George Bush, Barack Obama and a Return to the Rule of Law

Sat Nov 22, 2008 at 03:50:45 PM PST

GWB was off the hook for impeachment, much to the consternation of many Americans, to say nothing for the rest of the world-at-large but in the final analysis maybe that’s how it had to be done? Dems knew if they’d impeached Dubya, Dick ‘Go Fuck Yourself’ Cheney and the rest of Cobra Command that it would only foster the continued resentment amongst an already hugely divided populace. Dems knew smart money was in uniting over dividing and they did what they had to do. Pelosi took it off the table and Obama’s in. Does correlation equal causation? In this case, can we call it a contributing factor? Divide and conquer is how Rove wins elections, unite and transcend may well be the Pelosi-Reid plan as much as it was Barack Obama's.

So, what does it mean? It just depends on what’s more important: Justice for the most corrupt and incompetent administration ever or getting the right person behind the driver’s wheel in one of the most uncertain times in history? Can an Obama presidency be that Justice, then?

At any rate, moving forward, my feeling is the rule of law needs to be preserved. If he and his cronies committed criminal acts they must be tried and if found guilty must be sentenced for them. Ultimately, America is a Nation of Laws or else, as the whole world has recently seen, in horror, it is a Nation of base Corruption and Criminality. There ought be no middle ground. Law is law and no one, not even Bush Jr and dangerous Dick are above it. Getting away with criminality is part of the old regime, not the new one. Right? Right.

The timing? Not right now, obviously. Dubya is poised to do all sorts of creative things with his pardoning power before he inevitably burns the White House to the ground on January 20th, including, possibly, a groundbreaking preemptive personal catch-all pardon for himself and the rest of the neocon rogues, murderers and sneak-thieves for any and all criminal acts committed during the worst administration since Nero.

Just look what he did with his signing statements; turned the whole legislative process on its ear, something only possible if you have a historically corrupt Congress and a historically spineless opposition party. So, what does all that mean? Don’t launch any investigations until the law folk have a good chance to look at the wording of whatever comes out of Dubya’s office in early to mid January.

Once you’re there you have to sell it to the American public in a way that doesn't tear down all the unification, good feeling and outright national healing the Obama victory has generated. It’s a speech by Obama and it’s about Law and it’s about no one being Above the Law. You either respect the Rule of Law or you don't. It’s about an investigation team recognized universally as post partisan. It’s about investigating where applicable and sentencing only if necessary. It is, perhaps most importantly, about showing America’s children that criminality is not allowed by anybody, not even Presidents. And finally, I would argue, it’s about America healing itself.

Love to you, America. I've watched your journey intensively over the last eight years and am so proud you made the decision you did. The whole world pays when you elect stuttering fucktards over intellectual giants strictly because you think they'd be more fun to have beers with. In electing Obama you've given not just yourselves but the whole world somebody we can all look up to. And work with. And effect Change with.

-iSenseChange

p.p. Going to change my name. The era of SensingChange is over. Change is here.

At Zeitgeist’s Zenith: the Slugging of George W. Bush.

“We’ll succeed,” says Georgie under the literal shadow of Ho Chi Minh and ever the apt pupil of History, “if we don’t quit.” This, the lesson Dubya’s chosen to learn from America’s Vietnam adventure. Jesus! What in the Christ does that mean?!? Anybody?!? In a cornucopia of weird things this man has said and done during his presidency alone, how is it he can still surprise me? Gotta hand it to him.

Tell you what I learned from America’s Vietnam Adventure: If you leave, IT DOESN’T MATTER. None of the scary things all the war hawks bleat about ever end up happening. Never. Just as America’s dismal failure in Vietnam never had bupkis to do with either halting or advancing the spread of Communism, so too will America’s inevitable failure in Iraq have nothing to do with the halting or advancing of some UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE, wide ranging, superpowered, Islamofascist Caliphate. A bunch of scary words that don’t amount to a hill of beans. You figure the Shiites and the Sunnis are gonna get together to take over the world? They’re actually blood fucking enemies! And that’s just two of the many splintered and rivalling Islamic sects that have all sorts of ancient reasons to hate one another until the end of time. Another ugly lie from the NeoCon hoard of ugly liars designed to make them and their buddies in the MilitaryIndustrialComplex somehow yet richer.

Speaking of Lies and Liars, Bush may now be impeached. You realize that, yes? Cheney may now be held accountable for his very obvious war profiteering with the ineffectual but now ‘vastly richer for the experience’ Halliburton, also. And he ought. They ought. American Citizens of all stripes, you owe it to all your country holds dear to remove these two men. If you are a politician, get the ball rolling. If you are an American citizen, start writing letters. Do it because these men are scoundrels that deserve it, more than any men in America's checkered political history or do it for the savage beating they delivered to your once grand Constitution but most importantly, do it as an example to the next round of liars and thieves that think they can twist and pervert your American Dream to their own sick ends. A message must be sent to whoever comes next. Nothing else you can do could be more important than that. Period. Get your shit together, America, the rest of us are sick of waiting for it and watching these fucks take what was Great and turn it to Shit.

