Remember 9/11, Cheney style

Sheesh. I go away for a few days and y’all let all hell break loose. Can’t a News Writer catch a little break around here?

But no. I come back to find out that Darth Cheney’s ratings are on the rise? What the????

OK, so it’s still only 37 percent of Americans with a favorable view of the former vice president, who spent the last eight years hidden away in some undisclosed location but whom we now cannot seem to be rid of.

Meanwhile, GW, who never missed a chance to smirk at a camera, is nowhere to be seen. I repeat, WTF? And the Republican Party can’t get its shit together.

The Republican National Committee, which I think is still led by Michael Steele, seems almost irrelevant, while Rush, Newt and Cheney are all over the place calling for Nancy Pelosi’s resignation and claiming that torture is a good thing.

That, of course, is the basis for Cheney’s popularity rising -- he’s attracting the attention of the bloodthirsty on the right, the ones he and GW worked their magic on for eight years, scaring the bejesus out of ‘em so that now they’re absolutely petrified that the pansy-assed liberals in charge are gonna sell us all out to the terrorists.

It’s the same reason that Fox “News” has seen its ratings skyrocket since a liberal black guy became president. That’s pretty damn scary to certain segments of our population.

So anyway, Cheney was out there Thursday using that old tactic that worked so well for so many years for the GOP -- insert “9/11” every 14th or 15th word, just like Rudy Giuliani -- in a speech that could only be called preaching to the converted, the very conservative American Enterprise Institute.

When President Obama makes wise decisions, as I believe he has done in some respects on Afghanistan, and in reversing his plan to release incendiary photos, he deserves our support. And when he faults or mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer. The point is not to look backward. Now and for years to come, a lot rides on our President’s understanding of the security policies that preceded him. And whatever choices he makes concerning the defense of this country, those choices should not be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history.

What that means is that as long as Obama agrees with what we did, he’s on the right track and we’ll support him. But it’s the same old same old if he disagrees -- after all, we all know that the previous administration never ever ever made a mistake. Except I think for boasting about smoking Osama bin Laden out of his cave. Yeah, that didn’t turn out so good.

It's the Cheney battle cry: Remember 9/11! But that's kinda like the Texan battle cry Remember the Alamo, which was also based on a fanciful retelling of the truth.

And the rest of Cheney’s speech is just more of the same, accusing Democrats of “distorting the truth” and therefore being “in no position to lecture anyone about ‘values.’” We prevented attacks and saved lives by torturing people and spying on Americans with illegal wiretaps, we had “universal support back then” because everybody knew what was at stake, blah blah blah.

Well, no. Everybody knew what the Bush administration told them, which, we now know, was a stack of lies. The justification for illegally torturing and spying on people is that “we saved lives,” but that’s not exactly true either, as plenty of other people have pointed out.

But old Darth, he just keeps on going, just like he kept making that non-existent connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda way back when. Kinda like publishing photographs of them using the same gesture side by side.

And we do know this, if nothing else: When somebody keeps repeating the same shit day after day, and my colleagues keep reporting as if it actually means something, then the people who already believe the bullshit have no reason to think and those who might be unsure have no choice to consider that the lies are actually truth.

They are not.

The whole Nancy Pelosi thing -- please. What a blatant distraction, but then, some of our fellow citizens have not been known for their ability to see through obfuscation.

And on it goes. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again -- if Nancy Pelosi knew we were torturing people and did nothing, then she is culpable. But now is not the time to be arguing that part of the story. Now we need to get to the bottom of what we did, to understand that what we did was morally, ethically and legally wrong and then to punish first those who actively made it happen. After that, we can get to what member of what committee may or may not have been briefed on waterboarding.

And besides, where Pelosi’s concerned, the GOP has been after her for years. I’m not quite sure why they’re so afraid of her, except that she is a woman and she is right behind Joe Biden -- and before that Cheney himself -- in line for the presidency, but they are absolutely terrified of the California congresswoman.

Meanwhile, Cheney -- who appeared to be salivating on the idea of a fresh terrorist attack on the United States, which could then be blamed on Obama and all thought of that August 2001 daily briefing saying that bin Laden wanted to attack the United States and might use airliners to do it could be done away with forever.

And the Rush-Newt-Cheney cabal keeps pushing the horrible idea of actually imprisoning suspected terrorists -- most of whom are not terrorists -- in the United States and trying them in American courts. And some of them actually have the nerve to say that they don’t want them tried in American courts because then they’d have constitutional rights. Hello? Isn’t that what this country was founded on? But that doesn’t really count if your Muslim, I mean a terrorist, I guess.

