We didn't do it?

Undertaker hot wires
his vintage hearse
when rival steals the keys.

Dick Cheney actually said in a new interview: “They say it is torture. We didn’t torture, and we didn’t break the law.” Having been boasting for some time now how they did it, and how well it worked, he now says he didn’t do it. I guess it all comes down to what “it,” is. If “it” includes waterboarding, which he has admitted to, then he did it, and if waterboarding is illegal, which it is, he also broke the law. Why does this remind me of a small boy standing by a broken cookie jar with cookies in his hand claiming he didn’t do it? This is just pathetic. How long are we going to allow this obvious dishonest war criminal to appear on television repeatedly lying about his accomplishments and making false accusations against our current President? Of course he did it, and of course he broke the law, of this there is no longer even the slightest doubt. The only conceivable justification for his statements has to do with the fact that his bought and paid for lawyers made up laws and rules that don’t exist in order to give him what he wanted. And it is clear by now that this is precisely what happened. These toady lawyers will most probably be disbarred, at least, and possibly end up in prison. This has become some kind of weird charade that is being allowed to continue for reasons I cannot comprehend.

And related to this is my deep disappointment with President Obama, who has now done a complete about face when it comes to releasing more torture photographs. He promised transparency but is certainly not providing it. What bothers me by far the worse about this is not his refusal to allow the photographs to be released, which I do not agree with but at least can understand. I am truly bothered by his statement that “the small number of people who participated in it have been held accountable.” This obviously indicates that he wants to maintain the “few bad apples,” claim, which is utterly ridiculous. I keep trying to excuse him on the grounds that he is just cleverly trying to force the public and Congress to do what needs to be done so he will not appear to have been seeking partisan revenge. I am beginning to have my doubts about this which makes me very unhappy.

Someone once said that if the Republicans want to brand the Democrats as the “Democrat Socialist Party,” it would only be fair to refer to them as the “National Socialist Party.” I believe that given the past eight years of Republican reign this would not be far from the truth. Those who seem to be in charge of the remaining Republican Party are obviously such extreme right-wing ideologues they are completely blind to what is actually going on in the United States. Even Richard Steele, their elected Party head, tried to warn them off this idea but failed. It may be all to the best to allow them to just bury themselves in history as a failed party and hope that some new, more sensible and responsible party will arise to replace them. They will never rejuvenate themselves as long as they continue what they have been doing.

Arizona State University invited President Obama to give their commencement address but strangely refused to give him an honorary degree. This is indeed strange as they have awarded such degrees to a number of people who do not even approach the level of Obama’s accomplishments. For example, a few years back a man who made his fortune making golf balls donated money to the University and received an honorary degree. There was opposition to this on the part of one or more faculty members who believed such degrees should only be awarded either for academic or humanitarian accomplishments but they were eventually ignored. This perhaps also explains why ASU now offers a degree program in Golf Management or some such thing, very academic. ASU is little more than a joke as a University and apparently accepts some 92% of applicants. So, this is America ain’t it?

This is supposed to be the planting season. I have been trying to work in the garden but the weather has not been cooperative. It has been rainy and cold here at Sandhill, with a 100% chance of rain tonight and an 80% chance of thundershowers tomorrow. But then it is supposed to warm up. Weather here is very unpredictable. One year we were in Sweden and it was snowing in May. We thought that was hilarious. Then we returned home and it snowed late in June!

LKBIQ:
I know indeed what evil I intend to do,but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury,fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils.
Euripides

TILT:
Among the Nuer it is possible for a woman to marry a ghost.