Supposedly if Obama decides that the hood of the CIA should be popped open and a look given to the machine running beneath it, it would be bad for politics. First it would somehow take away from morale at the CIA and second Republicans and moderates would have a fit.
Let me see if I understand this correctly, because maybe I am just a bit confused here: The CIA, a US government agency is accused of torturing people (which is illegal in the US), and people don´t want to know. Pathetic. A nation that likes to think of itself as a democracy and a place of laws has an obligation to investigate and prosecute for misscarriages of justice; no matter the scenario.
The other side of the coin is this: if the CIA didn´t do anything wrong then there will be no consequences of this investigation, so if they are innocent as they claim then they should welcome an investigation. This doesn´t seem to be the case.
Finally, in regards to Republican stances of righteous anger about prosecuting their sacred cow, I ask how was it possible that they went after Clinton for a blow job but torture is somehow ok. Something is rotten in that party.
About Me
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Anti-Semitism, Aftonbladet, and Freedom of the press.
I have no way of knowing how much you, dear readers, are aware of the current "crises" between the Swedish and Israeli Governments. I will however attempt to give you a quick rundown. First let me be honest; I am biased towards Sweden as I am half Swedish and up till a few months ago lived there.
Donald Boström wrote an article where he makes the accusation for the sake of bringing it to the public´s attention that the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) might be stealing organs from some of the palestinians that they kill in combat albeit those they take back to their base to do "autopsies" on. Question number one; why would you do an autopsy on someone you shot in combat, or do you not have any faith in the power of your own weapons?
The Israeli foreign ministry and also Mr. Netanyahu accuse Aftonbladet and Boström of bringing up old Anti-semitic claims against the jews and that they are showing off the racism that is apparently evident in that neutral land (we can discuss this at another time). They also demand that the Swedish government distance itself from this article and condemn it. The Swedish government refuses to do so and states (quite correctly) that according to their constitution they are not permitted to do so. Question number two; why are the Israelis reading Aftonbladet?
Aftonbladet is really a tabloid where celebrity gossip is mixed with fairly small snippets about international affairs and some actual first class sports journalism. Let me restate this: Aftonbladet is a Tabloid. Sweden´s law prohibits the government from making positive or negative statements about the press, that is their law. Why is Israel pressing a nation to go against its constitution when they don´t appreciate anyone telling them what to do? Whether or not the article is false or not I know not. Boström presents no evidence except a photo of a palestinian man who was killed by the IDF and then autopsied for some reason. He also connected it with some organ ring in the US supposedly run by a rabbi. Whether or not there is truth I know not. I doubt it however.
The next topic is the accusation that the Swedes are showing Anti-semitism here. This is Israels go to answer whenever it is criticized for anything. However the problem is that Israel is a state and not a people group. True the population of Israel is primarily Jewish but this in itself is another dilemma: is being jewish a religion or a race? Apparently if one criticizes the IDF which is a part of the state of Israel then one is Anti-semitic. Therefore any critic can be labeled easily as racist and ethnocentric and written off. That is pretty pathetic. If Boström had alluded that this was normal "jew" behavior then he would have been anti-semitic. He was however not making a claim like this and so I find the Israeli statement labelling this as Anti-Semitism fairly weak. Further Israel is now acting like they are going to not allow Swedish journalists access to the country. The Swedish Journalist association made a statement about this today in Dagens Nyheter; till now only dictatorships have done things like that.
Lesson learned; In Israel whatever a tabloid writes is cause for indignation.
Donald Boström wrote an article where he makes the accusation for the sake of bringing it to the public´s attention that the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) might be stealing organs from some of the palestinians that they kill in combat albeit those they take back to their base to do "autopsies" on. Question number one; why would you do an autopsy on someone you shot in combat, or do you not have any faith in the power of your own weapons?
The Israeli foreign ministry and also Mr. Netanyahu accuse Aftonbladet and Boström of bringing up old Anti-semitic claims against the jews and that they are showing off the racism that is apparently evident in that neutral land (we can discuss this at another time). They also demand that the Swedish government distance itself from this article and condemn it. The Swedish government refuses to do so and states (quite correctly) that according to their constitution they are not permitted to do so. Question number two; why are the Israelis reading Aftonbladet?
Aftonbladet is really a tabloid where celebrity gossip is mixed with fairly small snippets about international affairs and some actual first class sports journalism. Let me restate this: Aftonbladet is a Tabloid. Sweden´s law prohibits the government from making positive or negative statements about the press, that is their law. Why is Israel pressing a nation to go against its constitution when they don´t appreciate anyone telling them what to do? Whether or not the article is false or not I know not. Boström presents no evidence except a photo of a palestinian man who was killed by the IDF and then autopsied for some reason. He also connected it with some organ ring in the US supposedly run by a rabbi. Whether or not there is truth I know not. I doubt it however.
