"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."
--1820 -- Thomas Jefferson
Obama’s Iraq Mission Accomplished speech (about 7 years after Bush’s version) made even Rachel Maddow angry, and she’s been Obama’s biggest fan since election night. I certainly support the ending of our interference in Iraq — if only that’s what we were really doing. The guest essay below is from McClatchy.
By Charles V. Pena | The Independent Institute
One Way out of Iraq
When the U.S. Army’s 4th Stryker brigade combat team crossed the border into Kuwait last month, President Obama hailed the occasion as the end of an era.
“We are keeping the promise I made when I began my campaign for the presidency,” the president proclaimed. “By the end of this month, we will have removed 100,000 troops from Iraq and our combat mission will be over.” And on Tuesday night, he drove the point home in his address to the nation.
The president was technically correct. But the story is far from over.
The stated rationale for the U.S. withdrawal was to avoid “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” With 50,000 U.S. troops still there, however, the withdrawal is a faux exit. Until all U.S. troops – combat or otherwise – have vacated Iraq, we are left with an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs and undetermined consequences.
To begin, 50,000 soldiers is not insignificant. That’s roughly the equivalent of three divisions or 10 brigades. They may not be designated as combat troops, but they still wear uniforms and carry weapons – which will not be lost on the civilian population. Imagine if there were 50,000 armed foreign soldiers in the United States. It’s not likely the American public would take kindly to such an occupation. So why should we assume the Iraqis will?
President Obama is going to speak to the nation tonight about the Iraq war “ending” tonight, and it’s really hard to give a damn. The war in Iraq is not ending, it’s just evolving, and the speech will be the same old stuff, glorifying war, glorifying the outcome, glorifying the military. At some point, 100,000 contractors will take over the job of the “combat” soldiers returning. I’m sick of it. I’m not going to listen to it. We should all be sick of being lied to about both of these corrupt, wasteful, mindless wars, and we have been lied to for years and years. It will continue tonight.
There is a must-read op-ed in today’s New York Times by Bob Herbert. Everyone should read it. We are using up people in these stupid wars like their lives didn’t even matter, like they weren’t even alive to begin with. It’s sick. Endless war for no good reason is a symptom of a sick country. We are a sick people. Maybe we deserve these plagues of bedbugs and endless rallies starring the Mormon TV clown and his psycho sidekicks. (Palin and Bachmann).
These portions stand out:
“Quoting an unnamed adviser to the president, Mr. Baker wrote that Mr. Obama sees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as “problems that need managing” while he pursues his mission of transforming the nation. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking on the record, said, “He’s got a very full plate of very big issues, and I think he does not want to create the impression that he’s so preoccupied with these two wars that he’s not addressing the domestic issues that are uppermost in people’s minds.”
Wars are not problems that need managing, which suggests that they will always be with us. They are catastrophes that need to be brought to an end as quickly as possible. Wars consume lives by the thousands (in Iraq, by the scores of thousands) and sometimes, as in World War II, by the millions. The goal when fighting any war should be peace, not a permanent simmer of nonstop maiming and killing. Wars are meant to be won — if they have to be fought at all — not endlessly looked after.
One of the reasons we’re in this state of nonstop warfare is the fact that so few Americans have had any personal stake in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no draft and no direct financial hardship resulting from the wars. So we keep shipping other people’s children off to combat as if they were some sort of commodity, like coal or wheat, with no real regard for the terrible price so many have to pay, physically and psychologically.
Not only is this tragic, it is profoundly disrespectful. “
It’s also profoundly sad. End these wars, Congress. You have the power to stop funding them.
President Obama won’t end them because it seems like he has no idea what he’s doing.
Obama tours a solar array funded by stimulus money. John Locher / Getty Images
There was a hysterical, sad letter to the editor in my local newspaper this morning. The hysterical writer (a man) blamed the bad economy on Obama and said the $26 billion to save teachers’ jobs was just another ‘bailout’. I don’t think people like him know what the word “bailout” means anymore. He then repeated a lot of the right-wing talking points, the ones that make no sense to anyone who thinks about them for 10 seconds. Here’s an excerpt:
“Stop Obama’s agenda, go back to Reagan Plan — Why aren’t corporations and businesses spending the money they’ve got and expanding? [greed] It’s because of President Obama and the Democrats! . . . . Obama just got his $26 billion top save teachers jobs. It is just another bailout plan does does nothing but raise the national deficit. [because we don't need teachers and they don't need jobs] . . . . Obama may be the best and the worst thing to happen to this country. . . . . Learn from President Reagan. Remember that this November when voting.”
