Good guy/bad guy?

When not allowed to buy beer, 26 year-old
woman buys pint of ice cream and
hurls it through plate-glass window.

Is President Barack Obama a good guy or not? I confess I cannot understand what appears to be some of what he is doing. On the good side, for example (at least what I think are good things), he is slowly reducing the absurd restrictions on Cuba and allowing more people to visit, visit oftener, and send more money. But he still hasn’t done away with the over-all sanctions that have been a failure for 50 years. He appears to be standing up to Israel and insisting on a two state solution, even in the face of their current rejection of that solution, and he also seems to be resisting their insane idea of bombing Iran. But so far he has not said much about their illegal settlements in the West Bank or cutting back on the billions we give them every year.

Similarly, he has closed Guantanamo and insisted that habeas corpus be restored and the prisoners there be given fair trials or released. But he is opposing the same fair play for the Bagram Air Force prison. Does that make any sense? I would like to believe there is a reason for this contradictory behavior but I do not know what it might be. Likewise, on the one hand he acknowledges that we cannot win in Afghanistan but at the same time seems to be embarking upon a very long-range program of sending and keeping more troops there. He says that anyone who is guilty of war crimes should be punished, but he is doing nothing to bring that about. It may be possible that he wants Congress to be responsible for this, but if so, it is not obvious that he does. On Thursday he is supposed to decide whether the most revealing torture memos of the Bush/Cheney era should be released. I think this is an absolutely critical test of whether he really wants to see justice served or not.

I realize that all of these problems are complex and there may well be reasons involved that I do not know about. If so, I wish he would better explain the rationale for what he is doing so a poor soul like me can understand it better. It seems to me that in the case of Bagram, at least, he owes us an explanation for what seems to be an entirely contradictory policy. And if we are to stay in Afghanistan for the long term I would like to know what purpose is being served. For the most part I think Obama has done a great job, quickly and sensibly, but these contradictions need to be explained.

Could there be a better example of Republican sabotage than the Franken/Coleman situation? After months of counting and recounting, and giving Coleman more chances than he deserves, and even now after Franken has been confirmed the winner, Coleman wants to take it to the Minnesota Supreme Court. If he fails there he will most probably want to appeal it to the Federal Supreme Court. Apparently he is banking on the possibility that he will find a Republican court that will somehow magically declare him the winner. In the meantime Minnesota goes with only half of their representation in the Senate. This, along with the Michelle Bachman lunacy, makes one wonder if the Minnesotans are paying attention.

The state of Alaska doesn’t seem to be doing much better. Palin, in addition to engaging in a very public dispute with the 18 year-old “fucking redneck” who knocked up her daughter, and now having further embarrassed herself by suggesting for Attorney General a man who thinks men should be able to rape their wives, and in addition holds religious beliefs reminiscent of the 18th century, and has had to back down on her refusal to accept stimulus money, still somehow thinks she may have a run at the Presidency. I mean, how ridiculous does it have to get before the citizens of Alaska, as well as Republicans elsewhere realize just how absurd this is? Oh, I forget, Republicans have no sense of the absurd.

If the above isn’t absurd enough, consider their current “tea bag revolution,” that seems to have no clear-cut or obvious goal in mind. That is, it is ostensibly (I guess) supposed to be protesting taxes, in spite of the fact that Obama is reducing taxes on 95% of the population, and only increasing taxes on the filthy rich by 4% (where they were during the Clinton administration). Does this make any sense? Some have claimed this is also part of the Ron Paul anti-tax plan to eliminate income tax altogether and return to the gold standard. Quite frankly, I have no idea what these people think they are doing and I doubt very much they do either (other than mindlessly opposing Obama).

LKBIQ:
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain

TILT:
Baboons in captivity have been known to live for 45 years.