There's only one thing wrong with today's New York Times headline, "U.S. Engaged in Torture After 9/11, Report Shows." It's written in the past tense. It insinuates that the war crimes have stopped under the Obama Administration.
If anything, they have only gotten worse. Torture is still ongoing at Guantanamo, as evidenced by yesterday's powerful oral history of an editorial dictated by a hunger-striking unindicted inmate chained to a bed and undergoing forced feeding. It's still being outsourced to so-called black site prisons. Worst of all, waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation techniques" have largely been supplanted by the ultimate torture. Euphemistically known as the Disposition Matrix, it is effectively The Final Solution, Obama-style. This is the Terror Tuesday Kill List, the ongoing program of "signature" drone strike executions, conducted simply on the basis of age, ethnicity, and location, location, location.
Not only is the Obama Administration continuing the Bush-era war crimes, it is going out of its way to punish whistleblowers coming forward to report on them. It has just issued yet another blanket gag order on all federal agencies in the convenient name of "national security," hoping to ensure that the chilling effect on journalism solidifies into a monolithic glacier of unprecedented opacity.
Of course, with yesterday's terror attack in Boston, the last thing to enter the minds of the leadership class will be anything remotely resembling regretful self-reflection. They have officially never heard of Blowback, or chickens coming home to roost. Instead, they'll double down, stand their ground, burst into an off-key cacophany of America the Beautiful. They'll ratchet up the price of admission to National Security Theater, a grotesque show of authoritarianism in which we once again become both the actors and the audience.
They are all George Bush now. They're comfortable with what they did, they're comfortable with what they'll keep on doing. They're too big to fail and too big to jail. The government of the United States maintains its function as a monstrous protection racket for the rich and the powerful.
You'd think that Grand Compromiser and Consensus Builder Obama would praise the bipartisan nature of the torture report released today by the Constitution Project. Don't hold your breath. After all, it does criticize Obama for his own abject failure to investigate the Bush era abuses, even as it stops just short of indicting him for his own ongoing reign of terror. But it at least suggests that Obama himself is guilty of war crimes for failing to hold his predecessor accountable. It also criticizes him for his "excessive secrecy."
With more and more people expressing revulsion at everything from the slashing of the safety net, to inhumane treatment of people both here and abroad, to the relentless kowtowing to private interests at public expense, the very legitimacy of this administration is becoming rapidly eroded. The scales are falling off, the blinders of the populace are coming off.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
The Bombing of Boston
Another day in America, another outburst of violence. I am not going to speculate or opinionate, except for this one thing -- when I watched the coverage, saddened yet shockingly not shocked, the only thought that did not enter my mind was what our kill list president would eventually intone:
You'd think that on "days like this" he would spare us the bromides. Our leaders are about as committed to their fellow citizens as BP is committed to the Gulf.
To really show how sincere is his appreciation for all the first responders and National Guard personnel on scene, Obama should immediately light a fire under the VA about those languishing disability claims, reverse his effective pay cut on federal workers, and forget all about his proposed regressive tax hikes on all working class people.
The people of Boston don't need a politician to tell them that ordinary Americans are on their side. Regular people always do a lot better than fleeting thoughts, bogus prayers and empty promises of government aid. Just look at who stepped up to help the Hurricane Sandy victims.
I’ve updated leaders of Congress in both parties, and we reaffirmed that on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats -- we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.He just can't get away from his obsessive legacy-burnishing, consensus-building, bipartishit meme, even on "days like this", coming at ever shorter intervals, illustrating that this nation is indeed crumbling into a million tiny pieces.
You'd think that on "days like this" he would spare us the bromides. Our leaders are about as committed to their fellow citizens as BP is committed to the Gulf.
To really show how sincere is his appreciation for all the first responders and National Guard personnel on scene, Obama should immediately light a fire under the VA about those languishing disability claims, reverse his effective pay cut on federal workers, and forget all about his proposed regressive tax hikes on all working class people.
The people of Boston don't need a politician to tell them that ordinary Americans are on their side. Regular people always do a lot better than fleeting thoughts, bogus prayers and empty promises of government aid. Just look at who stepped up to help the Hurricane Sandy victims.
With No Due Regrets
Get ready for yet another spate of horrific George W. Bush memorabilia. The fawning courtiers of the national media, along with every fawning living president, will soon be descending upon Texas to witness the dedication of his lieberry. (that's how we pronounced it during my Long-goyland childhood, arright?)
To get you all fired up and ready to go for the grandiose occasion, the Dallas Morning News has published a blockbuster interview with W. And here's the big scoop: along with his recently revealed talent for primitive folk art, George has also developed skills in primordial self-reflection. He rudimentally ruminates:
Like too many veterans, Young has had to wait an unconscionable length of time to be "honored" with disability benefits and therapy. The workings of the Veterans Administration are even more primitive than Bush's attempts at painting, with wounded veterans waiting years in some cases to have their claims heard, and often denied. Young wonders if Bush & Co. will ever have the moral courage to apologize for the damage and destruction they have wrought.
