Every Saturday, the president of the United States gives a radio address to the nation. It is followed by the Democratic response, usually given by a senator or representative. This past Saturday the Democrats chose retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez to give their response, the same general accused in at least three lawsuits in the U.S. and Europe of authorizing torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners in Iraq. This, combined with the Democrats’ endorsement of Attorney General Michael Mukasey despite his unwillingness to label waterboarding as torture, indicates that the Democrats are increasingly aligned with President Bush’s torture policies.
Sanchez headed the Army’s operations in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. In September 2003, Sanchez issued a memo authorizing numerous techniques, including “stress positions” and the use of “military working dogs” to exploit “Arab fear of dogs” during interrogations. He was in charge when the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison occurred.
Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who headed Abu Ghraib at the time, worked under Gen. Sanchez. She was demoted to colonel, the only military officer to be punished. She told me about another illegal practice, holding prisoners as so-called ghost detainees: “We were directed on several occasions through Gen. [Barbara] Fast or Gen. Sanchez. The instructions were originating at the Pentagon from Secretary Rumsfeld, and we were instructed to hold prisoners without assigning a prisoner number or putting them on the database, and that is contrary to the Geneva Conventions. We all knew it was contrary to the Geneva Conventions.” In addition to keeping prisoners off the database there were other abuses, she said, like prison temperatures reaching 120 to 140 degrees, dehydration and the order from Gen. Geoffrey Miller to treat prisoners “like dogs.”
And it’s not just about treatment of prisoners. In 2006, Karpinski testified at a mock trial, called the Bush Crimes Commission. She revealed that several female U.S. soldiers had died of dehydration by denying themselves water. They were afraid to go to the latrine at night to urinate, for fear of being raped by fellow soldiers: “Because the women, in fear of getting up in the hours of darkness to go out to the portolets or the latrines, were not drinking liquids after 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. And in 120-degree heat or warmer, because there was no air conditioning at most of the facilities, they were dying from dehydration in their sleep. What [Sanchez’s deputy commanding general, Walter Wojdakowski] told the surgeon to do was, ‘Don’t brief those details anymore. And don’t say specifically that they’re women. You can provide that in a written report, but don’t brief it in the open anymore.’” Karpinski said Sanchez was at that briefing.
Former military interrogator Tony Lagouranis, author of “Fear Up Harsh,” described the use of dogs: “We were using dogs in the Mosul detention facility, which was at the Mosul airport. We would put the prisoner in a shipping container. We would keep him up all night with music and strobe lights, stress positions, and then we would bring in dogs. The prisoner was blindfolded, so he didn’t really understand what was going on, but we had the dog controlled. The dog would be barking and jumping on the prisoner, and the prisoner wouldn’t really understand what was going on.”
Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch elaborated on Sanchez: “For those three months of mayhem that were occurring right under his nose, he never stepped in. And, also, he misled Congress about it. He was asked twice at a congressional hearing whether he ever approved the use of guard dogs. This was before the memo came out. And both times he said he never approved it. [W]e finally got the actual memo, in which he approves ‘exploiting Arab fear of dogs.’ ” Brody dismissed the military report clearing Sanchez of any wrongdoing: “It’s just not credible for the Army to keep investigating itself and keep finding itself innocent.”
This is not about politics. This is about the moral compass of the nation. The Democrats may be celebrating a retired general who has turned on his commander in chief. But the public should take pause.
The Democrats had a chance to draw a line in the sand, to absolutely require Mukasey to denounce waterboarding before his elevation to attorney general. Now they have chosen as their spokesman a discredited general, linked to the most egregious abuses in Iraq. The Bush administration passed Sanchez over for a promotion, worried about reliving the Abu Ghraib scandal during the 2006 election year. Now it’s the Democrats who have resuscitated him. Have they no shame?
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America.
© 2007 Amy Goodman
There is no room for “shame” withing the fascist “will to power.”
This reminds me of the recent revelation by Newt Gingrich that he was having an extramarital affair while leading the effort to impeach Bill Clinton. Complete moral hypocrisy. Where was the outrage? I think we’ve become inured to scoundrels as our leaders. There’s even a popular notion that “real-world” leaders have to be cynical power players to get anything done. Chris Dodd is running on the theme of reclaiming America’s moral greatness, but he’s polling at what? one per cent. I think that morality is seen as a quaint notion of the past.
Actually they have no shame. What else is new?
