Torturing Americans

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?

Squelch says hogswallop.

Heads Will Roll

“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.

It’s Sad

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.

Squelch says somebody throw the bum out.

Enough Already!

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.