And on and on it went, patently partisan, channeling Sarah Palin, full of mindless attacks on Obama and wishes we were back during the disastrous Reagan administration. You know, the one that all but destroyed the economy for good. (The Reagan plan!) I don’t mind rational, thoughtful criticisms of Obama at all, because he has kept a lot of the overreaches of power that Bush grabbed for himself. Also, there is much he should be doing that he isn’t doing such as actually creating jobs like FDR did, but the stimulus money is doing some of that. The rest of the unfortunate letter writer’s criticisms were mostly FOX Noise talking points. The writer obviously doesn’t even understand the points himself. Ronald Reagan was the 2nd worse president we have ever had — the first was obviously George W. Bush, but Reagan did his share of destroying our economy, trashing the environment, lying to the Congress and people, propping up the Taliban and Al Qaeda and even assisting (and training via the CIA) bin Laden himself. Reagan was a disaster. How do you get worse than that? (It’s hard, but Bush did it.)
And the most telling part of the letter:
“But the bottom line is responsible small business owners are not going to borrow money now . . . because and they don’t know what Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress are going to pass next.”
Oh NO! Business owners can’t see into the future! And fear-mongering hits again. This is what the right-wing media does best. Keep people afraid, and they will do whatever you say. (See more on this at the end.) Actually, if this scared little man wants to know what the Congress is going to do next, read the newspaper, or Politico, etc. This stuff is reported, you know.
Bottom line, Republicans don’t want to admit that the stimulus money is going to good use because it doesn’t fit their political narrative. It’s something good and smart that Democrats have done and that leaves them with little to run on this November. This money is going to far better use than the billions of taxpayer money wasted and lost in Iraq. (At last count, approximately $9 billion has been lost and stolen and at least $5 billion “wasted). It’s jump-starting green energy, for one thing.
Here are some examples of how the stimulus money has been put to good use.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus — has been marketed as a jobs bill, and that’s how it’s been judged. The White House says it has saved or created about 3 million jobs, helping avoid a depression and end a recession. . . .
It was about jobs, sure, but also about fighting oil addiction and global warming, transforming health care and education, and building a competitive 21st century economy. Some Republicans have called it an under-the-radar scramble to advance Obama’s agenda — and they’ve got a point. (See TIME’s special report “The Green Design 100.”)
Glenn Beck’s rally in Washington on August 28th was all about himself and his complete lack of respect for his own government. More than anything else, he does not respect authority, does not respect our country and he does not respect the office of the Presidency, not even one little bit. He pretends to respect the “founding fathers” yet he has no respect for the government they created. His government’s policies have made him a multi-millionaire though — even though his work product is nearly entirely without value. You can’t say a person works hard and deserves millions of dollars when what he does mostly just confuses people. Ironic, isn’t it? Here is what Salon found out about the event.
Lots of talk, no real action or real ideas. What were all these people doing there? They didn’t even seem to know.
Beck has fashioned himself into a spiritual and moral leader of conservatives, but it’s all an inside joke, and it has left people feeling empty — because Beck is talk, talk talk and no action. (Similar to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann). If you listen to what he says, though, it’s as empty and mindless as reading a few paragraphs of a Sean Hannity book. Rambling, nearly incoherent babbling. This is the leader of the Tea Party movement? Well, one of them. The main themes of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” speeches and rally on a very deliberately chosen day involved God, patriotism, mindless platitudes, and repetitious gibberish. There was a lot of preaching about God, a startling amount. When Beck spoke he talked mainly about himself and God, God talking through him, and even himself as God. (See more about that here.)
All in all, it was a rally about empty patriotic phrases that mean very little. This is typical of most Tea Party rallies too. In fact, the whole movement is mostly a movement about nothing. There are (large) side pockets that are racist, side pockets that are anti-Obama, and side pockets that are violent and nasty, but all in all, it’s an anti-government movement about nothing.
McCain: Wasn't born here but doesn't like "illegals".
Breaking news from Navajo Nation – The Navajo, Hopi, all Apache Nations and all other Native Americans who presently reside in Arizona have joined forces in an effort to show the haughty Arizona residents just exactly who has every right to be in that State.
Said Chief Standing Wolf, “it is not those of European decent who should be making the laws of this state, but we, the tribal people, who have been suppressed for too long. Our ancestors have been here for thousands of years, while the white man only came a few hundred years ago. Yet, it is the white man who wants to make ridiculous laws and keep everything lily white. We can no longer stand by and let this happen.”
Short of declaring war on the Arizona government, Chief Standing Wolf instead issued a warning “reverse your laws entitling only English-speaking people to inhabit Arizona. Only then will we back down and allow peace to again grace Arizona, but if you deny our fellow red and brown men their rightful place in this state, there will be bloodshed.”
