Billo the HYPOCRITE

Whilst you claim to be a Christian, and spout a few Christian aphorisms completely out of context, it makes you no more a Christian than going to a garage for a couple hours a week makes you a mechanic. The message of Jesus was not what you, and your right wing fellow travelers, seem to think it is. Giving aid and succor to those less fortunate was, and is, the very heart and soul of Jesus' message. Yet, you would besmirch that message for such base purposes as your own self aggrandizement and promulgating a misguided political ideology.

Being the good Christian that you are, Bill, pick up your Bible and turn to the Book of Matthew. In Chapter 19, verses 23-24...

"23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

And then to Matthew 25: 34-46...

"34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

But being the good Christian you are, I shouldn't need to remind you of this...Should I. And me not even a Christian.

Small Businesses...Really?

The GOP is making much about American small businesses, and the impact on them of letting Bush era tax cuts lapse. Well, guess what...They're not talkin' about the Mom & Pop store around the corner.

The SBA defines as a small business, any business which meets the following criteria:

- 500 or fewer employees for most manufacturing and mining industries (a few industries permit up to 750, 1000 or 1,500 employees)

- 100 or fewer employees for all wholesale trade industries

$6 million per year in sales receipts for most retail and service industries (with some exceptions)

- $27.5 million per year in sales receipts for most general & heavy construction industries

$11.5 million per year in sales receipts for all special trade contractors

- $0.5 million per year in sales receipts for most agricultural, forestry and fishing industries (Source: Federal Access)

The GOP is talking about something else entirely. They are talking about Chapter S corporations. These corporations are defined by the following criteria:

* Must be an eligible entity (a domestic corporation, or a limited liability company which has elected to be taxed as a corporation).
* Must have only one class of stock.
* Must not have more than 100 shareholders.
o Spouses are automatically treated as a single shareholder. Families, defined as individuals descended from a common ancestor, plus spouses and former spouses of either the common ancestor or anyone lineally descended from that person, are considered a single shareholder as long as any family member elects such treatment.
* Shareholders must be U.S. citizens or residents, and must be natural persons, so corporate shareholders and partnerships are generally excluded. However, certain trusts, estates, and tax-exempt corporations, notably 501(c)(3) corporations, are permitted to be shareholders.
* Profits and losses must be allocated to shareholders proportionately to each one's interest in the business. (Source:Wikipedia)

These corporations are also known as "pass through" corporations, as corporate income or losses pass through to the share holders.

The real focus of GOP tax policy was made clear in a September 12 interview (5 minutes in) on "Face the Nation" with House Minority Leader John "The Boner" Boehner(R-OH). Boehner admits that only 3% of small businesses would benefit from continuing the Bush era tax cuts. This 3%, however accounts for around half of all "small" business income. H&R Block has some 1.5.million small business customers, yet only about .005% of them would benefit from extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans...Tax cuts Boehner and the GOP are fighting tooth-and-nail for.

Some of the corporations that meet this loose definition of a "small business" include Koch industries...which is busy funding the pseudo-populist tea-bagger movement, Bechtel, the Chicago Tribune, and the list goes on, with some 20,000 S corps with more than $ 50 million in receipts in 2008. Small, not in terms of income, or number of employees, but in the number of owners.


And it is this 3% of "small businesses", which account for 50% of small business income that John "The Boner" Boehner and Mitch "McChinless" McConnell are interested in benefiting. Sound familiar? It should. The Bush era tax cuts...The same ones the congressional GOP leadership want to extend...saw the greatest benefit go to the top 2-3% of income earners in this country.

SO when you hear The Boner or McChinless talk about "small business"...It's not the small business owner who come to fix your plumbing or do your landscaping, or owns the diner down the street where you meet your neighbors for coffee. They're talking about, as usual, the wealthiest Americans who hold more of the national wealth than at nearly any time in US history.

Wealth, Income, and Power

Why do they hate the troops?

Yesterday, the GOP, on a party line vote, along with two Blue-Dog Democrats, voted to block DEBATE on the defense authorization bill. Why, because it contains language to repeal DADT. The repeal of DADT is supported by the head of JCS and the Secretary of Defense. Also contained therein is the DREAM Act which would provide a road to citizenship for immigrants who serve in the US military. This also has support from the Pentagon.

Senator Scot Brown(R-MA) justified this pointless filibuster on the grounds that these amendments were "politically expedient legislation entirely unrelated to the defense authorization". Bullshit. Let's look at amendments to defense authorization bills by THE GOP.
- Banning internet gambling
-Opening ANWR to oil drilling
- Concealed weapons amendment
-Increased indecency fines
- Campaign reform amendment
- Immunity for vaccine companies

Really? Does ANY of this have anything to do with defense funding? No.

