A difference of opinion?

Indian man with six daughters does
not bathe, stands on one leg near fire,
smokes marijuana, prays to Shiva for son.

Dick Cheney, in one of his multitude TV appearances, recently said something to the effect of “they call it torture, but I don’t think it was torture.” This adds one more ridiculous non-excuse to his previous three. He has himself apparently demolished the idea that Pelosi was truly briefed on what was happening, his claim that the torture actually worked is in the process of being rejected, not that it was a valid excuse in the first place, his claim of good intentions falls on the revelation that the torture was really geared toward getting someone to make a false statement linking Saddam to Osama bin Laden, and now he wants to claim that the problem is really just a difference of opinion – “they” think it was torture but he does not. Unfortunately for Cheney this is not a mere difference of opinion, a case where one can argue that “reasonable people can disagree.” This is not an issue, like should I wear the blue tie or the red one, or should I buy the roses or the petunias, or some such. Virtually the entire world, including all reasonable people in the U.S., know that waterboarding is torture and has been for centuries. Cheney does not represent a reasonable person in the context of this argument, but, rather virtually a lone voice trying to keep himself out of jail or worse. While we might sympathize with his daughter, who is standing up for her father, and claiming it was not torture, and we may wonder about the very few “true believers” that might agree with them, this is an open and shut case. Waterboarding is torture, opinions to the contrary are desperation attempts at denial. The pressure on Obama and Holder to take action is increasing all the time.

Can you believe that people who are attempting to speak up for a single payer health care system are being shut out of the discussions and even arrested? Baucus in Montana seems to be one of the worst offenders. I find this unbelievable but it is apparently true. It is especially unbelievable (maybe not) because apparently a true majority of Americans are in favor of a single payer system. So…like, who cares what the American people want? Obama is on record from some time ago as being in favor of a single payer system. But now he is trying to get a Government program for health care that will compete with private sector plans. Of course the Insurance companies and others do not want this because they fear too many will opt for the Government plan and they will begin to lose out. I like to think this is exactly what Obama has in mind, and that eventually such a system would easily change into a single payer system. This may be just another one of my pipe dreams, like hoping he is just waiting for public opinion to force him into prosecuting Bush/Cheney.

Elliot Spitzer appeared on the Rachel Maddow show tonight. He was brilliant. What a shame that he had to resign over a stupid prostitution problem. As someone who pursued Wall Street greed and illegality very successfully it is too bad he is not available to continue doing so. He said as plainly as it can be said, Wall Street does not act with our country in mind. This is the one thing above all others that bothers me about Obama, he is far too cozy with Wall Street, and instead of trying to reign them in he seems to be content to let them just continue their short term profits and questionable ways to the detriment of the country. It will help, of course, if he can reform the credit card thievery, but he should be doing a lot more than that.

I admit to feeling strange about complaining about the prices of food, as I never had to do so previously. But really, the situation is becoming almost unbearable. I occasionally buy a bone at the market for my friend’s dog. Yesterday there was a single dog bone for sale, not a very large one at that, marked $3.08! I can remember when butchers gave dog bones away, and even liver, and certainly none of them would have even thought of charging people for fish heads and bones. I see people every day, mostly older people, staring longingly at the meat counter, knowing they cannot afford to eat steaks anymore. It is sad to see it, and I know that my own consumption of beef has fallen off as well. Even bread is becoming prohibitively expensive. When I was a boy and didn’t want to eat my food, my mother would often say, “think of the starving Chinese.” I wonder if the Chinese are now saying, “think of the starving Americans?” As unbelievable as it may seem, we do have many people going hungry right here in what is supposed to be the wealthiest and greatest country on earth. How ironic. How stupid. How unnecessary.

LKBIQ:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

TILT:
Southern Patagonia is now completely overrun with beavers.