I was a staunch supporter of Barak Obama for president. I made a mistake. I thought he was different. I thought he meant it when he called for change. He was either lying then or he’s simply sold the cause of change down the river, having been changed in his soul by a hundred days and change in the big house.
The Obama administration will announce plans today to revive the Bush-era military commission system for prosecuting terrorism suspects, current and former officials said, reversing a campaign pledge to rely instead on federal courts and the traditional military justice system.
Word of the decision infuriated human rights groups, which argued that any trials under the system created by President George W. Bush would be widely viewed as tainted. They said President Obama was duplicating Bush’s mistakes.
Yes we can? Well, maybe we could have. And maybe we still can someday, but not with this guy. Because damn right he’s making Bush’s mistakes. He’s doing Bush’s evil, nothing less. The American system of justice is by its nature an open meeting, an act of the people’s conscience, not an act of war. And Obama knows that. He’s not the idiot that Bush was, he’s a lawyer of formidable skill. Which makes this even worse from him.
As citizens’ outrage over the torture memos heats up, and the US Congress is barraged with calls to appoint a special prosecutor, Americans may be about to commit an egregious miscarriage of justice. Republicans have now accused Democrats in Congress of having “blood on your hands too” in relation to the escalating calls to investigate. I would go further: not only do Congressional Democrats have blood on their hands – but so do we, the American people. And CIA agents may be about to be sacrificed to assuage their – and our – actual and associative guilt. [The Guardian]
Sometimes, even Naomi Wolf is completely full of shit. Why not blame us all for the War in Iraq, and for Bill Clinton’s BJ’s too? Are all Iraqis to blame for Hussein? Dissent is irrelevant?
“White House press secretary Robert Gibbs pointedly refused to rule out a firing in the case of the Air Force One backup’s flight that terrified some in New York City on Monday.
Gibbs reiterated that President Obama was “furious” about the decision. …” [Washington Post]
While the media are giving Obama brownie points for momentum in his first 100 days, with lauds such as “Obama’s start has been the most impressive of any president since FDR” (Joe Klien, TIME, 5.4.09), and Obama himself climbs the unsteady scaffolds of invective indignation, I hear a mixed message. What sense letting torturers off with a wagging finger and a tut tut, that’s naughty, while expecting some officious doofus to fall on his petard over an expensive little stunt?
If you get pissed at every stupidity, Mr. President, you’re not going to have much fun. It’s Washington, for goodness sakes. Stupidity is to that city as chocolate is to Hershey PA. Pace yourself.
Arlen Specter’s decision to go to the Democrats is pitiful. It’s sad. The man is 79 years old, has served 5 terms, and it’s fairly clear that he’s switching parties so he can keep going to work. Presumably, he has the enough nuts squirreled away to be able to retire, and he’s not hanging on to save his seat, to keep it warm for another ass of his ilk. So what’s the point?
But let’s not overthink: it mostly highlights the desperate opportunism of a 79-year-old five-term Senator staring into the abyss of involuntary retirement. Specter may be right that the GOP left him first, but that’s just a face-saving way of admitting he couldn’t win its primary. [Michael Grunwald, TIME]
Can you say It’s Time for Term Limits, boys and girls? Sure, I knew you could.
Look, we need leaders, not power bosses motivated by nothing but deeply vested self-interest. That ain’t statesmanship, and it ain’t American. Well, maybe it is American, but it sucks.
So a little while ago, I decided to sit at the desk and do some work. I was going to organize some files for a manuscript of poems, and I thought it might be nice to have something to listen to. My iPod was charging, so I decided to use iTunes in the other computer, and find some podcasts because I wasn’t in a mood for music. I wanted spoken word.
I tried The Economist, then CNN, but the solid wall of economic very bad news was just more than I could tolerate. Made me woozy. So I went hunting through the iTunes store and found some podcasts on writing. I downloaded several at random and started listening to one.
Publishers have stopped buying books, they’re laying off staff … blah blah blah … we’re all going to slide like pebbles on the lip of a volcano into the abyss of firey lava and die. Such was pretty much the gist of this podcast on writing.