GOP protestations aside, the GOP can add amendments to the bill.

Despite GOP protestations, the head of JCS and the Secretary of Defense, THE MILITARY, supports repealing DADT and the Dream Act.

The GOP, as it has been doing since day one of the Obama administration,have been blocking debate on the issue...DEBATE. They do this because they know that, open to debate, their objections and amendments would be tossed aside, like a trailer park in a tornado, by the facts. Cuz, ya see, it's not about the political window dressing enumerated above. It all boils down to the "culture wars". It's about continuing to deny a segment of American society the constitutional rights that they are willing to put their lives on the line for.

Why does the Senate GOP hate the troops?

The mainstreaming of idiot America

Attempting to talk out of both sides of one's mouth, usually involves inserting one's foot and chewing vigorously. Such is the case here. Mr. Fischer states there shouldn't be a backlash against Muslims in America yet, in the next breath, cheerfully proclaims Muslims shouldn't be allowed to serve in the US military or emigrate to this country...Yeah...No backlash.

Now, picture this...at the Values Voter Summit in Washington this week, Mr. Fischer...with visions of holy war against Islam dancing in his head...will be sharing the stage with GOP leaders and presidential wannabes. People like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, Michele Bachman, Jim Demint, Mike Huckabee, and other luminaries of the GOP. Really? Is there ANY political accountability on the right for those actively embracing this formerly fringe rhetoric? So far as can be seen, no. The red meat base of the GOP is actively embracing this message. Never mind that Obama's plea on Friday echoed the sentiments of George W. Bush on the matter...We are not at war with Islam, we are at war with terrorists disguised as Muslims.

What we see here is a group of ideologues for whom Islam is a convenient scapegoat...A different religion which they have differences with. So rather than keep the debate within the theological realm, where it properly belongs, they (by they I mean Limbaugh, Beck, Gingrich, et al) drag the issue kicking and screaming into the political arena. This in order to inflame the emotions of those, and their number is legion, lack the intellectual and emotional wherewithal to see this xenophobia as nothing more than scaring white people for fun and political profit.

Corporations are people...Really?

If corporations are people, as the current right loaded SCOTUS asserts, then corporations...like BP...need to understand some very fundamental principles of BEING a person.

Firstly, in any society, it is incumbent upon persons to be good neighbors. Good neighbors do not destroy the property of of their neighbors...they do not shit on their neighbors dining room tables or in their water supply. A principle which BP has clearly violated in its attempts to maximize profits at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of its neighbors and employees in the Gulf states.

Secondly, being a person in a society entails a degree of responsibility for one's own actions, unless one has been determined to be non compos mentis. In this latter case, the state appoints a guardian for the individual in question. This is not the case with BP. Memos from BP shown that, in the days and weeks leading up to the catastrophe, BP was more concerned with cutting costs than in the safety and well-being of its neighbors and employees. Now, I'm no lawyer, but it would seem to indicate premeditation on BP's part. And, thus, it would seem to be a clear case of maleficence on the part of BP.

It is also a given that a person accepts, not only the benefits of living in a society, but also accepts the responsibilities it entails. Failure to accept these responsibilities is immature at best, and criminal at worst. BP falls into the latter category with its obvious and callous disregard for its responsibilities as a corporate "person".

Similarly, neither corporations nor persons cannot accept the profits accrued through capitalist enterprise without accepting the risks that accompany those profits. It is the attempt to reap these profits while shifting the risk, and the costs accompanying that risk, to the public sector...the tax-payer...you and me...that corporations and their political whores are attempting to institutionalize.

But it can only happen if "...We, the people..." abdicate our responsibilities as neighbors...as members of this society. We cannot expect to enjoy the benefits of living in a free and open society if we fail to accept the responsibilities it entails. We can take the easy path and let the punditocracy...the Limbaugh's...the Beck's...the Rove's...the Cheney's of this country tell us what to think and do. Or we can take the path less traveled...think for ourselves...educate ourselves on the basic issues involved in securing our liberty and prosperity in the face of corporate fascism. It is only this latter course which will allow us to maintain and protect a free and open society. The alternative is despotism.

Democrat in Chief?

The problem lies, not just with the Democrats, Republicans or even President Obama. Until each and every corporate lobbyist is whipped naked and howling into the wilderness...Until big money contributions have been eradicated from political campaigns (An no, money does not equal free speech. The SCOTUS has its head waaaay up its ass on that one) and ALL political campaigns are publicly funded, nothing will change.

