Tannishblog

Dick Cheney is a pompous ass. His arrogant disdain for governmental procedures and due process is soon to be legendary. It will be his downfall. This week, he refused to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of sensitive information. for the past four years, the Vice President has refused requests to monitor his handling of classified material. Senator Henry A Waxman, chairman of the Oversight Committee, has this to say:

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President’s position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President’s staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President’s executive order.

Do we need a clearer example of corporate mentality? Mr. Cheney is saying that not only does he not have to answer to anyone, by asking for him to do so, he’ll fire you! That kind of hubris is common in business. It is unacceptable for a - Vice President? Are you listening? - PUBLIC SERVANT!!!

Cheney thinks his office is not part of the executive branch. Than what is it part of? My guess would be his office is still part of Halliburton, perhaps as chairman of the company’s military division. Ever since the closed-door meetings in which energy magnates were invited to frame American foreign policy and open the gates of Hell to invade Iraq. Cheney is a business man. Iraq is a business plan.

Did you know that Dick Cheney is adamant about keeping Gitmo open? Did you also know that a division of Halliburton is getting over $90 million a year for operating the compound that at best housed just over 600 prisoners. Half of those have already been set free. Think about that: $90 million to "care for" just three hundred people. Since these detainees aren’t relaxing in the lap of luxury, what is the money for?

Make no mistake - Dick Cheney has never stopped working for his company. Since that’s so, then he’s right: He’s not part of the executive branch of government. Illinois’ Rahm Emanuel has the right of it:

Representative Rahm Emanuel said he plans to propose next week, as part of a spending bill for executive operations, a measure to place a hold on funds for Cheney’s office and official home until he clarifies to which branch of the government he belongs. Emanuel acknowledged that the proposal is just a stunt, but he said that if Cheney is not part of the executive branch, he should not receive its funds. "As we say in Chicago, follow the money," he said.

No more Air Force Two for you, Mr. Cheney, no more secret service agents or limousines. You’ll have to pay out of your own pocket or use your Hallibuton expense account. Oh, and move our of the White House. That is bought with taxpayer’s money.

I’m about three steps shy of giving up on America. Honestly. The political divide in this once-great (or so I was told ) nation rivals the Grand Canyon. It may be only a matter of time before the War on Terrorism is fought on Main Street, USA. What today is slander, rudeness and dehumanizing marginalization,  tomorrow will be violence.

I’m bored with complaining about BushCo’s Blood-for Oil/ Oil-for Profit Energy Policy. I’m sick of the heavy-handed tactics and mean-spirited mentality of conservative supporters. I’m disillusioned by the Democratic Majority (sic) that will not follow words with matching deeds.

Our so-called "two-party system" is broken. For an average human in these Divided States, we go to the polls (if we’re allowed near them) and vote between The Party of Corporate Greed and Warfare, or The Party of Wistful Words without Concrete Results. Both parties are guilty of robbing the cookie jar. Both parties are more interested in self-preservation than public service. Both parties ride the see-saw of carefully crafted public opinion secretly hoping the grafted gold in their pockets doesn’t weight them down too much, so as to stay above the other.

American politics are corrupt, and everyone knows this. The Bush administration has raised the bar of corruption and instituted unprecedented power grabs in order to maintain this higher level. Most American accept this as well. For the rest, therapy is an option…

End result? A negative feedback loop. People don’t bother to vote because they no longer believe in the power of a single vote, no longer believe in the sanctity of the electoral process. So less people vote, further undermining the broken system by abdicating to a shrinking minority of voters who use the system for personal or corporate gain. the government, therefore, goes to the highest bidder. In Twenty-first Century America, the highest bidder is the energy bloc.

R. I. P. "of the people, by the people, for the people."

Columbia, South Carolina hosted another non-debate of Republican presidential fodder - I mean hopefuls. CNN report how they’re "getting feisty," as each tried to one-up the other by shouting what is sure to be the mantra of the 2008 Republican bid: "Abortion, Gun Control and Less Taxes, Amen."

As I noted earlier, what else can they discuss? So many topic are toxic right now. Not only is the above chant hackneyed, but most American’s don’t really give a damn. The attention deficit disorder of the MSM is sure to get bored with repeated recitations of fringe issues. It’ll be interesting to see the tricks played by these intrepid soon-to-be losers to keep their names in headlines for the duration. Keep your barf bag handy.