Most of us here are voting Kucinich I assume, because well we’re informed, however we make up perhaps 5 maybe 10% of the society, I wish someone could give me statistics on how many people watch Democracy Now on a regular basis and we would know what percentage of our nation is truly informed educated, anyway that’s not my point, my point is those of us in the know have a responsibilty to inform the others, because we know… that was the main purpose of the PeaceCorps to bring knowledge of the third world back to Americans so we would be less likely to bomb them for oil, everything else like teaching etc., was secondary…anyway my point is; we who watch Democracy Now need to spread the word to those who don’t, we should take what we learn and blog in our own words on mainstream papers around the country, like the Des Moines Register, the KansasCity Star and similar this way we can counter the Limbaugh, Coulter, O’Reilly fascists who have their people doing just that.
Just an idea but I think it could have a great affect on those who just don’t know about common dreams, democracy now, truthout, chomsky etc. , who knows the unelectable just may be elected! Kucinich and Paul in 2008 go America!!
Thank you, Amy, for unrelenting, high-quality, fact-based reporting!
Yes, the dems are spineless and are totally enabling the organized crime operation known as the Bush Administration. Here is a response from Senator Dianne Feinstein I got after sending her a message outlining many very clear reasons to impeach Bush/Cheney:
——————–
Thank you for your letter concerning impeachment proceedings against President Bush. I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.
In our recent elections, the American people expressed clear disapproval with the path this country was on. They are tired of partisan politics and of an Administration that pays little heed to the wishes of the American people. They want-and deserve-a Congress that holds the Administration accountable and fulfills its Constitutional responsibility to check and balance the Executive. I share this sentiment and am determined to work hard and across party lines in the United States Senate to promote issues that are of real concern to most Americans, including the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, homeland security, global warming, and lobbying and election reform.
At this time, however, I believe that impeachment proceedings against President Bush will only divide the country even further, frustrating our hopes for a meaningful change in direction, while having little chance of success.
I have been deeply disappointed by many of this Administration’s actions and have been outspoken in those instances. Nevertheless, given the challenges our country faces I believe that we need to focus on constructive and cooperative steps that would lead us in the right direction.
Again, thank you for your continued correspondence. If you have any further questions or comments, please contact my office in Washington, D.C. at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.
——————–
In this canned response, her office outlines a few good reasons to impeach Bush/Cheney and then gives a couple of weak reasons not to. I replied, asking what actually WOULD be grounds for impeachment if war crimes, crimes against humanity and repeated violations of the U.S. Constitution are not enough.
We’ll see where that goes….
a fascinating title that recalls David Lillenthal’s retort to the badgering of Sen,. Joe Mccarthy during a hearing in the early 50’s when he asked,”Have you no decency sir?”
As IWhunt notes above the Democratic Party establishment seems to increasingly have no shame or decency left.
In case anybody in their leadership is loking for intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate spokespeople for the President’s weekly propaganda barrage, I would like to suggest the following:
Bernie Sanders (who says the spokesperson has to be a member of the party–Is Sanchez?
Patrick Lehy
Robert Byrd (shaking hands and all–he makes good costitutional sense!)
Russ Feingold
Dennis Kucinich
Barbara Lee
Lynn Woolsey
Marcy Kaptur
There’s four Senators, four Representatives, men, women, black, white, so why do they grab a CYA flatulent windbag like Sanchez? Because they are trying to be Bush-Lite!
Female U.S. soldiers afraid to go to the bathroom for fear of being raped by other U.S. soldiers…and dying of dehydration consequently…
What pigs. I feel sorry for the future generations.
My personal experience in trying to “educate” people about what’s going on is like trying to tell them that their father was a serial killer disguised as a good, kind, father. They respond with “if that was really going on, ‘they’ would do something about it” or “if that was going on, we would have certainly heard about it.” Of course they only listen to MSM and the public relations spin by the administration and don’t listen or read Democracy NOW, Common Dreams, Noam Chomsky, et al and consider these as lunatic fringe or conspiracy theorists. Even my best friend who is a professor of English and History from Detroit, (so-called educated person and thinks of himself as a left-wing socialist) takes all his information from the New York Times and refuses to go see Michael Moore movies, refuses to go to some of these websites, etc. Me thinks he’s an elitist snob with an attitude that alternative media is unsubstantiated information devoid of researched facts populated by populist, uneducated alarmists who couldn’t possibly know what’s really going on. aaagghhh….
Of course not. After all your two political parties are very much two sides of the same coin. A Canadian Loonie has two sides a bird and a monarch, yet it is one coin. The coin is the same single entity, so too are the political parties of the usa. A Canadian loonie is useful for getting lottery tickets, a cheap cup of coffee or a loaf of bread. The Yankee loonies are going to nuke Iran.
