edgecity

“A moment I’ve been dreading. George brought his ne’re-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I’ll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they’ll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.”

–From the REAGAN DIARIES: this entry is dated May 17, 1986.

CNN.COM, do you work for the Bush Administration?

Is that it? Or are you just clueless? Spiderman and MJ get front page coverage.

But nowhere is the truly important ongoing story about the most vile abuse of power in American presidential history. And what do you know about it? Do you have reporters anymore or just newsmodels?

Very, very late last night, just before midnight, the Bush administration submitted a filing in CREW v. Executive Office of the President, our lawsuit challenging the failure of the White House to preserve and restore millions of missing emails.

The backup tapes were recycled. Oh darn. Sorry about that. Oops.

Where is CNN?

Nowhere to be found…

Smoke coming from a bulding on the White House grounds?

The Bush Administration spent over $5 million dollars on paper shredders, almost 6 times as much as the previous administration.

So my only question is this?

Were they burning shredded documents or did they run out of paper shredders?

Oy.

I continue to be amazed at the (non)coverage at cnn.com of relevant factual information. Case in point, the headline reads:

Ex-agent: Waterboarding ’saved lives’

“John Kiriakou said he did not want to perform the “entirely unpleasant” procedure branded by critics as torture, but added it brought results that stopped attacks and saved lives.”

IF you click the story, you get the MORE IMPORTANT DATA:

“A former CIA agent who participated in interrogations of terror suspects said Tuesday that the controversial interrogation technique of “waterboarding” has saved lives, but he considers the method torture and now opposes its use.”

Hello? On the home page you get “branded by critics as torture” and then IF you read the story which many people don’t you get “he considers the method torture and now opposes its use.”

Hmmm.

And oh, by the way, there’s a teensy weensy little story about the destruction of evidence tied directly to this story. Any mention of this at CNN? Nope.

Hmmm.

Dear Speaker Pelosi,

I wonder if you’re aware of the dereliction of your duties when you uttered these words:

“Impeachment is off the table.”

Congress is required by the Constitution of the United States to provide checks and balances with the Executive branch and impeachment is required by the Constitution when the President commits high crimes and misdemeanors.

By making that statement, you have denied that responsibility. What would it take to change your mind?

Illegal wiretapping? No.

Torture? No.

Lawless detention of people at Gitmo? No.

700 signing statements designed to ignore 200 years of precedents? No.

An NIE report that makes Him look either incompetent or deceitful, after mentioning a threat of WWIII based on no evidence? Nope.

And now obstruction of justice by destroying evidence? Apparently not.

Ms. Pelosi, as the first female Speaker of the House, you had an opportunity to demonstrate that women are just as courageous and willing to make difficult decisions as men. You have failed.

But even more, you have simply failed the Constitution and America. This will be your legacy. Whatever else you have done for your country’s good will forever be overshadowed by your not stepping up when your country needed you most.

Good night and good luck.

Dear Senator Leahy,

America is at a moral crossroads, and you sir, are one who will help decide whether our country restores its moral integrity or continues down this perilous path to ruin.

Will you confirm Michael Mukasey?

Consider this about waterboarding:

“That we are even having a debate about this question, and that it is not a foregone conclusion that someone who claims not to know whether waterboarding is torture cannot possibly be confirmed as Attorney General, is a testament to the moral degradation of our country, and of our political discourse.”

It’s time to stop the Bush Administration.

Please sir, show up for your country, demand a yes or no answer to this question:

Is waterboarding torture or not?

If yes, then continue the confirmation process. If no, send him on his way. Today.

Make no mistake about it, securing oil reserves is the game of the millenium.

The Russians just planted a flag on the seabed near the North Pole to claim that territory as their own.

See http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/02/ap3982506.html

Think about this, Iran has the third largest oil reserves in the world. Isn’t it natural for them to get a bit itchy thinking about who might invade them to get control of their oil? It’s funny, I read today that it looks like our government may have sold millions of dollars of F-14 fighter jet parts to guess who? Iran. Oops. Iran aging fighter jet forces are made up of primarily F-14s. In my deepest paranoid nightmares, I imagine that our government did this intentionally. Why? So, Iran can have the equipment to confront us in an incident like the recent capture of British patrol boats, so we can justify an invasion when they do. I know, pure paranoia. Check back this time next year.