Anyone hoping to be the Republican presidential contender this time around has got to be commended - or crazy. (Why does Rudy Guiliani come to mind?) These intrepid idiotarians are backed into a corner of their own making so tightly their underwear has right angles. As evident by the empty words uttered at their presidential debate, the corner they’re in hasn’t a board left to stand on.

I’m not surprised to read the Washington Post’s report of Mayor Rudy is taking flack for his comments on abortion. John "Kevlar Kommando" McCain, arguably the Republican frontrunner, decries Rudy’s remarks as counter to "the fundamental principles of a conservative." Interesting choice of words from the veteran Baghdad shopper; the word "value" is notably absent.

That’s why it’ll be a murderous campaign for the Republican nomination. They can’t talk about their "values" without heckling from the media. In fact, they can’t talk about:

• Iraq
• US Attorneys
• Health Care
• Education
• Global Warming
• Republican Integrity
• George W Bush
• Tom DeLay
• Gitmo
• Walter Reed Hospital
• Osama Bin Laden

What’s left to talk about? Mayor Guiliani’s support of choice for women, his contributions to planned parenthood in the 1990’s. Naturally, the 101st Flying Keyboarders of Right Blogistan and conservative talk-show hosts are all over it. Their other talking points are as stale as last month’s saltines, their pet projects in the War against Brown People are just as unappetizing. All the while the few congressional Republicans who managed to hold onto their seats are fleeing any association with the White House like rats on a sinking ship. (More a fact than a simile.)

So give these hopefuls some credit. None have a chance in Hell of sitting in the Oval Office anytime soon, but they all have the intestinal fortitude to gamble their political futures on the thinnest of chances. For that they should get a medal for bravery. That or a straight jacket.

This from ActForChange:

On May 1, 2003, in a highly staged photo-op, President Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq. Four years later, the war is still raging — with no end in sight. The mission has not been accomplished.

In honor of all those who have been killed, whose lives have been destroyed in this terrible war of choice, Robert Greenwald has created a short film that will not let the president’s misguided declaration go unnoticed.

Watch: Mission Accomplished:

That’s what the Google link said: The Saddest Thing On The Internet. So I clicked. It took me to http://www.poverty.com/. At the top of the page, a world topographical map is overlayed by images of people and their names, which also scroll along the right side of the map.

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds, as you can see on this display. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often.

Further along the left sidebar, the header reads: What You Can Do. First choice? Print A Letter. Here’s the American Letter:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
USA

We respectfully ask our government to help stop the tens of thousands of preventable deaths that occur every day from hunger and poverty-related diseases.

Specifically, we ask our country to honor the agreement it made and signed at the 2002 Monterrey Conference and again at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit to make concrete efforts towards giving 0.7% of our national income in aid to poor countries.

The United Nations estimates that when all 22 countries that signed the agreement meet the 0.7% goal, the resulting $195 billion each year will be enough to effectively end hunger and extreme poverty in the world.

We commend the countries that have already reached the 0.7% goal: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

We also commend the countries that have set up a schedule to meet the 0.7% goal and encourage them in their efforts to reach it as soon as possible: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

We respectfully ask the six remaining countries to honor their agreement and set up a schedule to reach the 0.7% goal: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States.

Thank you.

2006 International Aid Donated

COUNTRY	Aid as % of income	How close to the 0.7% goal
Sweden	1.03	Already reached goal
Luxembourg	0.89	Already reached goal
Norway	0.89	Already reached goal
Netherlands	0.81	Already reached goal
Denmark	0.80	Already reached goal
Ireland	0.53	Scheduled for 2012
United Kingdom	0.52	Scheduled for 2013
Belgium	0.50	Scheduled for 2010
Austria	0.48	Scheduled for 2015
France	0.47	Scheduled for 2012
Switzerland	0.39	No schedule yet
Finland	0.39	Scheduled for 2010
Germany	0.36	Scheduled for 2014
Spain	0.32	Scheduled for 2012
Canada	0.30	No schedule yet
Australia	0.30	No schedule yet
New Zealand	0.27	No schedule yet
Japan	0.25	No schedule yet
Portugal	0.21	Scheduled for 2015
Italy	0.20	Scheduled for 2015
United States	0.17	No schedule yet
Greece	0.16	Scheduled for 2015
		Source: OECD

Today is another Cynical Sunrise for me: My first impulse is to holler "Yeah, George! Your Godforsaken War is killing even more people that we thought. Live up to your agreements, and give the money to these people." Then, upon a second glance at the included table (above), I note that the only industrialized nations that have lived up to their promises are Scandinavians and a few neighbors. What’s wrong with the rest of us?