If he read the Dallas Morning News, he just got his answer. Like most psychopaths, and I'd wager, most modern politicians, Bush is comfortable inside his own skin. He's comfortable with what he did. He's comfortable with who he is. He's just comfortable.
I don't think the man has ever known an uncomfortable moment in his whole cosseted life.
To get you all fired up and ready to go for the grandiose occasion, the Dallas Morning News has published a blockbuster interview with W. And here's the big scoop: along with his recently revealed talent for primitive folk art, George has also developed skills in primordial self-reflection. He rudimentally ruminates:
I'm comfortable with what I did. I'm comfortable with who I am.
One of the real challenges of life is that when you complete a chapter, you don’t atrophy, that you continue to find ways to contribute.Some people would be surprised if he even had a soul. How otherwise is he even able to venture out in public after receiving that gut-wrenching farewell letter from dying Iraq war veteran Tomas Young? (I know, I know. See last quote)
Freedom is universal. Free markets are fairest. Free societies are based upon good education. Those who fought for freedom should be honored. To whom much is given, much is required.
Of course, some people are surprised I can even read.
Like too many veterans, Young has had to wait an unconscionable length of time to be "honored" with disability benefits and therapy. The workings of the Veterans Administration are even more primitive than Bush's attempts at painting, with wounded veterans waiting years in some cases to have their claims heard, and often denied. Young wonders if Bush & Co. will ever have the moral courage to apologize for the damage and destruction they have wrought.
If he read the Dallas Morning News, he just got his answer. Like most psychopaths, and I'd wager, most modern politicians, Bush is comfortable inside his own skin. He's comfortable with what he did. He's comfortable with who he is. He's just comfortable.
I don't think the man has ever known an uncomfortable moment in his whole cosseted life.
Friday, April 12, 2013
RIP Jonathan Winters
If anybody deserves a state funeral, it's this guy. His brand of insanity kept a lot of us sane over the years.
With All Due Regrets, Click Youse Meme-ber & Go Stifle Yourself
Thanks to Nan Socolow for sharing this (useless, she says) response to a query about her New York Times commenting profile:
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Salmonella Nation
Remember when President Obama assured us that no Americans would ever be placed on his Targeted Kill List? Well... not so fast. If he has his way, thousands of us will get sick, even die, from eating tainted eggs, meat and poultry. Michelle Obama's Let's Move program touting healthy diets will morph into Let's Move to get to the bathroom on time.
Even though studies show that at least two-thirds of the chicken sold in this country carry bacteria, President Obama's budget is calling for an unbelievably drastic reduction in USDA poultry inspectors. He apparently thinks that the Wall Street method of self-regulation, which has obviously worked out just fine for defrauded homeowners and looted pension plans, will work just as well for factory farms. He apparently thinks that thousands or millions of new cases of salmonella a year are the price we must pay in order to have a thriving free market. He apparently has learned no lessons from the hundreds of cases of fungal meningitis caused by that self-regulating compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts.
It's the usual blatant pro-corporate rationale behind most of this administration's deregulatory actions. Firing federal poultry inspectors who protect the public health would actually save only a paltry amount of taxpayer money. But firing poultry inspectors who protect the public health will greatly enhance the bank accounts of the factory farms. Their profits will bloat even faster than a salmonella-infested oven stuffer roaster. The fox-guarding-the-henhouse way of doing business will be taken to a whole new literal level.
Under current procedures, teams of USDA inspectors working at America's poultry plants are now able to examine about 35 chickens a minute as they come flying down the assembly lines. Under Obama's proposal, the reduction in staff would result in a lone token inspector having to examine 175 birds in the same time frame -- a physical impossibility. As a result, the rate of production could potentially increase by five-fold.
Tony Corbo, of the public policy group Food and Water Watch, notes that a pilot program replacing government Agriculture inspectors with self-policing industry employees has already been proven dangerous. Salmonella cases actually increased, and even carcasses bearing obvious fecal contamination were being missed. In an interview with the Real News Network, Corbo said the Obama Administration is well aware of these dire statistics, but is playing fast and loose with the public health anyway:
And here we thought Chained CPI represented the ultimate in cruelty. Not only will we be forced to eat cat food, we'll be forced to eat tainted Walmart cat food.
Even though studies show that at least two-thirds of the chicken sold in this country carry bacteria, President Obama's budget is calling for an unbelievably drastic reduction in USDA poultry inspectors. He apparently thinks that the Wall Street method of self-regulation, which has obviously worked out just fine for defrauded homeowners and looted pension plans, will work just as well for factory farms. He apparently thinks that thousands or millions of new cases of salmonella a year are the price we must pay in order to have a thriving free market. He apparently has learned no lessons from the hundreds of cases of fungal meningitis caused by that self-regulating compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts.
It's the usual blatant pro-corporate rationale behind most of this administration's deregulatory actions. Firing federal poultry inspectors who protect the public health would actually save only a paltry amount of taxpayer money. But firing poultry inspectors who protect the public health will greatly enhance the bank accounts of the factory farms. Their profits will bloat even faster than a salmonella-infested oven stuffer roaster. The fox-guarding-the-henhouse way of doing business will be taken to a whole new literal level.
