Since pro-torture conservatives like to use the fictional television series 24 as grounds for defending false imprisonment and torture of anyone they see fit, here’s a 24-style plot for you:
A group of evil super-villains orchestrate the fixing of a presidential election, and appoint one of their puppets as President of the United States. Once they have seized power, this evil consortium puts into motion a sinister plot to start a completely unnecessary war, so that they can steal billions of dollars from the US treasury and hand it to their cronies running various military contractors. As a way to get public sentiment behind the war, they allow a group of anti-American terrorists to execute an attack on American soil. What better way to get American citizens fired up for revenge than an attack on their homeland? Only, the attack turns out far worse than they imagined, and thousands of innocents die. This small fact does not deter the group from proceeding with their plan. If anything, the horror of the attack only helps them. To justify their manufactured war, all they need is to link a supposed evil nation to this band of rogue terrorists. Only, there is no link at all, and in fact, this evil nation that we plan on starting a war with has been compliant with all UN sanctions and has disarmed themselves of all so-called “weapons of mass destruction.” So, in lieu of any factual evidence, they create their own. The diabolical US administration captures a supposed terrorist, and tortures him into a false confession linking the terrorists to the country in question. This is used as the key piece of evidence to start a full scale invasion. Just in the nick of time, Jack Bauer exposes the plot and prevents the invasion. The President and Vice President are arrested and their villainous plans are thwarted.
Sound ridiculous? Well, it happened. Only in real life there is no Jack Bauer, and everyone was too busy watching My Super Sweet Sixteen to notice that control of our country was seized by a band of super-villains. Actually, we elected them for a second term.
Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi was captured in 2001 and sent to a secret US prison in Egypt. There, with US approval (or perhaps orders) he was beaten and placed in a mock coffin for 17 hours. Eventually, he divulged information the information they were looking for – linking Al Qaeda to Iraq, saying that Iraq had provided Al Qaeda operatives with training in chemical and biological weapons. This forced testimony conveniently provided both the link to Iraq, and proof that Iraq still possessed WMD’s. Despite much skepticism in the CIA, this information was used as the main piece of evidence in the administrations’ case for war and was included as a key point in Colin Powell’s now infamous presentation to the United Nations.
As if torturing a prisoner to get manufactured information to start an illegal war isn’t bad enough, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi was found dead in his cell in Libya earlier this week (that’s right, we shipped him to Libya, noted ally in the so-called war on terror). It was ruled a suicide, but the timing is far too coincidental. At the same time that Dick Cheney (who previously was as hard to spot as Bigfoot) is all over cable news networks frantically defending their criminal activity, the main witness against their actions turns up dead? Am I accusing Dick Cheney and pals of killing a witness to hide the truth regarding their crimes against humanity? Yes, I am.
So as we debate whether water-boarding is torture, whether torture is justified, and whether the Bush administration “kept us safe”, the biggest war criminal in US history is on cable television, making a mockery of our nation’s democracy. He is frantically trying to change the argument, and has even taken to pimping out his own daughter to argue on his behalf (I thought she was “off limits” for public debates – just ask John Edwards).
Clinton was impeached for lying about a blowjob. Nixon was forced to resign over wire-tapping and burglaries. Now, wire-tapping is accepted as standard practice and murder, torture, and illegal wars are orchestrated with public support (or at least approval in the form of silence).
While this 24-style political conspiracy should be the top story of every news network, they’re instead debating whether Obama should be giving a commencement speech at Notre Dame, who should win American Idol, or whether Brett Favre will come out of retirement again.
Too bad we don’t have a Jack Bauer to hold these criminals accountable, because the American public and the current administration certainly don’t appear to have the balls for it. And those of us paying attention will have to watch the most insidious and deadliest criminal conspiracy in our nation’s history go unreported and unpunished, all while it’s perpetrators brag about it on national television.
When will we learn?
KP Silverman
Remind me again why we’re still debating torture – whether it was actually torture, whether it was a good idea or not, and whether to prosecute those involved in instituting torture as a regular policy. Let’s take this one point at a time:
- Was it torture?
I’m pretty sure there’s something in our Constitution about “cruel and unusual punishment”. I’m also pretty sure that waterboarding, beating, and putting prisoners’ heads in boxes with insects is pretty cruel. And naked pyramids are pretty unusual. And then there’s the Geneva Conventions, which state that “no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.” Putting aside the distractionary argument of “prisoner of war” versus “enemy combatant”, I think we can all agree that the restriction against “physical or mental” torture pretty much covers it.
- Was it a good idea?
In a word – no. Not only have studies repeatedly proved that torture results in unreliable information (supported by none other than John McCain), thereby disproving the argument that it “kept us safe”, but it also has provided plenty of recruiting fodder for anti-American extremists. George W always told us that the terrorists “hate us for our freedom”. This was always a bunch of bullshit. They hate us because we meddle in their affairs, and because we’re infidels. Now we can add to the list the fact that we wrongfully imprisoned and tortured thousands of Muslims. And now we’re publicly trying to justify it.
On the other end of delusional spectrum, we repeatedly hear right-wing hacks like Hannity say that these torture methods are no worse than frat pranks. If that were true, then how were they effective? And why do it at all? Is this all just for some sick kicks? On some level, that would be even more twisted.
- Should we prosecute?
Yes. Not only should Bush, Cheney, and all their cronies be prosecuted, but most certainly Jay Bybee should be impeached from his current position as federal appellate judge for his involvement in justifying torture of prisoners. The fact that he is still in a position of power in our judicial system is truly frightening.
Also, it’s worth noting that a precedent was set in A Few Good Men to not just prosecute Colonel Jessup, but also the Marines that carried out the orders. Anyone involved in any torture while representing the United States should, and must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Now, before you accuse me of being a bleeding-heart liberal who is naively in favor of weakening our nation’s defenses, let me add a footnote to all of this. I realize that the extraordinary times we are in (or more specifically, were in immediately after 9/11) called for some extreme measures. However, the fact that the past administration so arrogantly and publicly defends torture as a legitimate interrogation tactic has brought us to this point. To make matters worse, we are now learning that torture was used specifically to link Al Qaeda to Iraq to justify the war, creating a criminal conspiracy of historic proportions. If you’re going to rough up a few terrorists, no one would really mind. But they wrongfully imprisoned thousands of people, murdered hundreds while holding them in Guantanamo and other secret prisons, and encouraged other nations to do the same. A line must be drawn and an example must be made that America will no longer be the land of ignorance, arrogance, violence, and abuse. Otherwise, anyone trying to paint us as the bad guy has a pretty easy job.
And since you brought it up, let me quickly comment on Wanda Sykes (I never thought I’d write that sentence in this blog). How are her comments somehow more offensive (and getting more press) than the following:
- “We’re going to murder a million babies a year”
- “Obama is terrorist attack number 2; Obama is the follow-up to 9-11″
- “We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles … because his father was black”
- “Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream.”
- “The NAACP should have riot rehearsals”
- “He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He’s moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting.”
- “The most beautiful thing about a tree is what you do with it after you cut it down”
These are all actual quotes from Douche Limbaugh himself. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t find them particularly offensive (except for the one about trees), but they’re certainly more offensive than anything Wanda Sykes had to say. Unlike the millions of “ditto-heads” across the country, I understand that Limbaugh is nothing more than a shock jock, and take his comments for what they’re worth (which is nothing). So why can’t people treat Wanda Sykes, an actual comedian (not a political commentator), with the same view? If this isn’t proof that the so-called liberal media boogeyman we always hear about doesn’t really exist, I don’t know what is.