As a child of God and a Being no less than the trees and the stars, I have a message to everyone else who can define himself in any similar terms:
Shut the F–k Up About the Damned Economy! Just shut the f–k up! Sit Down and Shut Up. Enough already.
I have considered the economy carefully, and I think the best thing we can do as a first step to global recovery is to shoot the very next sumbitch who mentions the recession. Unless its his job to fix it, and he’s ready to impart the solution. Because the only reasonable result of the constant barrage of doom is to make the economy worse.
Seriously, who wants to go out and even see if maybe, by the grace of God, the sun could possibly be shining just a little, when every babbling moron with a microphone is screaming The Sky Is Falling!?
Asshats. I am surrounded up obsessive asshats. And not a drop to drink.
I have read this article in today’s LA Times twice, and I find it amazing. George W. Bush has been gone from office for less than six weeks, and already we are seeing the federal government back away from his disturbing unitary executive presidency.
Reporting from Washington — The Obama administration Monday made public a series of long-secret Bush administration legal memos that set out an extraordinarily broad interpretation of presidential power for use in the war on terrorism.
One 2001 opinion concluded that the military could seize suspects in the U.S. like members of an invading foreign army who lacked constitutional rights.
The memos provide a detailed glimpse into the thinking of President Bush’s Justice Department legal advisors at a time of national emergency.
They embraced the view that the president, acting alone, had the authority to override the other branches of government on a broad range of issues.
That the Justice Department now thinks differently about the unprecedented and unconstitutional powers they so earnestly believed he had and needed is nice. But it begs two questions:
In a democracy, if the president seizes powers wrongfully, in a manner openly conflicted with the Constitution, has he not violated his oath of office to defend the constitution?
And if his consigliere conspires with him to violate the constitution, with all the resulting and attending abuses of power and violations of rights and privacies, haven’t they both committed treason and conspiracy? Haven’t many of the memo-hacking soliders in his cosa nostra committed felonies as well?
Obviously, the Obama admistration has enough to do, and I’m not suggesting wasting time and effort on a massive trail of trials. But before we move on, somebody ought to stand up and say, not only here’s the proof of what they all did wrong, but also and they’re damn lucky we’re too busy cleaning up their messes to prosecute them.
To stay afloat, GM said, it would cut an additional 47,000 jobs this year, reduce half of its vehicle brands in the U.S. and cut the number of models it sells by a quarter. Chrysler said it would eliminate 3,000 employees, cut production by 100,000 units and kill three models.
To accomplish all that, GM said it would need up to $30 billion in loans by 2011, including the $13.4 billion it already had received. Chrysler said it would need a total of $9 billion, including $4 billion it received in early January.
Let’s see if I have this straight. The automakers want more taxpayer money to stay afloat, and in return they faithfully promise to put taxpayers on the street. And people on the street don’t pay taxes, they don’t contribute to the economy; they certainly don’t buy cars.
I think it’s time for corporate America to stop eating its own to stay fat. The taxes of America’s workers should not go to buy such a lavish dinner, when the menu is cannibalism.
Alternately praising and upbraiding those who would decide his fate, Blagojevich urged the senators during a 47-minute speech not to remove him from office, saying he had “never, ever intended to violate the law.”
“There hasn’t been a single piece of information that proves any wrongdoing,” said Blagojevich, who was arrested at his Chicago home Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges. “How can you throw a governor out of office with insufficient and incomplete evidence?” [LA Times]
One who serves the public in a position of power and trust has a duty to avoid the appearance of impropriety. He has an affirmative duty to keep his stupid nose clean. So saying, “I acted like a crook, but you haven’t proven I am a crook” doesn’t carry a lot of currency with me.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
- John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)
That’s probably true, except that the definition of conservative has changed. I’m not sure we have any in government, and I doubt the average person who calls themself one could give you a definition that made any sense. So I think the word is better suited as an adjective than a noun. The same could be said for liberal.
