The legacy tour continues, as Bush, Cheney and their minions attempt to manipulate memories and reality. "It all went well, really. History will vindicate us, you'll see." Bush even claimed in his press conference that the response to Katrina was "pretty good." Delusion or lie.
A complete litany of the failures of the Bush Administration is too long to begin. Even the list of major debacles has grown so long that it becomes impossible to recite them without leaving out something obvious. The threats to our rights, and the acts of utter disregard for the Constitution and our ideals, are surely even more numerous.
The legacy of the Bush Presidency though, can be summed up by the intersection of a number of the various domains of failure perfected by this thoroughly incompetent administration. To begin, in the final week of his presidency, Osama bin Laden releases another audiotape, continuing to taunt Bush. The hunt for bin Laden, marked by all the swagger and hubris we have come to expect from the Decider, serves as a symbol of the utter incompetence of this administration.
The inability to capture bin Laden was accompanied, over the years, by an ever frantic effort to ramp up fears of future attacks, and to justify all manner of acts antithetical to the professed ideals of this country. Torture was justified and denied at the same time. The moral authority of the nation was destroyed here and abroad.
Now that Judge Susan J. Crawford, who oversees the military trials at Guantanamo, has stated unequivocally that torture has occurred at that facility, the legacy tour will continue to point out there have been no attacks since 9/11. Forget that 9/11 occurred on their watch and the anthrax attacks occurred soon after. Know that the torture at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib ended serving more as a recruitment tool for al-Qaeda than it made anyone safe.
Finally though, the legacy of the Bush Administration can be seen in the complete lack of regard for which America is now seen in the world community. Rather than making the world or America safer, he has inflamed the very soul of the world. His eight years of dogmatic, ideological imperialism have confirmed the worst suspicions about America for its detractors. His incompetence has compounded the multitude of errors. Here we are, more than seven years after 9/11 and he still hasn't caught a six feet, five inch guy on dialysis who is one of the most recognizable figures in the world.
Bush's narrow minded view of the world fostered an "us vs. them" mentality that ultimately made us all less safe. He had furthered the likelihood of violence and confrontation in the world. A strong case can be made that the current actions in the Gaza Strip are occurring precisely because Bush is about to leave office. And remember, he was going to bring peace to the Middle East.
Incompetence. Torture. World Stature Destroyed. Quite a legacy. Oh, and I forgot the economy.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
There is Power in a Union
Republic Windows & Doors of Chicago, the company whose workers refused to leave the premises after their jobs were shifted to a non-union state by a company that then tried to avoid paying them agreed upon severance packages, appear to have won the first major victory by workers in quite some time.
The workers, members of United Electrical Workers Local 1110, uncharacteristically, refused to accept the abuse of management and owners. Now it seems, as reported by Rachel Maddow, that Serious Materials of California is prepared to buy the factory and re-employee the workers. Serious Materials is a company that specializes in "green construction." Makers of energy efficient building supplies, Serious is already an unusual American company in that they actual produce something!
Manufacturers, green AND union friendly. American business has a lot to learn from Serious Materials. American workers also have a lot to learn from the workers of Republic Windows & Doors - There is power in a union.
The workers, members of United Electrical Workers Local 1110, uncharacteristically, refused to accept the abuse of management and owners. Now it seems, as reported by Rachel Maddow, that Serious Materials of California is prepared to buy the factory and re-employee the workers. Serious Materials is a company that specializes in "green construction." Makers of energy efficient building supplies, Serious is already an unusual American company in that they actual produce something!
Manufacturers, green AND union friendly. American business has a lot to learn from Serious Materials. American workers also have a lot to learn from the workers of Republic Windows & Doors - There is power in a union.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wounded Knee 2009
When the British and other colonial empires began to stake their claims to the New World (and for that matter, the Old World), they dealt with the problem of indigenous populations by simply assuming a sense of entitlement. Their staunch belief was that their God had given them the right to exercise dominion over all lands.
In the 1800's, the newly formed United States, found itself in a similar position. The new nation, sat squarely on top of several other nations. Native Americans, from whom the system of government for the U.S. was adapted (see note below), comprised many different and competing political groups, or nations. However, the new nation, America, held the self same entitlement towards the land as the colonialists they had defeated. In spite of the fact that many of them had come here fleeing oppression and seeking a better life, the claims of the indigenous population was viewed as illegitimate.
An effort was made to drive those who were already here out of the country. The forced removal of the Cherokee and other tribes was seen as the solution until settlers suddenly "needed" the land to which they were already driven. The "right" to this and all other lands on the continent became enshrined in the legalization of theft known as Manifest Destiny.