Obama, also speaking on Thursday, saw things a different way.

After 9/11, we knew that we had entered a new era - that enemies who did not abide by any law of war would present new challenges to our application of the law; that our government would need new tools to protect the American people, and that these tools would have to allow us to prevent attacks instead of simply prosecuting those who try to carry them out. Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions. And I believe that those decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that - too often - our government made decisions based upon fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions. Instead of strategically applying our power and our principles, we too often set those principles aside as luxuries that we could no longer afford. And in this season of fear, too many of us - Democrats and Republicans; politicians, journalists and citizens - fell silent. In other words, we went off course.

On the Guantanamo debate, the president was just as clear.

Now, over the last several weeks, we have seen a return of the politicization of these issues that have characterized the last several years. I understand that these problems arouse passions and concerns. They should. We are confronting some of the most complicated questions that a democracy can face. But I have no interest in spending our time re-litigating the policies of the last eight years. I want to solve these problems, and I want to solve them together as Americans. And we will be ill-served by some of the fear-mongering that emerges whenever we discuss this issue. Listening to the recent debate, I've heard words that are calculated to scare people rather than educate them; words that have more to do with politics than protecting our country.

So, here's the choice: Follow Cheney, and return to the fearful days of the Bush administration, where bogeys are around every corner and your neighbor could be a Muslim, I mean, terrorist.

Or, stick with Obama. Yeah, so he’s going back to the military commissions -- but do you really believe those commissions under Obama would be conducted with the same disregard for the rule of law as they were under Bush-Cheney? Um, no.

All right then. Here’s the deal. Don’t let my colleagues continue to act as if Darth Cheney has anything new to say. Well, yeah, for him it is new since he never said much before, but what he’s saying is the same crap they force-fed us after they failed to protect us on 9/11. Don’t let ‘em do it again.Don’t let my colleagues help them. Challenge them. Often. Loudly.

And never, ever back down. That’s how we win. That’s how we keep the real forces of darkness away.

AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!


**************************

Pick your poison: Use the Share/Save button below to save this post or share it with your friends.

Peace Y'all

Lift the veil

He’s wrong.

Barack Obama is wrong.

The president should step aside and allow the release of photographs detailing the type of treatment detainees received at the hands of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said releasing the photos now could put our troops in greater danger. How? It’s not like al-Qaeda doesn’t already know what we did. Hell, they probably know more about what happened in those dank cells better than any of us do. After all, they were there. We’re still over here, still being kept in the dark by our own government.

The photos that were to be released, before Obama ordered his lawyers to argue more forcefully against it, "are not particularly sensational, especially when compared with the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib," he said.

You remember those photos. Naked men, forced to pile on top of one another in a human pyramid while smiling soldiers stand behind them. A hooded man, with wires attached to his genitals. A hooded man with a military dog snarling in his face. A naked man with a military dog snarling in his face. A naked man with a pair of underwear for a hood. Blood smears on the floor where someone hurt badly was dragged away. A dead man packed in ice with a U.S. soldier smiling and giving a thumbs up sign by his body.

Yes, those were pretty damned “painful images.” The new ones weren’t as bad, Obama tells us, “but they do represent conduct that did not conform with the Army conduct manual.”

Conduct that was AOK under the Bush administration, but banned by Obama. The Americans shown in the photos abusing prisoners have already been dealt with, the president said.

The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals. In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them would be to further inflame anti-American opinion, and to put our troops in greater danger.

And that’s where he’s at his most wrong. Those who hold extreme anti-American opinion don’t need any photos to inflame their positions. And our troops are already in great danger.

But most of all, the photos would greatly add to our understanding of the type of conduct that was not only allowed but encouraged by the Bush administration. Carried out “by a small number of individuals?” Maybe. But it wasn’t their idea in the first place.

But Obama’s already let us know he’s not interested in pursuing the real perpetrators of this heinous behavior. Maybe he doesn’t want to listen to the Republicans accuse him of “criminalizing policy decisions,” as if that is even remotely what’s going on.

Criminalizing policy decisions would be seeking to prosecute members of the Bush administration for refusing to participate with the U.N. Human Rights Council. That may be stupid, but it isn’t criminal.

Abusing prisoners -- especially when you already know that many of your prisoners may not be “terrorists” at all, but farmers and cab drivers teachers who pissed off somebody who then fingered them to the U.S. military as al-Qaeda members –- is criminal.