And therein lies the rub. Politicians don't want the system to change. They get their gerrymandered districts which assure little, if any electoral competition...and when they leave office they can become "consultants" for their corporate pimps and johns until the restrictions on lobbying Congress expire. Then, they go back and spread corporate cash around Washington like the all pervasive cancer corporate lobbying is.

Until "We the People...' wake up and take our responsibilities as citizens of this nation and the ultimate arbiters of how our government conducts its business in our name, Nothing...Will...Change...Ever. It is one of the cornerstones of this Republic that the Republic derives its powers from the "consent of the governed". Did we REALLY consent to this level of dysfunction in our government?

Repeal of DADT and the "...impurification of our precious bodily fluids..."

The right wing seems awfully het up about what goes on in barracks showers and fellatio performed by those depraved homosexyuls on their straight comrades in arms whilst they sleep. Gotta wonder what they're all doin' in their spare time...Hmmm.

I spent more than a few years in the navy, with the bulk of them spent on ships at sea, and I never awoke in my rack to find a homosexyul fellating me in my sleep. And yes, there were gay crew-members...many gay crew-members. By and large nobody but the knuckle-draggers and slack-jawed mouth breathers really gave a shit if they were gay as long as they were there when the shit hit the fan, and they were. Come to think of it, the knuckle-draggers and mouth-mouth breathers would have had trouble getting laid in a brothel if you stuffed their pockets full of C-notes.

And then there are the nut-bags at "America's Survival" who are doing a fair impression of General Jack D. Ripper in expressing their concerns over homosexyuls "impurifying the precious bodily fluids" of our men an women in uniform. Talk about bat-shit crazy...Kincaid's picture serves as the ostensive definition of the phrase.

To all those straight, right-wing, true-blue super patriots gettin' all het up over the possibility of getting hit by the super-duper-ultra-top-secret gay ray developed by the homosexyul movement in America...Can you say "Freudian slip"? I knew you could

GOP comes to rue Paul

Since his electoral victory in Kentucky Tuesday, every time Rand Paul meets a microphone, bad things happen...To him. So much so that the GOP seems to rue Paul.

One cannot fault Paul for speaking his thoughts, but philosophically speaking, his views are as flawed as they are naive. They are naive and flawed in their utter reliance on absolutes. His views on Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 completely ignore the historical facts regarding Jim Crowe laws, the context in which they were applied, and their consequences to African-Americans in the South of that era.

"Accidents happen..." in his defense of BP and laissez-faire capitalism
ignores that company's history of legal and ethical violations and habit of putting profits before employee and environmental safety. Capitalism is not an inherently evil system, so long as its limits are respected and safeguards are in place, by means of government regulations, to protect those who might be harmed through the mindless pursuit of profit...Employees, persons living around corporate facilities, the environment.

The preamble to the Constitution states that the purpose of the government is to "...establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty...". Failing to adequately regulate industries which have the potential to cause grave financial, personal and environmental harm, or allow social injustices such as racism to go unchecked, would be an abdication of those goals.

Will the grown ups take over the GOP leadership?

Now that the long slog on health-care reform is over and the fight over financial reform is about to start...Will the GOP continue it's unprincipled opposition to ANYTHING proposed by the Democrats in Congress?

Perhaps. Sen Bob Corker (R-TN), openly lamented the failure of the GOP to make any meaningful input to the financial reform legislation that passed out of the Senate Banking Committee. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) And Jim Webb (D-VA) ignored GOP leadership when if forbade a hearing on the military health system. Maine's Senators, Snowe and Collins broke from the GOP herd on same gender marriage. Does this mean that the grown-ups have finally stood up and re-asserted their control? In a word, no.

With David Frum, former Bush speech writer being sacked from his position at the American Enterprise Institute for suggesting that the GOP leadership basically stepped on its collective dick, would indicate otherwise. This for saying that the GOP stance on the health-care reform, now the law of the land, was Waterloo...for the GOP. Oh, and let's not forget, in his interview with ABC, Frum said that the GOP was working for FOX News.

Ideological purity trumps realistic assessment. In their silent acquiescence to the vitriolic rhetoric from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the country, the GOP has painted itself into a rhetorical corner. The GOP can't be seen as negotiating with the born-in-Kenya, communist/socialist/nazi, isn't-really-president Barack Obama. To do so would result in an immediate backlash from the right wing-nut noise machine...which is following an agenda that has more to do with ratings than the good of the country...And its equally rabid audience. Never mind that the audience has been misinformed by the same RWN noise machine.

