NP Hullabaloo Libby Whatever / gradually reverting to P-related

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

when it says Libby's Libby's Libby's
on the label label label
you will like it like it like it
on the table table table

The redoubtable Sherman Skolnick (rest in peace) had high hopes for the Fitzgerald grand jury, up to and including indictment of the president for high crimes and treason. 

There are lots of novels that follow the actions in the corridors of power.  Pynchon has traditionally not done very much of that, though he has high regard for the Education of Henry Adams.  I'm getting acquainted with the "Education" a bit, and it seems as though Henry Adams, though a consummate insider who worked within the government for much of his career, really didn't hold much belief in government at all.

Pynchon's characters who do hold governmental power tend to be monsters - Pointsman, Blicero, Brock Vond - and the likable ones tend to be affected by government in the same way primitive man might have been affected by saber tooth tigers, considering it - with much justification - to be a dangerous force of nature that impacts their activities adversely.  They don't buy-in to the idea of government per se, but try their human wiles against the human purveyors of government, sometimes managing to win small concessions (I'm thinking of Zoyd's marijuana bust, and Hector's small favor regarding Prairie)

Also, I was wondering while thinking about GR today was about Nalline Slothrop's gold star.  Isn't a gold star mother somebody who has lost a child to war?  In that case, could it be that Slothrop at some point - maybe even as early as London - has actually lost his life and is continuing his adventures as a ghost?