We need to see what they did, how they treated human beings. We’re not even talking about “high value detainees” who were tortured. That’s a different matter, and we need to see and hear about that too.

And the president needs to stop perpetuating the myth that it was just a few "bad apples" who foisted this barbaric behavior on the American psyche. It wasn't. It came from the top. And if that's not obvious by now -- with Darth Cheney and his little girl Liz all over the airwaves talking about how great it was what we did -- then we are a far more deluded people than I thought.

As long as we keep these things secret, the American people can go on pretending nothing really bad happened to these detainees and that they all deserved it anyway.

No human being deserves to be treated this way, and what happened to them was horrible. All of them, not just the ones who were waterboarded.

It was wrong, what happened to them. And it’s wrong for Barack Obama to keep it from us.


AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

**************************

Pick your poison: Use the Share/Save button below to save this post or share it with your friends.

Peace Y'all

Mirror, mirror

Remember when the president introduced his budget, and the Republicans got all high and mighty and decided they were going to introduce a budget too, so they came out and held up an 18-page booklet with no numbers or specific plans in it?

Yeah, I'm thinking that's about to happen again.

See, Obama on Wednesday let it be known that he was cutting $17 billion out of the budget that Congress has actually already passed. And just like they did a couple of weeks ago when he told his Cabinet secretaries to come up with $100 million in cuts, the Republicans all came out like banshees screeching that the cuts aren't enough.

No "good start," no "that's what I'm talkin' about" from the party of budget slashing, at least when they're in the minority. Just the usual NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO from the party of no.

Over the next couple of weeks, you'll have a chance to see what real budget cuts look like,

said House Minority Leader John Boehner -- the same House Minority Leader John Boehner who waved the little GOP budget thing around like it actually meant something. I think he said something similar then.

I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to think if Barack Obama came out and announced he was giving a $100,000 tax credit to any self-employed individual who bought a gas-guzzling, oversized vehicle that weighs more than three tons fully loaded, the GOP would scream bloody murder.

Nothing is good enough for these guys. They seem to not understand that it's gonna take a while to undo the damage they and their boy president did to our economy. They seem to have forgotten that Obama said he had his people going through the budget line by line, and it's a big damn budget. It's not all gonna get changed at once. And having Republicans go through the budget with a red pen makes about as much sense as, oh, I don't know -- maybe putting the former judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association in charge of FEMA.

Of course, some Republicans are starting to get it -- maybe. In what can only be a very bizarre turn of events, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina -- who was only a few weeks ago leading one of Dick Armey's teabagging parties, stirring up the ill-informed by telling them of the outrageous tax burden they're forced to toil under because of Barack Obama.

But now, a mere three weeks later, McHenry is singing a different tune, telling Time magazine

Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts. The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set.

And that's the truth. Tax rates are lower now than they were when Saint Ronnie was president. And they have been. Since Clinton.

But it's very strange to come out of the mouth of McHenry, an extremist conservative. I'm sure the Ayatollah Limbaugh will have something to say about it.

Maybe it was just an unguarded moment, or perhaps McHenry was suddenly overcome by the spirit of American democracy at its finest and had no choice but to tell the truth. And it's a truth that means the Republican party needs to be redesigning itself soon before some other party picks up the remnants of sanity the GOP has left in the ditches of its road to ruin and becomes a true opposition party.

But there's old Darth Cheney, saying it would be a mistake for Republicans to "moderate," because we all know that extremism is the best way to unite people.

You know, when you add all those things up, the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t. Most Republicans have a pretty good idea of values, and aren’t eager to have someone come along and say, 'Well, the only way you can win is if you start to act more like a Democrat.'

Actually, Darth, the way you win is to start acting sane. The way you win is to act like you give a rat's ass about somebody other than yourself and your rich buds. The way you win is to stop wrapping yourself in an American flag and get your hands dirty with the real work to be done around here -- reinventing the country you nearly destroyed.

See, this isn't the land of soak 'em dry and get away while the gettin's good anymore. That's what November 4, 2008, meant. It meant a significant shift away from the era of trying to drown government in the bathtub so that the already rich can get even richer. It meant realizing that the playing field isn't level in this country, and never has been. It meant that a majority of voting Americans wanted to take steps to change what 30 years of conservative misrule had wrought.

Old Darth was right about one thing, though.

Some of the older folks who’ve been around a long time — like yours truly — need to move on and make room for that young talent that’s coming along,

he said. Too bad he doesn't realize that the ideas and attitude of those older folks need to move on too.

