Framing Isn't Just a Foreign Affair

Darn that Gene Lyons! The famous mainstream editorialist has just ruined my day -- actually my foreseeable future -- by stating a possible conspiracy theory that is just too feasible -- or rather, too scary -- to contemplate (and I never used to be the paranoid type). I'm almost glad that I hadn't thought of it myself at some point in the past, at least not in such concrete terms. When even mainstream journalists start to think such thoughts, then one can only imagine the depths to which our government has sunk. [Off-topic note: Lyons also puts into perfect words why I despise The New York Times -- most of the time.]

Plan A, Part 1: U.S. Imperialism to "Fight Terror" (with Collateral Profits)
The Bush/Cheney Regime has stretched the U.S. military to the limit in that tiny postage stamp of a country known as Iraq. In doing so, it has re-revealed to the world the "soft underbelly" of our superpower status (it was originally revealed in Vietnam). As a result of this over stretching, it has now become somewhat impractical for them to try to frame some other Middle Eastern nation for a future "terrorist" attack within the U.S., although they certainly seem to be trying lately with all the "successfully foiled" terrorist "plots" (some of which have been attributed to poor, young American men -- keep that in mind -- who have neither the means nor the know-how to blow up massive skyscrapers). In essence, the Pentagon no longer has enough military personnel or taxpayer money with which to wreak "vengeance" upon yet another oil-producing nation (Usurper Bush has, according to inside sources, actually considered using nuclear weapons on Iran because of his lack of other options). In short, the Bush/Cheney Administration cannot attack any newly framed "transgressor nation" without partially or wholly abandoning its ill-gotten gains in the previously framed "transgressor nation" -- Iraq. [Some of us predicted this over stretching way back in early 2003.]

Plan A, Part 2: U.S. Dictatorship to "Protect Us from Terror"
There is more to the Bush/Cheney agenda than U.S. imperialism. They are also power hungry here at home (as if you needed me to tell you that). According to "Plan A", "foreign terror threats" are supposed to be the necessary excuse for increased domestic authority and decreased democracy. But what if they can no longer afford to use "foreign terrorists" as their primary excuse to abolish the U.S. Constitution? How, then, will they continue their dictatorial power grab here at home (and avoid war-crimes trials and hard prison time)? Well, there is always Plan B (which they might have been considering doing all along, anyway).

Plan B: U.S. Dictatorship to "Protect Us from Terror" (Revised)
Gene Lyons has provided me with a possible missing piece of a puzzle that I have been trying to assemble for some time now. It appears that Bush/Cheney might not have to rely solely on "foreign terrorists" to accomplish their domestic goals. Lyons concludes his most recent editorial with this unpleasant thought:

"Reasonable people never want to believe that extremists [radical conservatives and neocons] believe their own rhetoric. But quit kidding yourselves. This is mass psychosis. The next terrorist strike, should it happen, will be blamed on the enemy within: treasonous "liberals" who dissent from the glorious reign of George W. Bush. Unless confronted, it's through such strategems that democracies fail and constitutional republics become dictatorships."

Conclusion
You scoff at such a theory? I sincerely, with all my heart, hope you are right; however, as I remember it, it was an American (a gung-ho, flag-waving veteran of the first Gulf War) who was captured, tried and executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (even though the FBI and local police confirmed to Oklahoma City TV stations that bombs were planted inside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, and that they had even successfully defused two of them).

Maybe, as I have imagined all along, "treasonous liberals" are the motivating factor behind these things... For months, I've been trying to figure out what excuse the government would use to start filling them. Lyons has provided me with a possible answer.

Am I getting a little too carried away here? Probably. The losers in the White House don't have much credibility left to accomplish much of anything, and if they had any credibility, they wouldn't be concerned with liberals. But, hey, as I say, it has finally come to the point that I am keeping company with famous mainstream media journalists, as far as paranoia goes. That's not an insignificant thing for me.