Comment on Scott Horton's Writing in Harpers Mag

"Outlaws", by definition, are those who go around breaking the law, basically. I think I can safely say that that’s the definition of “outlaw” but elites rarely call themselves or their own by the term outlaw. This, conversely, also explains why the outlaw tends to become glorified/valorized in the culture. If they cannot be elites, then what can they be? Michel Foucault has something in the book he wrote (“The Politics of Truth”) that is a bit relevant: if Mr. "B" is not “that” kind of outlaw --- then which kind?

What is more than likely the case is that "b" (let's help him hide by switching from upper case to lower case at random) and company did not give a rat's ass about the law. They just wanted to do their own damn thing I guess. That's horrifying --- that kind of disregard. And, yes, it means that they are "outlaws." Really. But then, I just used scare quotes again.

And why is that? Why don't we get to call them outlaws… First of all it's because they are actually worse than outlaws, and secondly, it's because b.b. gunn and Cheney, who ride shotgun together, or something, and shoot turkeys, are not outlaws --- not exactly. They aren't hiding in the rocky valley --- or up on Sugar Mountain. They aren't lame ducks anymore, or sitting ducks, although "sitting duck" sounds like the hunting partner Cheney got to torture by shotgun that fine day. If they are "outlaws" in what sense? -nobody is looking for them. They are -for some reason -not even in demand for those interview or “feature” thingies newspapers do. They aren't hiding, and they aren't on law-enforcement's "(Most) Wanted" list: not at either the local, state of national level. And anyways while we're at it why not make the people who voted for them the outlaws? You'd have to round up 12 or 15% of the population. What kind of a country do you think this is?

It's a democracy and I guess that means the president gets to do whatever he wants. I am sure B. and Cheney are sitting around somewhere and feeling proud – I should say smug, sorry. They certainly are proud and smug at having broken the law. They would like to break more. ("Hi. Are there any more laws I can break?") The guy is clearly an outlaw. These people are perverts and they should be in mental hospitals and they're dangerous. But --- to say, as the Harper’s mag article does, "they waged war against the law itself" ??? What does that mean? They waged war against another state --- the state of Iraq. They attempted to kill, and did succeed in killing thousands of soldiers of the country of Iraq. But who, pray tell, is guilty of that? The United States of America is. Scott Horton may as well say that he wants to put the entire U. S. military in jail. No: kill them. I don't think the Marines would appreciate that and I don't think it would work.

Now, if I was a magazine writer, I would have to say something definitive here. Make some kind of conclusion, you know? But I’ll just leave you with this.

The law was something that got in the way of these persons. What Bush loved was power and his own sense of self-importance. That is typical of any egotist.