Power of the Small: The Criminal Republican Hydra

In Greek mythology, the Hydra is a many-headed snake that cannot be destroyed by cutting off a head: another head grows back to replace the severed one.

Republicans these days are replacing social conscience with arrogance and, indeed, using old cronies previously discredited to continue the dirty-deeds-done-dirt-cheap agenda of the GWBush administration, and resembling the mythological Hydra in doing so.According to an article in The Register, the Bush people have resurrected John M. Poindexter (a convicted felon) and one of the players in the Reagan era scandal of Iran-Contra to read our emails and inspect our bank records, among other invasions of our rights as Americans to privacy, which until recently we could take for granted as guaranteed by our Constitution.Without a doubt, the Bush people, like their boss, consider The Constitution of the United States of America to be "just a piece of paper" as GWBush recently and publicly declared the document which every school child knows is the spine of America.A bird flu epidemic appears inevitable, or another "terrorist" attack likely, or any other excuse for Bush to continue his drive to negate the Posse Comitatus Act, (a federal law passed in 1878 prohibiting federal military personnel from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress) and it is likely that we will find federal soldiers and martial law at our doorsteps.Using an event such as H5N1 bird flu, or another staged act of terrorism akin to the attack on the World Trade Center, and placing federal soldiers within our states in a law enforcement capacity guarantees that any active protest by American citizens against the Bush administration will be quelled with a finality that defies our imaginations until we are faced with the reality of bullets and truncheons changing the course of our version of
democracy. That the Bush administration has now had to resort to resurrecting past convicted criminal members of the Reagan administration to do its dirty work indicates, surely, that current members of the Bush administration may be considering the potential legal ramifications of whatever it is this administration is asking of them. Perhaps those current members of the Bush cabal are refusing to act in accordance with these criminals.One hopes this is the case.(Monsters and Critics' columns are written by outside contributors. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Monsters and Critics. In the interests of creating an open forum, we invite you to volunteer a regular column of your own. To apply contact the "submissions" department via this form. Please include an outline and sample.)