I suspect, though, that'll happen anyway. It's just that it's a lot harder when you don't do it willingly. And when you don't do it at all, well, progress doesn't stop if you do. Darth and the others, they stand a pretty good chance of being remembered, if they're remembered at all, as the folks who tried to remake America in their own image -- dark and secretive, bullying and abrasive. It almost worked.

We have a very long way to go to correct the errors of the past 30 years. And Obama isn't going to correct them all. Some of them, in fact, he's going to perpetuate. But he's not likely to send us spiraling back down that potholed path.

We may not know precisely where we're headed now -- but we know where we've been, and what a hellish, painful place that was. And we've got some pretty good ideas about where we need to be.

It'd just be so much easier if this shrill shell of a party would either remake itself for the 21st century, or get out of the way for a party that's ready for the future.

Either way, this Republican Party needs to stop peering into that magic mirror they got from all the closeted gay Republicans on their staffs and find one that'll give 'em a true reflection of what they've become.

Nah. I'm not holding my breath. Even accurate reflections can't sway the delusional.


News Writer
AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

**************************

Tweeters:
Click the "Tweet This" button and easily send us to your followers on Twitter.

Stumblers:
Thanks for supporting AWOP TeamZine when you click on our "Thumb This Up" button below..

Peace Y'all

Obama Gives It Back To Cheney

While I do not agree with some of the ways that Obama has dealt with the Republicans in particular, I have to admit his answer to "The Dick" Cheney's remarks regarding his (Obama's) interest in trying to keep our American ideals in tact instead of continuing down the path of becoming that which we profess to hate was smooth.

It's true that sometimes I wish Obama wasn't so nice to these pukes when he puts them in their place. I know. Not very highly evolved of me, but I have just about had enough of these fools. People like Dick Cheney are every bit as dangerous as any other crazy, delusional terrorist that thinks he is right and everyone else is wrong and finds the boundaries of human decency merely a suggestion and one that need not necessarily be heeded if it does not serve the God he created in his own image.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Kim G.
Publisher
A World Of Progress TeamZine

**************************

Tweeters:
Click the "Tweet This" button and easily send us to your followers on Twitter.

Peace Y'all

Sticker Shock

I could almost give 'em this one, except for the "Obama bin" part. That's pretty telling. There were, after all, plenty of "Impeach Bush" stickers around for the past 8 years, although there is that little thing of actual impeachable offenses.

But the Patriot Depot, based in Atlanta, is making quite a name for itself among the dittohead followers of the Ayatollah Limbaugh with its array of items that "unapologetically reflect a politically conservative and/or Judeo-Christian ethic." There are Ann Coulter books, Bernard Goldberg books, Mike Huckabee books, anti-global warming books, something called "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women and Feminism" that I'd be scared to open and bumper stickers galore.

Take this one, for example, riffing on the "Obama is a socialist" meme. Y'know, if these assholes knew what socialism actually is, they might have made up Comrade Bush stickers last year. But that would not have been right, since, clearly, Republicans would never, ever, ever do anything that might bring socialism to America. Whatever it is.

Speaking of change we can't afford, there's also this little gem. At risk of bringing the wrath of a certain segment of feminists upon my head, let me say once again: Sarah Palin would make a horrible president. She lacks the breadth of understanding of the issues facing the United States that is necessary for a president, and has yet to show any desire to obtain that understanding. Stirring up racists and playing to the worst of human nature is not a qualification. At least it shouldn't be. So, thanks, I will keep the "change."

Here's another change I'll keep. Isn't this what it's all about for these guys? Guns, freedom and money. I can understand the guns and money part, but as best as I can tell, when they say "freedom," what they actually mean is "I get to decide who is a real American and who isn't, and if you aren't, you are screwed, and I've got the guns and money to make sure that's true."

Here's another cute one. Notice the little Democrat donkey representing the word "ass." There's the usual uncreative suspects too, like "Don't blame me, I voted for Palin" -- not McCain, mind you -- and "January 20, 2009 -- the beginning of an error." There's an unbelievable number of anti-Hillary Clinton books, not surprisingly since she clearly scares the bejesus out of these folks. And there's a bunch more Politically Incorrect Guides to things like English and American Literature (I'm scared to look at that one, too), Global Warming, Darwinism (what the hell is that anyway?) and Intelligent Design, Hunting, of all things, Science (oh spare me), the Civil War (eegads), the Bible, the Constitution, the MIddle East, Islam (oh my god. this one sounds scary too), Western Civilization and the South (and Why It Will Rise Again), festooned, of course, with a Confederate battle flag. But I'm sure there's not a racist bone in any of their bodies.

