the little contretemps (EZBoard?) 'twixt us'ns and one 'daleross' (a M$ minion of some sort) - which ensued, following his assertion that -

If it's legal it's ethical!

(Well, you can see where That can lead. And did.)

The historic remedy for 'bad character' / slime in high places has been Recall
(when was the last time we heard of a recall election, except CA's governor of recent note?) and voting-out at next election. But that was when most people Were 'citizens' at least, sort-of. And if the National level of outrage is successfully opiated by some mix of ignorance, insouciance and just plain ennui: then there IS no remedy for the likes of the Neocons, nor for the discovery nay, finally: Proof that one has elected a simpleton and a nut-case zealot, to boot. (And opened the floodgates to much more capable, nastier operatives - if they just express Love-for-Shrub.)

Ergo - no 'law' can make the disinterested / the willfully ignorant safe from the looneys. Nor IMO is that trend other than down. More info surfaces daily (as the books, footnootes get written) re the illegal chicanery just last Nov - some say, quite more extensive than in 00/04.
("Landslide Denied" comes to mind):

[link|http://adreampuppet.blogspot.com/2006/11/landslide-denied.html|http://adreampuppet....slide-denied.html]

[link|http://themonitor.wordpress.com/2006/11/|http://themonitor.wordpress.com/2006/11/]
(article dated 3/19, down page) - and surely a passel on Googling.

When the skullduggery is so pervasive as to be routine; when the number of individual infractions --> crimes quickly exceeds a normal person's memory capacity - I think that denial gives way to, simply: acceptance of the inevitability of further unravelling. We have succeeded in rendering 'dialogue' impossible, even amidst the minority who ~ pay attention.

Hey.. Kunstler may be acerbic - but he's decidedly Got Our Number;
we could not be less-prepared for the twin concepts of 'adequacy' / 'conservation of resources' - precisely at the stage where [remember the word, 'thrift'?? .. way back] the profligate are apt to freeze - in all senses.

Luck to all us new Banana Republic-ans.
(Expecting competence next to magically appear, truly would be a sign of neural disconnect.. nope, 'luck' is about all that's left in that sack)