And for the record, I agree with Wanda – I hope Limbaugh’s kidneys fail from all that oxycontin, too. In the meantime, I support his right to repeatedly make ignorant and offensive comments on the radio, even if he and his overly sensitive conservative cohorts refuse that same right of anyone who disagrees with them.
KP Silverman
I’ve got an apology and a confession to make.
First the apology – I’ve been away from writing on this blog for so long because I had given up. Faced with the relentless shrieks from the ignorant and powerless right, I had given up any hope of making reasoned, logical arguments to counter their public displays of hypocrisy, stupidity, and treason. I was coming to grips with the fact that the “Yes-We-Can” President was succumbing to the morass that had bogged down Washington for so long, and that the opposition would continue to block and/or stallany meaningful change – either through gutless filibusters or media manipulation and mass mind control of the misguided and misinformed public. I had given up, and for that I am sorry.
I write to you today with a renewed sense of hope for our country. This change of heart was spurred on by none other than true American patriot, Arlen Specter. The wingnuts and blowhards cry that Specter is an opportunist that only switched parties because he would not have won re-election as a Republican, and for once I agree with them. What they fail to recognize is why. Specter would not have been re-elected by Republican voters because they have rejected open-mindedness, reason, cooperation, moderation, and even patriotism (by it’s true definition) in favor of extremism, special interests, fringe issues, and party loyalty above all else. Some noted Republican spokes-morons have actually said good riddance to Specter, and noted that they don’t need such moderates, and that the Republican party will be stronger when thinned out to the extreme right-wing fundamentalists. To this I say bravo – your reign of terror is over, and enjoy your place next to the Whigs on the list of dead political parties in the history books.
The fact is that Senator Specter would certainly not have won re-election in the modern incarnation of the Republican party because they have morphed into the party of nutjobs, racists, militia-men, and proudly ignorant hicks. To appeal to this dwindling base, a candidate must pander to the lowest common denominator. To agree with anything Obama and the Democratic Congress proposes, no matter how reasonable or obviously good for the country in a time of crisis, is the considered to be equivalent to betrayal of the party. Nothing is more important than party loyalty – not fixing the economy, not national security, and certainly not the well being of the American people.
To have a sitting Republican senator acknowledge the sorry state of his own party and switch sides is a seismic shift in American politics. With millions of voters registering as Democrat in the recent presidential election in a clear rejection of Bush, McCain, and especially Palin, the country has clearly demonstrated that they are ready for a party that wants to fix what is wrong with the country, and is tired of empty Republican threats and fear tactics.
Most importantly, Spector’s switch now gives the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority (assuming the senseless Coleman camp is eventually pushed aside to allow Franken to take his seat). And that means that the Republicans will truly be powerless to stop progress. They will be marginalized to the point that they will only be heard on Fox News. And only morons watch that.
In case you’re worried what will happen to the government with one party in control of everything, let me remind you of the Republican’s recent greatest hits:
- They are still fighting for recounts in Minnesota against Al Franken, even though every recount has been ruled in his favor. This from the same party that called Al Gore a sore loser.
- They continue to warn us of the dangers of a “socialist” government run healthcare program, even as Britain’s socialist healthcare system recently cured blindness (look it up, it’s true).
- They have conveniently forgotten their 8-year-long smear against the Democratic party as the “blame America first” party, and have taken to blaming America first at every possible opportunity to the point that they are blaming Obama for swine flu.
- Their governors have threatened to secede from the Union (so much for being patriotic, huh?), even while asking for federal aid for fighting the swine flue. (if only the swine flue actually killed the swine in this country…)
- They screamed and cried when Obama shook hands with Hugo Chavez, as if it somehow proved he was an evil socialist dictator himself. It’s called diplomacy, idiots. And if you’re going to throw stones, please look around your glass house – its walls are covered with framed photos of Nixon and Mao, Rumsfeld and Saddam, Bush and Noriega, Ford and Brezhnev, Reagan and Gorbachev, and George W giving a Saudi Prince a hand job.
- They continue to argue that torture is necessary and effective, despite the fact that all evidence points to the contrary, and that (minor detail) it is against our own Constitution and international law. But Jack Bauer makes it seem so damned exciting, doesn’t he?
- They held “tea parties” protesting government taxes and spending, as if Obama invented taxes, and the past 8 years of Republican rule didn’t take a federal surplus and run it to a record deficit, while destroying us economically, socially, militarily, and morally.
- They argued against the recent report that right-wing extremist groups are on the government intelligence’s watch list, siding with such noted right-wing groups as the KKK and neo-Nazi’s. Somehow I think if we were water-boarding a bunch of skinheads, Republicans would suddenly be anti-torture.
- They are already crying foul on Obama’s Supreme Court appointment that hasn’t happened yet. They’re already preparing their argument against Obama’s liberal, black, Hispanic, pro-abortion, Constitution-hating appointee. I suppose he should just pick Harriet Myers? (by the way, why is abortion the most important issue in choosing a Supreme Court Justice? That’s a whole nother column)
- Their stall tactics against everything Obama has resulted in the swine flue pandemic striking while the Republicans continued to stall the appointment of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Seriously – until this past Tuesday, the Center for Disease Control was being run by an interim acting Director because the Republicans were stalling Obama’s appointment of Kathleen Sebelius. So much for country first. (oh yeah – Republicans also managed to block $900 million of stimulus spending for “pandemic preparedness”)
- And finally, when you’ve turned frozen-faced Pelosi and Blubbering Barney Frank into the reasonable side of political discussion, you know your party is in dire straits.
Anyway, I opened by saying I owe you an apology and a confession. The apology is out of the way, so here comes the confession. Up until last year, I was a registered Republican. I was raised in a Republican household and staunchly believed in conservative principles. However, in recent years, the Republican party has moved from the conservative party to the party of excessive and reckless military spending, anti-abortion, religious fundamentalism, pro-big business, anti-elitist (or anti-intelligent), and anti-middle class. I am encouraged that this fringe party is being pushed aside while reasonable people try to pull us out of the mess they created. I do not have blind faith in Obama or the Democrats by any means (I’ll save my criticism of the Democrats for my next column), but I am optimistic that reasonable people are now in charge. I am also optimistic that the Democrats will continue to thrive as the party of moderates, and a true progressive party will emerge. And if the Republicans don’t go away completely, let them be reduced to the fine print on the bottom of the ballot next to Libertarian Party, the Prohibition Party, and the Constitution Party (all actual parties on the 2008 presidential ballot).
As usual, thanks for tuning in. I’m going to be trying a new format, with more frequent, shorter posts to keep up with current topics and point out the hypocrisies of our idiotic elected officials and the failure of the lame-stream media to keep Americans informed.
Until next time, keep your head up – the storm clouds are clearing and America’s back on the rise.
KP Silverman
As I do my best to tune out another wave of phony outrage emanating from Washington (come on – I’m supposed to believe that no one thought that AIG might keep some of that money for themselves?), two of America’s favorite sporting events are fast approaching. No, I’m not referring to the US Pole Dancing Championship and the World Figure Skating Championships (although those are two of my favorites). I’m talking about March Madness and MLB Opening Day. People keep asking me – “KP, who are your picks for the Final Four?” or “KP, who should I draft in my fantasy baseball league?” or “KP, can you please put your shirt back on?” (Sorry, it’s really hot in my office). So without further ado, the dude abides:
KP’s Illustrious Predictions and Pointers (In No Particular Order) for 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament, The 2009 Major League Baseball Season And Life In General That You May or May Not Want to Follow Because, Hey, It’s Your Life, I’m Not Gonna Tell You How To Live It:
- Pick Gonzaga to make it to the Final Four. Trust me on this. For years, they were everyone’s favorite sleeper, to the point that they started getting overrated and then had a few years that they were a disappointment. Now everyone’s sleeping on them again. Even me – I have Western Kentucky beating them in the second round, which makes no sense.