Instead of doing the right thing and working for the American people, the GOP is going down the rabbit hole with the red-meat, lunatic fringe...now mainstreamed by American media outlets, including FOX Noise...And reflexively opposing anything offered up by the Obama White House or congressional Democrats. The scorched earth politics of the GOP will continue. The GOP leadership will continue to take its direction from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the American right. The grown ups will remain seated quietly in the background whilst the children run amok.

Healthcare Reform...The Long View

I know folks on the right wing side of American politics don't have much concern for the long view...Especially when it conflicts with their slash-and-burn style of politics and their thirst for power...But we'll take a quick look anyways.

Health insurance companies are all about the bottom line. Their profits come from denying payment for health-care. In a report by Goldman-Sachs, Steve Lewis, a broker for one of the world's largest insurance companies, stated that health insurers were more than comfortable pricing people out of the market to maintain their bottom line. But, like the robber barons of old, they...and their supporters...fail to look at the long term consequences. But that should come as no surprise to anyone. The same attitudes led to the ongoing mortgage crisis.

SO let's look at a long term consequence that will devastate the American middle class as well as everyone else further down on the economic food chain.

Health insurers are willing to raise their rates which, in turn, will force more and more people off of insurance roles. The result of this will be n increasing number of people using emergency departments as primary care providers. And this trend will only worsen as more and more people join the ranks of the uninsured. The upshot of this is that emergency departments, and the hospitals which support them, will face increasing demand for services from a growing pool of uninsured patients using them for primary care. These patients often wait until their condition becomes intolerable before seeking health care, thus arriving at the hospital in worse condition and often requiring a more complex course of treatment including longer hospital stays than their insured counterparts. The increased financial burden this creates for a hospital or a local/regional health-care system can force them to close their doors. St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City is a prime example of this. Faced with $75 million annual operating deficits, St. Vincent's was sold to a for profit health chain which will turn the hospital into an outpatient center. Thus closing a major source of health-care not just for the uninsured, but for everyone in Lower Manhattan for more than 150 years.

Now, imagine this repeated across the country in growing numbers...Hospitals and health care systems closing...fewer and fewer sources of health-care for the growing number of insured and uninsured alike, as more and more are forced into the ranks of the uninsured. Until only the very wealthy can afford to have their health care needs attended to at a few private, cash-only centers. Sounds fantastic...? It can never happen here? It can, and will, if meaningful and substantive reform of America's health care system is not passed. And it is how health-care works in many third world countries now. Imagine that...America reduced to third-world status by a short-sighted health-insurance industry and its equally short-sighted backers in Congress.

The Death of Democracy

Let's look at the decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission with a critical eye and consideration for the consequences. I know you on the right aren't very good at either of these, so I'll use small words and short sentences.

First, Congress passed laws restricting corporate spending in elections to ensure the debate was more equitable. The basic premise being to prevent the side with the most money from dominating debate for no other reason than it has the deepest pockets. But let's look at the big picture something the Right Wing Nuts, Tea-baggers, and their ilk are loathe to do

Neither corporations nor labor unions are people. They are artificial entities created by the government in order to acquire the massive amounts of money needed to operate efficiently in the markets and economy in general. They were not established with the intent that they over-run the political process. Neither corporations nor labor unions are people. Indeed, in many other ways, they do not receive the same constitutional rights as people. For example, they have neither the right to vote nor hold elected office. But that's neither here nor there. McCain-Feingold was a freakin' sieve that let all sorts of corporate money into the political process. We need look no further than the political contributions to both Democrats and Republicans made by the health-insurance industry and Pharma in order to kill any real or meaningful health-care reform.

Again, that's the least of our worries at this point. Consider...What if ARAMCO, or "New Order" fashions...owned by the People's Liberation Army and producing clothes for Wally World...or The Bin Laden Construction Company...Flood US politics with the billions of dollars at their disposal. China alone OWNS some $2 trillion in US debt...largely run up by the Bush administration...It would be just a drop in the bucket for one of their state owned companies or a US based shell corporation, to dump a billion or so dollars into the campaign coffers of anyone running for office who would support THEIR interests.

