The time for civility is past

(Georgetown University law students turning their backs on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as he spoke to them earlier this week.)

Recent Supreme Court appointments by Bush have centered a great deal on each nominee's position on abortion. While that's an important and polarizing issue for many, I can't help get the feeling the passionate abortion debate is a subterfuge to cover a far greater effect of these nominations.

Stacking the court with the president's extremist right-wing shills is going to affect far more than the individual's power over his or her womb. We already have a sense of that in the president's audacious seizure of power beyond his authority. And just listen to his barristers in support of his right to torture, make war, and spy on us without the consent of the congress. Checks and balances are dead.

Bush has stomped on international treaties with impunity resulting in detentions without due process and heinous tortures. He carries on surveillance without consent of congressional oversight and admits it. And as we learn now from the Boston Globe, should congress fail to renew the Patriot Act, tough shit. Alberto Gonzales says Bush doesn't need it! According to Gonzales, congress gave the president his broad investigative authority when they allowed him to use force against Al Qaeda after 9/11. In yet another power seizure, we learn Bush doesn't need the fucking Patriot Act!

So, obviously stuck with a conservative executive, conservative congress peppered with mostly wimpy democrats, and a increasingly conservative Supreme Court, the time for civility is past.

As my wife said out of the blue earlier this week, "It's time for incivility." For those of us worried about our constricting freedoms, perhaps we are being overly distraught at what the future holds.

Rather than wringing our hands, we need realize there's another alternative open to us. We can consciously opt to disregard the 'law of the land'. I choose as my precedent for this our very own president. Bush holds himself--with the support of his court he's building--to be beyond the law.

Anyone who can seize control of the nation, lie us into war, deny people due process, torture with impunity, and illegally spy on the citizenry has demonstrated one need not obey laws. The time for civility has past.

So, be not too distraught over America's remolding by Bush. As those Georgetown University students demonstrated, we have the choice to just turn our backs on these bastards, just as they have turned their backs on America. Screw unto others as they would screw unto you!

(NOTE: One word of caution, however. While Dada is simply reminding us of another choice we have, he is not necessarily endorsing it. It's a personal decision one may choose, but remember, it is the government who's stacking the courts who will sit in judgment of you and not the other way around should you decide to pursue this course. At present, there is no with the juevos to sit in judgment of the president.)

*photos by AP.