radioactive nixon

"transcripts of the tapes were released on august 5 and the president went on television one more time, admitting that he had listened alone to the june 23 tape in may 1973, an admission that confirmed he had knowingly lied-to the nation, to the courts, to congress, to his staff and lawyers, to his family, and probably to himself day after day, month after month, for more than two years. 'whatever the mistakes i made in the handling of watergate,' he said,' the basic truth remains that when all the facts were brought to my attention, i insisted on a full investigation and prosecution of those guilty. i am firmly convinced that the record, in its entirety, does not justify the extreme step of the impeachment and removal of a president.' the statement was not true. it also came too late. on august 8 nixon went on television to announce that he would resign the next day at noon."
from "president nixon: alone in the white house" by richard reeves.

i missed nixon's resignation...i was camping in the colorado rockies southwest of denver and did not find out until the tenth that he had resigned ( see "nixon and the cowgirls" for details) i only marginally regret that...he was the last act in the destruction of any sort of respect for the presidency, the courts, the constitution, congress, politics, and the rest of the detritus of organized authority that began with johnson and the escalation of the war in vietnam...clearly authority was seriously deranged and delusional...they continue to reinforce that point...don't have a fucking clue..just arrogance and bluster...he had been exposed for what he was long before the endgame...anti-climax..a foregone conclusion...just another overgrown ward hack concerned more about his "historical legacy" than his ethics...you can find them on any town council.

"the first mass attack against tokyo put the city in a state of shock. with a maximum amount of coordination between their military and the diplomatic actions, the allies could have used this state of shock to offer concrete terms for peace. the only condition that they already knew the japanese would not negotiate-keeping their emperor- would also serve allied interests. there was no reason for either side to prolong the war."
from "a history of bombing" by sven lindqvist.

"japan would have surrendered even if atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated. the hiroshima and nagasaki bombs did not defeat japan, nor by the testimony of the enemy leaders who ended the war, did they persuade japan to accept unconditional surrender."
u s strategic bombing survey. july 1946

no...those people were incinerated to make stalin blink...all he did was build his own weapons...what has ( and what will ) all that time, effort, expense, fear, distrust, mendacity, and outright hatred cost? sometimes i wish i didn't read so damned much history...sometimes i need to projectile vomit rage and disgust...august is such a vile month.


the dow pukes up 634.67 points...pundits and politicians dither and point fingers..yeah..the degenerate wisdom of "leadership" is reassuring in interesting times...imagine my relief.