Global Eye - Future Perfect - By Chris Floyd

[CHIMO]

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2007 -- Calvin J. Hooper was sworn in today as the 49th President of the United States in a quiet ceremony that many hope will put an end to a tumultuous period that has seen the inauguration and resignation of five chief executives in the 12 months since former president George W. Bush fled the country for exile in Saudi Arabia.

Hooper's ascent to the presidency has been meteoric, to say the least. Two weeks ago, he was a part-time city councilman in Salt Lick, Tennessee (population 1,300). But following the indictment of most recent president Ken Mehlman on racketeering charges for his alleged involvement in the Jack Abramoff-Tom DeLay crime ring, a frantic search of computer records found that Hooper was the only elected Republican official in the United States who had neither been paid off by the ring nor was complicit in the so-called "Nurembergate Scandal," the wide-ranging government conspiracy to launch a war of aggression against Iraq on false pretenses. More than 1,427 Republican officials have been convicted in the two ongoing investigations, and a further 927 are now under indictment, including former presidents Dennis Hastert, Colin Powell, Karen Hughes and Scott McClellan.

Once located, Hooper was quickly named to fill the congressional seat vacated by Tennessee Representative Zach Wamp, who was forced to resign after being indicted in the Abramoff-DeLay probe. Hooper was then immediately elected Speaker of the House, which made him second in line to the presidency, as the vice presidency has been left vacant since the conviction of former veep Dick Cheney in one of the first Nurembergate trials in early 2006. Upon Mehlman's resignation, Hooper became president.

He was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts, in what is likely to be the judge's last official act. Roberts has been indicted for conspiracy to facilitate torture and perverting the course of justice, and is expected to resign after his arraignment hearing next week. The charges stem from a ruling Roberts made as an appeals judge in 2005, when he approved Bush's "military tribunal" system, an illegal, unconstitutional scheme that gave the president the arbitrary power to dispose of captives in the War on Terror -- and every U.S. citizen as well -- as he saw fit, outside all existing legal norms and protections. Roberts was actively negotiating with the Bush team for a slot on the Supreme Court at the time of the ruling. It is now alleged that his elevation to the court was a political payoff for his dubious decision on the now-discredited and outlawed tribunal system.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/10/28/120.html

Chris' brevity is a bit unnerving.

[callady]

1. Being There

Chance

[Demeter]

2. Scariest Movie I've Ever Seen

and now we are living through it. Life imitates art.