Before the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Corporations could give tons of loot to PAC's, but you could go online and find who who gave what to whom. Oh, and every contributor MUST be a U.S. citizen. Now, however corporations can give as much money as they want to to support candidates for office here in the US. This means that some Burmese junta owned shell corporation can buy a US congressman with the money they've made off of the slave labor of their people. Or perhaps UBS, which is facing criminal prosecution and a billion, or so, in fines for for fraud might find it cheaper to buy a couple of congressmen than to face the costs of a trial and possible fines. In the face of this pool of money, all the PAYPAL political donations every American could make would dwindle to irrelevance.

That's just a little glimpse of the big picture kids. Now maybe you can polish this turd a little by saying the SCROTUS (Supreme Court Republicans of the U.S.) were trying to force Congress to deal with the matter of political campaigns by passing a constitutional amendment mandating public financing of political campaigns. I somehow doubt it though. More likely, Chief Justice Roberts, always a friend to corporate America, simply wanted to secure their strangle hold on US politics. He, and the rest of the RWN's on the bench obviously failed to take into account the door now opened to unlimited foreign capital now being allowed to openly flow into the campaign coffers of US political candidates.

Left unchecked...this decision will be the death of democracy in the US, as well as the Republic, in a relatively short time. You can count on it. Sieg Heil y'all.

Shameless Dickheads...

There's never any justification for attempting to make hay from a tragedy. Let's look at El Rushbo, with a brain pickled in hillbilly heroine. Never one to let tragedy stand in the way of his ignorance or self-righteousness he says...

LIMBAUGH: Yes, I think in the Haiti earthquake, ladies and gentlemen -- in the words of Rahm Emanuel, we have another crisis simply too good to waste. This will play right into Obama's hands -- humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their -- shall we say -- credibility with the black community, in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community, in this country. It's made-to-order for 'em. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there. Could not wait to get out there.

This isn't about politics...it's about a response to human tragedy on a scale that will dwarf anything we have seen in this hemisphere in decades.

And then there's this gem...

LIMBAUGH: I want you to remember it took [Obama] three days -- three days -- to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom bomber. Three days. And when he came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it. He didn't want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about Haiti.

As if there is any equivalence between the crotch bomber, where the greatest danger was being hit my fried scrotal shrapnel and the human tragedy of Haiti. A tragedy which will likely result in the death of hundreds of thousands of people. One can only wonder where the sanctimonious bitching of the right regarding the sanctity of human life in regards to abortion, goes in cases such as this. Especially when the victims are less than lily white.

But let's not forget Pat Robertson. His senile babbling on a deal with Satan for the independence of Haiti has led to this tragedy was a mockery. It was nothing more than another exercise in blaming the victim. An exercise which is so very popular on the right.

ROBERTSON: And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the French." True story. And so, the devil said, "OK, it's a deal."

And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.

This was when "Kristi" should have simply guided "Reverend" Robertson off camera, removed his mike, and sent him to the nursing home where he could get his daily aricept, zyprexa and depakote and listen to "God" speak to him to his hearts content.

Obama Derangement Syndrome

Back in the dark days of George W. Bush's first administration right wing pundit, Charles Krauthammer coined the term "Bush Derangement Syndrome". He defined it as, "...the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush". This in reaction to justified and well founded criticism of Bush leading this nation into an unjustifiable war of choice against a nation which posed no credible threat to anyone outside its own borders.

When critics of the Bush administration would mutter darkly about the failures of the Bush administration in finding the WMD's that were the justification for the invasion of Iraq, failing to capture the perpetrators of 9/11, 9/11, New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the moribund US economy...in fact, any rational, fact based criticism of the Bush administration was dismissed as the "Bush Derangement Syndrome" of said critics.

Starting from day one of his administration, we have seen the onset of acute paranoia in America's right wing political establishment, right wing punditocracy and its slavish, benighted follower in reaction "to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of" Barack H. Obama. This reflexive and irrational hatred of President Obama was highlighted earlier this week when Chicago failed to get the nod for the Olympics. The airwaves, blogosphere and print media were filled with the howls of glee at the news that Obama's presence failed to secure a Chicago venue for the Olympics. It was only a short time before that that Congressman Joe Wilson astounded America by shouting "You lie!" at the President during an address to Congress, to the unbridled delight of the GOP's right wing-nut base.

And now we see the nearly fulminant outrage and ire on the right at Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. When any rational person would set aside their prejudices a feel a swell of pride for their country and their President, the right wing noise machine explodes in fury. With the likes of Rush Limbaugh stating that "we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn't deserve the award...". Why do you hate America Rush?

We see America's right wing fully and deeply in the grip of an irrational and "acute paranoia in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of" Barack H. Obama. They are caught fully and inextricably in the hall of mirrors that is Obama Derangement Syndrome.