Indeed. The “left” is a sham in the United States anymore. It is made up and led largely by disaffected sixties radicals who are still trying to “make amends” for their so-called “excesses” of the period, which they are convinced are on a par with the atrocities the pricks who own this country visited on the civilian population of Vietnam. They learned nothing from the Old left- whose practical experience they’ve kicked to the side- and they’ve nothing but postmodern nostrums to pass on to the newer generations, because they’ve excised all “grand narrative” as “generalizations from dead white males”. They are lazy and stupid, and being middle aged is no excuse. Their parents were smarter than they were, and they had half the “education” these people have.
So here we all are, starting from scratch. If we survive the next two decades sans radiation, it will be a miracle.
It’s too bad those women didnt relieve themselves into a plastic bag. They wouldnt have had to leave their room. Sorry that is gross. However, dying as they did is even grosser!!!!!!!!
Thank you Amy Goodman.
For anyone interested in Progressive reform the democrats are hopeless. They have been compromising, selling out, enabling, triangulating and bashing their base for so long they have no reason to exist anymore.
This is not from spinelessness or lack of understanding. They have (with only a handfull of exceptions) totally accepted the Corporate vision of America, both in foreign and domestic policy.
So it is time to stop hoping that “if only a REAL democrat could be nominated” things would get back to normal. Hillary Clinton and the DLC are the REAL democrats today.
I for one, will no longer heed the cries of the “realists” i.e.the Dem apologists and enablers with their lesser of two evils BS and their fear mongering and their pathetic attempts to “just give them a little more time”.
The realists have gotten us into this mess. The ones who have said that to beat Republicans you have to be nice to them, adopt or enable their basic agenda, be bipartisan and tell your Progressive base to “shut up, you have no where else to go”.
Well, we do have other, Greener, places to go. We will not vote for Hillary Clinton, unless maybe one of the Dems disgraced former Generals tortures us into doing so!
Better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it….Eugene Debs
notsonaive,
you are so right. It is hard to make others understand and educate them, they usually get offended. And since I am young and not an American, they think I don’t know what I’m talking about.
eshu: you are so right. as a “baby-boomer” myself who was energized way back then by the “we can change the world” songs, i can only say that my generation - maybe the first to challenge the status quo on a big scale - deserves the hell we currently live in. “you shall know the truth (and we glimpsed a little of it) and the truth shall make you…” what? better consumers? yuppies? sell-outs? Bill Clinton? that we have not done better by the world may be forgiven; that we have not challenged our children to do better is cardinal.
“i am constantly awaiting a rebirth of wonder…”
Another day, another atrocity catalogued by common dreams dot org. This site really needs to change its name to common nightmares dot org since each news item is like a nightmare we are all experiencing while fully awake.
“…the greatest enemy of Democracy is bald faced hypocrisy!”
— Crazy Bird
It’s not a question whether Democrats have shame, but sometimes it IS a question whether they use brains, and this one certainly calls that into guestion.
As for Amy Goodman, though, if she really wanted to see a change in administration from Republican to anything else whatsoever, she’d make use of her considerable talent on a better class of subjects.
greensolutions received this response from Feinstein: “At this time, however, I believe that impeachment proceedings against President Bush will only divide the country even further, frustrating our hopes for a meaningful change in direction, while having little chance of success.”
Again, I say, this Senator and others who toss this line out, are the ones who are actually trying to divide this country, because we the people are united in saying: “Get the scoundrels out by impeachment, now!”
The trouble is that the citizens in townhall meetings, etc. treat their elected officials with so much deference, that the well-paid and well-manicured idiots think they know better than the American People. It’s time for a little impoliteness, I say!
Democrats and Republicans relate like teenagers and adults? No?
The majority of Americans have no shame, why should the loyalbushieDems be any different? Are we ashamed of the million+ Iraqi civilians killed? The more than two million injured? Are we ashamed that we illegally invaded a non-threatening sovereign nation simply to control resources? Are we ashamed that we have the largest prison pop on the planet? Are we ashamed that we’re just 5% of the world’s population but we still produce 25% of the pollution? Are we ashamed that over 60% of us are severely overweight while millions of children go hungry everyday right down the street?
The Dems are just a reflection of the people they supposedly represent.
Geat article, dopey title. They have never had shame and never will, until they are handcuffed and force paraded through the public streets with their crimes written on a board over their heads like convicted Chinese dope dealers. At the end of the march they are forced to their knees and shot with a single bullet that their family pays for. That’s shame. Anything less is jerking off.
Bypass them. Go over their heads. There is a movement starting. Read my post on the previous article.
I’ve managed to convert one midwest red-state Republican, but he can’t see anyone to trust at this point. That’s the problem, those that want to come over to us have nothing to come over to. His friends are middle America Republicans too, and all of them have lost their moorings. BUT THERE’S NO ONE TO SPEAK TO THEM. They see the Democratic party the way we do, as totally failing the test.