Now, far be it for me to deny someone their god-given right to make a buck in this capitalist system anyway they can. I bring this to your attention just so you'll know what we're up against here.

Y'know, I was horrified when the Supreme Court declared George W. Bush our president in 2000. I feared for the worst. But I had feared for the worst before, and things had come out more or less all right then (little did I know that the worst I had feared wasn't actually coming to fruition until the latter years of GW's rule). So I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt. Never even considering hoping he failed. And for a few minutes there on 9/11, I thought maybe he'll turn out all right.

It was soon afterward that it became painfully obvious that GW's call to bring us together in our darkest hour was just so much bullshit, the high point of a presidency that would slowly drag the country into the mud of its own creation.

The past eight years were a bit like living in Alice's looking glass, where the economy's in great shape early in the morning and in the crapper by the afternoon, where "nobody could have predicted" was the watchword for things everybody but the administration did predict.

It's a a world where freedom is having your civil liberties stripped away, where a crusade is launched to "install democracy," where reasons for war change as often as the hour.

In that same world, Michael Brown did a "great job" in the Katrina disaster -- which, incidentally, caused no oil spills (!) -- FDA inspections and enforcements were down and reports of tainted food and other products skyrocketed, and dozens of "signing statements" assured that the administration didn't have to enforce or obey laws passed by Congress.

There are still tens of thousands of weapons missing in Iraq, our treatment of many veterans is beyond shameful, Osama bin Laden -- the guy we were gonna smoke out of the caves he was hiding in -- is still hiding, whether in caves or some more comfortable abode we don't know, and we had a Justice Department that wouldn't define torture.

That same Justice Department admitted hiring based on political ideologies, scientific reports were routinely changed or suppressed if they didn't agree with the party line and environmental rules and regulations were routinely eased.

And then there were the constant "Bushisms," "nucular," trying to rub the German chancellor's shoulders. And what was that bit about not reading?

But yeah, turnabout is fair play right? That's all Patriot Depot is doing. Returning the favor of all the anti-Bushies.

I just can't get over this one little difference. We may not have liked the Supreme Court's choice in presidents. We may have been angry about it. We may have even feared for the worse. But our fears and anger weren't about not being in charge. They were about what we wanted for this country.

I know, plenty of conservatives say that's what they want too -- McCain's "Country First" comes to mind. And I'm sure that some of them really believe it, but I'm afraid they're in the minority now. Modern Republicans, who now represent the conservative movement, are only concerned with getting back in power.

There's that lil bumper sticker up there -- "I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money ... " That's what they want to protect. Not the people. Not the citizens of this country. Not even its reputation in the world. Just the guns, "freedom" and money of a ruling class that does not have our best interests at heart.


Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

**************************
Thanks for supporting AWOP TeamZine with a quick review when you click on our "Thumb This Up" button below.

Peace Y'all

Cry Me A River

So now the Republicans, led by Sen. John "I Lost" McCain and his bud, Sen. Lindsey "Aren't I Sweet" Graham, are crying that the stimulus bill isn't the bipartisan bill the president promised.

It was a bad beginning because it wasn't what we promised the American people, what President Obama promised the American people, that we would sit down together,

McCain said.

"We"? What "we" promised the American people? John, honey, you promised the American people more of the same. And your whining act on the floor of the Senate last week proved that you're still after more of the same. What, do you think you're gonna run for president again at 78?

No, John, let me remind you again. You lost. You do not get to demand that Obama do things the way they have been done for 30 years -- the way you would have continued to do them had you NOT LOST. But you did lose, John. You did lose.

This is not 'change we can believe in',

Graham said.

Maybe it's not change you can believe in, sweetheart, but Obama promised real change, and that means -- are you ready for this? -- your "tax cuts will solve all our problems" approach -- the same approach Republicans have taken for the past 30 years and look where it's gotten us -- isn't change. Not only that, but it's also not going to get us out of the hole you dug. I don't know about South Carolina, but where I come from "change" doesn't mean "doing the same thing we've always done."

President Obama held unprecedented meetings with Republicans during the run-up to the stimulus bill. And what did it get him? A big fat "fuck you."

