'Nuff Said: Americans High on Obama, Fox News Too Tough on the President

from: http://rip-and-read.blogspot.com/
I don't have much time to blog today, but there isn't too much to say, either: two headlines from today's news sum it up.
1) AP Poll: Americans high on Obama, direction of US
2) Nearly 3 in 10 say Fox News too tough on Obama

And, as always, John Stewart explains it all for us:

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Staying Faithful to America

This morning, I opened my email to find a message from a right wing correspondent. The message simply contained a link to an article entitled: Guantánamo detainee resurfaces in terrorist group.

I guess the implication is supposed to be: "See? Barack HUSSEIN Obama has only been in office for a few days and LOOK! He's turning all of his brother terrorists loose..." or something like that.

I have to say, however, that the article prompted me to think a little bit about what it means to be an American. Here's part of my email back:

I don't deny that most of these folks are VERY BAD MEN...

What bothers me about Gitmo is that a Free Country, like the United States, can lock up people who are NEITHER Prisoners of War- and thus protected by the Geneva Conventions, or CRIMINALS- thus protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Why is "protection" important? Do I really care about a bunch of grease-ball desert dwelling killers?

The answer is no, I don't give a damn.....If I just left it up to my personal feelings I would love to see them all fry in hell.

I could allow myself to say all the foulest things I sometimes feel about them...

But there are two good reasons why I try NOT to give into the hatred I often feel.

THE SELFISH REASON:

The first is, I admit, selfish: I know that if certain people on the far left came to power, they'd toss the likes of you, my conservative friend, in jail so fast it would make your head spin...

...I also know that that, if certain people on the FAR RIGHT came to power, I would wind up in an internment camp before I could say "My Country 'tis Of Thee".

The Men who wrote the Constitution knew this, as well; on almost every page of the Federalist Papers, they warn that human nature can be a wicked thing- and that our only hope of escaping the evil side of human nature is to bind it up in rules and regulations- to keep us from acting like the animals we are.

Because I would not want to be subject to the whims of others, with a right to due process of law, so too, I would extend that right to others...

Notice, I didn't say I would let them off the hook- what I said was I would FOLLOW THE RULES - before throwing them into prison...because I know that, in the long run, those RULES are there to protect ME not THEM.


THE OTHER REASON:

As I said before, if it were just up to me and my emotions, I'd love to see these people fry in hell. I am not a nice, or civilized guy at heart...If I didn't TRY really hard, I personally could find hatred in my heart for these people. If I gave into the emotions I felt on 9-11, I could easily vote to "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out."

But while that is sometimes who I am, it's really not who I WANT to be.

And that is also my wish for my country... OTHER Nations can lock prisoners up without trial, because it's the easiest, and often the SAFEST way to do business....

but America needs to stand for something MORE than just safety and simplicity- don't you agree?

Ever since the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, we have aspired to be the "Shining City on the Hill"- first articulated by John Winthrop and alluded to by Americans as different as John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

If we wish to stay faithful to that dream, then we must hold ourselves to a HIGHER standard than the rest of the world. For other countries, their thinking can be limited to "self-interest"...but for the United States...we can only START at self interest....if we are to fulfill the dream to become a shining city on a hill, a place where Justice always Triumphs, where Hard Work is always rewarded, and where we are free to worship as we wish, study as we wish, think as we wish...then we must be better than average....

We've got to Catch the Bad Guys...AND we have to catch 'em fair and square.

I'm not sure that Gitmo has lived up to that standard. In some ways, I think this was one of George W. Bush's big mistakes...to treat these people, not as criminals, but as something like prisoners of war.

Because they are prisoners of war, and because the world EXPECTS more of us...because we ARE America...we have to live up to the Geneva Convention, etc.

IF we had treated these guys as common criminals, I think we could have brought them into our justice system, given them a fair trial and then, when the crime warranted, sent them to the gas chamber.

To me, that's part of the tragedy of Dick Cheney and co. The man got so frightened after 9/11 that he forgot that our country, and our freedom are greater and stronger than any scraggly band of thugs from the desert....

...in his panic, he chose to throw away the rules...which he should have HELD all the more tightly- for that is our best protection as Americans.

I know it's a case of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" but I have to wonder if, had we followed our own rules, and sent this creep to trail, would we be reading about his death by lethal injection today, rather than the fact that he is free to kill again.

Looking forward to your response....

Reviewing Recent History: Getting The Basic Premise Wrong

A few days ago, I started watching webcasts of the PBS documentary show: Frontline. As we enter the fifth year of war in Iraq, it has been both fascinating and frustrating to review this recent history and perhaps to better understand how we have arrived here.


In addition to the opportunity to watch, or re-watch, these episodes, Frontline provides extended transcripts of the interviews conducted for the program. Consisting of material that often wound up on the cutting room floor, these interviews can provide flashes of insight to those willing to peruse them.

In the Frontline film, "The Dark Side", Collin Powell's former chief of Staff, Lawerence Wilkerson was interviewed. While he spoke on camera about the tense relationship between the "moderates" (like Powell) and the "hawks" (Chaney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz)- but one of the most prescient things Wilkenson said is found in his extended interview transcript:

Carl von Clausewitz [says]... that you must make sure you identify the nature of the conflict you're in. You must. That's absolutely essential. If you misidentify that nature, you're not ever going to get back on the right sheet of music.

But from the beginning, Wilkerson implies, mistake the nature of the conflict we were involved in against Al Qaeda. Their impulse was to see it as a new version of the Cold War against the Soviet Union- a struggle which had shaped their careers molded their personalities.

