I grew up thinking that we are the good guys. The "Japs" and the "Krouts" were bad guys. Then came Viet Nam and the "Gooks" were the bad guys. They said so on TV. Their governments were terrible and their citizens lived in poverty and agony while a few, a hegemony lived lives of luxury and excess. America was the land of opportunity. Everyone had opportunity to arrive at that wonderful place, middle class America. What else could you want? I believed that we gave the most to people in need. (As a percentage of what we have, we are about 20th among the nations). I believed that our churches were ruled by Biblical principles. I thought God was on our side. All this stuff is sold to us on television, in the movies, and in print media.

In today's paper, none of the following items made the front page. The chief officer of the Justice system in America, the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, is being charged with perjury for lying before congress, to the judiciary committee no less. Two other officers of the government have contradicted his testimony now, the director of the FBI and the former acting Attorney General, bringing about the charges.

Second item: The Ex-District Attorney in Durham, N.C. Mike Nifong "acknowledged Thursday there is 'no credible evidence' that three Duke lacrosse players committed any of the crimes he accused them of more than a year ago, offering for the first time a complete and unqualified apology." Will the boys ever recover? Not altogether, no. And what about the coach of that team. Did you remember that he was fired for letting his team members behave badly. The boys were told they could return to Duke (not likely). The coach was not rehired. What exactly is just about that?

Third item: All the way over on page C3 you find this story. "Judge: FBI framed 4 men in '65 murder" says the headline. "In a stinging rebuke of the FBI, a federal judge Thursday ordered the government to pay a record judgement of nearly $102 million because agents withheld evidence that would have kept four men from spending decades in prison for a mob murder they did not commit." Two of the men died in prison, the other two now in their 70's have sued the government and won. So part of that FBI chasing the mafia stuff that we see on TV is myth as well. Not only does the FBI not play fair, they may be the bad guys.

I recently got a letter from the IRS saying that I owed $5.83 in interest on my taxes because I didn't pay them on time. I called to ask about it, because I did pay them on time. I asked the agent, if I was late, wouldn't there be a penalty plus interest? She said yes. She couldn't explain why there was no penalty. She couldn't explain why the IRS held our check for a month before cashing it. She told me the cheapest resolution would be to pay the money. After an exasperating hour on the phone, I hung up and sent them a check. No one knows why, not me, not them. It is just because someone decided (perhaps a computer) that I should give them more. My complaint is infintessimally small, but the government is running amok. The enemy is not in Iraq. The enemy is us.

Karl Rove was subpoenaed. If it only said he was indicted.