I had the chance, I’d slug him. Right in the face. Love to. Dubya, I mean. Can’t. No access. But maybe you do? Maybe you’re a congressperson and you’re at a dinner party and President GWB is there and he says or does something really stupid and you just slug him right in the face, hard as you can. What happens? Sure, you get jumped by the secret service, but would they off you? Prob’ly not. So, what happens? Especially if, as a congressperson and pretty much all of yer constituents are glad as hell you did it? The path to the next election may well lay in slugging George Bush in the mouth. Hard as you can. Or maybe it just gets you and extended stay in Leavenworth. Or worse.

Fuck it. I had the chance I’d do it and let the chips fall where they may. No amount of waterboarding would ever remove the smile from my face. But I haven’t access. But maybe you do? Maybe you’re a ten year old winner of the National Spelling Bee and the President is gonna perform some utterly meaningless publicity function (rather than figuring out any kind of realistic solution to the Iraq Problem) that involves you, giving you the access that I lack. Well, here’s what you do: you screw up your little fists and right when he opens his mouth to say something stupid you pop him one, hard as you can. See if you can drop him with a ten-year-old, spelling-bee-champ haymaker and when he looks up at you with tears streaming down his face, right before the savage beating at the hands of the Secret Service, you look him dead in the eyes and tell him you did it for the soldiers. The world will see it and cheer you on, small comfort, perhaps, as thirty years later you’re still wasting away in some dingy prison in Syria (“waterboarding” W-A-T-E-R-B-O-A-R-D-I-N-G, “waterboarding”), but at least you’ll know in yer little heart o’ hearts you did the one thing that entire rest of the world would have loved to do. And you’d be famous! Maybe you write a book or something? There’s money there, kiddo, and ol’ Sensey’s here to help, should you need it. You can bet yer sweet bippy on that.

Have I said enough to be labelled an enemy combatant yet? I’m never certain anymore. Fuck it. Torture, I’m told, builds Character and as for the gulags, well, I’m no stranger to hard work. The fresh air can only do me good at this point.

Peace to you Citizens. Of all stripes. Even those that don’t look or talk like you and me. You dig? You better.

-iSC

p.p. Impeach them or deserve whatever dicks gain power next. You’ll get no sympathy from me and the whole world’ll agree that you deserve it. Wake up. Throw out the trash.

Citizen's Note # 911: inre 'What To Do About George 'Dubya' Bush

IMPEACH HIM. AND EVERYBODY AROUND HIM. FOR YOUR VERY SOULS. AND APOLOGIZE TO THE WORLD. FOR ACTING LIKE DICKS.

That is all.

This message brought to you by the good folks at the SenseChange Center for Positive Change. Thanks, and have a GREAT day.

-iSC

Schoolyard Diplomacy and the Apocalyptic Chicken

Never speak to your enemies. Even if they ask you to. Only threaten them. Because that’s what just always, always works.

Dubya holds True to Form: He’s nuts, first of all. Can we establish that? Nuts. I mean, whatever the measuring stick is, he’s nuts. And he still wants to attack Iran!?! After mismanaging ever single thing he’s ever done in office, including two preemptive and illegal wars and a natural disaster. And yes, Billy-Bob, I understand that you cannot manage a Natural Disaster. You can, however, manage your response to one. Fair enough?

Want more? Ground Zero remains a smouldering hole, the Constitution in tatters, SoleSuperPowerStatus in jeopardy, global opinion at lowest in history, went from balanced books to the Largest National Debt in the entirety of Human History. And in spite of all that (and so much more it staggers me) Dubya still thinks maybe he can pull off somethin’ against Iran. Which most experts agree won’t be the cakewalk that Iraq was supposed to be but never was. It will take nothing less than magic for GWB to somehow not fuck that up. Act of God, maybe. Just throwin' that in there.

Attacking Iran? I figure you’re gonna want a particularily good quarterback for that one, and GWB has never actually been a particularly good anything. Wasn’t he a cheerleader at University? Did I hear that? Is that fact?

I digress. But it’s weird, no? A cheerleader? So weird. Best not to think of it. Where were we? Iran! Right!

Everything you need to know about Iran and America can be broken down into a game of ‘Apocalyptic Chicken.’ “Sure!” America says, “you don’t quit fucking with the nukes we’re gonna smack you down. Hard. Like Iraq. We might not be 'winning' anything but how anxious are you for a big mitful of Iraq-Styled Chaos in yer faces? Wanton, random destruction, pretty much everywhere, no plans and no problems just one big stinking mess. Well? You want that kind of shit on you? Cuz fuck it. We’re on a tear.”

