There’s a doctor present

“It’s not torture because there was a doctor present.” That is the entirety of their argument.

The Bush administration approved and committed torture, period. There is no debating it anymore. They did it for the same reasons, used the same methods  and fabricated the same legal justification that every other torturing regime in the history of the planet has used to commit torture.  It’s the icing on the cake for the Bush administration – illegal wars, illegal surveillance, claims of unrestricted power, promotion of a permanent state of fear, and naturally, torture. They played the part and followed the script of madmen, dictators and murderers. They are criminals and they will be forever remembered along with the worst of the worst of humanity; but history alone is not justice.

Torture is a crime. It is not a policy difference. There are laws in the books against it. The idea that we have to move on is stupid and just as dangerous as committing torture in the first place. This is not the same as dropping a nuclear bomb for the first time in the history of the world and then deciding it will not happen again no matter the circumstance. Torture is an old evil and this is it happening yet again and there is no room for forgiveness. They knew very well what they were doing which is why they worked so hard to justify it, then hide it, and now misinform and lie about it.

The future of international law will be decided by what comes next. If the US were to prosecute those responsible for the torture regime, it’ll be the most important thing to ever happen in terms of the advancement of international human rights and international law principles. The most powerful country on the planet holding itself accountable for its own crimes. There is no more powerful statement and it would realize a lot of what right now are just words on papers – that people are entitled to human rights and that all governments must respect those rights. No one would ever again get away with it.

Failure to prosecute would only signal that the US does not take those words and ideals seriously. That they are meaningless. Everyone else would have reason to follow suit if they wished to and violate whatever law they feel – be it torture, nuclear weapons proliferation, aggressive war or else. Bush’s actions have already caused a lot of this to happen – look at North Korea and Iran’s pursuit of illegal nuclear weapons, look at Russia, China and Israel’s aggressive illegal military actions towards their own people and their neighbors, look at the ongoing Sudanese genocide. If the biggest player will not respect international law then there is no reason for anyone else to do so either and there is no one left to enforce it. Other countries could prosecute the Bush admin and likely will, but that would just be a continuation of the same slow struggle for international human rights that led to the successful prosecution of German war criminals, Japanese war criminals, South American war criminals, African war criminals – only to see it happen yet again in the US. Just trudging along forever.

Israel’s existance is threatened

Yup, these guys and their shitty rockets are a threat to Israel’s existance. Kinda like how 50 guys in a cave in Afghanistan threatened the very fabric of America, it’s very physical and ideological existence, even though 19 of them had already killed themselves in their only attack against the country.

Me thinks Israel and the US are giving these people too much credit. All overreacting does is legitimize them. Whether or not they have a right to do what they do is irrelevant – it should be about finding a lasting peace. You do not create peace with war, period. That was never the case. Domination, occupation, oppression, that is not peace – and they were always ultimately defeated. World War II succeeded because we let Japan and Germany be. The Cold War never evolved into actual war. We have seen the success of non-violent movements in gaining the independence of countries and the freedoms of peoples all over the world. We have seen the success international cooperation can have in stopping conflicts and in avoiding them. These are real examples of how today’s world works and how peace is achieved. And it does not involve lasting occupation and repeated unprecedented military action.

Israel is addicted to war, just like its neighbors, just like its enemies. You’d think being such a supposed advance democratic society, they’d act accordingly and make mature decisions about their future. You’d think they’d extend a hand to their adversaries and attempt to find common ground and a solution that didn’t involve perpetual war. It’s been 60 years. 60 years of war. But this is democracy in the Middle East – in Israel and in Palestine, people vote for murder, for war and against peace because that is what they want.

One last time

Bush’s final press conference. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve watched a lot of these in the last 8 years. They’ve been sad, painful, infuriating, maddening, disheartening, entertaining, all sorts of adjectives. He has wrecked psychological havoc on my life. I guess I’ve been inflicted with Bush derangement syndrome and I won’t be happy till he’s sitting in jail. Which unfortunately means I will never be happy. But at least he is finally gone, defeated and humiliated, and his name forever to be remembered amongst the worst of the worst.

