Oh boy, another Monday. And a special one at that, as everybody’s favorite Governor Ahnuld Schwarzenegger hits the big six-oh today. It also happens to be the day on which Jimmy Hoffa went away, never to be seen again, in 1975. Perhaps more significantly, however, was what happened a year earlier. The House of Representatives recommended three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, ushering in the beginning of the end of Nixon’s presidency. He officially resigned just ten days later, on August 9^th, ending one of the darker eras in our history.

Unfortunately, Nixon’s reign looks pretty tame in comparison with the current group of liars, murderers, and thieves. I followed the Watergate hearings pretty closely back then, and would like nothing better than to have a new set of hearings in the House and Senate to occupy my days. Of course, those were different times, back then. The WaPost wasn’t a fascist propaganda outlet, for one thing (and David Broder wasn’t yet a senile, Republican water-carrier). And there was still at least some semblance of decency amongst the politicians of the day. Or so it seemed to me, anyway (I admit, I was still a bit young and naive). It’s sad that the closest thing we have to a Lowell Weicker on the Republican side is the all-talk, no action Arlen Specter, and while he initially opposed Brown v. Board of Education, and continued to oppose forced school desegregation (on “states’ rights issues), I don’t know of anybody that would be as much fun to watch chair a committee as Sam Ervin was, back then (he also had a hand in bringing down Tailgunner Joe McCarthy, back in the day).

But, we’ll see what happens. It might just be that the Abu Gonzalez will force the Democrats to do the right thing, in spite of themselves. They need a good kick in the ass, and I can’t say as I blame them, to be honest. We know they’ll be trashed in the traditional media if they try to bring dear leader to justice, and if they aren’t really, really certain that the people will have their backs when they vote to impeach and convict – the “convict” part is the important thing that an awful lot of people seem to forget about – and that they’ll be given the boot (not in favor of Republicans or third-party ego maniacal loser candidates, but in their primaries) if they fail to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, then they’ll take the easy way out. Who can blame them? I tend to take the easy way out of things, myself.