What Cares Ahab?

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811719312494990925.post-85763332709639786162007-05-17T08:03:00.000-07:002007-05-17T08:56:26.704-07:00What Cares Ahab? <div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_v2rVAzSjdUE/Rkx58kMDGyI/AAAAAAAAAAs/r7lARrnqfdM/s1600-h/ahabpeck.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_v2rVAzSjdUE/Rkx58kMDGyI/AAAAAAAAAAs/r7lARrnqfdM/s400/ahabpeck.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5065557762298288930" border="0" /></a>Captain Ahab: The Decider </div> <div style="text-align: right;">But look ye, the only real owner of anything is its commander... </div> <div style="text-align: right;">-- Ahab </div> In Chapter 109 of Moby-Dick, Starbuck, the so-called conscientious first-mate of the Pequod, confronts the monomaniacal Captain Ahab. The barrels of oil in the hold -- the commodity they are obliged to return to the owners and, as it were, the "American People" -- have begun to leak, and Starbuck suggests they stop the ship to repair the damage and save the precious cargo. Ahab, with downright G.W. Bushian petulance, says, "Fuck the people!" Here is the exchange:<blockquote>"What will the owners say, sir?" "Let the owners stand on Nantucket beach and outyell the Typhoons. What cares Ahab? Owners, owners? Thou art always prating to me, Starbuck, about those miserly owners, as if the owners were my conscience. But look ye, the only real owner of anything is its commander; and hark ye, my conscience is in this ship's keel.-- On deck!" "Captain Ahab," said the reddening mate, moving further into the cabin, with a daring so strangely respectful and cautious that it almost seemed not only every way seeking to avoid the slightest outward manifestation of itself, but within also seemed more than half distrustful of itself; "A better man than I might well pass over in thee what he would quickly enough resent in a younger man; aye, and in a happier, Captain Ahab." "Devils! Dost thou then so much as dare to critically think of me?-- On deck!" "Nay, sir, not yet; I do entreat. And I do dare, sir- to be forbearing! Shall we not understand each other better than hitherto, Captain Ahab?" Ahab seized a loaded musket from the rack (forming part of most South-Sea-men's cabin furniture), and pointing it towards Starbuck, exclaimed: "There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod.-- On deck!" For an instant in the flashing eyes of the mate, and his fiery cheeks, you would have almost thought that he had really received the blaze of the levelled tube. But, mastering his emotion, he half calmly rose, and as he quitted the cabin, paused for an instant and said: "Thou hast outraged, not insulted me, sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man."</blockquote>I thought of this passage after watching the testimony of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey. His testimony is truly shocking, and must be seen to be believed. I recommend watching the entire video, which is <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/16/comey-offers-high-drama-and-maybe-high-crimes/">posted at Crooks & Liars</a>. Comey tells us the following:<blockquote>1) Bush sent two of his goons to John Ashcroft's hospital room, to compel the Attorney General to abandon his judgement and circumvent the authority of the legally acting Attorney General (Comey, who was sitting right there in the room) to sign off on "a program" (NSA wiretapping), which the DOJ had at this point deemed to be illegal. 2) The wiretapping program evidently included (and, presumably, still includes) far wider-reaching surveillance than that to which the administration has admitted. 3) The administration went ahead and re-authorized the program anyway, over the objections of the DOJ. Allow me to repeat that: Bush and his goons re-authorized a program that was considered illegal by his own Department of Justice -- a department headed not by Harry Reid, Nacy Pelosi, or any other terrorist supporters, but by John Ashcroft.</blockquote>It goes without saying that all of this should inspire an open democracy with horrified indignation. The behavior is criminal and authoritarian, more proper to cosa nostra than nostra patria. For more thorough and professional analyses of legal issues here, please see the posts by Anonymous Liberal (<a href="http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2007/05/takeaways-from-ashcroft-hospital-bed.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2007/05/what-changes-were-made-to-nsa-program.html">here</a>), Glenn Greenwald (who has done a <a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/">series of comprehensive posts</a> on this matter), and <a href="http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/05/can-you-even-imagine-how-bad-it-must.html">Marty Lederman</a>. Though it is true that, in the end, Bush and his minions may only end up sinking themselves (Bush beware of Bush), it's best to remember that Ahab, in the end, is not the only one who pays for his transgression. Here's hoping Chuck Schumer has brasser balls than Starbuck.JLBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10987058554014193721noreply@blogger.com