Jun 27 2009
Crossposted at daily kos
He’s baaaaaaaaaaacccckkkk.
and dumber and more dangerous than ever.
Americans for Prosperity, one of the wingnut welfare outfits behind the Great Teabagging, held an event in Wausau, Wisconsin yesterday, keynoted by the man who best personifies the Teabagging movement.
Referring to Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., more than once, Wurzelbacher asked, “Why hasn’t he been strung up?”
Murder. Sam Wurzlebacher is calling for murder.
Jun 20 2009
Article 129
The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention defined in the following Article.
Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. It may also, if it prefers, and in accordance with the provisions of its own legislation, hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting Party concerned, provided such High Contracting Party has made out a prima facie case.
Each High Contracting Party shall take measures necessary for the suppression of all acts contrary to the provisions of the present Convention other than the grave breaches defined in the following Article.
In all circumstances, the accused persons shall benefit by safeguards of proper trial and defence, which shall not be less favourable than those provided by Article 105 and those following of the present Convention.
Article 130
Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, compelling a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of the hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a prisoner of war of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in this Convention.
Article 131
No High Contracting Party shall be allowed to absolve itself or any other High Contracting Party of any liability incurred by itself or by another High Contracting Party in respect of breaches referred to in the preceding Article.
I interpret this as meaning that nobody gets to pick and choose which articles they will or will not follow. There is either the rule of law applied equally to all, or there is lawlessness.
This goes for EVERYONE, including the Obama Administration.
After the Geneva Convention was ratified by the United States of America it became American law. An American Law that the Bush/Cheney Administration broke. An American law that the Obama Administration has not broken yet, but that day is quickly approaching.
There are 1311 days until the next inauguration ceremony in 2012. President Obama has until the day before then to bring Bush/Cheney to justice. If he gets re-elected the clock gets set back and he will have until 2017 to do so. Each day that passes by is another day closer to complicity.
Is it really worth protecting the Bush Administration for Obama?
Better yet, should the new phrase be It Doesn’t Count When Obama Does It?
I did not vote for more War Crimes or more violations of the Geneva Convention, among other things.
On this one I will not give up on President Obama or his Administration. Still, my patience has limits. Right now, there are 1311 days of my patience left.
How much more patience should I have?
Jun 18 2009
Simulposted at http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Of all the people to criticize President Obama, or any President for that matter, this is by far and away the dumbest and most criminal of them all.
Ex President and future War Criminal Geogre W Bush had some words to share with Uhmerica yesterday at an event in Erie, PA
“There are a lot of ways to remedy the situation without nationalizing health care,” Mr. Bush said. “I worry about encouraging the government to replace the private sector when it comes to providing insurance for health care.”
Asked by the evening emcee at the 104th annual Manufacturer and Business Association meeting if he finds the new president’s policies “socialist,” Mr. Bush started then stopped.
“I hear a lot of those words, but it depends on…,” he said, breaking off. He later offered a more diplomatic assessment: “We’ll see.”
Let your Congress critter know that if they stand against a public option on health care reform, they stand with George W Bush.
Jun 16 2009
Crossposted at http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
“If certain acts and violations of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them. We are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.”
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of The United States
Robert H. Jackson
Justice Jackson was asked by President Truman to represent The United States in establishing the process for trying German war criminals after Germany’s surrender in World War II. The above quote was made by him in 1945 during the negotiations of The London Charter of The International Military Tribunal (IMT) which established the legal justifications and basis for the trials. He later acted as the Chief Prosecutor for the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (IMT) of the major war criminals.
Sorry if I got your hopes up, but the point I want to make is the fact that we did this before, in worse times, and we must do it again. We must bring War Criminals to Justice. Just because the War Criminals hide behind our own flag does not make things any different.
To shrink from condemning and punishing atrocity is, however tacitly, to condone evil.
At the time, President Harry Truman faced many issues that required much of his attention. Fresh from his appointment to the Presidency after the tragic passing of President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman still faced issues outside of a nation’s involvement in war crimes. There was insurgent violence in the still occupied Germany, where remnants of a minority within the region continue to attack American occupying forces on a daily basis for a while.
There was also the issue of Nuclear Proliferation. As the sole nuclear power America faced an entire world that sought their own Weapons of Mass Destruction.
In 1945 the economy was still a big issue. After having just climbed out of the first Great Depression the economy was very much a priority back then, as it still is right now.
There were many important issues at stake during 1945 that could have taken precedent over the investigation and prosecution of War Crimes. None of those issues stopped us from doing the right thing then, and we should do the right thing now.
Jun 05 2009
The disparity between the super rich and everyone else grows by the day, despite public bailouts, despite the economic clusterfuck I am calling “The Great Oppression”
Our rights are still under attack.
War crimes are going un-punished.
The opposition on the right is increasingly racist, insane and growing towards violence.
and not a single Democrat seems to have the stones to call this what it is.
Class warfare.
Jun 01 2009
George W Bush may have damaged this Democracy beyond all repair.
The Constitution defines the powers of the Executive Branch and the Presidency. George W Bush took power beyond those which are defined in the Constitution.
As of now the President CAN spy on me, name me a terrorist, imprison me without trial and torture me until I confess to something. Should it give me any comfort that he promises not to do so? Or should I wait until some President (or his advisors) feel less squeamish about it?
With those new extra-Constitutional power, George W Bush became MORE THAN just a President. With the new and un-Constitutional powers of office, the Presidency under Bush became less Democratic and more Authoritarian.
For all intents and purposes, George W Bush was more than a man, but less than a God.
Now that President Obama holds the office, it is his duty to restore the powers of the Executive branch to their original status as defined within the Constitution.
