Big News!?

An 11-year-old boy faces assault charges
for stabbing peer with pencil when he
refused to stop helping him with math.

I guess it’s true, no good deed goes unpunished. But there is big news (maybe)! It seems that Britain, unlike the United States, is actually interested in trying to investigate the war crimes committed by Blair. He has been interrogated repeatedly for long periods of time (no waterboarding) to find out the truth behind the British/U.S. illegal attack on Iraq. Apparently they are making some progress and there is even talk of interviewing some of the U.S. participants (Rumsfeld, Cheney, perhaps even Bush, among others). It seems to have been pretty much established that Blair and Bush agreed to attack Iraq as much as a year before the attack actually occurred. And it seems that Bush was determined to attack Iraq whether there was any provocation or reason for it other than his desire to do so. Obviously this could become a truly big deal if the Brits pursue it energetically and stubbornly enough and insist on getting to the bottom of it all. But how they would get any of the guilty Americans to testify I do not know, and I suspect that they will not, and the whole thing will eventually blow over without any decisive action. Indeed, we’ll probably be lucky if we even hear anything much about it in our MSM. But one can dream can’t one? I think Obama’s decision to focus only on the future and not the past, and thereby ignore the war crimes of Bush/Cheney et al, was a terrible mistake. If he wanted to establish himself as a serious agent of change he should have immediately started an investigation of Bush/Cheney, held them accountable for their terrible crimes, and thus firmly demonstrated that the U.S. was interested in truth and justice. Instead he merely revealed to the world American hypocrisy, insisting on prosecuting war crimes everywhere but here at home. I believe Obama has done some good things, and I also believe he has good intentions towards the American middle class, but his failure to investigate blatant war crimes, along with his failure to bring Israel to heel, is going to make it very difficult for me to vote for him again. Not that I would under any circumstances vote for a Republican, I would simply not vote, or vote for a third party candidate if there should prove to be an acceptable one.

The big “to-do” over Silly Sarah’s notes on her hand continues. What seems to me to be the most interesting and perhaps telling part of this is being overlooked. That is, people like Chris Matthews (granted perhaps a bit mentally slow) seem to think this was “cheating.” You know, like when you are about to take a test and are uncertain about remembering some of the answers, you write them on your hand, thus cheating. Ordinarily, it seems to me, the answers would be those too difficult or unusual or esoteric questions you might worry about not being able to remember. But how could any speaker, like Palin, not remember the three (and only three) most important topics they were going to speak about, in this case, energy, cutting taxes, and stimulating Americans? If Palin was uncertain about even remembering these important (to her) themes, what does that tell you about her? It certainly suggests to me that she is far from being ready for “prime time.” And now that she seems to be the major face of the Republican Party (no one seems to be challenging her), what does that tell you about Republicans?

Obama has the Republicans in a bind. He has now invited them to a televised conference on health care reform. If they refuse to show up he wins, if they show up and are exposed for what they really are (obvious obstructionists) he wins. Apparently aware of this trap he has prepared they are trying to weasel out of it by demanding pre-conditions that are obviously absurd, like scrapping everything done up until now and starting over, insisting that only their suggestions be debated, and so on. Personally, I think Obama’s persistence in trying to achieve some form of bipartisanship is a complete waste of time. The Democrats should just bypass these unpatriotic, irresponsible, negativistic, even treasonous jerks and pass whatever they want. As Rachel Maddow (bless her) pointed out tonight, the Republicans have voted no repeatedly even on things they previously approved, just because they do not want Obama (or by implication our country) to succeed. Not only that, they have eagerly embraced the stimulus funds they universally voted against. They have steadfastly clung to their claim to be the party of “no,” and have raised hypocrisy to entirely new heights. Being opposed to everything that might improve the lives of our citizens and our nation, they have become a disgrace to politics, to our nation, and even to humanity at large. This disgraceful party (or criminal conspiracy) should be banished and replaced with people who at least understand they are supposed to be serving the public rather than huge corporations that, like themselves, have neither compassion nor common decency, and seek only short term profits at the expense of anything, everything, and everyone else. If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the constant and obsessive quest for it seems to be worse.

LKBIQ:
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
John Adams

TILT:
Edith Piaf was born Edith Giovanna Gassion.