A Pass on Torture - Me Too?

Late Friday, in order to bury the news story in the weekend, the Obama Justice Department announced that they were not going to investigate the authors of the infamous Torture Memos any more. That's it, done. Look forward, not back.

Jay Bybee and John Yoo were asked by the Cheney Administration to write memos that said torture was legal. They did it. Then, Bush/Cheney authorized the military and CIA to use waterboarding and other methods of torture on captives. When asked why they allowed torture, the Bush Administration said "our lawyers said it was okay." The most powerful people in America demanded memos from their employees, got them, and then used the memos to break the law.

How is this legal? I don't see how. But former prosecutor Elliot Spitzer was on Bill Maher last weekend and claimed that these memos are the Bush/Cheney get out of jail free cards. He said that "advice of council" was a very strong defense. Basically, if you break the law, and then claim in court that you had asked your lawyer before taking the illegal action, and was told to go ahead - no problem, you will not be held accountable. You ASKED a bar-certified legal expert before acting, supposedly in good faith.

So, if you accept the good faith argument from Bush and Cheney, which I don't, you still have to ask yourself: is there any way that Bybee and Yoo should have written the memos? Most "experts" I have heard through the media have said "no." The waterboarding was and is torture, and clearly illegal under the law.

Yoo wasn't happy with just the torture argument though. When pressed Yoo claimed that the President could go as far as committing murder if the country was at war. You know, like a "War on Terror" that technically never ends.

Both Yoo and Bybee were found guilty of "professional misconduct" by a Justice Department Internal Affairs audit.

Friday, the Justice Department cleared both Torture Memo lawyers. The word was that they had shown "poor judgement," but could go on with their flourishing legal careers. Yoo is a Law Professor at Cal Berkely, and Bybee is an Appellate Court justice. A fine reward for facilitating the breaking of both U.S and international laws.

This sets a horrible precedent. All any president needs to do now is dust off these memos, and "poor judgement" be damned, torture away. Or shit, even murder. After all, when are we going to not be at war with terrorists?

What's even worse, is that this turns upside-down one of the most foundational values of our great country, established in the Constitution: Rule of Law. We were founded on the notion that LAWS rule us, not MEN. To give certain men, even if they are presidents, freedom to commit horrible crimes outside of the law is to make our nation into something different. Something less great.

And goddamit, Obama was a constitutional law professor! He should know better than to allow this from his Justice Department. By kicking this down the road for political expediency he drives a nail into the coffin of our Republic. Giving presidents the power of life, death or torture over individuals in their grasp is to make a despotic king of that president - something we revolted against for good reason and effect. To return now to the Middle Ages way of ruling makes no sense.

And, it is also not fair.

I am assuming, that because I am not powerful enough to intimidate lawyers, even if I could afford them, that I cannot get similar memos. I mean, sometimes, people piss me off too! Goddam neighbors and their noise, people who drive too slow in the left lane, people who listen to "new country"! I'm almost sure these kind of people are terrorists!

Shouldn't I be able to strap those fuckers to my kitchen table, drape a towel over their faces and dump the water on? Hell yeah! Won't the police, the FBI and the Justice Department "look forward, not back" as I go on my rampage against selected local terrorists? If we are still a land of equality, then hell yes they will.

I don't want special treatment, just what any American should expect these days. I should be free to torture, and even murder in a time of war. Can I get a memo?!!

More likely, I will be arrested and convicted. Maybe I can appeal to Jay Bybee if my case can make it that far. But how about large corporations? Watch the Toyota drama as it works its way through Congress and the courts. If they are paying attention, they will say: "we asked our lawyers to write a memo. It said 'fuck fixing those cars, just ignore it'."

Once again, when I should be bashing Republicans, I have to scold the weakness and short-sightedness of Obama. Damn him for allowing this cancer to fester in the body of the Republic. I used to think he knew better, and sadly, I'm not sure he does. And now we have a country where the powerful literally get away with murder.

A Word that Costs Billions (And Kills Many Thousands)

Last week, a man named Joseph Stack flew his small plane into the side of the IRS building in Austin, Texas. The crash and explosion damaged the building, shattered glass and caused a big fire. Apparrantly, the plane contained not only a deranged software engineer, but extra amounts of combustible fluid - with the intent of causing more damage.

The White House quickly made a statement. It said that this was a "criminal act," not an act of terrorism.

Say what?...

Since when is flying a plane into a downtown building NOT an act of terrorism in the United States. That comment from our president defies logic. Jesus, do I really have to quote the obvious: "Nine-Eleven!"

C'mon, commentators have already pointed out that if this guy's name was "Abdul" there would be no question that it was terrorism. Or, maybe not. Maybe Obama is so afraid of Republican criticism of his handling of the war on terror that Osama Bin Laden himself could fly a plane into the Oval Office and it would be called an FAA flight path error.

But what worries me is not the racial or religious aspect of whether this was terror or not, nor even the part of politics that wants to avoid the right wing terror talking points. It's how much more money we are going to spend fighting something we can't even define. We have spent billions, goddammit - hundreds of billions fighting the war on terror, and now, I can't even tell you what terror is in a commonly acceptable way.

And the fact that I can't tell you does not mean I'm stupid. It means that the word "terror" is the new key to the treasury, the troops and the Constitution. It is a word used at the convenience of our leaders to spend truck-loads of cash on defense contracts, or to escalate wars, or to take away our rights. Cheney/Bush did it, and now it seems that Obama is doing it.

"Terror" or "terrorism" are words that, since 911, invoke a visceral fear, hatred and desire for revenge in most Americans. The words have been given racial (Arab) and religious (Muslim) connotations - we are meant to have a picture in our heads when we hear those words. We are meant to react to that picture in a "no questions asked" way. When we hear "terrorism" we are expected to see a turban-wearing, bearded, olive-skinned Arab man who cites the Koran and declares his intention to destroy us and everything we stand for. The ultimate enemy. When the government says "terror" we don't ask questions, we demand that it's no holds barred! Whatever it costs, whomever we must invade, however we must interrogate...it doesn't matter.

