I built scar tissue up around that thought but sometimes the realization erupts into my mind at the oddest times.

Stepped out the door into early morning darkness with a cigarette and a cup of yesterday's coffee. As I lit up, a thought uncoiled and slithered out of nowhere to reminded me: "Bush got away with it all. He got away with everything. Rumsfeld, Powell, Rove. All of them. With everything."

"With everything."

Does that sound right to you? I rolled it around in my head and it sounded right to me.

"With everything."

I was seized with disgust and for just a second I thought of splashing out the remainder of my coffee into a nearby bush and pretending it was Dubya's face.

Decided not to. Maybe it's the price of coffee or maybe the realization that it wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference.

PB