Category Archives: Political Rants

Political Rants

Stuff and… other stuff.

All right, here are a few wild passes at some current issues.

Leaking the obvious. Now that there’s a concerted effort by telecom corporations to shut down access to Wikileaks and a man hunt underway for Julian Assange, perhaps someone should stop and consider how asinine this vendetta truly is. It’s the internet, for chrissake… if the documents get lifted, they will certainly be posted somewhere. And sure, the cables are embarrassing to diplomats, etc. But are any of the most publicized revelations in the latest Wikileaks document dump at all surprising? Consider…

  • Iranian influence in Iraq. Well, there’s a shocker. Iran has been spending money in Iraq, has relationships with many of its senior leaders. Is it possible that anyone would be surprised by this? Iraq is a majority Shi’a country, like Iran. There are longstanding cultural, religious, and political ties between these two neighboring states, and many Iraqi political figures took exile in Iran during the Saddam years. Speaking of which, Iran was attacked by a U.S.-supported Iraq in the 1980s, in an eight-year conflict that cost them probably a million lives. If I were them, I would be deeply interested in what happens in Iraq…. especially since we’re still the power behind the throne.
  • Yemen. The Yemeni leadership lied about their role in approving drone strikes against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Who would have guessed?

What else? The government in Afghanistan is corrupt? Pakistan doesn’t want us to control its nuclear materials? Colonel Qaddafi is weird? Here’s my shocked face. 

Can you say “Stim”? Republicans claim to be looking for ways to create “growth” and jobs. Hey, Boehner, hey Cantor – stop looking! Unemployment benefits are just the ticket. They are conceded to be one of the most effective ways of creating economic activity, because it’s money sent to people who spend it right away. Analysts estimate that about a million jobs would be lost if the extension is passed. With the official unemployment rate nudging 10%, this is no time to demonstrate what cheapskates you are. So Dems, find your spine for five minutes. And GOP, get the hell out of the way. It’s not only smart economics – it’s the right goddamned thing to do.

Political Rants

Let us prey.

Couple of things to comment on this week. I’ll be brief – it’s a holiday, for chrissake.

Unforced confession. George W. Bush has been hawking his memoir for the last couple of weeks, proudly admitting that he personally authorized the use of waterboarding – a torture technique he considers legal because his legal advisors told him so. “I’m not a lawyer,” he told Matt Lauer in one interview. How far would that get any of us in front of a judge?

No one seems particularly bothered about this, but Bush’s proud admission, along with Cheney’s, is basically a declaration that our justice system is in a shambles; that the law applies only to the powerless and that cruel and unusual punishment is acceptable. Torture is a violation of U.S. statute and of international conventions to which the U.S. is both a signatory and a primary participant. Waterboarding is torture; it has been recognized as such since the days of Torquemada and before, I’ll wager.

Bush and Cheney have admitted their guilt; bragged about it, in fact, with the arrogance of men who know they are safe from accountability. The Justice Department should act upon these admissions without any thought to political expediency. That is not how the law is supposed to work. You break the law, you face justice – that’s how. Mr. Holder? Do your job.

Money rules. The results are in, and the winner of the 2010 election is corporate cash, by a landslide. The financial industry, health insurance lobby, and energy industry mad a massive investment in Republican candidates, both before the Citizens United decision and after, and they’ve certainly gotten their money’s worth. An astounding $3 billion was spent on composing the 112th congress; far more than in the 2006 cycle or even the 2004 presidential race. This piper will be paid, with interest, using the means at the disposal of any legislator; blocking, repealing, watering-down, stalling, inserting poison pills, defunding, delaying, and all of the tactics we’ve seen over the past two years.

Who are the winners? Just watch network or cable television for ten minutes and you’ll see them, preying on the public mind with their multi-million dollar ads about “our energy future” or what you should “ask your doctor” about. That’s who we need to defeat in 2012, and we’d better start working on it… yesterday.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Win for losing.

Just a few short shots today. Hopefully one of them will approach some acceptable level of accuracy.

Out of work / luck. The House failed to reach the 2/3 majority it needed this week to approve extending unemployment benefits to the millions out of work for an exceedingly long period of time – about 9.6 percent of us, if you count every part-time burger flipper as “employed” (and don’t even count those unemployed but no longer looking for work). Once again, our great lawmakers are playing ducks and drakes with people’s lives, blaming the victim, punishing those who have paid for their bad decisions. Got the number of your congressman/woman? Get on the phone to them and tell them to vote for this sucker, even if it adds to the freaking deficit. This is a question of survival for millions of American families – what’s more important than that?

Gitmo conviction. Justice Department prosecutors have won the case against a Gitmo detainee Ahmed Ghailani, but are losing the propaganda war with respect to civilian trials for terror defendants. I heard ex-governor Pataki on television this week joining the chorus of ersatz conservatives who think evidence obtained under torture is somehow legitimate. Oh, how they value our traditions!

Non-starter. John McCain’s Arizona colleague appears intent on blocking an arms control treaty that any Republican would have been proud of two decades ago. So our agreement with the Russians is dangling by a thread. What sense does this make? Don’t know. What sense does it make to have NATO members sign on enthusiastically to a new “missile defense” regime – i.e., one that the Russians are not intimidated by? I suppose we should follow the money. Missile defense is as close as this or any administration will come to an industrial policy. Military Keynesianism still rocks down in D.C.

That’s all I’ve got, folks.

luv u,

jp