I’m sick of this world. I’ve always thought it was going to Hell. It’s taking too long to get there. We humans deserve the Armageddon the Dominionists are angling for. Let’s just release the nukes and get it over with. Until and unless we start behaving civil toward each and every other human on this planet, then our "civilization" is only a poor and pathetic jest.

Please take a few minutes, an envelope and a stamp and send this letter to George Warmonger Bush and friends. They won’t care, but you’ll have done a good deed anyway. Then look into your soul, your pocketbook, your dreams for a better future, and give to an international hunger organization. Failing that, visit theHungerSite and click away… Do something - especially since our government won’t.

Impeachment is getting a lot of traction lately. www.a28.org is the latest web roots attempt at creating a notional movement to oust our ineffective leadership. Their tagline is that today, April 28th, is the first day of Impeachment Summer. I hope their right.

But I’m skeptical. The time for preparation for impeachment was last year. Gathering evidence takes time, and to begin now would only result in an outcome determined only a few weeks before the natural ending of Bush’s term. What benefit is that?

What is the current value of impeachment? The republican congress of Newt Gingrich has forever cheapened the role of impeachment in the way they used it as political leverage to lynch Bill Clinton. What he did was a personal matter, it was not a national disaster. Hurricane Katrina is a national disaster. Our misbegotten war in Iraq is a national disaster, as is the regression of stability within Afghanistan that is currently taking place. The hubris and arrogance, cheating and dishonesty of the Bush administration is a national disaster. The selective amnesia of our Attorney General (no doubt a side effect of extended use of party-line Kool-ade) is a national travesty, if not yet a disaster. These things matter far more than the sexual adventures of consenting adults.

I ponder if it wouldn’t be better to gather all possible records toward the goal of impeachment, but to delay until the administration is out of office. Then we might go after these former public diservants as the war criminals they truly are. To my mind, the charge of war crimes, held in an international arena, has more weight than a mere presidential impeachment process.

A war crimes tribunal hosted by the UN would be better. Freezing the monetary gains made by war the profiteering of Dick Cheney and pals would get their attention: money is central to their thinking. After all, this whole Iraq disaster is "just another business deal" to secure an oil sharing agreement from Iraq. Our administration will not willingly withdraw from Iraq until the fledgling government there agrees to our terms regarding the sharing of oil with the United States. Republicans have said so as recently as last week during the debate in the Senate on troop withdrawal timelines.

So I reservedly back the growing impeachment movement, unconvinced it will do any good. At the same time, I believe we must "prepare for trial" regardless of possible outcome. Please support this growing movement. It is the only way average Americans can regain a voice in our own destiny between election cycles. Even if you think, like I do, that it may be in vain. While the time is running out on impeachment, there is no statute of limitations for war criminals. We can take all the time we need.

The US Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in 2003. By a decision of 5 to 4, with President Bush’s recent appointees’ support, the court extended its power over the uteruses of America. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg boldly read a statement explaining her dissent, but the good-old-boy majority still clings to the illusion of patriarchal privilege in forcing their will on millions of women’s private parts.

To further insult the masses, vacuous crowing ensued from the White House:

Bush said in a statement that the decision "affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people’s representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America."

He added: "The Supreme Court’s decision is an affirmation of the progress we have made over the past six years in protecting human dignity and upholding the sanctity of life."

Sadly, the American people are getting their fill of "the Constitution does not stand in the way" in regards to the pursuit of happiness and health of current and future Americans. In fact, the Constitution is becoming less relevant in the decisions of the Embattled War Elephant Brigade.

As for "reflecting the compassion and humanity of America." Reinterpreting the Geneva Conventions in order to torture selected people goes far to reflect the compassion and humanity of America. So does the Iraqi war. Or the failure to provide for our idealistic, young, and fully indoctrinated soldiery the necessary equipment to their safety, or the failure to provide clean hospital facilities for the injured, or the failure to support the families of the fallen. Very compassionate, that fabled American humanity.