Massive, cowardly overreaction. Arrogant, provocative attitude. A vision of government that believes government shouldn’t exist. Stolen election. War crimes. Blatant corruption. From top to bottom, a complete assault on the Constitution. The end result of the 60+ year conservative movement and a Republican party that simply sought to destroy the American government. But bad ideas are doomed to fail and so it all collapses at once. We’re all fucked but at least it’s over.

Israel-Palestine

They tried bombing the shit out of Lebanon in 2006 and ended up making Hezbollah look like heroes to the Muslim world and gaining huge amounts of power in Lebanon. Now they’re bombing Gaza again, because cutting off resources wasn’t killing enough people, to try to bring down Hamas. 60 years of non-stop fighting, they still think fighting is the way towards peace. And time and again when they destroy their supposed enemies of the day, all they do is leave behind bigger and  more dangerous ones for tomorrow. It’s an illegal use of force, it’s just plain stupid policy and basically guarantees that there will be no peace anytime soon.

Obama is lucky he still doesn’t have to announce his position yet because of a constitutional technicality, but the situation he’s going to have to address isn’t going to change regardless of what happens. Either Israel can bomb its neighbors without legitimate need and without external consequences for its actions or they can’t. And any chance and hope the world had for Obama is riding on his response to this. Either he’s going to have a common sense foreign policy or he’s been scared shitless by the dumbasses at the Pentagon and CIA who thought invading Iraq was a great idea, who convinced him to re-hire them and who still think aggressive militarism is a good idea. We’ll see in less than a month.

Charles Barkley has a way of explaining things

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/brown.barkley/

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Barkley being so careful with his words, so I guess he must be serious about running for governor of Alabama. “I can’t screw up Alabama”. Look at him argue for progressive taxation! The Obama campaign should put him out there more… not that they need help at this point.

Terrorist

Real America

I just want to point out that the only parts of America to have been attacked by terrorists have been the Fake, anti-American parts of the country: New York City and Washington, DC. What the fuck is Real America worried about? The way these idiots talk you’d think they’re all for it.

The most important part about Powell’s endorsement of Obama

Colin Powell will always be a fucking ass in my mind for giving that presentation to the UN and duping people into going along with this obviously unjustified war – but it is clear that he was used by the Bush admininistration and really, when you’ve got the most powerful person in the world personally assuring you that something is true, I imagine that it’s hard to argue against it. But whatever. This is something that’s needed to be said and that nobody important has said until now

I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian.  He’s always been a Christian.  But the really right answer is, what if he is?  Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America.  Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?  Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine.  It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave.  And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone.  And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death.  He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith.  And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey.  He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.  Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way.  And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know.  But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

Damn fucking right.

This is the image Powell was reffering to, featured in The New Yorker.

Wait a minute… The New Yorker? Colin Powell is obviously an elitist liberal, reading that socialist publication named after an American city!

Newt Gingrich

What’s this asshole doing on TV? Who is he anymore? He’s acting not only as if he was an elected representative, he’s going around like he’s highest ranking Republican in office. Good grief.. who’d wanna be that anyway?

His presence can’t serve any other purpose except to be angling for a run in 2012 by sabotaging this election, and it’s more evidence that the Republican party has completely collapsed to the point that ANYONE can jump in and take the helm. Clearly a huge chunk of the Republican party has given up on McCain, but it seems they’ve decided that they’re not crazy enough! Got to be more crazy! People want us to be insane just like we’ve always been! let’s make people hate Gingrich today for fucking up the economy, let’s remind people what an asshole he used to be back when he was in office, let’s highlight the irrational, illogical and dangerous nature of House Republicans. No Democrat could do this so efficiently.

Keep on talking about the economy and pretty much anything guys, it’s working out great - for Democrats.

If i’m broke…

How does this crisis affect me? The few bucks I put into my 403(b) are buying a lot of shares these days… how about we extend this stock market crisis for a little bit more (how about six months from now when my student loans kick in) so I can then see my few shares of Thornburg International Value Fund A skyrocket?

I am young, so I have very little worries. Bank of America seems to be doing fine, and that’s where I keep my money and they also pay my paycheck (thru a non-profit organization).

So as long as Bank of America is doing ok, I’ll still be kinda broke but getting by (for at least six months).