THE FAUXGOTTEN WORD DEPT.

There are many who feel the most dangerous country in the world right now is Pakistan, and we at the Faux may have to agree.
And while our State Department, facing no good choices, seems to be saying “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”, we’d like those folks to consider inserting the word “maybe”, before the “better” part of the relevant devilry. We in the Fauxvian Nation would also like our folks to consider just what Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf has done. He’s fired his Chief Court Justice, while defying our government’s wishes, and his own law as well, although President Bush, to his credit, has been clear in his disapproval. In addition, Mr. Musharraf has suspended his own constitution, closed down TV networks that opposed him and is talking about suspending his country’s next scheduled elections. But interestingly, to us at least, the Republican candidates (all of them) who’ve echoed President Bush’s past policies have been so focused on running to the right of him, that none have voiced any objection as to where supporting Musharraf unconditionally has led us. From front runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, right on down, instead of asking regarding Mr. Musharraf’s silencing, jailing, and eventually disenfranchising his political opponents, “how can HE do that”?, they seem to be wondering in the ’08 election and beyond “when can WE do that”? Which means the real fauxgotten word from their point of view will be: better “envy” the devil you know . . .
One more thing, if these events mark the end of rule of law in Pakistan as we know it, they also mark the end of lawyer jokes as we know them. Because they’re the ones, in the streets, showing the courage to stand up to Musharraf.