And Iran is like, ‘well, shit, there’s a chance they can’t attack us because of this whole emerging world (America, even!) public opinion thing. There’s that. And the whole fear of finally unifying the Arabs, who could all, regardless of creed or culture, legitimately see the American Adventures as a full fledged invasion on all things Oil. And they’re still stretched ridiculously thin with the wars they’ve got, not to mention the thumpin’ heard literally around the world when the Dems took back the House and Senate.

No way Iran’s gonna blink first. There standing up to the biggest dog on the block and the whole Arab world is watching them do it. If anything, an American attack would only make Iran stronger in the eyes of the Muslim world, ala Hamas after the Israel-Lebanon thing.

So that’s Iran-America for you (see also: North Korea). A game of chicken. Schoolyard Diplomacy in the Nuclear Age, the diplomacy of choice for the manchild American President. And former cheerleader(?). But the Times they are a changin', eh Citizens? You bet yer fur they are.

-iSenseChange

p.p. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Impeach Bush. And Cheney. Now.

p.p.p. Out of Iraq and into Selma! Yowza!

Citizen's Note # 11: inre Presidential Oversight at Long Last

CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA: YOU HAVE JUST DONE THE FIRST THING SINCE 911 TO NOT ONLY MAKE AMERICA SAFER BUT THE WORLD AS WELL, BY PROVIDING OVERSIGHT ON THIS INSANE HALFWIT AND HIS EVIL BAND OF PIRATES. YOU ARE NOT AS BAD OFF AS I THOUGHT EVEN 24 HOURS AGO. GIVE YOURSELF A HAND. NOW'S A GOOD TIME TO START DEMANDING THAT THINGS GET FIXED.

This message brought to you from the good folks at the SenseChange Center for Positive Change. Thanks so much and have a GREAT day.

-iSenseChange

p.p. Inre Rummy: So long, asshole! Can they get rid of Cheney for Halliburton related War Profiteering? Hmmmmm. Another blog entirely...

Citizen's Note #11: Defense Against Lemmingdom

“Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed ...and... whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government ...and... when a long train of abuses and usurpations...evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

-The Declaration of Independence ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

A healthy reminder of the courage of your ancestors and your duty as a Citizen from the Good Folks at the SenseChange Center for Positive Change. Thanks and have a GREAT day.

Impeach the Evil Swine!

"Those who would sacrifice a little Liberty for a little Security deserve neither and will lose both."
-Benjamin Franklin

That's one of America's greatest men speaking there. So, what does it mean?

It means NO MORE! No more rights trampled in the name of the neverending, Fear inspiring "War on Terror", or any other war for that matter! The Constitution is a document for times of peace AND times of war, or it WILL NEVER SURVIVE! The big Fear of the Day is NEVER supposed to supercede the instruction manual for Democracy!

I cannot stress enough, this is not a Right or Left thing. These rights disappear and they don't come back without bloodshed, I promise you. History dictates it to be so.

You couple the spying with some of the uglier aspects of the Patriot Act -in itself a good clue at the nature of the government we have in place, a total Orwellian phrase that hints that if you don't support it you are not a patriot, another good sign of our descent towards soft tyranny- which enables the State to kidnap any of its Citizens, spirit them away for NO TRIAL, summary execution or perhaps torture in a foreign land! Is this your America!?! Let me tell you whose America it ain't, BEN FRANKLIN'S! THAT'S WHO! YOU WANT TO SEE THAT QUOTE AGAIN?

"Those who would sacrifice a little Liberty for a little Security deserve neither and will lose both."

People say, "well, if you're a terrorist you have nothing to worry about!"

Listen up, lemmings, and listen up real good: The argument that if you’re not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about would have fit in well in Maoist China, Communist Russia or Nazi Germany. “Off they go to the camps! Ah well, must’ve done something wrong, eh? Not me, no sir! Heil!"

They went too far, man, TOO FAR! I don't care if your a Democrat or a Republican, a Cath-o-holic, an atheist or a friggin' MOONIE! They went too far! STOP THEM! LET THEM KNOW THEY CANNOT GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE -LEFT OR RIGHT- WILL NOT ALLOW IT! It's your rights, Citizens- and the Rights of your children and your grand-children! Make noise now, because if this behavior continues unchecked you WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE NOISE LATER, I assure you!

Impeach them! Kick them out! Piss on them! Their way lies TYRANNY! This does not have to be a partisan political issue, you're politicizing yourselves right into FASCISM!

"Those who would sacrifice a little Liberty for a little Security deserve neither and will lose both."

It ain't Ben's America anymore. Bring it back to him. Impeach these evil fucks.

-SenseChange

randomMP3age: "Renegades of Funk" - Rage Against the Machine..I swear it was random, I swear!

Part of the Dialogue: the term most used to described the language of this adminstration is "Orwellian". The term Orwellian refers to George Orwell's magnum opus, 1984, in which a Tyrranical and Fascist government manipulates and controls its Citizens through Fear and Deceit.

GoogleCrossRef: "Bush administration" and "Orwellian": 359,000 hits. And the hits just keep on comin,' Citizens! Part of the dialogue.