The next topic is the accusation that the Swedes are showing Anti-semitism here. This is Israels go to answer whenever it is criticized for anything. However the problem is that Israel is a state and not a people group. True the population of Israel is primarily Jewish but this in itself is another dilemma: is being jewish a religion or a race? Apparently if one criticizes the IDF which is a part of the state of Israel then one is Anti-semitic. Therefore any critic can be labeled easily as racist and ethnocentric and written off. That is pretty pathetic. If Boström had alluded that this was normal "jew" behavior then he would have been anti-semitic. He was however not making a claim like this and so I find the Israeli statement labelling this as Anti-Semitism fairly weak. Further Israel is now acting like they are going to not allow Swedish journalists access to the country. The Swedish Journalist association made a statement about this today in Dagens Nyheter; till now only dictatorships have done things like that.
Lesson learned; In Israel whatever a tabloid writes is cause for indignation.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Health care and the Republican mind
Two things in need of change: the United States health care system and the mindset of the Republican party. I am not the only one who is noting that the Republicans have fallen off the deep end. By accusing the other party of being fascist or communist, they are essentially appealing to a right wing base (which is where fascism lies incidentally) and they are ignoring the use of any facts and reasonable debate. It is one thing to disagree with the idea of health care reform, it is another to call someone a fascist over it without any real proof of this.
A perfect example of this ridiculous behavior is Sen. Jim DeMint. I am going to go a step further, I am going to call the man what he actually is: a grade A idiot. We are talking about someone who sits in a powerful position in the US government and had quite a few idiots vote for him. Here is saying that the US is on its way to becoming like Germany or Iran. First off I live in Germany and I can tell you that there is more freedom here than there is in the US anyway. What makes me wonder about DeMint is whether or not he has really ever traveled anywhere and seen the world or if he is just another Republican All American with his head up his ass.
A perfect example of this ridiculous behavior is Sen. Jim DeMint. I am going to go a step further, I am going to call the man what he actually is: a grade A idiot. We are talking about someone who sits in a powerful position in the US government and had quite a few idiots vote for him. Here is saying that the US is on its way to becoming like Germany or Iran. First off I live in Germany and I can tell you that there is more freedom here than there is in the US anyway. What makes me wonder about DeMint is whether or not he has really ever traveled anywhere and seen the world or if he is just another Republican All American with his head up his ass.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Introducing Micke Huckabee: the moron
This article pretty much sums up Mike Huckabee´s uber simplistic take on the world. Hey Mike while we are at it, can we give the land you currently call the USA back to the native Americans? Didn´t think so. Hope the Republicans pick you for their presidential candidate as it would mean the end of modernity and the return of the dark ages.
Weekly Politcal commentary
No one should be surprised that this blog is carrying on about political issues (including race, gender, etc.) I am generally quite open about where I stand which compared to the President is indeed to the left. So here we go...
Any talk about discrimination against white people is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard (shame on Limbaugh and co. for continually harping on all the discrimination against them). This article does well to point out the fact that despite all this talk it is still the white man running things.
The health care battle is starting to scare me. I will be honest I can´t really afford to live in the US at the moment, as my standard of living would be lowered due to the bills I would have to pay to private insurance companies who are just what they are called: private. Anyone who believes that capitalism can "solve" things is ignoring the stupidity of humanity, and besides if it could solve things then why do we need government in the first place. When a republican administration really does create a smaller government then I will observe the experience and weigh it based on its own merits, though to this day I haven´t seen this to be the case (can´t count Reagan, he poured all that money into the military which sorry to say is another government operation).
The President should come down hard on the righties and let them know they aren´t the only ones who can create a scene. He should demonstrate that the Democrats are the party in power for one reason: that is how the people of the nation wanted things to be (its called a democracy for a reason). So its about time that Congress and the President got to work.
Finally, the right to bear arms. This should be the one thing in the constitution that would need some work. If you have a rifle for hunting that is great. If you have an semi-automatic and take it to protests, there is something wrong with you period. This is something you don´t even see in most third world countries.
Any talk about discrimination against white people is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard (shame on Limbaugh and co. for continually harping on all the discrimination against them). This article does well to point out the fact that despite all this talk it is still the white man running things.