- Chattanooga will beat UConn in the first round. Mark it down. (Editor’s Note: I wrote this before the game)
- The whole “never trust a guy with two first names” thing is overrated. I’ve met plenty of guys with two first names that seem ok to me. This should be updated to “never trust a guy who smiles all the time, or has a beard.” In fact, if you meet someone who smiles all the time AND has a beard, you should just punch him in the face preemptively.
- Does Patrick Roy count as a guy with two first names, or does he get pass due to pronunciation?
- Before the NCAA tournament even starts, the entire country will be tired of hearing the name Chief Kickingstallionsims. Enough already.
- Can we stop with the “who’s this year’s Team X”? All football season, I kept hearing “so and so is this year’s New York Giants”, and now in baseball it’s “so and so is this year’s Tampa Bay Rays.” It’s a completely ridiculous concept. The entire allure of sports is that it’s unpredictable and each season is different than the last. Stop trying to treat each season as if we’re casting for a movie.
- The Cincinnati Reds will be this year’s Tampa Bay Rays.
- The amount of tax dollars used for the new Yankee Stadium, the Mets’ Citi Field, and the AIG executive bonuses will be inversely proportional to the public’s outrage at the shockingly wasteful use of said tax dollars.
- Despite the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars of the publics’ tax dollars continue to be used for building new ballparks, surprisingly few people will accuse teams of being evil bastions of socialism.
- If the government taxes AIG’s bonuses by 90%, AIG will just increase their bonuses by 90%. This last part will go unreported.
- Within the next two years, Robinson Cano will be an MVP candidate or out of the league. There will be no middle ground.
- Alex Rodriguez will come back from his league imposed suspension with a vengeance. With the help of some new, undetectable designer steroids, A-Rod will challenge Miguel Cabrera for the triple crown, but fall slightly short in homeruns and RBI’s due to his time off. A-Rod will congratulate Cabrera by trying to kiss him on the mouth.
- I’m going to go out on a limb, and predict that Alex Rodriguez will be involved in at least one media frenzy / scandal this season.
- Lastings Milledge will emerge as an all-star outfielder for the Nationals, and Mets fans everywhere will relive the whole Scott Kazmir fiasco (now that you mentioned it, where’s Victor Zambrano playing these days?)
- Cody Ransom will lose his job as A-Rod’s fill-in at third base, but not because of his bat. A dozen errors in the first week will have him sent back to the minors, and to replace him the Yankees will call Charlie Hayes out of retirement.
- This year’s class is so weak that the NBA will skip this year’s draft. All graduating seniors will play at least one year in Europe.
- Josh Hamilton will fall of the wagon and be out of the league before the season is over.
- Darryl Strawberry’s book will reveal that Keith Hernandez and Howard Johnson were gay lovers. And Jesse Orosco was a Colombian drug lord.
- Lenny Dyskstra will be arrested after a hard-hitting interview on the Daily Show in which Jon Stewart gets him to admit to a Madoff scheme.
- To pay off his debt to all his defrauded investors, Bernie Madoff will copyright the use of his name for the term “Madoff scheme”. Carlos Ponzi will be furious.
- Duke will be disqualified from participating in the NCAA tournament when Congress demands he give back his paycheck from his General Motors endorsement deal
- You know how people say “it’s better to be lucky than good.” It’s not true, and those people are idiots. Being good gives you a better chance at consistent success. Being lucky is really just a crapshoot.
- Bud Selig will be killed under suspicious circumstances during the 2009 season, and will be replaced by Rudy Giuliani. Rudy Giuliani will be forced to step down when it is revealed that he bought steroids for his son. And he married his cousin. And he dresses in drag. And he killed Bud Selig. Giuliani will be replaced by Fidel Castro.
- The Chattanooga Mocs will ride the momentum from their first round upset of UConn all the way to the NCAA championship. (Editor’s Note: seriously, it seemed like a lock at the time)
That’s all for now folks. Until next time, stay frosty.
KPS
Anyone who has been reading this blog has probably grown tired of my constant political commentary, and especially tired of having to question their beliefs as I continue to open the eyes of the ignorant and unenlightened masses. However, as the weather gets warmer and the days grow longer, my spirits have lifted and my thoughts have lightened up. My thoughts have turned to baseball. More specifically, Yankee baseball.
In these times of economic upheaval, military conflict around the globe, and an uncertain futures for all of us, it is comforting to know that baseball season is on its way to provide a brief respite from our constant worry and arguing. Conversation amongst friends and coworkers has shifted from McCain-or-Obama to Yankees-or-Mets. Discussions of batting lineups, pitching rotations, and who made the best offseason acquisitions fill the space that used to be occupied by contentious debates of free market capitalism versus government regulated socialism. Baseball, more than any other sport, brings people together (except for Red Sox fans – they’re assholes, and no one likes them). Nothing says “spring” more than freshly cut grass and the crack of the bat. I’m getting hungry for hot dogs just thinking about it.
Unfortunately, instead of light hearted season previews, the self-proclaimed “world wide leader in sports” brings us story after story of righteous indignation. Whether it’s the latest excessive touchdown dance, another athlete releasing a rap song, or the next chapter in the steroid witch hunt, the self-important sports commentators can be seen at any given moment screaming about the ruination of their sacred games on ESPN.
This brings me to Alex Rodriguez. Thanks to the over-the-top, around-the-clock coverage of his recent steroid scandal, I find myself in the unusual position of defending an admitted steroid user, cheater, and all around d-bag. (In interest of full disclosure, this author has been a die hard Yankee fan since before the days of Mel Hall and Alvaro Espinoza). While it is clear that he broke the rules (and some laws, I might add), can’t we all put it into a little perspective? Not only was ESPN reporting on it non-stop, but it spilled over into actual news networks. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this, given the fact that the US Senate has actually taken time out of their schedule to hold hearings on steroids in baseball. I guess they ran out of other problems to work out.
To be clear, I do not condone A-Rod using steroids (nor do I naively believe that a $25 million per year athlete was popping unknown pills that were bought off the street in the Dominican Republic, but that’s another story). However, I find the reaction of the public and the sporting news media to be extremely excessive, and rather hypocritical. Diehard fans and sports reporters who devote their lives to following a game would breathlessly tell you that “baseball is my life.” It is this very attitude that led A-Rod and others to use steroids. Baseball is supposed to be the national pastime, but somewhere along the way it became more than that. It is now a multi-billion dollar corporation, and a way of life and livelihood for countless grown men that refuse to let go of a child’s game. It is this very obsession that leads men to take life-threatening drugs in hopes of boosting their performance, and their paycheck. The same obsession that allowed commissioner Selig, a league of greedy owners, and a country of disingenuous sports writers to ignore the evidence right in front of their eyes as Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa “saved” baseball with their battle of monstrous homeruns. (And the same obsession that has me running for my XXXL CC Sabathia jersey this weekend.) To look back and pretend that no one thought it was odd that Barry Bonds’ head doubled in size, Mark McGuire’s arms grew bigger than Popeye’s, and Brady Anderson hit 50 homeruns is absurd. Not only did owners and league officials know about it, but it’s likely that they encouraged the use of performance enhancing drugs in order to help promote their game, boost attendance, and increase ratings. Hey, more homers equaled more dollars for everyone. And if the players were willing to put their health and very lives on the line in pursuit of statistics and a place in history, who was going to stop them?