The Scum Also Rises...When will it stop?

In March of 2003, the Bush administration thought it had a gold-mine of information on Al Qaeda with the capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. FBI interrogators extracted a wealth of information from him before the CIA took over and began using "enhanced interrogation techniques". Hereafter EIT will be called by its correct name...torture.

March 2003, the same month Bush invaded Iraq. The same month Khalid Sheik Mohanmmed was water-boarded 183 times. Under this duress, he admitted to everything from the kidnapping of Charles Lindgergh's baby to being the second gunman on the grassy knoll in Dallas. What he did not confess to, however, and what the Bush administration was seeking, was an operational link between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

In April 2003, former UN weapons inspector. Charles Duelfer, received a request to engage in a more aggressive manner, as in water-boarding, with an Iraqi intelligence officer, Muhammed Khudayr, former head of M-14...a branch of Saddam's Mukhabarat...whom he was helping to debrief on Saddam's WMD's. You know the ones that were never there in the first place. According to Mr. Duelfer, this request originated in Washington. This request was problematic in two aspects. First would have been the violation of the Geneva Conventions, as this Iraqi was a lawful combatant. Secondly, this Iraqi intelligence officer was freely co-operating with his interrogators. Saddam was gone and he saw US forces as allies in rebuilding Iraq. Mr. Duelfer put it thus:

“Some in Washington at very senior levels, not in the CIA, were concerned that the debriefing was too gentle. They asked if enhanced measures, such as waterboarding should be used.”

Duelfer found the request "reprehensible" and he and his fellow interrogators refused to comply with this request to commit a war crime. Never mind that the motive behind the request wasn't to acquire intelligence which could be used to stop a further attack on America. It was to obtain information on an operational link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. Never mind that as a uniformed member of Iraqi security services Khudayr WAS subject to ALL provisions of the Geneva Conventions.

According to a report by Robert Windrem, this request for the use of water-boarding Khudayr originated in then Vice-President Dick Cheney's office.

But why this focus on links between Al Qaeda and Iraq? Perhaps the Bush administration, realizing it's WMD rational for the invasion of Iraq was tenuous, at best, they were seeking to back-fill their justification for what was, essentially, an illegal, ill-conceived war of choice against an enemy which was no threat to anyone beyond its borders.

The point to all of this is that the Bush administration's use of water-boarding, and other forms of torture, went beyond even the flimsy legal justifications offered up by the Yoo and Bybee memos. As we see in this memo from John Bybee

Our advice is based upon the following facts, which you have provided to us. We also understand that you do not have any facts in your possession contrary to the facts outlined here, and this opinion is limited to these facts. If these facts were to change, this advice would not necessarily apply...Specifically, he(Abu Zubaydha) is withholding information regarding terrorist networks in the United States or in Saudi Arabia and information regarding plans to conduct attacks within the United States or against our interests overseas...In 1ight of the information you believe Zubaydah has and the high level of threat you believe now exists, your wish to move the interrogations in to what you have described. as an "increased pressure phase."

The upshot is that the Bush administration exceeded even its own tenuous limits on the use of torture. As indicated above, torture was to be used only in the event of a "ticking time-bomb" scenario. The approval of the torture program by the DOJ was dependent upon the need to stop new attacks on the US and its interests. Securing evidence of an operational link between Al Qaeda and Iraq in order to justify the invasion of Iraq did not fall under even that flimsy rationale. The Bush administration tortured detainees, not to obtain intelligence aimed at preventing further attacks on the US, but to back-fill an illegal war of aggression based on a non-existent operational link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

And there you have it. The torture of detainees, not to prevent further attacks on the US...Even though not even that is justification for torture. Detainees were tortured to cover the political asses of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of the architects of the invasion and botched occupation of Iraq.

Taken as a whole, the continued reluctance of President Obama and Attorney General Holder to pursue the investigation and prosecution of war crimes against the members of the Bush administration who authorized, and those who carried out, torture continues to boggle the mind. Given the evidence that exists, it is clear that an investigation must be undertaken, and the evidence followed wherever...and to whonever...it may lead. US treaty obligations under the UN Conventions Against Torture and the Geneva Convention requires this. Failure to do so is nothing less than complicity in these crimes.

Another Brick in the Wall...

First is was the the failure of the Obama administration to begin investigations of war crimes under the Bush administration. You remember...water-boarding, stress positions, torture. Then it was the request for dismissal of Jewel v. NSA. And, now it's this...

