Why haven’t I posted much lately? Well, the answer is two-fold. First, I’ve been wicked busy with work and life’s general what-nots. But also, it’s been difficult to find any shred of humor in the news lately. Take, for example, this Foley douchebag. WTF? Could he be more of a hypocrite? A leading, Republican congressman known for his tough political stance on the exploitation of children has a lurid penchant for young boys? And if that wasn’t enough, Dennis Hastert — and other members of the majority leadership — knew about it. Can you say "cover-up?" How about "accomplice?"
And the administration. I think there’s another problem there: I never know where to start. For example at a fundraiser in Reno yesterday Bush said this: “If you listen closely to some of the leaders of the Democratic Party, it sounds like — it sounds like — they think the best way to protect the American people is, wait until we're attacked again. That's not the way it's going to be under my administration. We will stay on the offense. We will defeat the enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home."
See what I mean, where do I start? Hell, let’s give it a whirl and start with the first sentence. “...they think the best way to protect the American people is, wait until we're attacked again.” What does that even mean? On one hand, it’s such a baseless, ignorant, slanderous and irresponsible statement but on the other hand, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just hollow mud-slinging. The bumbling rantings of a prep school bully who’s in over his head and out of his element.
Second sentence: “That's not the way it's going to be under my administration.” Are you kidding me? First, it HAS happened under his administration — with great fanfare. Second, since the US-lead terror attack against Iraq, the known number of terrorists around the globe have sky-rocketed. We’re not stomping out terrorism, we’re pouring Miracle grow on it. No, wait, I have a better analogy: we’re trying to put out a fire with gasoline. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that Bin Laden is a problem and needs to be stopped — that’s old news. But using the emotional equity of 9/11 and the endless hunt for al-Qaida as justification for the war in Iraq is just plain stupid. Saddam Hussein didn’t have anything to do with the events of 9/11 and he had no affiliation with al-Qaida. That’s a fact.
“We will stay on the offense. We will defeat the enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.” What? Now would be a good time to check in with our friends over at Merriam-Webster. Terrorism: “the unlawful use or threat of violence esp. against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion.” Which side of the equation do you think we are on? No, really, think about it. It’s no wonder that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks that WE are the terrorists. The dude wants to elevate his country out of third world nation status by developing the technology to generate nuclear power and we won’t let him. Why such an oppressive stance? Because the administration claims is a lunatic and will create WMDs and attack someone? I’m confused, we’re afraid he might attack so we might have to attack him. He has clearly voiced his opposition to even the concept of nuclear weapons. Why won’t we take his word for it?
While we’re on the topic of terror preemption, yesterday the McClatchy Washington Bureau reported that Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same detailed CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida attack on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001. Whutha? You call that preemption? Way to nip it in the bud.
And let’s talk about the Bush administration's insistence on more leeway in applying Geneva Convention standards to the interrogation of terrorism detainees. Last week Congress authorized the administration to try terrorism suspects before military tribunals and banning torture — but did not prohibit specific coercive techniques. WTF? I know that this post is meandering all over the place but hear me out. It was America that spearheaded the creation of the Geneva Convention and now we're casting aside the values we advocated? Why? To catch terrorists or to protect members of the administration from future prosecution because they approved the use of illegal torture?
That’s all I got.
posted by Dwardisimo Rex at 3:18 PM
6 Comments:
Wow, great post. So much to talk about. Let's start with the party that promotes family values. I read yesterday that Rep. Foley was having IM sex with a minor during House Resolution 1559, Emergency War Time supplemental appropriations vote. Imagine Foley: "Insurgent activity is escalating and is expected to get worse, not better. Our soldiers are undermanned and stuck in a hopeless quagmire of sectarian violence. They need all the help they can get from their political leaders stateside. Let's pass this resolution to fund our toops...after I jerk off for a few minutes." You have to wonder what our soldiers would think about their fate being tied to this cretin. Family values my ass. Actually, leave my ass out of it.