[Cheney, Rumsfeld and others bought the notion] that Al Qaeda has the capability to destroy the United States of America, its institutions, its very being, much as a 20,000-plus nuclear-tipped missile [arsenal] had the capability to had we gone to war with the Soviet Union and everyone unleashed his full panoply of weapons. This is ridiculous. This is utterly ridiculous. It begins marching you down in your decisions this road that is full of dangerous and even inept decisions, because we're not in an existential conflict with Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda doesn't even remotely have the capability to bring the United States down...[T]his is a conflict of ideas; it is not a conflict of bombs, bullets and bayonets. ...

Wilkerson describes a briefing he received from a CIA agent. If Al Qaeda was the top of a pyramid, then, at the base, are ordinary people throughout the Islamic world, who, while they do not personally advocate killing (and especially not the killing of fellow Muslims) nevertheless "went into mosques all around the world and put shekels, dinars, dollars in the second box, knowing full well that the second box was not for charity; it was not for the mosque; it was for Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda-like organizations."


How many people are dropping money in the box, wondered Wilkerson. The answer came back: Between 40 and 100 million people around the world. Those people, Wilkerson says, are:

the center of gravity of this war, and you don't get at the center of gravity by killing it or by killing others. You get at that center of gravity by proving to them your ideas: that democracy is the best form of government; freedom is the best human condition; and market economies, open, free trade is the best way to prosper in those systems of governance; and violence and killing people is antithetical to that. That's how you win that conflict. It's a conflict of ideas. You have to capture the hearts and minds of those people who are putting the shekels, dollars, dinars in that second box in mosques all over the world. You don't do that with bombs, bullets and bayonets.

This is not new, of course, this has been part of the debate (such as it has been) in the United States for a few years...but it is chilling to think back on five years of violence and death- resulting, perhaps in a weakened America, all arising from the acceptance of a false premise about the nature of the conflict in Iraq.

Bush To Have Operation On Bottom: Cedes Power to Asshole

You knew we couldn't resist....

For a short time this morning, the Commander In Chief ceded the powers of the Presidency to Dick Cheney. This is only the second time in American History that a Buttwad has turned over power to an asshole in order to under go a rectal exam. Bush relinquished power to Cheney in 2002 as well.

White House Spokesgoblin Tony Snow denied rumors that the President was looking for the elusive Osama Bin Laden. "I can't find him...but I think I know where he might be," the president stated, "Maybe that's why it hurts so much."





For a few moments, this morning, Dick Cheney sat in his Maryland armchair and was heard to guietly gloat: "It's mine, it's all mine...whaaahhahahahahaahah! "



Rumors that the Vice-President had enjoyed the experience of being President so much that he was exploring ways to retain the office permanently were firmly denied.

A Long and Winding Road (through the newspaper)

Every morning, as I stroll to the office, I decide how to deal with the temptation to buy a cup of coffee. Do I? Or Don't I?

The deciding factor usually is: Who's working the counter? If it's the proprietor of the shop, then I go in. Because if he is there, not only will I be warmed with a cup of coffee, but generally there will be a healthy dosage of Democratic Party Outrage to remind me that I, like my coffee guy, am on the side of the angels against the forces of darkness.

This morning the question was: "Dude, did you read the series of articles on Dick Cheney in the Washington Post?" I admitted that I hadn't. "Man, NOBODY I've talked to has read 'em. But you gotta read 'em. Scare the hell outta ya. Dick Cheney: your Vice-President- and so much more!"

Okay, well, I gotta read it. So, with an eye toward doing my civic duty, I go to the Post website- but, before I can start searching the Cheney article, my eye was caught by another headline: "Birth of Manta Ray Sheds New Light on Species".

And, I have to admit, this looks a lot more fun than finding confirmation that Dick Cheney eats babies and owns my house. Plus, this paragraph really got my goat and made me ashamed to be an American:

While America was tracking Paris Hilton's jail routine, Japan was enthralled with video coverage of the birth, which was broadcast nationwide on NHK television.

Oh man, why do other country's find such COOL things to obsess about?

At any rate, I'm off to read more about the manta...maybe later I'll follow the coffee guy's recommendation to check out Cheney...but somehow, I think the Manta Ray story will be much more worth my while.

Republican Roustabout Raises Bad Behavior Bar to New Heights.

Have you seen the Birmingham News this morning? Well, you're in for a treat! In my last post, I opined that Jim Douglas was resorting to the "Rule By Fiat" strategy of George W. Bush....but of course, our Vermont Republicans are down-right civilized compared the the more virulent "Dixie Strain".....

Most Republicans claim to value action over words. Mostly, as far as I can tell, there are two main reasons for this:

• Number One: because a damn big bunch of Republicans can't string two words together in a workable sentence and,
• Number Two: people who can usually end making those same Republicans look like freaking morons. So Republicans resort to name calling or, in the case of Jim Douglas, all out avoidence of the issue.

But folks, I am here to tell ya- Alabama State Senator Charles Bishop, done took his party's disdain for discussion to a whole new level when he walked across the Senate Chamber and Walloped Democrat Lowell Barron right upside the head. Yaaaaahooooo!

I'm gonna let you read the article for yourself...but I'll be damned if this here Senator Bishop feller ain't gone and raised the bar for Republican behavior-- I fully expect Dick Cheney to act like a MAN and to let HIS fists do the talking next time he and Leahy meet..."Ffff You" just won't cut it any more.