The above paragraph speaks also to the "progress we have made over the past six years in protecting human dignity and upholding the sanctity of life." Lying our way into an unnecessary, un-winnable war. Turning victims of friendly fire incidents into virtual Rambo’s to boost flagging recruitment quotas. Lying to the American public about the motivation for the war, about the progress of this war, about the consequences of this war: forbidding photos of returning coffins, under-reporting the numbers of casualties, injuries, psychiatric evaluations. The list is interminable.

Perhaps he should have said this:

"The Supreme Court’s decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people’s representatives enacting laws. Reflecting the compassion and humanity of America is an affirmation of the progress we have made over the past six years  in (undermining) human dignity and (devaluing) the sanctity of life."

But that would be the first honest thing he ever said since stealing the presidency in 2000. Why start now?

We all know the story The Emperor Has No Clothes as a cautionary tale of the sycophantic entourage and the harm done therein. In that tale, it took a commoner to set things right. People who need to focus on survival have no time for such nonsense.

American’s Excellent Iraqi Adventure is just like that. While our President keeps strutting along the "We can win" parade route, people cleaning up after the menagerie see the reality of the situation. And it’s very much like cleaning up after the elephants.

But our would-be Emperor is acting a new part these days - the Cheshire Cat - as he tries his best to fade away from the consequences of his hubris. As Georgie Anne Geyer has it, our man the warmonger is leaking relevance as the real movers are being highlighted. Ms Geyer points out recent changes in the administration that signal a lessening of presidential clout: The virtual beheading of Donald Rumsfeld; the congressional turnover; George’s absence at the Gridiron dinner; even the softening stance of the Dominatrix of Foreign Policy, Condi Rice. Add in decaying public support and stress fractures of the US military, and no wonder our Decider(tm) has decided to fade away.

 Soon all that will be seen is a pair of beady eyes blinking in confusion. That and an empty suit.

Happy Easter!

For those of you contemplating a huge meal in honor of the gruesome death of a Jewish rabble-rouser and his subsequent mysterious disappearance, please remember, as the saying goes, "He Died For Your Sins."

This simple yet unsubstantiated claim is ambiguous: Did he die to absolve us of past sins, thereby cleansing humanity of its depravity, or did he die to pave the way to a continuation of sins, compounded by a deific belief in this peaceful man as a reason for violence and by technological advances in warfare? Much ill has been perpetrated in the name of Jesus. Much good has been done, as well, but the ill lasts longer.

 Jesus Christ, by all accounts, was a peaceful, tolerant man. More of a political advocate that a religious figure, he bucked the trend of his time and caused the Roman government some consternation. For this, he died a gruesome death, a public spectacle for political gain. What humanity has done to him since is even more frightening. Whole nations have been destroyed because they didn’t see the need to convert to Christianity. Just ask any of the vestiges of the great Sioux nation, for one example. The list is too long to enumerate here.

 Our president believes in Jesus. He leapt to the forefront of the world stage propelled by his stated religiosity: "I listen to a higher father," he said. I wonder whom he meant? Not long after he stole the presidency through illegal vote-purging in Florida, he was presented with a world-class disaster from which to make a name for himself and to show the world what he’s made of. He did all of that.

Our born-again Christian president twisted truth in order to go to war on a nation unconnected to the aforementioned tragedy, causing repercussions not limited to bankrupting the richest nation on earth, killing tens-of-thousands of innocent people, destroying a nation and killing or damaging thousands of young Americans, their families, and ensuring a continued drain on the national economy in the form of providing for the maimed soldiers and their families. The full effect of this disaster will be felt for at least a generation. So much for believing in the Prince of Peace.

Is this what it means to "listen to a higher father"? Is this what it means when people say Christ dies for our sins? I didn’t work; we continue to sin, but now we can do it in Jesus’ name. Any true follower of Jesus would put a stop to war. Any true follower of Jesus would hold accountable the people responsible for destroying so much for lies. :Thou Shall Not Kill", yet this man does. "Thou Shall Not Steal", yet this man and his allies are stealing the sovereignty of a proud people only to steal its oil. That covers covetousness as well. "Thou Shall Not Lie", yet that’s all we hear from our administration.

Are these actions of a Christian nature? Did Jesus die for this? Or perhaps the ill-fated Jew died so you can eat Ham at Passover? Bon Appetite.