The Dems in Congress have it all wrong. They are afraid of the Republican base, when droves of Republicans would follow them if they only had the courage of their convictions. Those Reps above the brain-dead base see the corruption as well as we do. But the opportunity to speak to them through courageous actions to bring an end to corruption is lost because of our Dem leaders’ craven fear and cowardice.
Dennis Kuchinch is the only hope for the Dims
after that
Ralph Nader Will do.
oh!!
computers cannot be trusted to count / tally votes [period]
Why is there no push for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)? No one seems to address this issue. I appear to be the only one crying out in the wilderness. Change in a democracy is inherently slow; IRV will speed up this process.
Until the morality of our people evolves from an individualistic into a balanced individual-collective one, we will continue to have people voting based on fear of being on the losing side, or the dislike of a candidate (or their positions).
“Kucinich can’t win” will cause more people not to vote for him because of the all or nothing nature of voting in the current system.
People, at least, debate this topic will you?
I truly do appreciate this site.
This is the very first I am hearing about female soldiers dying because of fear of rape.
I was in Fayetteville, NC when the troops came home after Desert Storm… and it was probably the scariest place I’ve ever been. The rape and spouse abuse went absolutely through the roof! It was not a good place to be, especially for women- even soldier women.
This is an example of the ugly truth that must be told in order to demystify our war/victory culture.
People will accept war if it does not affect them- personally or through horrific stories.
Strength through Peace!
Grren solutions! :
The letter you have so graciously entered from Feinstein is an exact duplicate of latest missive from my Congresswoman’s office (Zoe Lofgren, D-CA San Jose)
Practice your Seig Heils before the next regime comes in (or the current one extended).
Thought Shaman,
The all-or-nothing election system is virtually hard wired into our nat’l and state gov’ts. But relax. Our old and rickety system has an express ticket to history’s ashbin.
the issue with Mukasey is not waterboarding. the issue is that he puts Bush above the law.
frank1569 nailed it:
“Are we ashamed of the million+ Iraqi civilians killed? The more than two million injured? Are we ashamed that we illegally invaded a non-threatening sovereign nation simply to control resources? Are we ashamed that we have the largest prison pop on the planet? Are we ashamed that we’re just 5% of the world’s population but we still produce 25% of the pollution? Are we ashamed that over 60% of us are severely overweight while millions of children go hungry everyday right down the street?”
Questions worth repeating. Have we no shame?
“They were afraid to go to the latrine at night to urinate, for fear of being raped by fellow soldiers:”
soldiers who volunteer to fight an illegal war and kill innocent civilians are afraid of their own fellow soldiers?!?!?! say it ain’t so…
www.therealnews.com
Regarding:
“I wish someone could give me statistics on how many people watch Democracy Now on a regular basis and we would know what percentage of our nation is truly informed educated,…”
Macleans Magazine published a statistic years ago that I’ve remembered ever since. Numbers might be somewhat out of date now. Back then more Americans thought like typical Canadians than there were Canadians (a minority of those same Canadians of course themselves not thinking like typical Canadians, but rather holding more right wing American attitudes). But only one in four Americans fell into this category. The difference between our two societies, for those in both societies who “think like typical Canadians” is the being comfortable as part of the majority here in Canada, or feeling somewhat flustrated as an insignificant minority near incapable of changing anything if one lives in the US.
After reading this article, if anyone says voting for anyone less than a front runner is wasting your vote, tell them their vote will waste this country.
Amy Goodman’s journalist work is brilliant. When I was younger I.F. Stone brought light to the darkness of the 1950’s. Amy is in that tradition and I salute her. The fact that her program is not broadcast on my regional public radio station, WAMC, is one of the main reasons that I do not listen to or subscribe to it.
I don’t mind that Sanchez appeared for the Dems; I mind that he appeared out of uniform–prison uniform.
Poet: It wasn’t David Lillenthal, whoever he is. It was Attorney Joseph Welch. See the entry in Wikipedia.
David Lillienthal was the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
“Have they no shame?”
It’s weird that Amy Goodman is still asking this question 40 years after the Democrats and Republicans cooperated to sacrifice 58,000 Americans and 2,000,000 Vietnamese for bullshit in Vietnam.
“Have they no shame?”
Harharharhar!!!
Hey Amy! Were you really born yesterday, or what?
Correct-o.
They have no shame.
Why should they?
Shame means feeling that there’s something the matter with you since you did a dastardly thing to a person with whom you can psychologically identify.
The definition of a psychopath is that they lack the capacity for identifying with others. There is neither guilt or shame. Their definition of dastardly things does not include theri own acts. They consider themselves emotionally entitled to do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. A dastardly thing is what someone else does, only. Its some thing done by another that gets in your way. That’s dastardly.