The health care battle is starting to scare me. I will be honest I can´t really afford to live in the US at the moment, as my standard of living would be lowered due to the bills I would have to pay to private insurance companies who are just what they are called: private. Anyone who believes that capitalism can "solve" things is ignoring the stupidity of humanity, and besides if it could solve things then why do we need government in the first place. When a republican administration really does create a smaller government then I will observe the experience and weigh it based on its own merits, though to this day I haven´t seen this to be the case (can´t count Reagan, he poured all that money into the military which sorry to say is another government operation).
The President should come down hard on the righties and let them know they aren´t the only ones who can create a scene. He should demonstrate that the Democrats are the party in power for one reason: that is how the people of the nation wanted things to be (its called a democracy for a reason). So its about time that Congress and the President got to work.
Finally, the right to bear arms. This should be the one thing in the constitution that would need some work. If you have a rifle for hunting that is great. If you have an semi-automatic and take it to protests, there is something wrong with you period. This is something you don´t even see in most third world countries.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
On the perception of weakness
I was skimming headlines and through a few clicks I ended up on some conservative blog about Russian submarines being spotted outside American territorial waters. Of course the article itself isn´t so much interesting as the comments that follow it. What makes the comments themselves interesting? The paranoia and the fear that the current president is somehow weak. Its bizarre to me to read all this but I can kind of understand where its coming from. For the last eight years the country has suffered from having to hawkish leaders who were more likely to pull the trigger than try to work things out. Here´s a lesson that people who think the president is weak should learn: Diplomacy that doesn´t come through a gun barrel is a lot more challenging then squeazing a trigger.
Why all this paranoia about Russia by the way. Of course they are flexing their muscles but they were doing this under Bush as well. How do you think they feel about the US recruiting all their former satellite states for NATO? Essentially these paranoid individuals seem to think its ok for the US to act aggressor but not for anyone else to play the same game. Excuse me while I go throw up. Weakness is not the use of diplomacy as a first negotiating tool, its the use of force when its not called for that is. Paranoia about Russia is equivalent to being a dumb hick who is unaware of recent history.
Why all this paranoia about Russia by the way. Of course they are flexing their muscles but they were doing this under Bush as well. How do you think they feel about the US recruiting all their former satellite states for NATO? Essentially these paranoid individuals seem to think its ok for the US to act aggressor but not for anyone else to play the same game. Excuse me while I go throw up. Weakness is not the use of diplomacy as a first negotiating tool, its the use of force when its not called for that is. Paranoia about Russia is equivalent to being a dumb hick who is unaware of recent history.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Top Ten list of people we should ignore:
10. Robert Mugabe (There should be no need to explain his presence on the list).
9. Kim Jong-Il (Seemingly proud to be out of his mind and insane, suffers from penis envy which goes a long way to explaining why his starving country is building nuclear weapons).
8. Glenn Beck (hate speech promoter and all around liar-for-ratings).
7. Sean Hannity (See Glenn Beck).
6. Orly Taitz (Birther lawyer and dentist and real estate agent also out of her mind yet still able to practice law).
5. Sarah Palin (imagine her as president and once you finish vomiting your migraine will show up, has demonstrated repeatedly she is incapable of running anything but Wasilla).
4. Dick Cheney (torture can be justified, I am sure a certain Reich´s Führer would have agreed 110 percent, responsible for making the US just that much less safe).
3. Mahmoud Ahmadinajad (Where to start... Stole an election and is generally regarded to be out of his mind as well).
2. Karl Rove (need I explain why)
1. Mark Sanford (showing why people shouldn´t vote for a party claiming to be about "family" values).
Note: this list does not infer value based on the numbering system used, it is simply how they came to mind.
9. Kim Jong-Il (Seemingly proud to be out of his mind and insane, suffers from penis envy which goes a long way to explaining why his starving country is building nuclear weapons).
8. Glenn Beck (hate speech promoter and all around liar-for-ratings).
7. Sean Hannity (See Glenn Beck).
6. Orly Taitz (Birther lawyer and dentist and real estate agent also out of her mind yet still able to practice law).
5. Sarah Palin (imagine her as president and once you finish vomiting your migraine will show up, has demonstrated repeatedly she is incapable of running anything but Wasilla).
4. Dick Cheney (torture can be justified, I am sure a certain Reich´s Führer would have agreed 110 percent, responsible for making the US just that much less safe).
3. Mahmoud Ahmadinajad (Where to start... Stole an election and is generally regarded to be out of his mind as well).
2. Karl Rove (need I explain why)
1. Mark Sanford (showing why people shouldn´t vote for a party claiming to be about "family" values).
Note: this list does not infer value based on the numbering system used, it is simply how they came to mind.
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