Look, I appreciate the fact that the president came over and talked to Republicans. That's not how you negotiate a result. You sit down together in a room with competing proposals. Almost all of our proposals went down on a party-line vote.

Loser McCain said.


Well, duh. What did you expect when your side takes its marching orders from Rush "I hope Obama fails" Limbaugh? Every single Republican congressman and woman stamped their little feet and crossed their arms over their chests and said "NO," just like a toddler that's only now learned the word. Where were you, John, when GW was running up all those bills and crashing the economy like he did? You wanna hear John's answer to that? Here it is:

Republicans were guilty of this kind of behavior. I'm not saying that we did things different. But Americans want us to do things differently, and they want us to work together.

So it was OK when you and your ilk never met with Democrats, held up votes while you twisted arms to get what you want, held secret meetings to decide how best to screw the American people. But you got the first part right, John. Americans do want you to do things differently. And that means not doing what you want. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

This president has always worked in a bipartisan fashion. He will continue to reach out to Republicans. We hope that Republicans will decide they want to reach back.

And, Gibbs noted, not only did Obama invite the obstructionists to the White House, he went "to Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans where they work."

But still they don't heed the message, the one that the American people started in 2006 and continued in 2008. The one that they'll still be delivering in 2010 if the obstructionists don't get with the program.

So, if you want to know who did the bipartisan fail, look no further than the Republican side of the aisle. It was you, John, and you, Lindsey, and John Boehner and Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl and John Cornyn and everybody else with an "R" after their name with three exceptions.

Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. Now, I don't like what they and Ben Nelson, who has a "D" after his name, did to the bill. And I sincerely doubt the bill's gonna make enough change happen to prevent the Republicans from getting a big tizzy on screaming "I told you so" as they try to make the case that Obama was wrong and they were right.

Don't be fooled. John McCain is wrong. Lindsey Graham is wrong. All the rest of them are wrong too, all the way back to Ronald Reagan, who set the wheels that have now come off the wagon in motion in the 1980s.

"Bipartisan" doesn't mean you write a bill that has a little bit of what one side wants and little bit of what the other side wants. And it sure doesn't mean bringing to the table the same failed policies that the American people so soundly rejected in November.

And, Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor, "bipartisan" doesn't mean you stand in front of the television cameras and lie. The New Deal failed, my ass. As if the New Deal was some big conglomerate program instead of multiple smaller programs -- some of which worked, and were continued, and some of which didn't, and were scuttled. Where do you get your history, guys? Does Supreme Leader Limbaugh give you that too? Or do you use the same writers who do the science textbooks that pretend evolution is an untested theory?

This economic crisis is far deeper than the Republicans want you to think it is. A couple of tax cuts that will primarily benefit rich people isn't going to help. Neither is Tim Geithner's bailing out the banks, but that's another post.

Republicans, conservatives -- they failed. Miserably. They do not now get to step up to the plate and take another swing at it.

It may well be true that some of the Democratic plans don't work. But we already know about the GOP's tried and false ideas. "Change" doesn't mean doing the same old thing.

This Republican party isn't the loyal opposition. This Republican party isn't trying to help the country and its citizens succeed. This Republican party only cares about making sure Obama and the Democratic Congress fail so they can make a comeback in 2010.

At least that's what they're thinking. As if the American people don't remember what they voted against, Sen. McCain, on November 4.

Maybe now would be a good time for the Republicans to remember that too, because I can guarantee you we're gonna remember what you did in the early days of 2009. And if you continue with this same obstructionist attitude right on through until the next election, well, then, boys, whatever happens to you is on you.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

**************************
Thanks for supporting AWOP TeamZine with a quick review when you click on our "Thumb This Up" button below.

Peace Y'all

Perspective

This is why I really have a hard time having compassion for politicians.

Where for art thou, Barack? We hired you to kick some ass not to be kissing it.

I snagged this from Thurman over at Random Abstractions...which he snagged from the Rude Pundit...

----------------------------

A fine piece of perspective today, courtesy of The Rude Pundit. Hope he doesn't mind.

By the Numbers: Creeping Class Warfare, Republican Style:
How about just a minute or two of perspective?
Amount to bailout AIG - at least $85 billion
Amount to bailout Citibank - at least $45 billion
Amount to bailout Bank of America - at least $45 billion, with guarantees on $118 billion in loans
Amount the Bush administration overpaid for bailed-out bank assets - $78 billion

Proposed cuts to President Obama's economic stimulus bill (currently being debated by 20 "centrist" senators):
$1.1 billion to Head Start
$24.8 billion to states for budget shortfalls in education programs
$15 billion to states for additional education funding
$2 billion to Child Care Development Block Grants
$150 million to funding for programs in the Violence Against Women Act

Oh, and, hell, let's just throw this in:
Amount of just two years of George W. Bush's tax cuts: roughly $500 billion (adjusting for interest). Two-thirds of that came from tax cuts on the top 20% of wage earners.
(Note: this leaves out the cost of operations in Iraq because, well, does it need to be said?)