If you haven’t noticed by now, the people in charge of our nation are psychopaths. Therefore, there is no reason to expect them to have shame.
If the Democrats are so simple minded that they think that by putting up Ricardo Sanchez to speak for them they will win the Hispanic vote they have another thing coming.
The Republicans tried it with Gonzales, a peon from the word go for his master Jorgito Matojo. Now the Democrats try this racist trick too.
Sanchez is a good student of the precepts of the School of the Americas on torture. Instead of applying it in Latin America like others he applied it in Iraq.
Maldito sean todos los facistas!
A majority of the US electorate have been reduced [due to a number of converging factors] to the level of pre-verbal, drooling infants.
This majority is only aware of, and concerned with, what is directly placed in front of their face by Big Brother [read: corrupt Mainstream News Media in collusion with corrupt Government.)
Average Americans, I would submit, have lost all meaningful capacity for critical, independent thought and action. They have come to exist as consumers of commercially packaged government, instead of sovereign, thoughtful electors.
Clear and telling is this: If the MSM don’t cover an issue or news story, then that story or issue is not real for the majority; such thoughts do not exist for them: Thoughts which have not been ‘legitimated’ by the Authorities are no longer part of the citizens’ world.
Meanwhile, the MSM and commercial Madison Ave advertizers and major political parties continue their daily bombardment of hypnotizing propaganda, to wit: ” You/We Americans are the most fortunate, free, choice-pampered, politically sophisticated, and all-around-lucky people in the world! etc., etc.
When in fact: The absurdity and vileness of what is happening to our country is enough to induce a sane person to vomit on a daily basis.
I am embarrassed to say it: but I have to increasingly beat back my gut inclination to give-up on doing m part to help improve my own country –the unchallenged dishonesty and decadence being so deep, so systematiclly ingrained in so many people.
DANIEL DAVID, in his post above, finally admits that, amidst all this horrendous - and avoidable -national collapse, the Democrats are not acting so smart.
Not so smart??
Is that all you can offer, dear well-meaning Dan? As everything good that America used to be, is increasingly, irretrieivably shat-down into the sewer of History — most horribly, by its own peoples’ fallen consciousness?
Dont’ you see a frightening situation, here, dear Dan, well beyond your perfunctory rhetoric?
Republican or Dem, they are all the same. Modern day Nazis drapped in the flag of the United States. We are paying these assholes far too much money to subvert OUR Constitution. They have forgotten that THEY work for US. Time for the wood shed.
“At this time, however, I believe that impeachment proceedings against President Bush will only divide the country even further, frustrating our hopes for a meaningful change in direction, while having little chance of success.”
- Amy Goodman
Green Solutions - I hope your response blasted Goodman for such an absurd stand on impeachment.
What Goodman needs as well as those who say those things can’t be happening is a continual dosage of photos of uranium intoxicated babies, the wombs of women that had to be cut out after having sex with returning soldiers, and the bodies of cluster bombed children - all not in the name of oil but for the oil profits of the Hunt oil company.
Words don’t do it alone. The only time I get a visceral human response and thoughts that something really wrong is going on here is with the DU babies and cluster bombed kids - it’s the only way to counter Cheney’s control over the media.
One last blast at Goodman - she may be a great journalist but this is a time when we need great humans. Anyone condoning the treasonous and inhumane behavior of Bush/Cheney are lacking some warmth in their own blood stream.
Impeachment, impeachment, impeachment!
Hold the line…impeach!
Have no fear! If Clinton gets the nomination, she will be resoundingly defeated by any Republican candidate except perhaps Tom Tancredo. See the latest Zogby Poll. If some other Democrat gets the nod, the Dems will most certainly find a way to commit political suicide. They always do. So the next president will be yet another glassy-eyed, slack-jawed homicidal Republican with an IQ under 100. Possibly the ubiquitous Zeke Hyle. Gray Shirts aren’t any better than Black Shirts, as we have found out since the first Tuesday in November of 2006.
puck twain (7:18 pm) launches into a vicious denunciation of Amy Goodman, mistakenly thinking that Goodman made the anti-impeachment comment.
Actually, it was Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D Calif) that made the comment. Sheesh.
puck twain (7:18) Amy Goodman didn’t make the quote you say she did. It was made by Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Amy is one of the ‘good guys’.
Republicans. Democrats. What’s the difference?? As long as corporations (=big money) control the political system we, the citizens, are screwed. Can you say FASCISM?!?!
jakejaspers,
Yes, I do see a “frightening situation”, since you asked. I see Democrats making some errors, progressives and other above-the-fray-style critics bashing them needlessly for those errors, and Republicans winning again from the negative fallout. And I don’t see it as a good thing, therefore finding myself in constant wonder why anyone with sense is willing to play along. BTW, what side are you on?
