I’m no longer surprised at what the Bush administration will—and won’t—do these days. Work to eliminate leaders of sovereign foreign countries because they represent an actual threat to the United States (via their non-existent weapons of mass destruction)? Or because they want the oil those leaders have? Work to eliminate civil liberties for Americans because they represent an actual threat to the United States? Or because they want more powers to investigate average citizens who might politically oppose them?

And, of course, the common thread is that they never cease to work “to secure the safety of all Americans from terrorists” by terrorizing those who oppose them.

Did they leak the name of a CIA agent, forever compromising her ability to work for the security of our nation, and putting her life at risk? Did they do this because her husband was critical of their administration? We’ll perhaps never know.

At a time when most Britons recognize that their government lied to them about Iraq and Tony Blair’s government is thus on the ropes, the people of the United States still have the utmost faith that a President who closes hearings so we can’t know what’s happening with prisoners, including U.S. citizens; a President who holds “Top Secret Prisoners” for the huge crime of overstaying a tourist visa, without any proof that they’ve committed any other crime; a President who closes hearings so we can’t know what is happening to Enron; a President who gives valuable contracts to his friends without even asking for competitive bids. (One such contract gave Worldcom up to $9000 per cell phone!)

And, who cares, after all? I mean, it’s not like the President had sex with “that woman.” And, even if he did, you’ll never know.