Every now and then I see someone else in action and I go "Now THAT is how you do anger!" Today's example of well-justified anger at its finest is former Los Angeles County prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. This guy prosecuted Charles Manson. He was so pissed off when OJ Simpson got away with murder he wrote a book called Outrage. And now he is speaking out in the strongest terms against George W Bush saying Bush should be prosecuted for first degree murder.
He isn't coming at this from a moral point of view, he's saying according to criminal statutes Bush is guilty of first degree murder. Okay, I'm pretty sure he's coming at it from a moral point as well. But he's framing it in legal terms. And then he's using some very colourful language presenting his case.
For those of you who are not cursed with a short attention span, following this link will take you to a partial transcript of a 2 hour speech he gave along with a lot of video footage from that speech. Even if you think you have a short attention span, I urge you to check it out. When you make your career presenting in high level courts you end up with (or maybe start out with) quite a gift for oratory. And it is awesome to see an intelligent, eloquent, experienced, impassioned speaker get really fucking angry.
OK, I know some people will still use the short attention span cop-out so I'll provide you with some highlights:
On why Bush should be prosecuted for murder:
"In my book... I present evidence that proves beyond all reasonable doubt that George Bush took this nation to war on a lie, under false pretenses, and therefore under the law is guilty of murder for the deaths of over 4,000 young American soldiers who died so far in this war."
"If a conspirator, or anyone for that matter, deliberately sets in motion a chain of events which he knows will cause – that’s the key word – cause a third party innocent agent to commit an act, the defendant is criminally responsible for that act."
"Bush can only wash his hands of culpability if he did not take this nation to war under false pretenses. If he did, which the evidence overwhelmingly shows, he is criminally responsible for the deaths of all those American soldiers who have died fighting his war in Iraq."
On the American right wing:
"There are no more repugnant, hypocritical and un-American – and that’s the word I want to emphasize – un-American people in our society today than the right wing."
On possible mitigating circumstances for Bush and Co:
"And there is one thing that I should probably say in partial defense of these people that goes in mitigation, arguably reduces their moral culpability. And what I’m talking about is that many of these people are incredibly stupid. And they make up for their stupidity by being extremely ignorant. And when you combine stupidity with ignorance that’s a toxic combination."
Some general fun quotes:
"And the question I have of you, is how evil, how perverse, how sick, how criminal can George Bush and his people be?"
"What type of a human monster is George Bush?"
"If I ever killed one person in my life, even accidentally – a car accident – I’d never have another perfect day as long as I lived. George Bush is responsible for the horrible deaths of thousands of human beings and he is talking about having a perfect day. Bush’s plans to have a perfect day right in the middle of all the death and horror in Iraq goes so far beyond acceptable human conduct that no moral telescope can discern its shape, form and nature."
And I'll close with Bugliosi basically summing up my life philosophy. He's raging against Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr (who he calls "one of the most reprehensible figures in American history") and he says:
"I seem to be getting more angry and acerbic and caustic and that’s because I am always in a state of rage, how can I help but be?"
I enjoy my own outburst of creative anger but occasionally, I just like to sit back and watch a master.
Wax on, wax off.
No comments:
Post a Comment