A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men’s lives should not stake their own.
- H.G. Wells, writer (1866-1946)
Have you been enjoying Bush’s little exit interviews and speechifications? He suddenly seems calmer, more reflective, doesn’t he? It has to be a relief to him that finally the whole historic clusterfuck he made in America is about to be somebody else’s problem.
Now before we all revert to 2000 and start wishin’ we could BBQ with this good ol’ plainspoken downhome Texican, ’cause maybe we misunderestimated him and he’s not so bad, remember this:
Evil is as evil does. But maybe we could have a little burgers and beans, and Q&A:
I’d like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet—your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth—what was your real reason? You have said it wasn’t oil—quest for oil, it hasn’t been Israel, or anything else. What was it?
- Helen Thomas
A time will come when Helen’s questions will be answered. Until then, at least we have the consolation of not having George Bush to kick around anymore. It’s not impeachment, but it’s sweet.
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
In the Spirit of the Season, Squelch offers a message inherited from an organization which has, if not my membership, at least my abiding respect.
___________________________________________________________
TO ALL MEMBERS
Greetings On Our 10th Christmas
1944
Yes, it’s in the air! The spirit of Christmas once more warms this poor distraught world. Over the whole globe millions are looking forward to that one day when strife can be forgotten, when it will be remembered that all human beings, even the least are loved by God, when men will hope for the coming of the Prince of Peace as they never hoped before.
But there is another world which is not poor. Neither is it distraught. It is the world of Alcoholics Anonymous, where thousands dwell happily and secure. Secure because each of us, in his own way, knows a greater power who is love, who is just, and who can be trusted. Nor can men and women of AA ever forget that only through suffering did they find enough humility to enter the portals of that New World.
How privileged we are to understand so well the divine paradox that strength rises from weakness, that humiliation goes before resurrection; that pain is not only the price but the very touchstone of spiritual rebirth. Knowing it’s full worth and purpose, we can no longer fear adversity, we have found prosperity where there was poverty, peace and joy have sprung out of the very midst of chaos.
Great indeed, our blessings!
And so,– Merry Christmas to you all– from the Trustees, from Bobbie and from Lois and me.
Bill Wilson
I remember my mother used to sing this song when I was very small.
Mother dear come bathe my forehead
For I’m growing very weak
Mother let one drop of water
Fall upon my burning cheek
I’m going away to leave you, Mother darling
And remember what I say
Do this, won’t you please, dear Mother
Put my little shoes away
Santa Claus, he brought ‘em to me
With a lot of other things
I believe he brought an angel
With a pair of golden wings
Tell my lovin’ little playmates
That I nevermore will play
Give them all my toys, but Mother
Put my little shoes away
I’m going away to leave you, Mother darling
And remember what I say
Do this, won’t you please, dear Mother
Put my little shoes away.
That made me sad, you know? Well I’m not sad about shoes anymore, except that it has come to this: That a sitting — or rather, standing and ducking — American president has been so insulted, and that his amorality has made US all such a target for scorn and derision.
Beyond that, which hopefully the presidency of Barak Obama will help to ameliorate, I’ll admit I am amused. OK, it’s funnier than shit. Look at this photo.
What’s funny about it? Not the blurry shoe or the blurry lame duck ducking, but the look on Al-Maliki’s face. It’s hysterical. What can we imagine he’s thinking in that instant?
Aw crap. … Ladies and gentlemen, it’s shoe time!
[Sigh] The shoe must go on.
Welcome to the Bungling Bros. Side Shoe, brought to you by Halliburton and Bush’s Old Fashioned Crude Snake Oil Tonic.
They couldn’t write material this good for Comedy Central or HBO. Or maybe Shoetime.
That’s voluntary manslaughter, if you ask me. And I’m sure there were security cameras running. Should be a helluva trial, or a series of them. Made for TV.
The end, and glory to God. Pass the pierogies, comrade.