Under current procedures, teams of USDA inspectors working at America's poultry plants are now able to examine about 35 chickens a minute as they come flying down the assembly lines. Under Obama's proposal, the reduction in staff would result in a lone token inspector having to examine 175 birds in the same time frame -- a physical impossibility. As a result, the rate of production could potentially increase by five-fold.
Tony Corbo, of the public policy group Food and Water Watch, notes that a pilot program replacing government Agriculture inspectors with self-policing industry employees has already been proven dangerous. Salmonella cases actually increased, and even carcasses bearing obvious fecal contamination were being missed. In an interview with the Real News Network, Corbo said the Obama Administration is well aware of these dire statistics, but is playing fast and loose with the public health anyway:
I mean, when the administration proposed their regulation, they had a report doing an evaluation of these pilot plants. And it showed the last two years of data that they collected, that the pilot plants had actually higher salmonella rates than the conventionally inspected plants. And lo and behold, just this past month--USDA does a monthly report on the testing that the government does in these plants to test to see if the salmonella rates are either high or low, and two of the pilot plants showed up as failing the salmonella test.
So here's the ultimate irony. The administration keeps on going around and saying that this new model, this new inspection model is going to be able to reduce salmonella, and yet all of the evidence points the other way.And just as an aside: the Office of Management and Budget, largely responsible for the relentless deregulation frenzy in the Obama Administration, will now be headed by Walmart executive Sylvia Mathews Burwell. Walmart sells a whole lot of chicken. Just sayin'.
And here we thought Chained CPI represented the ultimate in cruelty. Not only will we be forced to eat cat food, we'll be forced to eat tainted Walmart cat food.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Being Margaret Thatcher
Barack Obama opened his oversized vintage 80s handbag this morning and dumped the entire contents on a sleepy unsuspecting public. No cash -- just a pile of IOUs payable to the Wall Street elites, to be drawn from our Social Security trust fund to go straight to their trillion-dollar tax-free offshore bank accounts and CEO pay packages.
The only shocker is that there are still a few hold-outs who are still shocked by the Great Betrayal. Happily, most New York Times reader-commenters are up in arms, with one woman (Renee of Manhattan) even suggesting that Barack be dragged bodily from the White House. I hope she does not receive a visit from the Secret Soyvice! Here is my comment:
But if you like gallows humor as I do, what could be more laugh-out-loud hilarious than Obama sending his new Treasury Secretary to Europe to lecture them on the dangers of austerity? As Yves Smith writes today, it must be getting awfully hard out there for an Obamabot.
The only shocker is that there are still a few hold-outs who are still shocked by the Great Betrayal. Happily, most New York Times reader-commenters are up in arms, with one woman (Renee of Manhattan) even suggesting that Barack be dragged bodily from the White House. I hope she does not receive a visit from the Secret Soyvice! Here is my comment:
Mr. Obama will dine with a dozen Republicans tonight, feasting on gourmet goodies as they discuss imposing a diet of cat food on a nation of struggling retirees, veterans, widowed parents and orphans, and the disabled.
Despite what the president says, his is not a balanced approach. Economist Dean Baker has crunched the numbers, and the upshot of Chained CPI will be that poorer people will be contributing at three times the rate as those making over $450,000. And those pesky tax loopholes? They'll be closed temporarily, and then lobbyists bearing scissors will descend upon Congress to let the snipping open begin anew.
But the cuts to our safety net would be permanent, and Obama's proposals represent a sneaky backdoor way to eventual privatization.
More than 80% of Americans polled do not want Social Security, which has added not one dime to the deficit, touched. If anything, we should scrap the cap on FICA contributions to ensure the program's solvency into perpetuity. In this time of chronic unemployment and underemployment, with one in five Americans living in poverty, we should actually be lowering the retirement age and raising benefits.
That a Democratic president is doing the cruel bidding of Wall Street and the deficit hawks instead of doing the bidding of the people who re-elected him is proof positive that lesser evilism is still pretty darned rotten. I hope he's ready for a fight -- because he'll be getting a big one.I usually don't sign petitions, (they're just hooks for endless fund-raising appeals) but I made an exception this week, and for the hell of it added my name to 2 million other signatures delivered yesterday to the White House by Sen. Bernie Sanders and a while contingent of demonstrators. As you can tell by the contents spewing out of his Thatcher carry-all today, Obama must have cackled gleefully if he even deigned to give it a glance. Of course, when people like Sanders and the other sundry inhabitants of the veal pen preface their protests with "I am a big supporter of the president, but....", who wouldn't burst out guffawing? Also humorous are the hordes who continue to insist that the president is being "forced" to cut the safety net by all those nasty Republicans.
But if you like gallows humor as I do, what could be more laugh-out-loud hilarious than Obama sending his new Treasury Secretary to Europe to lecture them on the dangers of austerity? As Yves Smith writes today, it must be getting awfully hard out there for an Obamabot.
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