AUSTIN, Texas -- We seem to be having a hail of news that fails
to amaze.
Israel has been attacked by another suicide bomber. Ariel
Sharon, so memorably described by President Bush as "a man of peace," had to
rush home to continue his policy of tit-for-tat, which he has so brilliantly
demonstrated does not work.
Of course, Sharon is also demanding that Yasser Arafat Do
Something about the terrorists. This adds an even more surreal element of
black comedy to the tragedy. Assuming Arafat is not himself the head
terrorist, as Sharon claims, with what, exactly, is he supposed to do about
anything? Sharon has been destroying Arafat's Palestinian Authority piece by
piece for months now and has just finished an attack that demolished the
last elements. Even assuming he had the will, Arafat has no way. Sharon has
put Hamas and Hezbollah in charge. Anyone who is surprised by the result
probably thinks Sharon IS a man of peace.
Also less than staggering is the news Enron execs were "gaming
the system" (isn't that a lovely euphemism?) during the California "energy
crisis" last summer. I like the con they named "Death Star," where they
started by deliberately overscheduling the state's power grid, threatening
to overload it, so they could charge the state for delivering the "excess
capacity" out of state, where the Californians couldn't keep track of it.
They got so good at this they finally never even bought the "excess energy"
they were charging California NOT to deliver. Isn't that a great scam? I'm
not sure I understand "Fat Boy" or "Get Shorty" scams yet.
P.J. O'Rourke, that amusing fellow, recently reported in The
Atlantic Monthly: "Christopher Buckley and I were having a drink at the
Warren Harding Club not long ago, and discussing the Bipartisan Campaign
Reform Act of 2002. It's wonderful, we agreed, that campaign finance is
being reformed. The previous system of raising campaign funds was a shocking
disgrace. From 1989 to 2001, Enron contributed almost $6 million to
candidates of both parties, and got what for its money? Lawsuits, subpoenas,
Justice Department investigations, congressional hearings, and a parade of
elected officials besmirching the reputations of Enron executives and
vilifying the company name. 'I trust,' said Christopher, 'that the new
legislation -- whatever it is -- will put an end to that kind of thing.'"
Ha, ha, ha. Aren't those conservatives a hoot? What a swell time
they must have at these right-wing raves. Yep, the notion that we might need
campaign finance reform in this country is certainly a knee-slapper, given
poor, over-regulated Enron's hard times. Of course, one could argue that
what Enron got for its $6 million in campaign contributions was:
-- the 1992 decision to deregulate energy futures markets;
-- the Phil Gramm ($97,000 in contributions) legislation that
exempted key parts of Enron from government oversight;
-- the Bush administration's energy policy;
-- the Bush administration's decision to drop the effort to go
after off-shore money laundering (Enron had more than 800 offshore
accounts);
-- Enron executive Thomas White as secretary of the Army, where
he promptly moved to privatize the Army's energy needs;
-- a weakened and underfunded Securities and Exchange
Commission;
-- Energy deregulation in California and elsewhere, through
bills largely written by energy lobbyists.
California Gov. Gray Davis said Tuesday, "About $30 billion was
extorted from this state. Those who claimed that there was no price
manipulation here were just plain wrong." But then, Gray Davis has no sense
of humor.
And in yet another development that will not leave you gasping,
the Bush administration has pulled us out of the International Criminal
Court Treaty, signed by President Clinton but never ratified by the Senate.
Our U.N. ambassador for war crimes issues (I didn't know we had one),
Pierre-Richard Prosper, wrote Kofi Annan that the treaty is a "flawed
document." You might think we would stand fearlessly and foursquare against
war crimes, and in favor of international justice and accountability. But
you would be thinking of cases like the Rwanda genocide and Slobodan
Milosevic. The administration is afraid Henry Kissinger can still be
indicted.
This is the kind of thing that gets us a reputation for not
giving a flying fig what the rest of the world thinks about anything. "Axis
of Incompetence" is how the American Prospect magazine describes Bush's
foreign policy.
Harold Meyerson writes, "If the administration's foreign policy
apparat (minus the increasingly isolated Colin Powell) were placed under one
roof -- Rice, Rumsfeld and Reich; Perle, Wolfowitz, Cheney and Bush -- what
watchword would be inscribed over the door? No, not, 'Abandon hope all hope,
ye who enter' ... but an inscription from another immortal, Casey Stengel
... 'Can't anybody here play this game?'"
The Middle East is a terribly difficult situation, which nobody
can deny, but there is a creeping sense that the Bush administration is just
not up to this problem.
To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other
Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web
page at
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