Obama to Appeal Detainee Ruling

On April 2nd, United States District Judge John D. Bates, ruled that three prisoners at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan were entitled to the same legal rights GITMO detainees were granted last year by the US Supreme Court. On Friday, the Obama administration announced its intent to appeal this ruling.

Habeas Corpus has been a cornerstone of jurisprudence since the Magna Carta, or even earlier, by some accounts. It does not serve to determine the innocence or guilt of the defendant but rather, it serves to determine whether or not the defendant is legally imprisoned. In the cases of the men being detained at Bagram, they were captured outside of Afghanistan and have been imprisoned for some six years without charge or trial.

The Bush administration claimed the authority to suspend habeas corpus in the cases of those individuals described as "enemy combatants", including those interred at GITMO. This policy was later enshrined in the Military Commissions Act of 2006. It wasn't until 2008 that the US Supreme Court in BOUMEDIENE v. BUSH repudiated the Bush administration by stating that the denial of habeas corpus for GITMO detainees was unconstitutional and that they were entitled to hearings where they could contest their imprisonment and the charges against them. By extension, this ruling could apply to those in US custody elsewhere...such as at Bagram Airbase, and this is what Judge Bates has done. Why the Obama administration would choose to challenge what appears to be settled law is disappointing and, in this case, disturbing.

President Obama rode into office on a pledge of change, yet here his administration stands, defending the very policies of the Bush administration that played a key role in undermining America's reputation around the world as a beacon of hope and justice. As a former professor of constitutional law, President Obama should not need to be reminded by a layman that he cannot "...support and defend the Constitution..." by undermining the very foundations upon which it stands. Nor should he need to be reminded that using the authority of the office to cover up the crimes of his predecessor is nothing less than complicity in those crimes.

Additional Sources:

Obama and habeas corpus -- then and now

Judge Rules Some Prisoners at Bagram Have Right of Habeas Corpus

MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT

An Open Letter...

...To President Barack Obama.

Dear Sir,

In November of 2008 you were elected to the office of President of the United States by me, and millions of other Americas, on a platform of hope and change. But recently, it seems to be more a case of "Meet the new boss...Same as the old boss".

It began with the reluctance of your administration to live up to its duties in investigating the Bush administration for its apparent violation of US and international human rights law regarding the abuse of detainees in US custody. Now your administration seems to not only be siding with the late, unlamented Bush administration, but are actively seeking to expand the authority they claimed to conduct domestic surveillance operations on US citizens without a warrant! This in response to the lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The motion submitted by your DOJ does nothing short of gutting the Fourth Amendment, and all in the name of "state secrets". As a former professor of constitutional law, Mr. President, it should not be necessary for me...a layman...to tell you that a right unenforced is no right at all. Secondly, using the doctrine of "state secrets" as a means of preventing the investigation of a crime is no better than complicity in that crime.

Make no mistake sir, you and your administration have been doing some good things. But, as we said in the Navy, "One 'Awww shit!' wipes out all of your 'Attaboy!'s". In this case you have a MAJOR "Awww shit!"

Will they stop at nothing?

It appears that the GOP is attempting to beat the Obama administration into submission on the issue of releasing Bush administration torture memos. According to Scott Horton of "The Daily Beast", the Senate GOP assmonkeys are:

...(N)ow privately threatening to derail the confirmation of key Obama administration nominees for top legal positions by linking the votes to suppressing critical torture memos from the Bush era. - Scott Horton

...Namely the confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to the head of DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.

If, the actions sanctioned in these memos was legal as they, and former members of the Bush administration have long held, and still do, they have nothing to worry about.

The release of the memos, already cleared by Attorney General Holder, has apparently caused a rift in the Obama administration, this according to Michael Isikoff of "Newsweek". The effort to block the release of these documents is being led by John Brennan, once considered by the Obama administration to head the CIA. Brennan has apparently persuaded DCIA Panetta that it is in the national interest to block the release of these memos. It would seem that avoiding embarrassment of "...foreign intelligence services who cooperated with the CIA, either by participating in overseas "extraordinary renditions" of high-level detainees or housing them in overseas "black site" prisons..." trumps the rule of law.

Unfortunately, for the GOP and the late, unlamented Bush administration, the actions outlined in these memos are illegal under US law and treaty obligation and international law. The attempts by Senate Republicans to suppress these documents would seem, at the very least, to constitute attempts to suppress evidence of criminal activities sanctioned by the Bush administration...If not outright collusion.