By the way Fox News, always quick to abandon truth in defense of the GOP, cleverly misidentified Foley as a democrat. Now I know Fox is an unashamed mouthpiece of the neocons and reliable source of right-wing propoganda, but spinning stories on behalf of accused pedophiles is below even their standards.
Oh, and that harpie in Florida, Katherine Harris, weighed in on the Foley sitch. In defense of House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) who it has been shown knew all about Foley's proclivity for teenaged pages and ignored it, Harris not only said that no republicans knew about it, but that she was looking forward to finding out who in the media and who ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE knew about it!!! Holy crap, in one breath she denied any wrongdoing on the part of Foley's GOP cronies while wildly accusing the dems of the very thing of which Hastert is guilty.
Hey, since we were talking about values, let's take a quick walk down GOP Memory Lane, starting with the election of Bush/Cheney: Trent Lott, ousted as Senate Party Leader for blatant bigotry. Duke Cunnignham accepted $2.5M in bribes. Tom DeLay - where does one start with the Hammer? His resume of corruption is too tangled for this post. But you can find a list of indictments and his mugshot at wikipedia.com. More recently, there's George "Macaca" Allen — biggot. And of course Tom Foley, caught asking teenage boys to measure their johnsons for him, blah blah blah. This is the party in power, folks. Please vote in every election.
On to Bush and his campaign of fear...there's nothing new here. Six years in, George Bush can count his successes on one hand -- which is how W. still does his math. So with nothing positive to talk about, the Bush reich continues to use ambiguous threats to cow their opponents -- a group that seems to grow by the day. I noticed that Bush's approval ratings, which were around 90% after 9/11, are just under 40% today. Now there's a guy who grabbed the bull by the horns...and got trampled by it. As it turned out, the goodwill following the WTC attack didn't give us license to conquer the world.
That comment about Dems waiting until the terrorists strike here: well, Bush should know. He had fair warning before 9/11. So did his national security advisor. So did his attorney general. So did his secretary of defense. So did his vice president, who I think was actually Acting President back then while W. was trying to find his sea legs. And still, Bush was content to clear brush in Crawford while Cheney hid in his bunker eating toddlers.
The Geneva Conventions: I'm sick about this. How far we have fallen as a nation championing human rights. Pluswhich, experts say torture is a useless interrogation tool; a person will say anything -- true or not -- to stop the pain. It surely makes our own troops less safe if captured. How'd you like to be an American soldier captured in Baghdad? Your interrogator enters the room where you're hooked up to an electrified box spring and says, "American, huh? My little brother died inside Abu Ghraib." Good night, Irene. That intense tingling you're about to feel on your genitals won't be the good, Tom Foley kind.
Under the frightening new agreement, habeas corpus is negated. This is one of the most basic legal concepts in our justice system. It basically forces the government to produce a defendant for trial or let him go. To plagiarize NY Times columnist Bob Herbert, "All Bush has to do to imprison someone (anyone!) forever is declare him an enemy combatant and then not have a trial." No charges, no defense. What a perversion of American ideals.
I feel safer already.
Dude, FANTASTIC work! You too, Popper! Hell, I agree with you so much that my latest post is just a link to this.
Dennis Hastert looks like Jabba the Hut to me.
That's interesting because I've always thought that Condi looks like that little rat like creature that always lingered around Jaba.
The Shrub and his loyal following of Republicans always try to cover up things. Remember the Monica Lewinsky incident? That should pale in comparison to what this Foley creep is doing to minors. But no! The Republicans, thru Majority Leader Hasert, tried to cover it up. So what if Foley's a pedophile--Clinton, OMIGOD! he was having an affair! But the Republicans will argue that Clinton lied under oath. Seems trivial in comparison to the Foley antics.
jr has it right, of course. There's a difference -- literally and legally -- between an affair between consenting adults and sexually preying on minors. Dennis Hastart, it seems, knew about Foley's behavior (Foley's Chief of Staff reported it to Hastert's office three years ago), and he ignored it. Imagine if a high school principal caught wind of a teacher doing that and did nothing. Once uncovered, both the teacher and principal would be prosecuted, and rightly so. To enable this behavior is grotesque...just like Hastert's girth.
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