Of course, Chief Standing Wolf was speaking in his native tongue, so the lawmakers in the State weren’t exactly sure what the message was.
Source. How would the world be if things made sense? Like that.
White people (myself included) can tend to forget — there were people here before the Europeans and all that followed showed up. This was the land of other people and white settlers were the “illegals”.
If you believe that those who take land are natives (or the “same as” natives) and that history is irrelevant, and that we then have the right to kick others out that are perceived as “non-native” (even though many may be descendants of the real natives) then everything’s cool. If you don’t believe that history is irrelevant, then we should all deport ourselves. Especially if you believe, as many right-wingers do, that just because you are born here does not make you an American citizen. Citizenship, according to them, is only for certain, special folks. And who qualifies as worthy of citizenship is determined by these late-coming “illegals” known as the white, wealthy ruling class. All others were so undesirable they were not allowed to even vote. (including women).
In a nutshell, that is who the Founding Fathers were, those men so revered and fetish-ized by the Tea Baggers, the Glenn Beck Fans, the Sarah Palin adorers, the Michele Bachmann fans, and right-wing (white) extremists everywhere. If you weren’t white or rich or male, you were less than human to the Founders. By all means, let’s admire that to the point of ridiculousness and make a cult of out of while we’re at it. Let’s call it “Restoring Honor” or something equally meaningless. Let’s demonize people who are poor, have brown skin, and may be “illegal”, in their names.
It’s the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina already. In many ways that event was more devastating to America than 9/11 because it exposed the worst of our country — an uncaring government, the racism of leaders, the militarized police, a startling lack of concern, the poverty of a major city, and the class system that runs America. Since then, I really don’t even think things have improved that much. Hurricane Katrina and our government’s totally inadequate response to it was shocking. It showed the true colors of a Republican administration and how racism and lack of caring for poor people can be so ingrained in our culture. It also exposed how easily our country could slip into martial law, a scenario of white cops shooting looters, and extreme presidential overreaches like suspensions of long held laws. (See The Nation and Jeremy Scahill’s reports for more on that). Have things improved very much? Investigative journalist Greg Palast doesn’t think so.
New Orleans Photo by WAVY photojournalist Jeff Myers
Bush’d again?
New Orleans, Mr. O and Mr. Go
by Greg Palast
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Five years ago this week, a beast drowned New Orleans. Don’t blame Katrina: the lady never, in fact, touched the city. The hurricane swept east of it.
You want to know the name of the S.O.B. who attacked New Orleans? Locals call him “Mr. Go” – the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO).
MR-GO was undoubtedly the most bone-headed, deadly insane project ever built by the Army Corps of Engineers. It’s a 76-mile long canal, straight as a gun barrel, running right up from the Gulf of Mexico to the heart of New Orleans.
In effect, MR-GO was a welcome mat to the city for Katrina. Experts call it “the Hurricane Highway.”
Until the Army Corps made this crazy gash in the Mississippi Delta fifty years ago, Mother Nature protected the Crescent City with a green wreath of cypress and mangrove. The environmental slash-job caused the government’s own hydrologist to raise alarms from Day One of construction.
Think the war in Iraq is over? There are still 50,000 American soldiers in Iraq, at least. There are about 100,000 American contractors in Iraq, many of them mercenaries, highly specialized military personnel, and they are not leaving. They are replacing the soldiers, which amounts to the privatization of the military occupation of Iraq. The war there is not over. Daily violence continues.
This is what it looks like America went to war for in Iraq: Halliburton has been awarded a ‘Letter of Intent’ to develop a major oil field in Iraq for Shell Oil.
Tax evaders Shell and Halliburton continue the theft of Iraq’s resources. It’s now clear that we went to war in Iraq led by Dick Cheney, for his company Halliburton; and for Bush’s friends at Shell Oil. This is why we are looking at a $13 trillion debt right now. It’s not because of “entitlements” or “spending” — it’s because of these wars for oil. Republicans can’t resist starting completely unnecessary wars in order to control the resources of other countries. The result is not a lot of cheap oil and gas for Americans, the result is that a few rich people get even richer, a few multinational companies get even more wealth and power, and they pay few or no taxes at all on their spoils.
“Halliburton has been awarded a letter of intent by Shell Iraq Petroleum Development B.V. for the development of the Majnoon field in Southern Iraq. The giant Majnoon field is one of the world’s largest oilfields. The letter of intent provides that Halliburton will serve as project manager for the development work, in affiliation with Nabors Drilling and Iraq Drilling Company (IDC). The contract is still subject to final approval by the appropriate Iraqi authorities.