To look back and selectively single out and accuse one player or another is just for show. Now that the oblivious American public has caught on to the rampant steroid use, sacrifices must be made. So Barry Bonds is fed to the lions. No one likes him anyway. A troupe of players is paraded before Congress, so a bunch of rich politicians can self-righteously wag their fingers at them on TV and feel good about themselves. The league institutes a meek testing policy to act like they have cleaned up the sport, as if these millionaires can’t find designer steroids that aren’t detected by simple urine analysis. And now Alex Rodriguez is suspended for something that happened over 6 years ago (what – you think he’s really injured? Right… and Michael Jordan really wanted to play baseball and wasn’t suspended for gambling. Check back with me when A-Rod makes his debut in the 41st game of the season).
The other cry from the bloated commentators is that these cheating players have made a mockery of the record books. Barry Bonds’ single season and career home run records are called into question. McGuire is made an example and kept out of the Hall of Fame. All the while, no one mentions that comparing statistics from one era to another is pointless. The increased number of teams has diluted the talent pool. Smaller parks have increased home runs. Juiced balls. Negro Leagues. “Greenies”, amphetamines. Statistics through the years have been influenced by a plethora of factors. Increased steroid use is only one of these factors. And besides, weren’t the pitchers juicing as well?
The bottom line is that throughout American history, crooks and cheats have held a special place in Americans hearts. From Wild West outlaws to Bonnie and Clyde, they have held an almost mythical place in American lore. George Brett gets caught with pine tar, and it turns into stuff of legend. Gaylord Perry scuffs up the ball and it one of baseball’s charming tales. Daryl Strawberry snorts coke and bangs women in the clubhouse during an actual game, and it’s a funny anectdote. Players sneak through heating vents to retrieve corked bats from getting to league officials, and we all laugh. Why all the fake outrage over steroids? If we were counting on Alex Rodriguez to be a role model to America’s children, we were in trouble long before he admitted to steroid use. Somehow adultery, domestic abuse, drunk driving, or much worse crimes get committed by today’s athletes without nearly the same outrage. Ty Cobb is in the Hall of Fame, and he was rumored to have killed a man, and was, without a doubt, a despicable racist. But he always hustled. And in reality, that’s the only thing that will get a stronger reaction from the talking heads on ESPN up on their high horses. Fail to run out a ground ball, and they’ll be calling for your head. Break laws and abuse drugs, and all is forgiven as long as you meet the demands of the bloodthirsty fans and the Sunday morning Sports Reporters. Jose Reyes was almost run out of New York as a 20-something MVP candidate because he didn’t run hard enough on a couple ground balls. Doc Gooden was carried off the field at Yankee Stadium after following 18 drug arrests with a perfect game.
So let me ask you this – if everyone is doing steroids in baseball in order to have a competitive edge, and it’s an athlete’s duty to his team and his fans to do everything he can to help his team win, shouldn’t we be furious if we find out that Derek Jeter is NOT on steroids. (He could be trying harder).
And is this where we are at as a country?
(P.S. – The second a report comes out that links Cal Ripken to steroids, consider this column null and void. I can’t wait for the day that his career is tainted and his phony Ironman record is returned to its rightful owner.)
KP Silverman
Some things never change. As the serious members of our nation’s government, led by a President who actually leads (what a nice change of pace), try to fix the mess that we find ourselves in, the opposition continues to prove themselves to be nothing more than political clowns and empty suits, concerned with nothing other than political posturing and pandering to their base in preparation for elections in 2010 and 2012. Unfortunately for them, their base is quickly dwindling as their opponents race to get relief to the unemployed, uninsured, and homeless. However, some folks just don’t have it in them to give up on their lifelong rally cries of “free trade”, “anti-regulation”, “tax cuts for the rich”, and “I must be against everything Democrats say or do.” I imagine it’s like admitting that Santa Claus isn’t real. Instead, they prefer to continue to change the conversation or, at the very least, shovel a steaming pile of bullshit on top of it.
Case in point – instead of doing something productive as the former chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Richard Shelby (Idiot, Alabama) stepped to the front of the line of Obama denialists by publicly questioning whether our president is a US citizen. That old gag? I thought this was settled last year when it was repeatedly dismissed as “frivolous and not worthy of discussion” by the Supreme Court. It’s worth noting that the brains behind this movement is Philip Berg, noted crackpot that tried to charge Bush and other government officials with conspiring to orchestrate the 9/11 attacks, and has been charged numerous times for legal malpractice and ethics violations. Sounds like Senator Shelby has plenty of company in the fantasy land he’s living in. Scary to think that he’s actually an elected official.
Meanwhile, a number of Republican governors have garnered national attention for speaking out against the stimulus package. While responsible governors such as Charlie Crist (Florida) have eagerly accepted the stimulus money that their states’ citizens so desperately need, others have gone as far as claiming that they will outright reject any money allocated to their state in the stimulus bill. Booby Jindal (Louisiana), for one, has made a very public spectacle of “rejecting” the money. With the help of a sleep-walking news media, he made his round of guest appearances on TV, talking trash against everything Obama, and then secretly accepted $3.7 billion of the $3.8 billion allocated to his state. Turns out that it wasn’t such bad money after all, I guess. Refusing the money while his constituents lose their jobs, lose their homes, and their towns go bankrupt, would have been wildly irresponsible, and possibly an impeachable offense. Pretending to refuse the money so he could position himself for a 2012 presidential campaign is morally reprehensible. Fortunately for all of us, his childish speech on national television last night should put an end to his national career before it even gets started.
However, my favorite story of the empty outrage over the stimulus has to be a column I read by noted ignoramus Michelle Malkin. She goes in great detail about the “growing movement” against the “porkulus.” Aside from the fact that she goes on and on for an entire article without ever explaining what pork she’s actually talking about, I get particular amusement out of her use of the term “porkulus”. I can just picture her typing it over and over, thinking what a clever play on words it is. Much like everything else she writes, she clearly did not do her research. If she did, she’d find that her hilarious term isn’t exactly what she thinks it is. Assuming that the term “pork” is used to mean “unnecessary spending”, and given the fact that the Latin suffix “-ulus” literally means “small” or “little”, the term “porkulus” would roughly translate to “little unnecessary spending”. It’s sweet justice to picture the ignorant morons scrawling PORKULUS on their picket signs. That is if they can spell it.
But I digress. I am writing today not to criticize the defenseless, powerless, and ignorant opposition, or to congratulate Obama on his effective and inspiring speech last night (although I have to say it was pretty fantastic. He effectively outlined the problem, as well as his proposed solution, while also countering the anticipated arguments from the Republicans, basically cutting poor Bobby Jindal’s balls off before he even got a chance to open his mouth. I think the only person who enjoyed the speech more than I did would have to be Nancy Pelosi – she didn’t stop giving him hump-eye the entire hour. In any case, it was nice just to finally have a President who didn’t seem lost and confused). Today, I am writing to give my proposal for a stimulus package, including some criticism of the bill that was recently signed into law. Unfortunately, I will not be running for President of our fine country for another seven years, so I cannot put any of these ideas into action right away. In the meantime, I can only hope that Barry O is reading.
Let me start off with how I’m funding this stimulus package. First off, I end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let all the nut-jobs kill each other and sort it out. We don’t need them or their oil. Or at least we won’t after my stimulus gets passed.
So that gives us $200 billion per year per war, which comes out to $2 trillion dollars over the next five years. That should be enough to cover the programs I’m about to propose.