Education funding is seed money for better paying jobs and a larger tax base. Assistance for families to help with child care has a direct impact on the ability of people to work. And, really, even talking about cutting $150 million in a bill like this is like saying, "If I stop putting nickels in the gumball machine, I'll be able to buy that car."

The unemployment rate is 7.6%. And "centrists" (which is another word for "attention-seeking assholes begging to appear relevant") are quibbling over whether or not it'd be better to cut programs for health and education?

When you walk into an old house that's been neglected for years and is about to collapse into itself, yeah, you need to make sure the frame is stable, but you better get rid of the asbestos insulation before it infects everyone living there.

**************************
Thanks for supporting AWOP TeamZine with a quick review when you click on our "Thumb This Up" button below.

Peace Y'all

Obama on foreign policy - now comes the true test

Obama on foreign policy - now comes the true test

What a week it has been my friends. For all those who said that change wouldn't come, I point to this historic week. A week where we've seen our nation move past racial barriers most thought were unbreakable. A week where progress in our country began moving forward once again after eight long years of resistance. A week where the majority of Americans, for the first time in a long time, approve of the direction their country is headed in.

But we have to be realistic. We have all sorts of challenges facing our country, both internally and abroad. A skyrocketing national debt, two wars on a completely different continent, the worst business market our country has seen in decades, a global-wide recession - just to name a few.

I don't know about you guys, but to me this week really did seem like a grace period for President Obama. Not even by the actions of our new president - this administration has hit the ground running at full speed and I for one couldn't be more pleased. I guess it seemed like a grace period because behind all of the doom-and-gloom market reports and reports of mounting job losses there was a small word that was beginning to become more and more clear:

Hope.

Hope that together we will overcome the obstacles facing us. Hope that the comfort of peace will aid us in this time of struggle. Hope that our government will be aware of the problems affecting us and try to solve them, instead of just blatantly ignoring them.

This week has certainly brought us many historic things. Even Israel and Gaza were able to come to a ceasefire. But of course, not all good things can last, and President Obama, your grace period here is over.

Palestinian militants detonated a bomb next to an Israeli army patrol along the southern border with Gaza on Tuesday. One Israeli solder was killed in the blast, and the already fragile cease-fire died in that blast too.

The fighting came on the eve of a visit to the region by President Obama's newly appointed U.S. Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, and symbolically displayed the difficulty President Obama faces as he attempts to get Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts back on track.

Mitchell will arrive in Israel on Wednesday, under strict orders from President Obama to listen extensively to both sides first before offering solutions.

President Obama I'm not expecting you to solve the situation in Israel/Gaza. No president should carry that expectation.

That being said, I do hope that you can.

-Travis Erickson
News Today

Editorial: On Inaugural Weekend, A Reflective Look Back

Mornin' (barely) Everyone,

This is the first in what I intend to be a weekly Sunday editorial. It is my hope that in the coming weeks, I will also be accompanied by some contributing writers. For those of you unfamiliar with me, I'm your Relevant Rhino.


This weekend is of particular importance to me, friends and neighbors. Not only because it was the second week in a row "Meet The Press" lost to lil' Georgie Stephanopolous (someone, give me five minutes with David fuckin' Gregory and the world will be a better place), but the Steelers *file photo* are in the AFC Championship game tonight.

We know that this weekend, as well as Monday and Tuesday, will be steeped in history. Both anniversaries and those that will become anniversaries will be celebrated, champagne will flow in America’s capital, followed by cocktails; which will lead to an awkward moment between John King and Anderson Cooper one morning in the CNN suite at the D.C. Hilton.

And one really awkward moment when the 45.7% of Americans who voted Republican will hear the words, “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear…”

But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.

I wanna revisit how we came to be here- in this moment: 48 hours away from electing America’s first half-black, Muslim, communist, fascist, “messiah”, anti-christ, socialist, corporate shill, Kenyan citizen/British citizen/Indonesian citizen.

A man who is building his own private army to force Marxism on our fair sod, and abort all the babies he can’t make gay.