So far, the Obama Administration has applied the same strategy Bush had been following to matters related to the Iraq-Torture scandal, all while telling us repeatedly, “No. Trust us. We will handle it. “
and we are supposed to believe them.
When George W Bush and his administration took new Executive Powers for themselves they let the Genie out of the bottle. Our job is to put the Genie back in.
So, what happens if POTUS Obama does not intend to abdicate the un-Constitutional powers of the executive branch that were illegally taken by the Bush Administration. What if he will not deny future Presidents the ability to name citizens “enemy combatants”. What if he will not deny our Government the ability to illegal spy on citizens without a specific warrant. What if he will not deny future Presidents the ability to torture when necessary. His Chief Of Staff has said as much. But he promises not to let it happen again.
President Obama, your promises are meaningless to me.
Your actions speak volumes.
The day I fully believe the promises of any politician is the day I pack my bags for the funny farm. Especially after the last President, and especially when I consider who may be the next one.
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
If Obama does not CHANGE his view on this issue, I can no longer have any HOPE he will be able to administer his office as required under the Oath he swore to when he accepted it.
What matters more than our basic HUMAN RIGHTS? Tax code and global warming mean nothing to a man tied to a rack.
And if you can do it to somebody, you can do it to anybody.
To those who would say that this will mean the Republicans will win, I ask you, which should I prefer?
the straight road to hell?
or the scenic route?
May 27 2009
Crossposted at http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Now that Sonia Sotomayor has been named by President Obama to be his first (of hopefully many) nominee to the Supreme Court the political wing of the Oligarchy will attack her for voting in her interests as a minority, a female and a plebian.
Republicans and other plutocrats find it threatening when poor/non-white/non-Christian/minority people vote and act in their own interests. The only way to win an election for the 1% is to trick another 50% into voting for rich people. Fear and hatred is to trick them into it with falsity and wedge issues. If more people succeed like Judge Sotomayor the GOP will lose. The last thing they want is educated and informed plebeians acting in their best interests. If that shit catches on it is the end of the GOP.
Sotomayor’s confirmation will be opposed on the front lines of the class war. Whether she or we know it or not, Sotomayor just stepped up to the status quo. Expect them to take this threat seriously.
The only arguments the GOP can make against Sotomayor will be on sexist/racist/elitist or flat out ridiculous grounds. This is class warfare. Sotomayor just took center stage.
Prepare for war.
May 24 2009
The rule of law can be wiped out in one misguided, no matter how well-intentioned, generation
American Bar Association President William T. Gossette, 1969
“Absolutist(s)” is the term President Obama used to describe people who expect laws to mean something. If I believe in the absolute nature of the rule of law, I am an “absolutist”. What President Obama said, in a way, is that the left demanding justice is equivalent to the right who demand immunity from the rule of law.
President Obama, who I voted for and want to support, just said “neither side is right.”
“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, “the law is an ass, a idiot.”
Charles Dickins
Of course Obama is wrong on this, because two wrongs do not make a right.
Dec 03 2008
The latest in a long string of screw ups, the economic decline towards Hooverism, is not being blamed on George W. Bush for some reason.
Harlold Meyerson at the Post says: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
Herbert Hoover, we should recall, had a program for dealing with the Depression. It consisted of lending to banks but opposing fiscal stimulus or direct aid to individuals. Which is why Hank Paulson’s frenzied endeavors to prop up the banking sector and Bush’s dogged resistance to assisting anybody else amount to pure neo-Hooverism.
As the 1930s began, Hoover believed that the coordinated actions of the private sector could save the beleaguered economy. It soon became apparent that the only action that private-sector businesses could agree upon was closing down factories and offices and throwing people out of work. Under immense pressure to do something, in late 1931 Hoover asked Congress to establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, to provide funds to banks it deemed creditworthy.
Does this sound familiar? A “commander”, inept or otherwise, forcefully closing his eyes so he won’t see the locomotive juggernaut of failed economic policies and how they affect us little people not included in his “base”.
As breadlines lengthened, he [Hoover] vetoed a bill appropriating funds for public works on the grounds that it was inflationary and contained pork-barrel spending. Bankers would be saved; everyone else was effectively damned.
History repeating itself? Isn’t this administration focusing its efforts on the lending institutions and ignoring the homeowners unable to pay off their mortgages? Do they still think it’s going ‘trickle down’ after 28 years of proof that the only thing that trickles down is warm and wet and unwelcome.
Nov 06 2008
Just caught this, a Proud Great Uncle of a Nephew to become the 44th President of the United States!
Jon Payne, Barack Obama’s great uncle, watched the election coverage with great anticipation. He was particularly moved when he heard the acceptance speech.
Oct 24 2008
For ever so long, the energy and environmental community have been working to communicate the dishonesty, truthiness, deceptiveness of John McCain’s claims when it comes to renewable energy and global warming. Sadly, the McBlurring McSame McCain has worked all too well. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has just released a great video that shines a new light to unblur the situation.
Oct 08 2008
The ‘town hall’ debate actually merits a kudo, amid its problems: there were actually serious questions about energy and global warming, including a direction mention of green jobs.
In the debate, Barack Obama consistently reiterated that energy is a top-tier issue, linking it to financial, environmental, and international security challenges. Obama spoke of energy in holistic terms, speaking from individuals to nation/globe, about producing power and seeking energy efficiency, about … Obama sounded like he understood what he was talking about and that he has a plan for solving multiple problems at the same time when it comes to energy.
John McCain also emphasized energy, but his comments were filled with incomplete, disingenuous, and non-truthful elements continuing a sad tradition by both John McCain and Sarah Palin.