there is no easy scapegoat in a democratic government

"the blame goes to government structure" was a joke as in a democratic society, just like it could only be taken as a joke when Dr. Rice claimed "no one gave me order to do this" to defend that no FBI officials were given order to conduct due diligencey on possible highjacking attack even when it was reported two potential terrorists were taking pilot training in US.

democracy in some sense is like a thermodynamics process. you can be left or right a little bit from time to time, but the principle of maximization entropy is always abided by via all means of balanced powers. the basic government structure is defined by democracy itself. within the structure, each government has its range of adjustment according to the functional emphasis and strategic goal of that government. so if Dr. Rice would blame anything on the government structure, that was she and her president didn't do their homework well. if in any case, there's blame going to the democratic foundation, like "why do we do this stupid 4-yr election to disrupt consistency of foreign policy and war against terrorism?", or, "why government can't be issued more power so that we can react more efficiently?", or, "why even the president of US needs an excuse to persuade mass to launch a war against another country?" ... if those questions were raised or implied, then that's another serious story.

it was by coincidence that I picked up FA Hayek's Road to Serfdom in last night's bedtime reading. in the few pages I read he seriously warned western democratic countries the danger of overwhelming government power in the name of "efficiency" which would eventually lead to naziism or socialism, two parallel forms of intrinsic totalism in his definition. if it was the government structure to be blamed as Dr. Rice implied, we would have full sake to believe that it is this currently claimed democratic and free America to be reformed into a highly efficient empire who sends people to war without justification, puts civilians under surveillance in the name of national security, and fights everywhere as world police without an ally.

dereliction of duty goes to personnel. government structure doesn't take responsibility for the duty. democracy itself doesn't take responsibility for the duty. moreover, it is really dangerous if anybody takes the chance to transfer it and bring fatal damage to democratic foundation.

well, in the end. Hotplay, I have to say, 你的冰糖炖香蕉的方子不错。馥菱喝一半偷偷扔掉一半咳嗽就好多了，哈哈。

btw, I just found there's a long article about Condoleezza Rice in latest Newyorker web. it is so long that I can't manage to finish it now. I'll wait till the magazine comes. but one sentence looks very interesting to me:

“I can’t find the Archimedean point outside her love of Bush” - from one of her friends.

a new piece, from today's "slate"