Thursday, September 28, 2006

OpEd wrap up.

Reporting on the best of the week:

Ny Times: Rushing Off a Cliff

Here’s what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans’ fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.

Jason Miller: I Pledge Allegiance to the Corporations

Relentless indoctrination by a vast corporate media complex has convinced many that the United States of America is an exceptional nation. Charged with the sacred duty of preserving Pax Americana, the United States is purported to be the embodiment of the ideals of truth, justice and liberty for all.

Before making firm intellectual commitment to such pleasant fictions, consider these questions:

Why is it that virtually every liberal or progressive proposal for socioeconomic or political change in the United States is still-born, or on the rare occasions it survives the birthing process, it is beaten into submission by a domineering patriarch?

Robert Sheer: A War on Intelligence

It was “decades ago” that the CIA encouraged Muslim fanatics worldwide to go to Afghanistan to fight a holy war against a secular regime backed by the Russians. The end result of that engagement was— after their troop withdrawal and the consequent U.S. attention deficit—a devolution into civil war, warlordism and, eventually, the takeover of the country by Osama bin Laden’s friends, the religiously extreme and oppressive Taliban.

Sound familiar? It should: The same deadly process has been taking place under Bush’s watch in Iraq since our idiotic invasion in 2003.

Bob Geiger: Republicans the Real Cut and Run Cowards

Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their whole craven cabal are scared stiff -- and they want us to all be very afraid as well. How frightened are they? They're so afraid that they are willing to go against everything this country stands for, in a blind panic that they think will somehow protect their sorry asses from the big, bad terrorist bullies.

They are so damn scared that they're willing to take a country that was founded on individual liberty and turn it into a police state -- all out of fear.

Mike Whitney: How did we sink so low in just 6 years?

Here’s what Winston Churchill said about habeas corpus, “The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious, and the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”


5 comments:

Mike V. said...

wow, so it's whining to speak out against a president and administration that is ready, willing and able and ENabled to take down the very foundation of this government?

rather than just a fool, you have proven yourself to be just an asshole.

Tom Harper said...

Great quote by Winston Churchill. The wingnuts will have to start rewriting history and turn him into a whiny moonbat.

Mike V. said...

exactly. just like that moonbat Ike. you know he hated America, too, right?

SheaNC said...

A nice wrap up to describe the beginning of the end of America. Worst expectations realized. Time to go underground?

Mike V. said...

more like time to storm the the fucking castle, man.