Oh, by the way, all of these numbers have been thoroughly researched, analyzed, calculated, and verified by experts in each field. *
Proposal # 1: Convert all US Postal Service vehicles to electric (if money is left over, convert as many government vehicles as possible)
Cost: $123 billion
Benefit: Immeasurable. In place of an auto industry bailout, I propose that we award the Big 3 automakers contracts to manufacture a fleet of electric postal trucks. This has several long lasting effects. First, the US government gets a fleet of vehicles that use zero gas and have zero emissions. Second, it gives the US auto industry work for the short term, while also preparing them to better compete against foreign automakers in the future. And don’t tell me that electric vehicles are unrealistic – this one can drive for 200 miles on a 10 minute charge (and it has 1,000 horsepower!). Or, if you prefer hydrogen fuel cells, we could do that instead and also add hydrogen fueling stations at all post offices, giving us a country wide infrastructure for alternative fuel.
Proposal # 2: Massive public works / infrastructure projects, WPA style
Cost: $186 billion
Benefit: Immeasurable. This would create countless jobs, as we rebuild our roads, bridges, damns, levies, etc. It is not debatable that this work is needed – for decades the Army Corps of Engineers has reported on needed repairs to our nation’s infrastructure, only to be underfunded with disastrous results. We can also bring our nation’s mass transit system into the 21st century, helping our workforce’s productivity match those of other nations. I recently heard a story from someone who had travelled to Tokyo, and noted that traveling from such a state-of-the-art city back to the US is like traveling back in time.
Anyone who is quick to argue against government funding of such projects and rail against the WPA, please let me know what you think of LaGuardia Airport or the Golden Gate Bridge. Or how about the Riverwalk in San Antonio – not only is it beautiful and it attracts countless tourists to the city every year, but it has created hundreds of flourishing small businesses in the restaurants and bars that line the river. It’s important to remember than one man’s “pork” is another man’s wise investment in the local infrastructure that stimulates surrounding businesses. Sounded catchier before I typed it…
Proposal # 2A: The new Manhattan Project
Cost: $281 billion
Benefit: Furthermore, we should be investing in research and development projects for alternative energy, with a Manhattan Project type of urgency. FutureGen is a start, but politics has gotten in the way of progress. As we continue to cling to coal and oil, other nations are speeding past us on the road to innovation. See Australia’s solar tower project for example. For about $200 million, this experimental plant will produce electricity to power 100,000 homes. Why are we letting Australians lead the charge on this? We can do better. America is supposed to be the world leaders in innovation – and if we come up with the answer to alternative energy, not only will we manage to become energy independent of all those crazies in the Middle East, but we’ll be able to name our price on building these plants around the globe. At the very least, we should be building nuclear plants like it’s going out of style.
Proposal # 3: Bailout for the print news media and/or create a publicly funded news network a la BBC
Cost: $23 billion
Benefit: A more informed nation. The rise of the internet has contributed to the slow death of print media. The result is that our information increasingly comes from unpaid (and amateur) online “journalists” in the form of bloggers (note – I exclude myself from this critique, because I’m so much better than all the others). With this change in the field of journalism, we are witnessing the death of investigative journalism. Newspapers can no longer afford to have their reporters spend weeks or months chasing a story, digging for facts, searching for truth, when they have to compete with free internet content and the 24 hour cable news networks. This paradigm shift created the perfect storm of ignorance that gave us eight years of the Bush administration, where the news media failed to hold our public officials accountable as countless crimes were committed. We cannot afford to let tabloid news networks and uninformed bloggers be our sole source of information, or we are at risk of turning into a nation of uninformed sheep (more so than we are already).
My solution – a publicly funded news network similar to BBC. Currently, our most reliable sources of news are NPR and BBC (which isn’t even based in this country). Why? Because they are not beholden to any corporate investors, and are free to report the news as they see it. This would hopefully result in a rebirth of journalism, with a television network, print publications, and online publication to be staffed with journalists who seek to find and spread the truth to the American people. And that would be priceless.
Proposal # 4: Refinance homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages and whatnot
Cost: $212 billion
Benefit: If you haven’t noticed, the unprecedented foreclosure rate is leaving some American cities in third-world-like conditions. In some towns, vegetation and wild animals are taking over the abandoned buildings, leading to scenes that appear to have sprung from I Am Legend, minus the cool zombies and Will Smith. We need to put a stop to the downward spiral of the housing market, which is dragging the entire economy down with it. And before you start screaming about bailing out idiots who bought homes they couldn’t afford, and how unfair it is, let me explain. And let me also say that I believe Obama completely agrees and this will be put into law shortly:
I propose to have homeowner’s who risk foreclosure apply for federal refinancing of their mortgages. The federal government would purchase their loan, and offer a new mortgage with a fixed interest rate of say 2%. If the homeowner still cannot make payments, then they can’t afford the home in the first place, and will get no help from me. However, for other homeowners who were duped into signing on for mortgages with adjustable rates and balloon payments, this proposition is a win-win for all parties involved. The homeowner gets to keep their home at a more reasonable monthly rate. The lender gets a 2% return on their loan, which is much better than the -100% they would get if the borrower had to foreclose and no payments were being made at all. And the nation sees the foreclosure rate drop drastically, resulting in a stabilization of the housing market, which is good for everybody.
The alternative is to just buy the bad loans from the lenders, let the homeowners lose their homes, and have no guarantee that the financial companies will start handing out credit any more freely. You might as well just burn the money. Or just cut out the middle man and buy a fleet of private jets for the CEO’s of all these companies. Either way, it’s a completely idiotic idea. So there.
Proposal # 5: Funding for vocational schools, trade schools, and community colleges
Cost: $12 billion
Benefit: I think one of the problems this country is facing is the idea that we’re all better off if everyone goes to a four year college. College is definitely the best path for some folks, but not for all. A blind race to get a college degree often leads to a mountain of student loan debt and a degree in sociology with no jobs to be found. Think how much better equipped that student would be to get a job in today’s economic climate if he had instead attended a trade school and learned to weld steel, or fix cars, or become an electrician, or operate a crane. While we have an overabundance of lawyers, there is a constant demand for people who can actually build or fix things. So not only would someone with such training be able to get a job, but they’d also have at least four additional years of earnings, and no student loan debt. Sure, there are certain careers that a college degree is a prerequisite, but there are countless fields to make a good honest career in that can be learned in trade schools or community colleges.
This is also a good opportunity to point out how much I liked Barack’s challenge to America to finish high school. He proclaimed that not only is it a duty to yourself, but it is a duty to your country to, at a minimum, get a high school diploma. As our work force is consistently surpassed by those in Asia and Europe, this is of utmost importance as we reshape our economy to better compete in the global marketplace.
Proposal # 6: Bailout for troubled states
Cost: $163 billion
Benefit: We cannot let states or towns go bankrupt and left without basic services like police or fire departments. However, we also can’t simply hand out money with no stipulations. Any state or local government that requests government funding must submit their books for review. Any unnecessary expenditures must be reduced or cut before any federal dollars are seen. For example, is it fair to hand out money to a state that is paying their state university’s football coach $50 million dollars? In fact, maybe state schools should cut their athletic programs entirely. I’m just throwing that out there.
And before you argue against this one, consider the alternative. If state or local governments need more money they have two options – get it from the federal government or raise your taxes. Which one do you choose?
Proposal # 7: Create a federal bank
Cost: $1 trillion
Benefit: So everyone is freaking out that the government might start to “nationalize” banks? Guess what – they already are. Every time the FDIC steps in to insure accounts at small, local banks that go belly up, that’s nationalization. Furthermore, all that money we gave to Wall Street – that’s nationalization too. The worst part is that we only nationalized their debt. The profits are theirs to keep. Explain to me how that makes sense. If we’re buying their debt with taxpayer money, shouldn’t we be sharing in the profits as well?
