Behold Leviathan

" Mr. Chairman," Cleary began, "Need I remind you that I took the oath of an Officer in the United States Military."

"I hold that oath sacred, Sir." Cleary turned to directly face the audience. "Especially the part to support and defend the Constitution of the United States."

It was a bold challenge cleverly spoken, and the Committee was a little bit cowed. Any citizen had the right to defend the Constitution, however, and that is what the Committee feared. This man, as a full citizen in good standing, had far more rights, privileges, and protections than any mere member of the Armed Forces. He had the best of both worlds, and they feared him for it.

The audience looked at Cleary a little differently, now. A few among them remembered the days when the military was a superlative institution that built strong men, devoted men. Could this be one of the few, from those halcyon days? It brought shivers to the spine to witness how true this one man was to his training and to the country that spawned him. Yes, even if America remained great in only this one man's strong mind; well, others were getting a glimpse of it now.

We used to be a nation among nations. We were a good country, a good people. We had destiny. We were a land all others could aspire to be like. Yes, it brought fire to the soul and clarity to the senses, to conjure it up in the mind. Is this what it was like in the bygone days before Viet Nam? Were we good then? Can we be again?

Alas, Cleary considered, 'twas high time to test these choppy seas with a shot across the bow. Batten down the hatches, his expression said. Call General Quarters. Turn this carrier into the wind. We are going to War. Yes, now! Launch the first strike; on my command. Go.

"Members of the Committee, (turning around) Ladies and Gentlemen," Cleary began. Then he took a long deep breath, and spoke in his very best diction and deepest voice. "It is my sincere contention that this Committee's position on the Global Warming Treaty is a blatant, subversive, but very real and totally sanguine attempt to destroy the United States of America: completely, utterly, and for all time."

Then Cleary sat back in his chair to plan his next stratagem.

The entire room burst into an uproar. Cleary was trying to remain as calm and collected as he could. Colonel Franco beside him was furiously writing on his yellow legal pad, totally oblivious to the frantic reactions of those all around. 'Bless him,' Cleary thought. It serves the Army right for assigning him endless dead-end cases. He's well prepared for this adversarial role. Then Franco looked over and caught Cleary's eye.

"Well done, Pilgrim," Franco said in his best John Wayne. With a look of wild abandon, they got ready for the main assault. There was much to be said, little time to say it.

A few moments later, when the ruckus subsided, Franco tapped Cleary on the shoulder and offered, "Hey, trooper, why don't you let me take it for a while - you look bushed."

"Yea, I am kind of tired." Then he nodded yes, and Paul Franco was running up the score some more.

"Members of the Committee, I would like to offer some comments of my own on these issues."

"Go, Colonel," the Senator from Texas said, quick out of the blocks before the rabid Chairman could start his rabid raving and take control again.

Franco walked around the witness stand, and went right up the Committee table and started pacing as he elaborated on his points. He had a voice that carried well in the room, and a manner that calmed nerves and brought a modicum of order to the place. It was a stark contrast to Cleary's combative, intense style and it seemed the whole room breathed a sigh of relief.

"Senators, what my client was trying to ask of ya'll is nothing more than any good patient would ask of his or her personal physician: determine the best prognosis. In so doing, to make this judgment with a full and complete knowledge of the patient's health in mind. His contention was nothing more than a request to solicit a second opinion, in such a severe and life-threatening diagnosis as this.

"It's no crime, Senators, to ask for a second diagnosis. It is not wrong either, to use modern technology or new techniques, to re-visit old issues and try to see them in a new light. Is it now?"

Now that frayed nerves were a little calmer, he got the frontal assault back on its intended course.

"Mr. Cleary," Franco said, leaning on the Committee table, standing at one end so he did not block anyone's view. "Can you tell this Committee whom else might be responsible for propagating your supposed fiasco on the likes of the United States Congress?"

"I suppose," the witness said wearily, "The professional organizations would have something to do with it - most notably the Association of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE - would have offered the most conclusive evidence. To a lesser extent the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or ASME would have been involved."

"And whom might these organizations represent - ASHRAE especially?"

"The manufacturers of the large and expensive machines that would have to be changed out everywhere, to accommodate the new Freon."