Shell is lead operator and holds a 45 percent share, partner Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Pe-tronas) holds 30 percent and the Iraqi state holds 25 percent of the participating interests in all licenses. Shell has announced that the consortium intends to increase production from the current ~45,000 barrels of oil per day to a targeted production plateau of 1.8 million barrels of oil per day.
“Halliburton has made a sizeable investment in Iraq and we look forward to providing services to Shell and the consortium in order to increase production at this historic oil field,” said Dave Lesar, Halliburton’s Chairman, President and CEO. “We have in place the technology, equipment and personnel to ensure that we deliver the solutions that will help our customers in this region to meet their production goals.”
Halliburton has been active in the Middle East since 1946. Currently, Halliburton has more than 4,000 employees in the Middle East, and construction on phase I of Halliburton’s 400-man base in Burjisia, Iraq is complete.”
Halliburton Co. said on Wednesday that it has gotten a letter of intent from Shell Iraq Petroleum Development BV that would make Halliburton the project manager for developing the Majnoon field in southern Iraq.
Halliburton said it wold be working with Nabors Drilling and the Iraq Drilling Company. The contract needs final approval by Iraqi authorities, Halliburton said.
Iraq reached a deal with Shell in January to develop the mammoth oil field, along with partner Petronas, Malaysia’s state-run oil company. Shell and Petronas plan to raise production in the field from the current 45,900 barrels per day to 1.8 million barrels per day over 10 years.
Halliburton shares rose 9 cents to close at $28.79 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Republicans who got us into these criminal messes complain about the debt, but continue to support the wars. They even support starting new wars, such as the one they are planning in Iran. They don’t support human or civil rights in Palestine or Gaza. They also are the same idiots speaking out against the Muslim community center in New York City. They love Halliburton’s thefts, but hate Muslims, Mexicans and pretty much anyone with brown skin who isn’t a Christian.
I’m no longer sure why anyone is bothering to debate the merits of a Muslim center in downtown New York City in a diverse neighborhood. The media and the politicians have stirred people up into an anti-Muslim frenzy. Is this American? The building of the community center/mosque should be up to the officials in NYC, whoever grants building permits. What do Sarah Palin and Governor Tim Pawlenty and others who don’t live there have to do with it? Nothing. So why do they think they have to speak about this from their pedestals?
Obama was right to weigh in as President and remind people what the Constitution says, and what our country (supposedly) stands for, but it’s odd that the people who wave the Constitution around like a banner (Tea Party people) need to be told this simple stuff. They obviously do not believe in freedom of religion, or freedom of any kind. They just want to offend Muslims. (So much for their concern about “sensitivity”). Sensitivity, to rabid anti-Muslim Tea Bagger types, is a one-way street.
Their argument is that this is a special, meaningful spot in America and should not be sullied by community centers of a certain religion. Besides the obvious bigotry of that, consider the evidence below of how un-hallowed the ground near the Twin Towers site really is. Well, it’s normal land. It contains all kinds of densely packed, diverse businesses. Like the all-American McDonalds. Like strip clubs. Like bars and pubs and guys selling cheap Chinese-made tourist junk off tables on the streets.
The fact is, obsession with 9/11 exists mainly in the barely-functioning minds of politicians who want to use the terrorist attack for their own nefarious purposes. Mostly, to get elected, but also to score points while making as many people angry and hateful towards “The Others” as possible. Their negative, small, selfish acts of political childishness will have repercussions for years to come, but they don’t think that far ahead.
Below is some hard evidence of just how non-hallowed the area around “Ground Zero” really is. See all the photos here.
A blogger has posted a few photos of things in NYC, the same distance from the World Trade Center as the“Ground Zero Mosque”. They are regular businesses that you would see in any large city. They are not necessarily respectful of the hallowed, holy “Ground Zero” that Republicans are so frakin’ obsessed about.
Also on his site: photos near Ground Zero of Off track betting, an Abandoned store, a Vitamin Shoppe, an Irish pub, a Burger King, a Kosher Halal restaurant, a Dunkin donuts, a Souvenir store, another Souvenir store, and a Souvenir table. To the people who don’t like Muslim community centers, “hallowed ground” means ground you can money off of. If it’s capitalist, they love it. If it makes money, they love it. If it’s about community, people, and peace, they hate it. That’s because a certain rabid sect of Republicans hate other people, and they hate peace. They are the Tea Baggers for the most part, but also others like them who lurk and hate in private.
This blogger recently wrote about their support for a group of Muslim New Yorkers “—whom I consider my neighbors—and their right to put a religious building on a piece of private property in Lower Manhattan.” Since his original writing, the debate has turned even more nasty. He writes:
Sarah Palin wrote on her Facebook page that, “it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project
sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground.”
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