Anyway, instead of getting into the mess of nationalizing huge banks like Citigroup, how about we create a Federal US Bank? I’m pretty sure this was suggested over 200 years ago by Alexander Hamilton, but I don’t recall what came of it. I’ll have to look it up. Anyway, I propose that instead of the government buying up banks run by the greedy idiots and criminals who got us into this mess, we just create a new federal bank that would offer mortgages, small business loans, auto loans, etc. to the American citizens. I do not see the drawbacks to this, and can’t figure out why I haven’t heard this mentioned at all. And trust me – I am an economic expert with a master’s degree from Yale in Economic Expertise.
Proposal # 8: Open a torture amusement park at Guantanamo
Cost: $28 million
Benefit: This would be a cash cow. I can picture it now – re-open Guantanamo and ship Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld down there. Put them in some sort of torture exhibit and charge admission to have people fly down their and watch them get treated like the war criminals they are. For an extra couple of bucks, you could get the Deluxe Package and get to hook them up to a car battery. Or pose for a picture with them as they’re stacked in an Abu Graib-style human pyramid. The possibilities are endless.
So there you have it. I’ve just solved all of the countries problems in about 3,000 words. You can thank me later. Unfortunately for my loyal opposition, the only argument left is the tired old mantra – “Government is incompetent and screws everything up. You can’t let them get involved in all this. People need to work things out themselves in the free market.” My response – if you think the government is incapable of helping our citizens in a time of historic economic crisis, I suggest you get out of the way and let us competent folks take care of this one.
(PS – If you forward this to 10 of your friends, you will have good luck for a year)
Regards,
KP Silverman
* Actually, they’re completely made up. What did you expect? I actually have a day job, unlike the supposed “political analysts” you see on TV. I figure these numbers are close enough.
There’s been a lot of talk over the airwaves of the economic stimulus bill that was being debated in the House and Senate, and is now being signed by President Obama today. Unfortunately, virtually none of this talk was of any meaningful use to the American people. When we should have been hearing from a panel of economic experts to explain what exactly was in the proposed stimulus package and how it will impact the economy, and, ultimately, the lives of the average American, once again the news media failed the American public. Instead of informing the masses of the policies of what was being debated in Washington, the news story became the politicians themselves. If you watched the news, it was nothing more than Republicans screaming that the Democrats were proposing wasteful government spending, and the Democrats were screaming that the Republicans just wanted more tax breaks for the rich. And since the Republicans are famously better loud-mouthed screamers (led by professional blowhards such as Limbaugh, Hannity, et al, and their blindly faithful followers), they were able to seize control of the headlines and this bill became known as a “spending” bill. Even as Obama so adeptly pointed out that an economic stimulus has to inherently have spending in it, it was too late. The damage was done, and this bill has been deemed a failure by the ignorant masses before it has even been given a chance to work. Once again, in a microcosm of the current state of American politics, the loud and ignorant win the debate with pure certainty and volume over their more uncertain, educated, pensive, nuanced, see-the-world-in-shades-of-grey counterparts. I believe it was said best by Bertrand Russell, who apparently made a career out of creating quotations to be used later by hack writers like myself – “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
As the cable networks paraded their “political analyst” talking heads across our TV screens to repeat the same old tired clichés and empty buzzwords, several thoughts crossed my mind:
- Obama’s first mistake was allowing this stimulus package to be handled by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum – Pelosi and Reid. They are so infected with the Washington disease of political ploys and filled with bitterness over the past eight years of Bush, that anything they touch is met with partisan fervor and revulsion. Obama sat back in silence for quite some time before getting fed up with the nonsensical bickering and setting the record straight with his first prime-time address to the nation. At one point, the leading story on the stimulus package was that it included funding for sex ed and birth control. I cannot confirm or deny this, but the fact that this was the leading story is proof positive that Obama had lost control of the political narrative, which is at least half the battle.
- Did these cable network political analysts always have full time gigs? Dozens of them seemed to pop out of the woodwork during last year’s presidential campaign, but they didn’t leave my TV screen when the election was over. What did these people do for work before political news became tabloid TV? Whatever the outcome of the stimulus is, at least these folks seem to have steady work. And considering how dead wrong or pointless they continue to be, I’d say they have pretty darn good job security. Bill Bennett, for example, has been repeatedly disgraced in public – gambling away thousands while being a loudmouth “moral” conservative, smoking cigarettes while acting as the “czar” of the Office of National Drug Control, and suggesting that aborting all black babies would be an effective method of crime control – yet still can be found espousing his political wisdom regularly on CNN.
- Do the Republicans think that if they ignore the November election, we’ll forget about it? McCain ran on tax cuts for the wealthy and lost, yet somehow they’re still arguing for it, and whining when they don’t get their way like spoiled children. Not only did their failed policies get us into this mess, but Democrats now have a majority everywhere because people finally started to wise up to how bad the Republicans were screwing things up. Why are we still paying attention to them? If someone set your house on fire, and then tried to convince you that the best solution was to pour more gasoline on it, would you sit there and listen, or would you shove him out of the way and grab the hose?
<!–[if !supportLists]–>- <!–[endif]–>For the past eight years, we’ve been running up a record deficit without creating any new jobs for Americans (unless you count the military, I suppose), yet suddenly Republicans are shrieking about fiscal responsibility and bipartisanship. Forgive me if I’m a bit skeptical of their sincerity. One of my favorite quotes of Republican idiocy was from Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas – “Insurgency, we understand a little bit more because of the Taliban…And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with.” Interesting sentence structure, Pete, but allow me to paraphrase what I believe you’re trying to say – the Republicans are similar to Islamic fundamentalists in their blind and irrational support of their views, and will stop at nothing to get their way, no matter the price to their people. They are political jihadists.
- The most ironic part is that by all accounts I’ve read this stimulus package contains what may be the largest tax cut in American history – about $282 billion over two years. Too bad you won’t hear about this over the screams of the ignorant.
Regardless of how much pork is in the bill (and whether it’s actually even “pork”, or just stimulus projects labeled as such by the opposition), or how much the Republicans have bastardized it with their irrational demands, I hope we can all agree that it is a positive thing that something, anything, is happening. Much of the current economic crisis is really based on people’s perceptions – a crisis of confidence which leads to everyone being scared to spend money, and stops the wheels of commerce from moving. While everyone held onto their wallets to wait and see what Obama had up his sleeve, these wheels ground to a complete halt, spiraling the economy downward. The perception that help is on the way, whether it is actually effective or not, should at least be a step in the right direction.
I’m trying to keep my posts shorter these days, so I’ll cut off this week’s ramblings here. The final point I would like to make is to preemptively counter the argument that I expect to hear from my irrational right wing adversaries – that our government is set up with a system of checks and balances and the Republicans in Congress are doing their duty to prevent the Democrats from passing whatever bill they want, unchecked. The problem with this argument is that it assumes that the Republicans are operating with the best interests of the American people in mind. By now it should be apparent to everyone that this is clearly not the case. I’m not arguing that the Democrats are all saints or geniuses, but listening to the Republicans at this point is like believing that smoking cigarettes help cure a sore throat. Or that mankind has not contributed to global climate change. Or that we are not descended from monkeys. The evidence is a bit overwhelming to ignore.
I’ll be following up with a post later this week unveiling my own stimulus proposal. Hopefully the country will still be intact when I run for office in 2016 to put some of my ideas to good use.