So, when a non-Arab American with a tax beef plows his plane into a government building, well, there's no country to invade, nobody to waterboard, no rights to take away and no big military contract to fulfill (yet!). So it's a criminal act by a deranged individual. The key-word terrorism is not needed, so it is not used.

Words matter. And the words "terror" and "terrorism" matter in our current political and popular cultures. We must recognize that we have been conditioned to react to certain words now, just like words of the past. The word "communism" led people to shit their pants, and spend mega cash and lives in two major wars (Korean and Vietnam) and several minor ones. We look back now at the reactions to the "red scare" and the fallout from Vietnam and shake our heads. But we should see how we are being led down the same path now.

Don't fall for "terror." Or, in this case "not terror." "Terrorism" is the word that is meant to get you not to question your leaders, and champion whatever stupid thing they want to do. Don't fall for it. Demand an intellectual accounting of any action taken by our leaders, not a gainsay of any action taken because "terror" was mentioned.

Americans, CHALLENGE this word "terror." Don't just take Rush's, or Rachel's, or Obama's word on what "terror" means when they are using it. Don't take the bait, instead bait the users of this most charged word in use in America today.

Terror!

Several Small Rants

1. 70% of Americans say Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president - No shit! If you are a tea-bagger, or a flat-earth-is-6000-years-old Republican, you don't care about her qualifications. She's your girl. The rest of us average, over-worked and under-paid Americans KNOW she's an idiot. Unless you live in a cave with no satellite TV you have heard her speak. Hearing her speak, you shake your head and wonder why you are hearing such a dunce mangle simple grammar while failing to make a cogent point. And the writing on the hand thing - 8th grade! I teach 8th grade, and that's what 8th grade girls do - write on their hands, arms and friends. This is like running a mean, stupid 8th grade girl for president.

My take, however, is that she may be OVER-qualified to be president. Apparently, the main qualification to be president of the United States is to suck the 'roni out of corporate dick. Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama all have scabby knees and a quick spit to the campaign coffers. Palin should be a natural. She was mired in corruption scandals in Alaska, and then quit governance (you know, actual work), to cash in on the lecture and TV parade. As President, she would have knee-pads to go with every outfit. By the way, mean and stupid? Bush was mean and stupid and served two terms. Maybe Palin should serve three?

2. Lost Generation? - I wonder if the lack of hope, let alone audacity in the Obama presidency has already wholly disaffected the youth vote that supported him in historically large numbers. (Traditionally, this demographic votes in the less than 20% range.) An ENTIRE GENERATION of Democratic-leaning voters was there for the taking. The under-thirties have heard from their cynical parents (like me) what scum-bags politicians are, and how the game is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. Yet With some fight, and the forward movement of a progressive agenda, you know, some drama, the Democratic Party could have counted on the 18 - 30 vote to push the percentages.

However, Obama has so far proven us cranky old fucks right like no reality TV show could. In Massachusetts, the youth vote stayed home. Now, Obama is not as cool, he is with the bankers, and the health care companies. And, he has not ended the wars. And even worse, he gets his ass kicked by people like Mitch McConnel and John "Boner." What self-respecting Sherpa-hat wearing slacker is going to bother to vote for that?

3. Black Leaders Pissed at Obama - Al Sharpton and the head of the NAACP came out this week and asked "WTF?" They basically wondered aloud, to the media, "why is the first African American president the white bankers' bitch?" I know, you say that's over the top. But I say selling us out in plain sight, and then pretending the "change" we wanted was this phony "bipartisanship" is over the top! If you are the first black president, and the NAACP is criticizing you, AND you can't get shit done, you need to fire Rahm Emanuel quick! I'm not saying hire Reverend Wright, but Howard Dean would do. Howard Dean would never have lost Massachusetts...or health care.

4. The Republican 41 Seat Majority - Seriously, I have heard those words twice in the last week. "Forty one seat majority" in a senate of 100 people. And it wasn't done tongue-in-cheek! This is the meme that is in the mainstream media. And I listen to mostly liberal or public radio during my commute.

Never mind that 41/100 does not come to more than half. Never mind that the MATH DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! (And I mean BASIC math, grade school math, the kind that is not in question or open to interpretation.) The fact is that the Republicans are the MINORITY in two branches of government, and significantly so. They only hold a majority on the Supreme Court.

All this math means is that the Republicans can filibuster in the Senate. And apparently, in today's political reality, that means that they control government. I have also heard the term "super minority" bandied about. The barely nuanced meme here is that the Republicans must be "reached out to" by Obama and the Democrats, or they are perfectly within their rights, in fact it is perfectly normal, to block the very function of governance for the American people if they don't get everything, and I mean everything they want. I mean, FUCK the majority of the American people who wanted "change" from war, corporate whoredom, the destruction of the Constitution and persecution of gay people.

What this means at the core, though, is "fuck democracy." And the cable and network media propagates this idea. The idea that the minority, the group who lost the election, has the most sway in the debate over policy is degrading to the very idea of democracy. This is what makes people disengage from the political process. It apparently doesn't make a difference if I work hard to elect an candidate who runs on a populist message. It is no different than electing a Republican where major policy is concerned. And give this populist president a vast majority in both houses? For nought, for the most part. People are peeling away from the process rapidly as they see the traditional allies of the Republicans continue to get everything they want at our expense. Good luck turning out the youth vote, the Hispanic vote, and even the black vote in 2010.

And, good luck to all of us. We are pissed, but I don't know if that's enough.