Accepting that their destiny was to control everything, the U.S. government established a system of reservations for Native Americans. Those who refused to enter the reservations were called renegades and hunted down. The indigenous population of North America was essentially imprisoned in communal prisons in which their culture was obliterated and their religion was denigrated and prohibited. All the necessary elements of their lives were controlled by the government that took their land.
Surprise of all surprises, those rounded up and forced onto reservations were unhappy about it. Religious fanaticism grew leading to the development of the Ghost Dance religion. Ruthlessly suppressing the religion and the uprisings that followed, the United States proceeded to slaughter thousands and thousands of Native Americans. Massacres at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee, to name just two, saw the murder of countless women and children who had no place left to hide. Disproportional response was seen as appropriate. Those being slaughtered were called savages as slow genocide was committed against them.
Wounded Knee - Gaza Strip. Different year, different weapons. Same story.
In the 1800's, the newly formed United States, found itself in a similar position. The new nation, sat squarely on top of several other nations. Native Americans, from whom the system of government for the U.S. was adapted (see note below), comprised many different and competing political groups, or nations. However, the new nation, America, held the self same entitlement towards the land as the colonialists they had defeated. In spite of the fact that many of them had come here fleeing oppression and seeking a better life, the claims of the indigenous population was viewed as illegitimate.
An effort was made to drive those who were already here out of the country. The forced removal of the Cherokee and other tribes was seen as the solution until settlers suddenly "needed" the land to which they were already driven. The "right" to this and all other lands on the continent became enshrined in the legalization of theft known as Manifest Destiny.
Accepting that their destiny was to control everything, the U.S. government established a system of reservations for Native Americans. Those who refused to enter the reservations were called renegades and hunted down. The indigenous population of North America was essentially imprisoned in communal prisons in which their culture was obliterated and their religion was denigrated and prohibited. All the necessary elements of their lives were controlled by the government that took their land.
Surprise of all surprises, those rounded up and forced onto reservations were unhappy about it. Religious fanaticism grew leading to the development of the Ghost Dance religion. Ruthlessly suppressing the religion and the uprisings that followed, the United States proceeded to slaughter thousands and thousands of Native Americans. Massacres at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee, to name just two, saw the murder of countless women and children who had no place left to hide. Disproportional response was seen as appropriate. Those being slaughtered were called savages as slow genocide was committed against them.
Wounded Knee - Gaza Strip. Different year, different weapons. Same story.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Breaking the Chains
Barack Obama has signaled a needed change in direction with his new legal picks and CIA head. Choosing Elena Kagan, Dean of the Harvard Law School, as the new Solicitor General, Dawn Johnsen as head of the Assistant Attorneys General of the Office of Legal Counsel, David Ogden as Deputy Attorneys General, and Tom Perrelli as Associate Attorneys General, he has indicated a new direction for the Department of Justice. Dawn Johnsen, in particular, has been extremely forceful in her critiques of torture and renditions. Notably, she took John Yoo to task for his interpretations of the law that justified such acts.
Restoring the rule of law and the perception of integrity to the Justice Department will be monumental tasks given what has happened for the past eight years under the "unitary executive." These appointments signal a step forward. Instead of seeking to justify torture and breaking the law in the name of security, these individuals promise an effort to restore values and principles to DOJ.
The nomination of Leon Panetta to head the CIA has already drawn fire from within the Democratic Party. Please note that many of these Democrats who are questioning the Panetta nomination are the same Dems who rolled over on the Bush Administration's destruction of the Constitution. When it came to warrantless wiretaps, renditions, the Patriot Act, and torture, the Democratic leadership couldn't roll over fast enough.
Diane Feinstein, for example, apparently is piqued that she wasn't consulted, and has stated that she thinks there needs to be someone in the position who has experience. Too bad Feinstein wasn't as upset about Bush rewriting the Constitution without her consultation as she is about this nomination.
The time when we should have worried about the direction of the CIA should have been ten years ago, or fifty years ago. The damage that has been done to the reputation of this country by our intelligence agencies cannot be underestimated. The fact that Panetta has "no experience" in the intelligence community should be viewed as a necessity, not a drawback. The CIA has clearly become a failed organization that is a shame on the nation. Only a clean break can begin to reverse this tide.
Restoring the rule of law and the perception of integrity to the Justice Department will be monumental tasks given what has happened for the past eight years under the "unitary executive." These appointments signal a step forward. Instead of seeking to justify torture and breaking the law in the name of security, these individuals promise an effort to restore values and principles to DOJ.
