"The Dick Cheney Syndrome"

Czech doctors leave foot-long
medical device in woman
after gynecological surgery.

I don’t mean to keep harping on the same subject. Yes, damn it, I do! Dick Cheney on Meet the Press has defended waterboarding once again. He thinks it should be continued. He also indicated that Yoo was basically instructed to create a legal opinion that would authorize torture, including waterboarding. In other words Cheney has admitted to torture and also admitted to conspiracy to torture. Why has he not been arrested and charged with war crimes? Waterboarding does not cease to become a crime just because a White House lawyer, desiring to please his boss, says it’s not, especially in an opinion that was considered so bad it was later rescinded. But Yoo keeps on shooting his mouth off about what he did and Cheney keeps boasting about waterboarding. So, is waterboarding a war crime, as it was for the Japanese who were punished for it, and as it has been so recognized in international law for a long time, or is it not? And if it is a war crime why is Cheney allowed to continue in freedom boasting about doing it? And does our Constitution and legal system not say that war crimes must be investigated wherever found? It certainly does not say war crimes should be investigated only if they occur in other nations. So what in the hell are Obama and Holder doing by ignoring this blatant example? Does this not make them complicit in such crimes? I know I am not alone in my outrage over this. How much longer can Obama and Holder continue to ignore the obvious?

Some Congressman has said that the U.S. should break the blockade on Gaza. I absolutely agree. Unless, that is, we wish to continue to be just as guilty of slow genocide as the Israelis. This cruel and unjust blockade is an international outrage. How the U.S. and Egypt can participate in it is beyond my comprehension. Apparently the Israelis share in the “Dick Cheney Syndrome,” that places them above the law and immune from the laws that govern the rest of the world. They have blatantly violated international law and thumbed their nose at the U.N. for years, mainly because the U.S. has seen fit to protect them no matter how vile their behavior or murderous their actions. We continue to speak of peace in the Middle East but behave in ways that will make peace forever impossible in that part of the world. Never mind Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, the U.S. and Israel are the real axis of evil, and have been for years.

Evan Bayh, who has long been an empty suit in the Senate, has announced he will not run for re-election. As he was predicted to win re-election with little trouble, there may be reasons for his decision we do not (and perhaps never will) know. In any case, what I find of interest here is the reason he gave for wanting to give it up. First, he said he “doesn’t love the Senate,” and second, there is too much partisanship and nothing gets done. His surprise announcement leaves the Democrats with a bit of a problem as they do not now have a candidate. Does this not show some disrespect for his party? There will be a candidate, of course, but I should think a decision of such importance should have been made in conjunction with the party. What I find of more interest, however, is the fact that Bayh said nothing about the reasons for the lack of bipartisanship and inactivity, thus making it appear it is in general a problem inherent in the “dysfunctional” Congress. I guess it didn’t occur to him that the Republicans announced after Obama’s election they wanted him to fail and were going to vote “no” on everything, a promise they have kept religiously. Given this situation it might have at least behooved Bayh to mention it. But as Evan Bayh, unlike his more famous father, is a near Republican rather than a genuine Democrat perhaps this is understandable. Some say we will miss him in the Senate. I doubt it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention it, his wife makes money working in the health care industry, which explains many of his votes on the subject.

I continue to basically like Obama and support him, if only because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. But sometimes I think he really should be called Barack Hussein O’Bonehead. If his absolutely ridiculous and useless “war” in Afghanistan, and his failure to investigate Bush/Cheney for war crimes are not bad enough, now he has decided to guarantee a 8.5 billion dollar loan for the construction of two new nuclear plants (there is a reason private industry will not finance these Frankenstein monsters without such a guarantee) . This is really stupid. There is also a reason why no new nuclear plants have been built in the last 20 years. They are dangerous, they cost far too much money to build and maintain that the taxpayers inevitably get stuck with, and, more importantly, there is no sensible solution for the waste. Personally, I believe that people who want nuclear energy plants built around the world have nothing but contempt for life in general, certainly contempt for the future of life on planet earth. I am reminded of Senator Weldon Heyburn of Idaho many years ago, when chastised for wanting to cut all the timber and leave none for the future, replied “Let Future Generations look out for themselves.” Great idea, let future generations figure out what to do with poisonous materials that cause all kinds of disease and death and have a shelf life of almost forever.

LKBIQ:
Don't get me wrong: I love nuclear energy! It's just that I prefer fusion to fission. And it just so happens that there's an enormous fusion reactor safely banked a few million miles from us. It delivers more than we could ever use in just about 8 minutes. And it's wireless!

William McDonough

TILT:
Sardines were names after the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia.