July 12, 2009 archive

I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Probe of Alleged Torture Weighed

White House Has Resisted Inquiry

By Carrie Johnson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is leaning toward appointing a criminal prosecutor to investigate whether CIA personnel tortured terrorism suspects after Sept. 11, 2001, setting the stage for a conflict with administration officials who would prefer the issues remain in the past, according to three sources familiar with his thinking.

Naming a prosecutor to probe alleged abuses during the darkest period in the Bush era would run counter to President Obama’s oft-repeated desire to be “looking forward and not backwards.” Top political aides have expressed concern that such an investigation might spawn partisan debates that could overtake Obama’s ambitious legislative agenda.

The planet’s future: Climate change ‘will cause civilisation to collapse’

Authoritative new study sets out a grim vision of shortages and violence – but amid all the gloom, there is some hope too

By Jonathan Owen

Sunday, 12 July 2009

An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, “billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse”.

This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet – obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organisations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 State of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe. Its findings are described by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, as providing “invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society”.

Disintegration

We are told again and again that economic solutions dictated by simple common sense are politically impossible:

1. Shifting hundreds of billions of dollars of government expenditure from weapons procurement and warfare to civilian construction is impossible.

2. Creating an efficient single-payer national health care system is impossible.

3. Putting the unemployed to work rebuilding our infrastructure is impossible.

4. Reconstructing America’s intercity rail network is impossible.

5. Investigation and prosecution of rogue corporations is impossible.

Why are all of these things impossible? Because, ever since Ronald Reagan and his allied ideological vandals commenced an all-out assault on government, the American people have been barraged with plutocratic propaganda persuading them that the government that built the atomic bomb, landed men on the moon, established the Internet, and ended racial discrimination is worthless and incompetent.

The dominant political meme in Washington is still “everybody knows that the government can’t run anything properly.” This pernicious myth will drag us down into economic misery so deep that we will eventually be forced to discard it. No combination of individuals or corporations has the power and resources to get us out of the ditch we are in. Only the Federal government can pull us out. But as long as it remains reviled and discredited, we will lie in the ditch.

This is why things will get much worse in America before they get better. It took a huge amount of effort to poison the minds of the citizenry against their own government, and only a massive amount of suffering will bring the political realignment necessary to cleanse this poison. Until our people renew their trust in government, a widespread economic recovery will be an impossible mission.

Big news form Newsweek on Attorney General Eric Holder

    Holder, 58, may be on the verge of asserting his independence in a profound way. Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration’s brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do. While no final decision has been made, an announcement could come in a matter of weeks, say these sources, who decline to be identified discussing a sensitive law-enforcement matter. Such a decision would roil the country, would likely plunge Washington into a new round of partisan warfare, and could even imperil Obama’s domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform. Holder knows all this, and he has been wrestling with the question for months. “I hope that whatever decision I make would not have a negative impact on the president’s agenda,” he says. “But that can’t be a part of my decision.”

  In the telling and masterfully written article, much of the personality of AG Eric Holder is revealed. Apparently, if the Obama/Biden Administration was planning on whitewashing the crimes of the last Administration, they picked the wrong guy. Holder exhibits a strong character and a legal mind that is no enemy of the rule of law. Rather, he is a huge threat to the politicized executive branch, in particular the branches previously controlled by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Scooter Libby, among other war criminals. I strongly suggest that everyone who demands justice and equality as the main course of their Democracy (D) give this article a long hard read, better yet two.

  Now is the time to demand change.

  Now, more than ever, we have to YELL LOUDER!

  The alternative is NOT AN OPTION.

    The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information . . . . .on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney

Just let those words sink in for a minute, as if you hadn’t already guessed.

Well if you guessed, you were right.

  On the heels of this news comes the story in today’s New York Times

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

  Has your holy shit meter broken yet?