What a week

Where to start…..

Among all of the good news this week is the great news that the wise people of Pennsylvania kicked renowned homophobe Rick Santorum out of the Senate. Now if Oklahoma can wake up and get rid of Tom Coburn, perhaps the Senate can leave the constitution alone and have a meaningful discussion about Iraq. But, since my oldest sister and a handful of good bands are among the few good things to come out of Oklahoma, I’m not holding my breath. (This is the state, after all, where I witnessed a shop-vac being used as a toilet.)

While the national political picture looks better, voters in Dallas and Ellis County rejected two great candidates for county judge. Margaret Keliher was defeated by Democrat Jim Foster, who has never held elected office. It’s a shame, because as the self-described “Mayor of Dallas County,” Keliher had a sincere concern for international issues—something that Dallas’ current mayor doesn’t care to be bothered about.

In Ellis County, the GOP’s unwavering and unlearned followers reelected anti-environmentalist and Joe Barton yes-man Chad Adams instead of former Waxahachie mayor Chuck Beatty. Turnouts like these prove (again) that straight-ticket voters are at best naïve, and at worst destructive. (See the Dallas County DA race, for example.) Just because Dubya and his crew have made some big messes, doesn’t justify voting straight Democrat in LOCAL RACES. And just because you think that Dubya can do no wrong doesn’t mean that the right guy (or gal) is always riding an elephant.

With Rumsfeld gone and possibly facing charges, it looks like Tony Snow’s alleged warning that “this is not a time for floating ideas” might (hopefully) be the last breaths of an Administration in denial.

What’s really interesting about the charges being mounted against Rummy, is that it appears not to be all for show. Among those listed at possible defendants in the TIME article listed above is John Yoo, the man given the responsibility to provide the Administration’s intellectual and legal backing for torturing POWs. Since it seems that public opinion, if not (I assume) 99% of ethicists and John McCain are in the majority in saying that torture is wrong in any situation, perhaps these trials could (read: should) get some traction. I know that the US’ longstanding policy of “do what we say, not what we do” will certainly be called upon, thereby preventing Rummy from doing hard time for Abu Ghraib. And that’s too bad.