The best country on the planet....

is getting ready to approve a bill to authorize the suspension of the fundamental rights and freedoms for which hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their lives. This administration and every elected official that votes for this "detainee bill" is laying a stone at the tomb of our grand little experiment.

This country has been sold out by a group of greedy, petro-fascist people with no more understanding of our hard fought history against tyranny than they do about "winning" a war. Molly Ivins has a nice piece on this steaming pile of legislation.

Think it's a just a lot of wind that doesn't mean much? Here's the text of the bill. I would direct your attention to sections 108(3), 106 and 107. Respectively, they give the President the right to be the sole "authority" on interpreting the Geneva Convention, suspension of writ or habeas corpus for detainees (overruling the recent Supreme Court ruling about detainees rights to contest their detainee status, and the prohibition of a detainee to invoke the Geneva Convention. That little chestnut was a right that came from Magna Carta.

Harry Reid, not one of my favorite politicians, put it quite eloquently on this occasion:

"The Framers of our Constitution understood the need for checks and balances, but this bill discards them. Many of the worst provisions were not in the Committee-reported bill, and were not in the compromise announced last Friday. They were added over the weekend after backroom meetings with White House lawyers. We have tried to improve this legislation. Senator Levin proposed to substitute the bipartisan bill that was reported by the Armed Services Committee. That amendment was rejected. Senators Specter and Leahy offered an amendment to restore the right to judicial review - that amendment was rejected. Senator Rockefeller offered an amendment to improve congressional oversight of CIA programs - that amendment was rejected. Senator Kennedy offered an amendment to clarify that inhumane interrogation tactics prohibited by the Army Field manual could not be used on Americans or on others - that amendment was rejected. And Senator Byrd offered an amendment to sunset military commissions so that Congress would simply be required to reconsider this far-reaching authority after five years of experience. Even that amendment was rejected. I strongly believe this legislation is unconstitutional. It will almost certainly be struck down by the Supreme Court. And when that happens, we'll be back here several years from now debating how to bring terrorists to justice.
The families of the 9/11 victims and the nation have been waiting five years for the perpetrators of these attacks to be brought to justice. They should not have to wait longer. We should get this right now - and we are not doing so by passing this bill. The National security policies of this administration and Republican Congress may have been tough, but they haven't been smart. The American people are paying a price for their mistakes.
History will judge our actions here today. I am convinced that future generations will view passage of this bill as a grave error. I wish to be recorded as one who voted against taking this step."

RIP, United States of America.

Olbermann with the 9/11 Commission report - the power of history

Not sure it can beat spin, but it makes me proud to be a History major... Olbermann did good.

Dollars to donuts this one won't be carried by the major media outlets

A new Gallop poll, released yesterday, on who folks feel is most responsible for the failure to capture Bin Laden... you would think the 'liberal media' would have a field day with this, but it won't make page one anywhere in America. These results actually make me kind of proud, particularly after the recent Disney 9/11 miniseries that really tried to lay this on Bill's doorstep. Reminds me of a recent article I saw that nearly 2/3rds of one poll sampling thought that the reduction of gas prices over the last several weeks was an effort by oil companies to help Bush and Republicans retain control of the government. Maybe the Rovian snake oil is starting to lose its power...

Krugman's Bush as Kafka rational

Stumbled on this Krugman thought late last night... honestly, if this is true, it's about the saddest thing I ever read. The Rove strategy never shined brighter than when they took up the "Islamic fascist insurgency". Does anyone reading that not understand what a fascist is? It is the subservience of the individual to the state and a marriage of the government and business... stop me if you've heard this one :) Or, as Benito said, "Fascism ought to more properly be called corporatism since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” And what do you have to get rid of to merge the state and corporate power? The Constitution. Pay attention to what you see and read that comes from the seat of our government and decide for yourselves.

So how do we actually go about winning the "decisive idealogical struggle of our time"?

The new Rovian moniker for the Bush doctrine, or DISOOT, is going to become the frame by which these things are discussed. And while I disagree that this conflict will ever represent anything more than an economic struggle for control of natural resources - the basis of every war in history - I'm willing to play in that dreamhouse while its the center of attention. I'd argue that everything you need to know about the Bush doctrine can be found in a position paper written by The Project for the New American Century. This has been the game plan since before Bush took office and they've done a pretty good job of following it, although the results have been far from what was forecast in that report.

In any event, given that we must take positive action to win the DISOOT, how do we do it other that what the Shock and Awe kids are offering up? Well, let's be honest about the source of our security and vulnerability, and about what funds the conflict for both sides - who the winners are and who the losers. And here's a starter for a vision of what policy decision we oughta look at next...

The use of 9/11 for political gain is about as low as it goes...

and yet none of are very surprised by that fact. That seems more than just a bit sad. As is this piece based on a study from Columbia University regarding the cold use of terror for political gain. And another piece from Joshua Holland on the perspective we bring to the WOT.

Joshua Holland's round-up of pre-9/11 intelligence

To counter the spin that has been building for weeks now, here's a great round-up of the facts surrounding who knew what and when. Thanks, Joshua!

The Next Generation... sans the Colorado Kids

 

We missed having the Colorado Kids (Tim and Nick), but here's the Kessler / Vierra / Phillips sprouts... 

War Profiteers

Olberman brought this up lightly in his Rumsfeld commentary last week, but Charlie Cray at Alternet did a nice job of tallying up the Top 10 war profiteers... the names may surprise you...