The nomination of Leon Panetta to head the CIA has already drawn fire from within the Democratic Party. Please note that many of these Democrats who are questioning the Panetta nomination are the same Dems who rolled over on the Bush Administration's destruction of the Constitution. When it came to warrantless wiretaps, renditions, the Patriot Act, and torture, the Democratic leadership couldn't roll over fast enough.
Diane Feinstein, for example, apparently is piqued that she wasn't consulted, and has stated that she thinks there needs to be someone in the position who has experience. Too bad Feinstein wasn't as upset about Bush rewriting the Constitution without her consultation as she is about this nomination.
The time when we should have worried about the direction of the CIA should have been ten years ago, or fifty years ago. The damage that has been done to the reputation of this country by our intelligence agencies cannot be underestimated. The fact that Panetta has "no experience" in the intelligence community should be viewed as a necessity, not a drawback. The CIA has clearly become a failed organization that is a shame on the nation. Only a clean break can begin to reverse this tide.
RePUGniCAN'Ts
If the Republican Party were half as competent at policy as they are at politics the country would not be in the position that it currently finds itself. After attempting to privatize the federal government (we saw how that worked in the aftermath of Katrina and in the outsourcing of the Iraq War to Halliburton and Blackwater), aiding and abetting the destruction of the Constitution, and dumping money on every crooked banker they could find, the GOP (Gas,Oil & Petroleum) now is demanding a voice in the development of the stimulus package.
Never mind that it was their no-regulation, tax breaks for billionaires, no-bid contract philosophy that must bear the lion's share of blame for the current economic woes. Republicans have shown us by their very actions that their approach to the economy is a failure. Now they demand a say so in how the correction should proceed. This is a little like letting a group of criminals dictate prison policy.
Having had their policies utterly rejected by the American public and their party crushed in the last election, their approach has become one of falling back on formerly successful tactics of threatening to derail all legislation unless they get their way. Remember that this is the same party that threatened it would "go nuclear" in the Senate in order to get around those pesky rules that they will now make their bread and butter.
Already Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are out engaging in political maneuvering surrounding the stimulus in such a way that it will be delayed and/or derailed. Watch as they put their political interests ahead of the nation. Was the bailout just an effort to bleed the Treasury at the time of greatest need? A final rip-off for their cronies before losing power.
The RePUGniCAN'Ts, a party whose time has come - to end.
Never mind that it was their no-regulation, tax breaks for billionaires, no-bid contract philosophy that must bear the lion's share of blame for the current economic woes. Republicans have shown us by their very actions that their approach to the economy is a failure. Now they demand a say so in how the correction should proceed. This is a little like letting a group of criminals dictate prison policy.
Having had their policies utterly rejected by the American public and their party crushed in the last election, their approach has become one of falling back on formerly successful tactics of threatening to derail all legislation unless they get their way. Remember that this is the same party that threatened it would "go nuclear" in the Senate in order to get around those pesky rules that they will now make their bread and butter.
Already Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are out engaging in political maneuvering surrounding the stimulus in such a way that it will be delayed and/or derailed. Watch as they put their political interests ahead of the nation. Was the bailout just an effort to bleed the Treasury at the time of greatest need? A final rip-off for their cronies before losing power.
The RePUGniCAN'Ts, a party whose time has come - to end.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Dumb-o-Crats
After being the compliant whipping boy of the Bush Administration for the past eight years, the Democrats finally regain power despite themselves, and now seem intent to prove that they are the most incompetent political party to exist in the nations history.
At a time when the nation is facing the possibility of another Depression, and is bogged down in two wars, the Democratic leadership has managed to bring all of its focus on the appointment of one of its own members to the Senate. Roland Burris, appointed by the Dems other nightmare, Blagojevich, appears to be acceptable under every criteria except that of who appointed him.
The Democratic leadership is trying to portray its refusal to seat Burris as all about principle. It is all about politics. In an effort to appear different than the Republicans, the Democrats immediately threw Blagojevich overboard when his problems became public after his arrest. Give them credit for not trying to hide it like the Republicans or smirking and winking in the Karl
Rove way. But when it comes right down to the Democrats and Blagojevich, any one who was half in the political loop knew he was sketchy. So when Harry Reid had his first discussion with Blago he already knew he was tainted but that didn't stop him from dealing with him then. Senator Reid seems more upset about being outmaneuvered by Blagojevich than any other factor. The reason that Reid and all the others in the Senate and throughout state government in Illinois could be so righteous in their condemnations was that they never thought even Blagojevich would have the gall (or balls) to appoint someone under the circumstances.
Give it up Reid and the rest of the Senate. Burris is just as qualified as any of the blue bloods and fossils in the House of Lords, I mean U.S. Senate.
Not grasping the message of the last election, that the American public wanted to completely repudiate the Bush years and the failings of the right, the Democrats seem to have figured out the only way to revive the Republican party - stupidity. Rather than arguing about the sideshow created by Gov. F-Bomb, they need to get on with dealing with the real problems of this country.
The stimulus package is already being delayed by the "need for cautious deliberation." (Where were the calls for "cautious deliberation" while our rights were being given away in the name of security.) Democrats, weakened already by infighting, are already caving to Republicans on the stimulus package. Republicans, who bear most of the responsibility for this damned mess, should sit down, shut up, and apologize for the next four years. But will they? Hell no! Even though they're wrong and they know it, they will never stop pushing for their goals of ripping off the public for the rich. Why won't they stop? Because no one gives up when fighting against an incompetent opponent.
Rather than dithering about seating Burris, the Democrats should immediately seat him and Al Franken. Then, whatever it takes, committee chair, etc., convince one of the few moderate Republicans (any one of the New England ones who must see the electoral writing on the wall) to switch parties to give the Democrats a 60 vote majority. That's what the Republicans would do if the situation was reversed.
But the Democrats won't, and that's why they're the Dumb-o-crats.
At a time when the nation is facing the possibility of another Depression, and is bogged down in two wars, the Democratic leadership has managed to bring all of its focus on the appointment of one of its own members to the Senate. Roland Burris, appointed by the Dems other nightmare, Blagojevich, appears to be acceptable under every criteria except that of who appointed him.
The Democratic leadership is trying to portray its refusal to seat Burris as all about principle. It is all about politics. In an effort to appear different than the Republicans, the Democrats immediately threw Blagojevich overboard when his problems became public after his arrest. Give them credit for not trying to hide it like the Republicans or smirking and winking in the Karl
Rove way. But when it comes right down to the Democrats and Blagojevich, any one who was half in the political loop knew he was sketchy. So when Harry Reid had his first discussion with Blago he already knew he was tainted but that didn't stop him from dealing with him then. Senator Reid seems more upset about being outmaneuvered by Blagojevich than any other factor. The reason that Reid and all the others in the Senate and throughout state government in Illinois could be so righteous in their condemnations was that they never thought even Blagojevich would have the gall (or balls) to appoint someone under the circumstances.
Give it up Reid and the rest of the Senate. Burris is just as qualified as any of the blue bloods and fossils in the House of Lords, I mean U.S. Senate.
Not grasping the message of the last election, that the American public wanted to completely repudiate the Bush years and the failings of the right, the Democrats seem to have figured out the only way to revive the Republican party - stupidity. Rather than arguing about the sideshow created by Gov. F-Bomb, they need to get on with dealing with the real problems of this country.
The stimulus package is already being delayed by the "need for cautious deliberation." (Where were the calls for "cautious deliberation" while our rights were being given away in the name of security.) Democrats, weakened already by infighting, are already caving to Republicans on the stimulus package. Republicans, who bear most of the responsibility for this damned mess, should sit down, shut up, and apologize for the next four years. But will they? Hell no! Even though they're wrong and they know it, they will never stop pushing for their goals of ripping off the public for the rich. Why won't they stop? Because no one gives up when fighting against an incompetent opponent.
Rather than dithering about seating Burris, the Democrats should immediately seat him and Al Franken. Then, whatever it takes, committee chair, etc., convince one of the few moderate Republicans (any one of the New England ones who must see the electoral writing on the wall) to switch parties to give the Democrats a 60 vote majority. That's what the Republicans would do if the situation was reversed.
But the Democrats won't, and that's why they're the Dumb-o-crats.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Happy Birthday Cuba!
On January 1, 1959, the government of Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by a group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. Batista, a dictator of the first order, only answered to his masters on the American mainland.
For the past 50 years the American government has attempted to overthrow Castro and subvert the revolution. A choking embargo has caused Cuba to exist on the brink of economic disaster, facing shortage after shortage. Yet the nation has endured.
A testament to the Cuban people, and its leaders, is the simple fact that the nation has endured. The embargo has done nothing but alienate Cubans from the U.S. and provide a focal point for resistance. Now is the time to end the embargo. Let it be a birthday present to the Cuban people. Viva la Revolution!
For the past 50 years the American government has attempted to overthrow Castro and subvert the revolution. A choking embargo has caused Cuba to exist on the brink of economic disaster, facing shortage after shortage. Yet the nation has endured.
A testament to the Cuban people, and its leaders, is the simple fact that the nation has endured. The embargo has done nothing but alienate Cubans from the U.S. and provide a focal point for resistance. Now is the time to end the embargo. Let it be a birthday present to the Cuban people. Viva la Revolution!
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