Sense or something else?
“dear Dan”
LORD OF THE FLIES syndrome — Without sound leadership these neanderthals revert back to barbarism. Not to mention, if we had true, honest leadership in this country we wouldn’t be in Iraq to begin with.
Democracy Now is the only think I watch on TV. Hurrah for Amy Goodman. I am a 63 year old woman who was a Red Cross volunteer in Vietnam. I have never been healthy after returning. I have been fighting the fascists ever since, but those of us who are left are dying because we can’t get the healthcare we need from the VA, AMA, SocialSecurity run healthcare system in this country any more than the current vets. Every day I hear about someone else I knew in Vietnam dying a horrible death from aggressive cancers. Not only is the world controlled by the fascist US military corporate cartel but also Global warming, certainly caused by human activity but not the way most people think. Just google “weather wars” and starting thinking!
Take a look at the rosters - the only contest that would benefit the citizenry would be Ron Paul vs. either Mike Gravel or Bill Richardson (none of whom seem to get mentioned in te MSM. )
Wouldn’t want Bush’s karma for all the oil in China.
gee dudleydoright,
Maybe Bush is doing exactly the right thing - bringing down the US by openly carrying out policies that leaders in the past have carried out in secret. Maybe he represents the karma of the fascist states of amerika.
“If fascism ever comes to America ,it will be wrapped in an American flag”
Huey Long
“puck twain (7:18 pm) launches into a vicious denunciation of Amy Goodman, mistakenly thinking that Goodman made the anti-impeachment comment.”
Well “shame” on me.
Though I have read Goodman and, like the New York Times Editors, make scathing comments within sterling journalistic presentations about Bush/Cheney without any call for impeachment. Has anyone here heard her personal view on impeachment?
My main point though, and personal belief, is that when these atrocities of the Bush/Cheney cabal are presented they can be, and for impeachment to occur - should be, linked to the list of impeachable offenses or stated as an impeachable offense.
(and of course when ever possible in conjunction with the witness for DU babies and cluster bombed children)
In recent on-air poll by CNN that asked the question,are the democratic candidates addressing the issues that are important to you?
95% of the respondents answered, NO!
Anthrax. Remember that? It was sent only to Democratic Senators and critics of the Bush family. It came from the US government and was curiously timed to follow the 9-11 hijackings.
The powers that be in the Democratic Party don’t give a damn what the voters think. They will do NOTHING more to help the people or stop the war than they have done in the past year. Bought and Paid For 100%.
Mencius says, “To be without shame, that is the greatest shame indeed!”
I want to rail this despicable system, and at the same time I feel utterly speechless. When I think about all the shit, it always leads back to the cesspool called the u.s.government, and the unbroken reign of the classist and racist elites of this country. Thank God, Amy did what I couldn’t do. Peace-
notsonaive November 28th, 2007 12:50 pm wrote:
Me thinks he’s an elitist snob with an attitude that alternative media is unsubstantiated information devoid of researched facts populated by populist, uneducated alarmists who couldn’t possibly know what’s really going on. aaagghhh….
I think your ‘best friend’ is not necessarily an elitist snob, as much as just that he is living in fear. I really think that many people (especially the educated ones) do intuitively feel that something is terribly wrong but they are just afraid of facing it. Especially since they regard seeing things a certain way like stepping into the ‘fringe’ of society, one step into the direction of madness. And indeed, you can understand, knowing what I know and what I’ve learnt through all these sources, it sometimes makes me mad as hell. But in the end I have to cope with it, this is the world we’re living in; this is being realistic. Life goes on, even though we know it’s pretty fucked up.
We must somehow convince people that by letting go of their fear of the ‘fringe’, they step into a welcoming world full of friendly people, where people can laugh and cry, but where people also have a realistic view of the world around us. That is quite a mission, I guess.
Notsonaive - I have found it’s more like trying to convince an abused child in denial that their parents were drug addicted, alcoholic, pedophiliac serial killers (which according to the historical record, they actually were). Unfortunately, being in denial, they will become hysterically enraged and kill you for saying it. “Die Traitorous Scum!” You know the drill.
RadicalConfucian - beg to differ. Mencius got it wrong - “To be without shame, that is the greatest FREEDOM for the sociopath indeed!” This is the Perfect Storm for a genocidal Empire that has gotten away with every piece of nasty business it has ever perpetrated. And we’re about to make it a crime to say so.
After all, there are 750,000 American citizens on the Watch List. Have you made it yet? Next comes the big HS truck and the long ride to the desert. It appears to be getting a lot shittier before it ever gets better again, if it does.