KP Silverman
I’ll be the first to admit that I often come off as someone who thinks he has the answers to everything. This may be especially true of my last, long-winded blog (although I still stand by it as one of the most brilliant political columns of our time). This week, I will take a break from providing the answers, and instead just pose some questions to ponder. In case you’d like to take the opportunity to provide your opinion on the answers, I’ve even numbered them for you.
I’m just saying…
1. Doesn’t John Roberts’ flub of the presidential oath (see video) say something about his (limited) knowledge of and commitment to the Constitution?
2. If abortions are made illegal, what should be the punishment for women who illegally get them? (I readily admit this is not my idea – see for yourself: video here)
3. You think Rush Limbaugh still considers it un-patriotic to criticize our President during a time of war? (appalling, yet unintentionally hilarious video here)
4. You know how Republicans are always talking about “small government” and that government shouldn’t interfere in people’s lives? How do you think the citizens of New Orleans feel about Republican-style small government?
5. So let me get this straight – government spending is fine if it’s to bomb and rebuild a foreign country, but not if it’s going to the American people? (see article)
6. After reacting to Obama’s suggestions of voluntary community service with cries of “communist work camps” (typical right-wing fundamentalist blog here), I wonder what certain right-wing fundamentalists have to say about Israel’s policy of mandatory military service for all citizens (it’s true – look it up)?
7. Speaking of which, how many Americans do you think would remain so ignorant (evidence here) of current world events if we had a similar military requirement in this country?
8. If the dictionary definition of “conservatism” is “the disposition to preserve or restore what is established and traditional and to limit change” (definition here), and it is a commonly accepted fact in business that the ability to adapt to change (not resist it) is the key to success (even Jack Welch agrees), and even the Republican party recognizes this (GOP 2008 Platform – makes for hilarious reading), how is conservatism still considered a legitimate political movement in America?
9. If your candidates for president freely admit that they do not believe in evolution (video), your party actively suppresses advances in science (there’s a entire books about it), and nominates Sarah Palin for VP (this pic is 100% real), should you continue to be considered a legitimate political party in modern day America?
10. Confucius said that “only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” Which do you think Dick Cheney is?
That’s all I’ve got for now. The plan is to make this “I’m Just Saying…” a recurring segment, and keep the five page manifestos to a minimum. It is better for initiating debate, and it’s just a heck of a lot easier for me to keep up with. Well, that’s it for now – I gotta go take the online Jeopardy test.
Still Fighting,
KP Silverman
Sorry for the long absence, but I was advised by my legal counsel to lay low while Obama’s secret socialist Gestapo performed an investigation to locate and apprehend the various right-wing fanatics that have been leaving anti-Obama comments on this site. Turns out they were all logging on from the same IP address, which was tracked to a neo-con safehouse in South Jersey.
With this ugly business finally behind us, I can safely return to commenting on the current state of our fine country. I have seen a lot of columns lately reflecting on George W’s presidency. As you might have guessed, I am outraged that the news media continues to pretend that it’s debatable whether or not he was a good president. The phrase you often hear is that “history will judge him”. This is patently absurd and an insult to our entire country’s intelligence. However, while I would argue (successfully) that George W was the worst president in our nation’s history and much has been written about his disastrous reign of terror, it is my view that he and his cronies simply accelerated a process that had begun long before. This process is nothing less than the unraveling of the American democracy and theft of the American dream. This is a job that was far too big for one man, or even one administration to accomplish on their own. We all have America’s blood on our hands.
While I admit to being a bit extreme and sensationalist to prove a point, I believe that over the past several decades, and increasingly so in the past eight years, we have been complicit in the dumbing-down of the American people. Thanks to the cooperation of the embarrassingly irresponsible news media, the American people continue to be oblivious to the theft of their own country by the ruling class. The Rod Blagojevich scandal makes headlines for weeks, while the Bush administration’s crimes go unreported or glossed over. The nation is collectively outraged over Michael Vick’s inhumane treatment of his dogs, while the Bush administration’s inhumane treatment of actual humans is overlooked or justified by the “war on terror.” We all gasp over Britney Spears’ erratic behavior as she shaves her head, but ignore the fact that we had a semi-retarded, alcoholic, bible-thumping chimpanzee in the White House that started two wars for no clear reason and bankrupt the entire nation. While the media tramples over each other to get the next “Blago” story (or Vick, or OJ, or Britney) another one of our Constitutional rights is taken away, another no-bid contract is awarded to Halliburton, and another “suspected terrorist” is detained without charges. More recently, the news networks glossed over the Israeli-Palestinian violence to report on Obama’s daughters heading out for their first day of school, including a detailed report on their school cafeteria’s lunch menu. We have turned into a soap opera nation.
It wasn’t always this way. Our nation was founded on the principle that a well informed populace is vital to a successful democracy. Citizens were actively involved in government and civics was part of our youths’ education. Our founding fathers often spoke of the importance of an educated and politically active public. Thomas Jefferson said that we must “educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” I wonder what he would say when he saw the nation’s youth raised on “My Super Sweet Sixteen” and “Cribs”, while they are unable to locate Iraq on a map and continue to think that Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were best buddies.
Furthermore, while the Bush administration would have you believe that being patriotic means to slap a made-in-China Support Our Troops sticker on the back of your SUV, there is nothing more patriotic than criticizing our government and striving for a better America. Both our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly have been restricted immensely in recent years, as (in a twisted Catch-22 that Yossarian would find delightfully absurd) demonstrations now require permits from the very government you’re seeking to protest. What people tend to forget is that our nation was founded by revolutionaries, and they actually wrote political activism into the Declaration of Independence. I was recently reading a book that quoted an entire paragraph of this fine document. I was astounded, and a little disappointed in myself to find out that only the first sentence seemed familiar. Of course, we all know the part about “all men are created equal” and have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but read on:
“… That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness… when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
So not only is it not anti-American to criticize the government (sorry Dubya), but it is actually the most American thing you could possibly do. In fact, Bush and Cheney should be thankful that there hasn’t been a violent revolution. Actually, that may be their biggest accomplishment – they were able to systematically destroy the country without causing an insurrection. I suppose too many people were busy watching American Idol.
While on the subject of having our Constitutional freedoms taken from us, it’s worth noting that the only one you ever hear people worrying about is the 2nd Amendment. Mention gun control, and suddenly everyone’s a Constitutional scholar. Mention habeas corpus, and it doesn’t get quite the same reaction. For some reason that I can’t figure out, Dubya and Friends were able to violate most of the Bill of Rights, and no one seemed to care other than the stray political columnist who was dismissed as a crazy liberal. This led to the surreal scene last week, where during the incoming Attorney General’s confirmation hearing, his statement that he is against torture actually drew applause. Really? Is that how low we’ve gotten? When a US Attorney General is “bold” enough to speak out against torturing prisoners it’s a cause for celebration? That’s like applauding someone for being against slavery – sure it’s nice, but doesn’t it kind of go without saying? I suppose Thomas Paine was correct when he said, “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”
One could apply this Thomas Paine quote to another common analysis of Bush’s eight years of idiocy – the notion that he should somehow be commended that we have not been attacked since 9/11. As a student of history, I find this to be highly offensive. This is probably a good time to remind everyone that 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch. Eight months into his presidency, he ignored several warning signs (or do you forget the infamous memo titled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack US”?), and allowed those crazed jihadists to execute the worst attack on US soil in our nation’s history. I guess we should be applauding him for only allowing it to happen once. Then again, didn’t a sniper run wild around DC for weeks shortly afterwards? Just because he wasn’t a foreign terrorist, I suppose this doesn’t count against Dubya’s record (even though one of the snipers was named Muhammed)? Or how about the anthrax attacks – am I the only one who remembers those? Or how about Katrina? Just because it was a natural disaster instead of an orchestrated terrorist attack, I guess the Bush administration gets a free pass on allowing an entire city to drown with little to no response. Or how about attacks on American allies in Madrid and London? I suppose attacks on our allies don’t count when re-writing presidential history. So much for Bush’s philosophy of “you’re either with us or against us.” Or how about the countless terrorist attacks against Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan? I suppose that we’re ignoring those as well, even though terrorist attacks on American interests abroad have resulted in ten times more casualties than 9/11. Somehow, everyone in the news media just continues to parrot the completely idiotic and false line of “we haven’t been attacked since” and no one questions it. Forgive me if I fail to applaud Bush’s brilliance in only allowing commercial airliners to crash into skyscrapers once.