A man who’s bigoted preacher wasn’t Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, or Jerry Falwell.

A man who said he would sit down and talk with our enemies- sans insulting demands (preconditions, for you righties)- instead of destroying their infrastructure, decimating its civilian population, forcing exile upon the educated and contributing members of their society, and simultaneously create both a com-fucking-pletely ruined view of our country on an international scale and new and exciting places for the terrorists to set up shop.

That one? How the hell did we end up electing that one?

George Walker Bush: 43rd President (R)- TX: First President with a criminal record

Shortly after he was elected, the US intelligence community figured out that al-Qaeda was responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole. Richard Clarke even briefed him on how to take down the terrorist organization. That, however, was not on Dubya's to do list. Instead, by as early as six weeks into his first term the Bush Administration had a plan in the works for invading Iraq and a post-Saddam era. By March, 2001, the Bush Administration had a plan for Iraqi oil exploration. Despite his warnings, Richard Clarke was told by Condi Rice that the President "didn't want any long memos". Apparently, "memos" meant "stuff I'd have to think about", and that didn't sit well with the new POTUS.

August, 2001: CIA briefs Dubya while on vacation in Crawford- the focus of the discussion is the "bin Laden determined to strike in the US" paper. After being shown incontrovertible evidence of an imminent threat on American soil, Dubya tells the analyst, "Well, I guess you've covered your ass..."

Just days after Richard Clarke's request for Predator Drones to fly over Afghanistan and take out bin Laden was rejected by the Pentagon, 19 hijackers overtake four airplanes and killed thousands. Remaining paralyzed for the better part of ten minutes, Dubya then flies around the country while vowing a "full scale investigation to find the folks who did it".

By December, Rumsfeld claims Afghanistan doesn't have enough targets, we've got to go after Iraq. By January of '02, with bin Laden in sight, the request for 800 Army Rangers to secure and capture bin Laden is instead outsourced by Dubya to the Pakistanis. Cooperative and sympathetic to both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, they let bin Laden escape.

The march to war with Iraq was fueled with lies, propaganda, a shell-shocked and compliant media, and fear. If you told BushCo that more troops would be needed to invade Iraq, you were fired. If you claimed the cost would reach a hundred billion, you were fired. If you revealed that the yellowcake was, in fact, just a slice of yellow cake, you were vilified, and your wife's covert status was exposed. If, however, you were complicit in the run-up to invading the wrong fucking country, you were given 'Medals of Freedom'. Even if you were convicted, your sentence was commuted by prez'nint Bush.

When we finally get to Iraq, things don't necessarily pan out the way that BushCo planned. The whole of the Iraqi army disbanded, statues toppled while Sunnis were slaughtered. We lost over 200,000 weapons and billions of dollars. Just. Lost. Mercenary groups are allowed to operate above the law...the US military is allowed to operate beyond the terms of the Geneva Convention and the laws of basic fucking human decency. One in six Iraqis are forced from their homes, while tens of thousands are rounded up and shipped to Abu Ghraib, or Gitmo, or who knows where to be held without charges and tortured. Including 1,200 American citizens.

Our rewards for this have been oil. Oil, and billions for Government contractors while the number of jobs lost during the Bush Administration has grown near 10 million.
We were rewarded with FISA.
We were rewarded with the Patriot Act.
We were rewarded with trillions in debt.
With a collapsing economy.
With three wars. Yes. Three. The "Global War On Terror" counts, and it counts in billions.
With warrantless wiretapping.
With No-Child-Left-Behind.
With "Heckuva job, Browine"
With 65,ooo New Orleans residents still living in FEMA trailers.
With signing statements that exclude or circumvent Dubya from any accountability or prosecutory measures.
With the Military Commissions Act.
With lower regulatory standards on everything from your money to the food you eat.
With the Clean Skies Initiative.
With the Healthy Forests Initiative.
With 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams choking on runoff from mountaintop removal mining.
Without capturing bin Laden.
With Hamas and Hezbollah elected democratically.
Without an exit strategy in Iraq.
With 7.2% unemployment.
Without a net gain in the average wage.
With union-busting.
Without the respect of the international community.
With the largest dropout rate in American schools. Ever.
Without a modicum of understanding on the part of the outgoing administration regarding what it is they've done to this country.
With a modicum of hope.

The red text was inspired by, and partially cribbed from Keith Olbermann's "Eight Years in Eight Minutes" segment from Countdown, 16 January, 2009.

Til Next Time...