Bon Apetite, RadicalConfucian. You did say you picked this life deliberately and you are in 150% control of everything that happens to you, right? Then everything should be just fine. Just checking.
Speaking of Your Parents, I am of their generation but I’m nobody’s Daddy. DO NOT make the mistake of believing that vast numbers of my fellows became happy hippies, rejected competition, the search for material wealth, social class and status, and in general rejected the normal, cannibalistic “suck up piss down” stucture of our society. They didn’t reject any of that, and most of them will never vote for a Black or a Woman. Welcome to the AmeriKKKA I’ve come to know over the last three score years. We did not fail to reform a corrupt society, we affirmed the tribal values of our flat-earth pastoralist killer-nomad ancestors: Authoritarian, Patriarchal, Paternalistic and characterized by Aryan Male Supremacy, Human slavery, Gender slavery, Massive child abuse, Constant War, and Genocide. That’s the AmeriKKKa we REALLY believe in. See anything in there about a Bill of Rights? Within two generations NO ONE will ever mention it and it will not be taught in schools. Seig Heil mon freres et sorors.
Peace.
Peace.
Peace.
“…we affirmed the tribal values of our flat-earth pastoralist killer-nomad ancestors…” I love that band!
Daniel David,
When an organized group keeps “making some errors” long enough and consistently enough, it ceases to look like incompetency and begins to look like sabotage.
I love Amy Goodman, she is one of my favorite journalists and Americas best political gadfly.
But I have a different take on why the democrats used General Sanchez for their weekly radio address.
Because it was a loud shout against the war, he was once the top commanding General in Iraq who now says the war cannot be won, a direct contradiction to what his former commander in chief has to say.
Yes I too am annoyed at the approval of Mukasey but this was a defection of 2 democrats on the judiciary committee.
Basically, I see the attorney general appointment as a tribal issue, 2 Jews, Feinstein and Shumer, supporting another Jewish tribal member Mukasey.
Almost 90% of the Democrats voted against Mukasey, while 100% of the Republicans voted for him.
I do not think that this vote constitutes a collapse of the ideals of most in the Democratic Party.
I have a little problem with this inaccurate portrayal of the democrats as though it was their attorney general appointment.
This focus on the democrats playing bad defense all the time, is leading some people to think that it was the dems that initiated these wars and found justification for torture.
Let’s not forget that America’s current moral deterioration is the result of brainstorming among the Republicans and their colleagues at the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation, conservative warmongers, who are responsible for the policies now in effect.
They are also admiring students of the Ayn Rand philosophy of greed is good.
So I only ask for a little “fair and balanced” coverage when discussing the difference between playing defense and playing offense.
Did anyone ever conjecture about what type of nominees we would get from the white house if a democrat were president?
It is a different ballgame when you are making the nominations rather than constantly trying to fend off detestable choices like Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia, Rumsfeld, Rice, Bolton.
A chief executive is usually entitled to the people he or she wants to hire.
Under a democratic president I think we will have nominees that are far more acceptable to progressives, so instead of trying to stop nominees we will be fending off republican protests.
If a democrat other than Kucinich gets elected I think the best we can hope for are small incremental steps toward a progressive future.
But we can build on a democratic victory and help give Dennis a stronger voice through our encouragement and our dollars.
He is young, idealistic and energetic and can hopefully be our next president, but if he does not complete the journey this time, surely he is building up enough momentum so the little train that couldn’t, will next time be the large locomotive that could.
If a republican gets elected, I not only fear for the future of my country but predict a continuing backslide of constitutional rights, erosion of social programs and escalation of war.
The Dems are willing to ignore the far left 5% of its (possibly former) constituency in favor of currying the support of larger numbers of middle American ungulates - people who speak and think in the simplistic language piped in by the MSM - on the political supposition that on voting day when the chips are down and we are faced with a choice between cold oatmeal and Guiliani we’ll have nowhere to go but back to the fold. This very much pisses me off. Why have we nowhere to go? This is what Nader was shouting in our ear seven years ago. Our ship of state is a huge beast, sailing off in a wrong direction, with the two traditional parties taking turns at the tiller.
It takes 12 or 16 or 20 years to build a viable political party, but once it is accomplished (as we begin to see in Europe) citizens can once again stand with their own people without completely throwing away their power.
We need to think ahead, like long distance runners, like the people who put out forest fires. Clinton isn’t going to save us from Guiliani. Forget it. Forget 2012. We’re in for a horror show either way. I hope Kucinich does well in the primaries. I hope third parties do well in the coming election, well enough to attract solid leadership and receive public funding.
Irish Bear,
“Daniel David, When an organized group keeps “making some errors” long enough and consistently enough, it ceases to look like incompetency and begins to look like sabotage.”
