 1st of July--it never will be brought, because whomsoever gains the Office will be waaaaay to busy trying to fix the incredible complex of crises the Bush Cabal will have left (hopefully) for the new incumbent. Inevitably, the in-coming President must mumble the pro-forma absolutions, claim the mandate to 'look forward, not back,' raise the flag of bi-partisan get-along, and back off.

That, and the inevitable, albeit usually tacit, understanding among the inhabitants of that sphere of action, like: 'hey, you do what you gotta fuckin' do. You'll see.' There will be considerable outrage, but not ever enough to actually bring any of them up on charges. And that presumes that the Chimperor wouldn't issue wholesale pardons throughout the out-going (hopefully) regimistas.

There is one distinguishing characteristic of this gang of thugs and gunsels: mostly they seem to have unconquerable 'poker faces.' They don't blink when are caught in a lie; they smile and go on as if they were still telling you the truth, and you would still believe them. They're like car salespeople (although that stretches the notion of 'people' pretty much to the breaking point). Or, more, really, they're more like a a bunch of brutal tinhorn gamblers, swilling power, bragging, and playing cards, with pistols on the table. It is perhaps not an accident that the tenure of the Bushevik Cabal was accompanied by the rise to public attention of no-limit, Texas Hold-em, a game at which a bully has a 'natural' advantage.

You watch Bush. He's got that archetypal "bully" primp. When he speaks, his verbal mannerisms and the constant assault of hideous malapropisms tend to disguise the postural things he does, always as if to say, "Okay, you think you're so tough, you take a swing at me. Right, fellas?" If Bush is a bully, and he is, then Cheney's just one damn bad dude. Vicious, utterly without scruple, principle, or honor. Would do (probably has done) ANYTHING to have his way. That guy Addington should go kayaking on the Potomac and have an accident. The whole rest of the regime is a circus of asswipes, boot-lickers, sycophants, and clowns, along with a compliment of 'soldiers', or made men/women.

And I am STILL not in ANYWAY certain that they actually intend to give all this up.

Sooooo-prahz, soooooo-prahz: The Bushevik Regime Destroyed Records And Data They Were Required By Law To Preserve.

Via ThinkProgress.com:

White House ‘reused e-mail tapes.’
AP reports:

The White House has acknowledged recycling its backup computer tapes of e-mail before October 2003, raising the possibility that many electronic messages — including those pertaining to the CIA leak case — have been taped over and are gone forever.

The disclosure came minutes before midnight Tuesday under a court-ordered deadline that forced the White House to reveal information it has previously refused to provide. […]

If the e-mails were not saved, the White House might have violated two laws requiring preservation of documents that fall into the categories of federal records or presidential records.

As a commentor replied:

The Dem’s aren’t going to do a damn thing about it except let the clock run out, my guess many of them are not just enabeler’s but just as guilty…

To which I replied:

Right-eeee-o! Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner. The Dims have controlled at LEAST the agenda of Congress for almost two years. If th fascist agenda hasn’t been stymied by now, it is because the Dims are AT LEAST sympathetic–and, with Reid and Pelosi leading the way, followed closely by the likes of Jane Harman–probably enthusiastic, about it.

In a subsequent post, I appended the following:

By the way, one does not have to ‘impeach’ traitors.
All that is necessary is to arrest, try, condemn, and dispatch ‘em.
Cf., the Rosenbergs…

I do NOT think the fuckers should get off scott-free. There MUST be consequences. The last time there were no consequences for presidential treachery, the fascist fuck Nixon fluttered away into retirement, only eventually to be revived as an elder statesman, thereby giving the Right-wing asstards the information they needed to plot all their subsequent treasons, from Reagan's outright theft of the '80 'election' by Bush Sr, and Bill Casey dealing in paris in '79 with the ranian ayotollas, to the sell-out of the SC(R)OTUS in installing the Chimperor. It all followed from the fear among the 'loyal opposition' to actually imprison the fallen autocrat.