Mr. Brennan's, and now DCIA Pannetta's, efforts to suppress these documents in the name of national security is equally troubling. Did we not have enough of this under the Bush administration? Using the rubric of national security to suppress the evidence of criminal activity is collusion in said activity.

The only way to put this issue to rest is to release all documents pertaining to it and appoint a special prosecutor with the mandate, the staff and the funding to follow the evidence wherever, and to whoever, it may lead.

Treason by any other name...

...Is still treason. And suborning treason is exactly what Dick Cheney is doing with his "stay behinds" in the Obama administration and various other agencies.

In an interview on "Fresh Air with Terri Gross" Seymour Hersch, veteran investigative reporter with the "New Yorker", Hirsch stated that Cheney left these "stay behinds" for his own purposes...

You leave people behind. It’s a stay behind that you can continue to contacts with, to do sabotage, whatever you want to do. Cheney’s left a stay behind. He’s got people in a lot of agencies that still tell him what’s going on. Particularly in defense, obviously. Also in the NSA, there’s still people that talk to him. He still knows what’s going on. Can he still control policy up to a point? Probably up to a point, a minor point. But he’s still there. He’s still a presence. - Seymour Hersch

Cheney is a private citizen now, his security clearances are null and void as he no longer has a "need to know". By encouraging his moles to report back to him he is suborning treason, and if the information is classified, he...and they...are engaging in espionage. I understand the penalties for this are quite severe.

Thus far, however, the Obama administration seems content to let the worst excesses of the Bush administration go unanswered for. Perhaps that will change with this new awareness of traitors in their midst.

Imagine that...

After years of being detained at GITMO, being subjected to water-boarding and other forms of torture...er, "harsh interrogation"...it turns out that Abu Zubaida provided no actionable intelligence. What was obtained, before he was tortured, I mean "harshly interrogated", were the names of Al Qaeda members and their associates, and many of those were found on the hard drive of his laptop. And, contrary to claims by the Bush administration, Zubaida was not Al Qaeda's "...number three leader..." He was simply a go-to guy for arranging transportation for the families of Al Qaeda functionaries. No "plots" were foiled by his torture and perhaps the only ones furthered were those of the Bush administration to keep America in a constant state of fear.

Like so much else involved in the Bush administration's "war on terror", exaggeration, misinformation and outright lies were the preferred tools of the administration in maintaining a level of fear in America conducive to whatever action they chose to pursue. From illegal domestic wiretapping to the suspension of habeas corpus...from claiming the authority to suspend the constitutional rights of American citizens to invading Iraq...the Bush administration ground the Constitution under its heel, using the "war on terror" as a convenient pretext for whatever action it chose to take to secure its grasp on power. We are only now beginning to realize the true scope of the Bush legacy...memos by John Yoo and now federal Judge Jay Bybee are but the tip of the iceberg.

Even more disappointing is the failure of the Obama administration to live up to its duties under US and international law. That being to prosecute those individuals responsible for providing legal cover for the administration's torture policies or those who authorized the use of torture on prisoners in US custody. It doesn't require a congressional "truth commission"...Just a special prosecutor with the staff and funding to follow the evidence wherever, and to whoever, it may lead. The platform of change President Obama ran on are beginning to ring hollow.


Sources:

Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots

Profile: Abu Zubaida

Secret Bush Administration Torture Memo Released Today In Response To ACLU Lawsuit

Top Interrogators Declare Torture Ineffective in Intelligence Gathering

ENOUGH ALREADY...!

In another glaring example of just how weak the shit of the right wing in this country is, they've created another steaming handful of crap to throw at President Obama to see if it sticks. They're getting as bad as a bored chimp at a zoo throwing crap at the zoo patrons. At least there's substance to what the chimp throws.

Few, if any, public speakers in large venues fail to use teleprompters. It's a modern fact of life, they're used by everyone from college professors all the way down to pond scum like Sean Hannity and Glen Beck. And the RWN's conveniently forget that every word Bush ever read, stumbled through more appropriately, off a teleprompter was written for him. Obama writes his own material.

Even more ridiculous is the main stream media like AP and CNN picking up this long debunked BS story first promulgated by the likes of FOX Noise and Politico to Townhall and the Drudge Report during the presidential campaign. As usual, the MSM is behind the curve. It seems likely that space aliens have taken over the MSM with the aim of turning people's brains to mush so they can spread them on toast like Cheez-Whiz. They can safely abandon the plan however as they have found a a seemingly endless and ready to eat source between the ears of the GOP leadership, its apologists and their slavish followers. We offer them our profound thanks for their selfless sacrifice to save the human race.