“L’état, c’est moi!”

“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” — H.L. Mencken

Every time I start to think the American people might actually have something remotely approaching intelligence, they decide to go and prove that I was right the first time.

Americans are idiots. Hell, I might as well go ahead and lump myself in with that bunch, since I’m obviously not smart enough to figure out how to get through to these knuckleheads. (While apparently, the G.O.P. scumbags in the House are capitalizing on that idiocy once again with more of this “War on Christmas” lunacy. Oh, and for the record, if you actually believe there’s a war on Christmas, you’re a fucking moron — no qualifiers there.)

Take this assertion of absolute, unchecked power that Chancellor Strauch decided to issue yesterday. If ever there were clearer grounds for impeachment in the history of this country, I have yet to see them. And I’m not talking about the Secret Police spying itself — which, though patently illegal, might be forgiven as the knee-jerk reaction of a panicked executive — but his continued assertions that (a) he had some mysterious legal authority (for which nobody with any intelligence can actually find support) to take this action, and (b) he’s going to continue to conduct such illegal searches as long as he feels like it (and by the way, there is no mechanism whatsoever to argue that position). Oh, and you’re a traitor for daring to expose his criminal activities: Prepare to be tortured.

But hey, they had an election in Iraq. Never mind that fewer than half of Iraqis believe their country is better off than under Saddam. They had an election, dammit.

Update: Looks like the winds of impeachment may be blowing after all. I’m not getting my hopes up just yet, but this is certainly an encouraging sign.