I agree completely. But what I don’t get is why most readers hear at CD want to apply that standard mostly to their follow liberals, ignoring the worse effects of their competition. From the standpoint of citizens, most of the federal decisions of the last seven years have been both error and sabatage, Iraq, Patriot Act, tax cuts too big, interest rates too small, Alito and Roberts, Cheney as VP, No Child Left Behind, Immigration policy targeted at everybody EXCEPT the employers who created the magnet, on and on and on.
People who do not support Democrats are just going to get more of the same, because, as much as we like Dennis, Cindy, Ralph, and a few others, they are not going to be in power, not in 2008, not ever. Why is reality not perceptible by so-called progressives?
Something I learned some years ago while learning psychology in school. Most politicians are likely to be SOCIOPATHS which will help many here understand how bent this is. Look it up. As you begin to understand then you’ll understand further how we end where we are today with this kind running our lives (most are are just ignorant of this fact). They do it so insiduously and cleverly that you’d never suspect it. Most will undeniably escape the label but hidden beneath is their coy manipulating of all people, factors, truth, etc.., in their path. You may wonder how they sleep at night, very well indeed. What troubles them is whose head they need to step on next. This little tidbit may help awaken some here to this horrifying truth. The only way we can clamp on these master manipulators is by exposing them to the truth. It is the only way. Good Luck! You’ll need it. These politicians are crafty, and damn good at it.
I know some here know what I’m saying and found this same truth. It’s not easy but once you know at least you know what we’re up against. ANd, cool calculated lying is only the half of it!
Daniel David,
It’s not that I only want to apply standards to fellow liberals; rather, I do in fact want to apply the same standards to both parties. Absolutely — that is sort of my problem. Why do some of us continue to give the Democrats our hope despite all available evidence to the contrary? Why would we not hold them to the same standards as Republicans? Maybe some of us appear to be targeting Democrats only because we seem to all agree that the evil of the Republicans goes without saying. Not much sense wasting breath on them anymore. Not many people are going about pretending Republicans will instigate some radical, positive change of course.
On the other hand, it feels like too many of us keep believing that the Democrats will be the bearers of some significant change. Right? But we keep falling for their same routines over and over. I disagree — the people who DO support Democrats are just going to get more of the same. Absolutely no tangible reason to think otherwise. You can keep faith, but I need evidence. Don’t Democrat actions count more than their words?
From my perspective, this is not a matter of speculation or opinion — simply examine the evidence. I too used to believe in them and hoped they would act like an “opposition” party. But show me where they have? Honestly, I would LOVE to believe again. It was more comfortable having hope like before… but now it just seems so blatant, so obvious, so grotesque, that I couldn’t live with lying to myself anymore. Are you gonna believe campaign promises or you gonna believe your own eyes? Iraq, Patriot Act, and the rest of your list — why be pissed if an R voted for them, but not pissed at a D?
I agree with you that pretty much every available alternative at this point is a long, hard, probably unlikely road… granted. We’re in a bad place with almost nowhere to turn. Even still, it only makes sense to me to start the alternatives NOW. You’re on a sinking ship. Multiple hull breaches. No land in any direction for hundreds of miles. What makes more sense to you: put your head down and get to rowing that lifeboat, as far and hopless as it may look from here, or stay aboard and just keep on bailing water? Maybe we make it to shore, maybe we don’t, but I’d sure rather start closing that gap. It only gets worse the longer you wait. More capitulation, more collaboration, deeper down the hole we go with them every day. Write more letters, visit more offices, reprimand and scold and warn them… for what? As long as you continue to believe they are the only alternative, they know they owe you nothing. You’ll support them no matter what they do. They won’t care what you think until you withdraw your support. I think that by now it’s clear that everything we’ve already tried isn’t working. Are you happy with the results so far? What part of the strategy you’re suggesting is new and hasn’t been tried yet?
voxclamantis,
Good analogy with the firefighters — another one I’d offer is a good chess player. Stop trying to react to only the next move, because that’s precisely where your opponent wants you. You cannot win from that position. As long as you’ll follow me only one move at a time, I can lead you all around the board wherever I want you to go. We must begin thinking a couple of moves ahead. Let’s stop chasing a carrot on a stick like donkeys (pun intended, har, har) and for once turn around to see just who is holding that stick? Why does the carrot always stay just out of our reach?
The Democrats chose the lesser of two evils when voting to confirm Mukasey. The other option would have been to delay the confirmation and leave for holiday break, giving Bush the opportunity to appoint some unknown, right-wing, civil rights and free-speech hating, torture fanatic. The dems chose the “known” over the “unknown.”
Daniel David.
Why do you say that these people are not going to be in power - not ever ?
Nelson Mandela was also predicted to never be in power.