And how can we leave Iraq without first ensuring all that oil doesn’t fall into unfriendly or economically competetive hands?

The Bush Administration has made quite a mess and there are no easy answers.

Not many Iraqis like America. Most want us the hell out of there. Who in Iraq will treat us favorably when we leave?

So, knowing all this, the Bush Administration begins to talk about Iraq as if it were South Korea. A permanent “temporary” presence.

We have an untenable moral dilemma on our hands, assuming you have a worldcentric perspective. On one hand, hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, with more dying every day. Millions of Iraqi refugees, six million to be accurate- that’s roughly 15% of the population leaving the country to save their skins. That would be  equivalent to 45 million american refugees. And, the possibility of a flow of cheaper oil and gasoline for our Hummers, plastic for our water botttles, and a supposedly more certain and prosperous future for we americans–if we acheive the peace that we keep getting promised but never get delievered. On the other, if we walk away, who knows really. A full fledged civil war in Iraq? Al Qaeda strongholds and training camps? An anti-american theocratic government? A true chance for peace?

If your worldview is ethnocentric, the answer is easy; we take what we need for our survival, and, sorry about the mess, isn’t that what the bottom line is here?. Then for good measure throw in some slogans.  Fight ‘em over there, NIMBY! We fought for their freedom! Better with no Saddam!(even though he successfully kept Al Qaeda out of Iraq). They hate us for our freedom. You’ve heard all the propaganda.

No wonder some Bush supporters don’t want to open their eyes and look beyond their own ethnocentric perspective. I understand now.

My frustration, anger and outrage over what I see our current Administration doing has led me to lash out. To do some name calling. Some lambasting. Some ranting and raving. Well, I’m through, finished. It isn’t working.

At this point in time I’m wanting only one thing from the President, Vice-President and Attorney General– their resignations. I want them to walk out of their offices, hat in hand.

I’m not willing anymore to hurt myself by concurrently harboring rage and hopelessness. Or subject my friends to being near me during a rant, alientaing them whilst they scratch their heads wondering what all the fuss is about.

Hating these people won’t help. Whether it be a very, very, bad acting executive branch, or a legislative branch frozen with deer-in-headlights fear that inhibits some “right” action. Name calling, accusations, counter-punches and innuendo do not move us toward a better tomorrow. No matter where these true evils come from or are directed at.

The truth is I don’t trust our media to provide accurate, uncensored information for me as a citizen to make sound judgements about the efficacy of our government’s actions, or to even be able to confirm the accuracy of world events or the veracity of public official’s statements.

The truth is I don’t trust the Bush Adminstration from top to bottom. Their lack of accountability through the use of executive privilege to avoid transparency, the politicization of nearly everything, the wire taps, fired attorneys, Iraq rationalizations, dismal katrina response, and continuous assertions about Hussein and Al Qaeda that evidence strongly refutes, leaves me wholly bankrupt of any faith in their integrity.

The truth is I don’t trust Congress anymore either. While they fiddle, Rome burns. They want to move carefully. They are being careful all right, trying to put out a raging fire with a squirt gun. Our country is burning. What shall they do to save it? Seek a Special Prosecutor to investigate Mr. Gonzales? Squirt.

So let’s be clear about something. I not willing to hate Mr. Bush or any of our government officials for one more second. However, I do want to stop them from bringing ruin to this country or at least long term damage to the Constitution of the United States. Impeachment is the only and rightful remedy for the Constitutional crisis that the Bush Administration has created.

We all agree– we want a secure country with access to lots and lots of cheap oil that enables our luxurious american lifestyle. But not like this. Not like this.

Will you act? Will you call Congress and tell them they are failing their Constitutional duty to enforce checks and balances by impeaching the President and Vice President?

I have, I do and I will.