We can't impeach him...

It's simple. Think of it as an arrangement of pieces on a chessboard. Bush is not the king. He's a rook at best. The rook is inflexible, moves only in straight lines, but properly placed can create an impassable barrier. Bush's position is protected by Cheney, the most evil man on the planet, and a slippery knight in this game. Bush's removal would leave Cheney at the front, where he would no doubt usher in the end of the world. Cheney is covered by Pelosi, a mere pawn. I saw her on TV today, and I thought she was Judge Judy. That may be funny, but it's no joke. I thought Judge Judy was overseeing Gore's report to congress. Pelosi might even be another player's pawn, but she still blocks any form of attack.

Of course, chess is really too simple for an effective analogy. To expand it any further, we would need a game for twelve or thirteen players, with hundreds of ranks of pieces that can move forward, backward, over other pieces, under the board, and also switch sides every once in a while.

We're stuck. If we can't get rid of Bush, he has seventeen more months to rape the world. Is there some way to tie his hands? Myself, I'd like to see a public Salem-style witch-hunt on every member of the federal government and clean house. I'm not saying burn them at the stake (you don't kill a snake for being a snake, just don't put yourself in a position to get bit) but remove them from power. Is there some way to tie their hands? To neutralize this cabal without leaving ourselves open to further manipulation?

Manipulation is tricky. there are such things as social engineers. People go to college for it. They study psychology and sociology and statistics and trends and then they get jobs at Pepsi, and FOX, and marketing firms, and ad agencies. Then people hire them, and say "We'd like to raise peoples' awareness of the impact of otter-scrubbing on wildlife," or "We want you rapping about big-screen TVs, blunts, forties, and bitches." They put articles in newspapers, guests on talk-shows, episodes of sitcoms involving blunt-smoking otter-scrubbers watching bitches on big screens.

There's something else going on. If Bush, Cheney, and Pelosi were pieces on my side of the board, I'd be pretty confident right now. I'd also be coiled to launch an unexpected flanking attack while my opponent was looking at the big pieces.

Sun Tzu says deception is at the heart of warfare.

This game isn't going to end in seventeen months.