I don’t know where I’m going with that, except that in old Russian monasteries, all the monks would eat while one stood and read Psalms. And he wouldn’t get to eat until he finished. So when he did, he’d say something that sounds like konyetz y blagonashimo slava … the end, and Glory to God.
Anyway, it’s been a while since I squelched forth. Been busy, had a cold, but mostly just laying low until it was over.
I’m very happy with the outcome of the presidential election, as you might expect. Now I wish the media should shut the fuck up about the economic crisis for a few days, and how bad Obama’s challenges are, etc. Just for a few days, let us all calm down. … Where the hell is Britney Spears when we need her?
I’ve been hearing a lot about why McCain got so soundly thrashed. I mean, Barak took him out behind the woodshed with a good keen switch, y’all. Mostly, the pinheads pundits are saying things about McCain’s disorganized campaign, and how Palin was a Titanic anchor, lashed to McCain’s dinghy. But the best reason I’ve seen comes from Buzzstuff:
Bush. No Republican was going to win this year. None. No way. Because of Bush.
Right. But Palin really was a liability, whether McCain ever sees it that way or not. She’s a mooseshootin’ nutcase. And completely unqualified for public service at any level above assistant librarian. Seriously, this year the folks here in my little town were more careful about electing the school board than Alaskans have been when electing their governor. And she could’ve gotten Obama killed. That ain’t politics, kids. That’s treason against the democratic process. But it’s over. Konyetz.
Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.
-Guy de Maupassant
Does this imply that we would rather see Old Glory draped over the proboscis of a foreign leader’s statue, or flapping over a Humvee, than flying over a kindergarten on a peaceful morning here at home?
Was that a really bad sentence?
My point is, do we really love war? I think we do. There are a lot of us who want to see it end now, but how many of us never wanted it to start? Didn’t we get a rush from the rockets’ red glare, that first night of shock and awe?
It’s awful, patriotism. And worse, that we equate it with humanity.
The old appeals to racial, sexual and religious chauvinism and to rabid nationalism are beginning not to work. A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.
A headline in this morning’s Los Angeles Times reads:
Palin ethics lapse cited
The article begins:
ANCHORAGE — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor in pressing to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, an independent legislative investigation concluded Friday.
I don’t believe in lapses of ethics. When John Edwards finally had to admit to his almost inconceivable dalliance with a videographer – in the midst of his pursuit of the presidency and the failing health of his wife – he called it a “lapse in judgment.” He might have called it a lapse in ethics or a lapse in morals. I call that horseshit.
A lapse of judgment arises from a question to which a reasonable person might have more than one answer.
Is it safe to pull out and pass this truck?
What color should I paint the bathroom?
Should I buy some new shoes or wait for a sale?
Paper or plastic?
We all are faced with countless decisions every day, for which we rely on our judgment. Everybody makes mistakes. But ethics – morality – is something deeper. It serves to inform our judgment, but it’s not the same thing. Judgment is behavior; ethics is at the root of it.
Should I be faithful to my wife or get me some extra on the side is not a matter of judgment, it’s a fundamental matter of character. So is whether or not to pressure another state official to fire somebody you’re pissed off at.
Sarah Palin has a fundamentally flawed character. It won’t get better. She has lapsed before, and she’s headed for a relapse now. It’s just a matter of time, and of which chair she’ll be sitting in when it happens. Heaven forefend that it be in the office of the vice president. God help us if it’s in The Oval one.
I live in a small town, probably not much different than Wasilla, Alaska. I would not vote for this woman for mayor. Why in the hell would you?
Journalists do not believe the lies of politicians, but they do repeat them — which is even worse!
- Michel Colucci, comedian and actor (1944-1986)
Ain’t that the truth? It has been especially bad lately. If they’re not repeating the baldass lies of McCain and Palin, or whipping u the panic of the great unwashed over wall street, they’re basically phoning it in altogether. Have you noticed than CNN Headline News is completely dedicated to nightly chat about a single missing child? Tragic of course, but it ain’t news anymore. Nancy Grace makes Squelch want to take a shower, and not in a good way.
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