Along similar lines of irresponsible (or maybe just lazy) news reporting, the media also continues to spread propaganda and fake right-wing outrage regarding the recent $700 billion bailout, suggesting that it is the start of a socialist movement in America, when in reality this is only a cover for the fact that this is just another handout to their white collar criminal cronies. “Socialism” implies that at least some of the money would be reaching the common people. This is clearly not the case, as half the bailout money has already disappeared without a trace, with no explanation, and no questions asked. How there are not riots in the streets over this, I’ll never understand. They have also stolen $1 trillion dollars from each of the phony wars that Dubya started, and yet the only real outrage I’ve heard is over the $17 billion auto industry bailout – the one bailout that would have had an actual impact on the livelihood of actual American citizens. Barney Frank put it best when (I’m paraphrasing here) he said that an unspoken prejudice exists in our system when a white collar bailout is accepted, yet a blue collar bailout is rejected. Somewhere along the line, our country has become one of those African nations you hear about all the time – billions of government aid is given, but it is seized by the ruling warlords and never makes it to the people. The only difference is that our citizens aren’t starving en masse – yet.
I can’t figure out whether the news media is deliberately cooperating with the government in this attempt to distract the public while our country is virtually stolen from us right in front of our eyes, or whether they are just as lazy and dumbed-down as everyone else. In either case, while the country is falling apart around us, it is becoming harder and harder to find truth and reason anywhere. And as the ruling class faces less and less scrutiny over their actions, they are able to get away with more. We’ve gotten so oblivious that they now steal trillions of dollars right in front of us with hardly any reaction. They can make people disappear with no outrage. They can start wars and torture prisoners with no repercussions. And now they are setting up Blackwater paramilitary bases in strategic locations throughout our own country so they can take over through force at any time, without having to answer to any annoying representative government. Look it up – it’s true.
However, being an optimist, I’m going to choose to look at the bright side. As the recent election of Obama shows, even the stupid and lazy American public has a breaking point. Bush and Cheney’s lasting legacy may be that they were this breaking point that finally woke up the slumbering American public and rekindled the fire of true patriotism and civic duty. Obama’s election is proof of what a motivated populace can accomplish.
However, in order to move forward, we must drive a stake through the heart of the Bush presidency and break with our past. We must demand that Obama’s administration prosecute the members of this criminal regime for the laws that were broken. The damage that they have done to our nation’s democracy can be repaired, but not if it is ignored. Obama must once again make it clear to the world that we will hold ourselves to the standards of our founders, and reinstitute habeas corpus, outlaw torture, close Guantanamo, and speak out against preemptive war, nation building, and imperialism. But most importantly of all, he can reinstitute the idea of the American dream – the idea that America is the land of opportunity. That through hard work and innovation, one can better themselves and their family. We have lost sight of this dream in recent generations, as the ruling class of the rich has become a more elite and exclusive club that is not welcoming any new members. The government, in bed with these few who hold the money and the power, has stacked the deck against the average American (whom they affectionately call “Joe the Plumber” as they pin them down and drain their wallets), preventing any advancement between the financial and social classes. One can no longer climb the ladder of success, because the rungs have been removed.
President Obama has already symbolically restored that hope for a better future, but we must guard against unrealistic expectations. As the inaugural celebrations are underway, Barack himself seems to be the only one with any sense of restraint, as he constantly reminds us that the real work is just beginning. Obama is just one man, and he cannot solve the world’s, or even our nation’s problems on his own. There are obstacles of historical proportions stacked against him, but the simple fact that he is an intelligent, educated man who knows his history and makes decisions after carefully weighing his options and considering advice from others is a huge step in the right direction (Eight years of making gut decisions didn’t really work out so well). Already he is being attacked by right-wing fundamentalists for being “the most liberal president we’ve ever had”, while he is simultaneously attacked by left-wing fanatics for selling out and appeasing to the Republicans with his various appointments and policy shifts since being elected. We must come together to support Obama’s efforts at bringing real change to America and seize this moment to stay engaged in politics. Electing Obama was just the first step. We must continue to hold the government and our elected officials accountable. We have already learned what happens when they are left to their own devices. In a way, who can blame recent administrations for taking advantage of the situation? The egomaniacs in government were faced with virtually no consequences for their actions, so why wouldn’t they take as much money and power as they could? We must end this cycle of corruption and largesse, which has ballooned to epic proportions under the rule of our idiot king, and demand that our leaders represent the will of the people, as our founders had intended. It’s not hard – they wrote it all out in the Constitution.
If you’ve made it this far, I’d like to leave you with a couple of quotes, which I thought were rather profound and appropriate for the times that we find ourselves in:
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
- Benjamin Franklin
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
- Thomas Jefferson
The right wing ruling class has worked hard to make the American public forget the basic principles that this country was founded on, and convince the country that being patriotic meant waving a flag at a NASCAR race or going shopping at the mall after 9/11. Obama, knowing our nation’s history, understands that being a true American means much more than these false symbols of patriotism, and has tapped into a deep desire in the American public to contribute to a higher cause, demand a government that represents the will of the people and strive to maintain the ideals of our founders. Obama has given true Americans a voice again, and has asked for the involvement of concerned citizens to help rebuild this nation to what it once was, and what it can be again – an example for the world to follow, a nation of unparalleled strength not just economically or militarily, but, most importantly, morally. He has already restored America’s sense of pride. It is up to us to help him restore our liberties, and revive the American dream. By himself, Barack Obama is just one man. But with our support, he represents the vocal majority of American citizens that demand to be heard. He represents the fact that an informed, unified, motivated populace can still make a difference, and although the American dream may seem like a faint memory, the fire of patriotism has not been extinguished. In fact, judging by today’s historical and inspiring inauguration ceremony, I’d say it burns as brightly as ever.
We have a lot of work ahead, and we cannot let up now that Obama is in office, but for today let’s just be thankful that we survived the past eight years. There were many points during Bush’s “reign of errors” that this moment did not seem possible. I watched in awe earlier today as a freshly inaugurated President Obama spoke of many of the same themes discussed here. You’ll have to take my word for it, but I wrote most of this column days before the inauguration, and had no part in writing Obama’s speech. Watching him so eloquently turn the page into a new chapter of American history, it was extremely gratifying to finally hear an intelligent voice of reason speaking truthfully and frankly to the American people, instead of the same old empty propaganda that had filled the speeches of our last president. I suspect no one will be throwing their shoes at Obama any time soon.
As always, thanks for reading and keep spreading the truth and keep this movement alive.
I’ll be reporting back to you with specific instructions on how to get involved and make a difference, but first I have to look into how I go about running for public office. In the meantime, let’s give this Barack guy a shot and see how it goes. Cause if he doesn’t work out, revolution is pretty much the only choice left, and I’ll be pretty thankful for that 2nd amendment.
Ever Vigilant,
KP Silverman
