Some of this administration's wholly self-authorized behavior includes interrogation and imprisonment policy that was found to constitute crimes against humanity at the Nuremburg Tribunals.
And Alito's opinions regarding the unitary executive, along with scores of existing opinions authored and joined by Justices Scalia, Thomas and Anthony Kennedy, can be expected to herald further instances of the court 'legitimizing' ever more serious violations and shifts in real power.
This isn't simply a hard turn right, either, Howard. It's a historic, landmark departure toward a unitary executive corporatocracy. That sounds exactly like Mussolini's Italy to me.
Among other things, there's been a systematic erosion of the well-demarcated line that ostensibly separates the public and private sectors. Already real political power, until recently held exclusively by public governing bodies, is being exerted on a routine, daily basis by private corporations- entities that exist for the sole purpose of exacting a profit that's now become the responsibility of taxpayers to provide.
Military and police powers embodied in the mercenary and penal operations of Blackwater Security and Wackenhut Corporation bear this out, as do many of the varied and highly questionable practices of Halliburton's wild child, Kellogg Brown and Root.
How could you possibly let this happen, Howard?
How can there possibly be a debate on whether or not the president has power to conduct warrantless clandestine NSA surveillance on American citizens?
Common Americans held in thrall by fear intentionally propagated by administration officials and corporate media may have some doubts, but Howard, you and I know full well that the American Revolution was fought in very large part to remove this misuse of power from the hands of our nation's original "unitary executive," formerly known as "king."
And Howard, it's not just warrantless surveillance. It's outrageous, paranoid intrusiveness joined with secretiveness and an utter dearth of accountability.
It's Capitol Hill lobbyists composing the actual verbiage of critical legislation directly and positively impacting their clients.
It's teetering health care stretched to its limits by insatiable dollar demands put on it by the insurance industry- a parasite intermediary that now dominates medical practice and altogether too often dictates life or death dispensation of treatment.
It's corporate welfare and destruction of the middle class and the environment. It's the weaponization of space and the spurning of viable international treaties. It's the deterioration of domestic infrastructure and a failing educational system. It's an incessant pursuit of war and human exploitation.
You see what I'm getting at Howard?
Simply put, it's evident that way too many Democrats care more about their political status and sinecures than they do the their personal honor-when it's called into play for upholding and defending the Constitution, genuinely serving the people of the United States and securing our freedoms.
Virtually all the serious Democratic presidential pretenders are in favor of the Bush Doctrine of Preemptive Warfare.
That's just great. Among other things, it clearly indicates that just because Democrats don't have a current poster boy for corruption in the same league as Jack Abramoff, they've consciously opted to continue their dependence on the oceans of easy special interest money to which political survival holds them equally hostage.
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on Conscious talk radio www.conscioustalk.net
Dear John L. Mann.
I absolutely share the feelings of frustration and despair you have so eloquently expressed. In fact, the Democrats' passivity,ineptitude and impotence has been so profound I have concluded it's not just historical happenstance; it must be by treacherous design.
I have also considered moving outside the foul-smelling box labelled, Democratic Party; so deep has been my outrage! However, our only hope is to stage a determined mutiny and wrest control of the existing structure. We simply do not have the luxury of enough time and organization to just build a brand new box.
John, we certainly cannot lose the clarity and strikingly passionate power of your voice and devotion. Rather, we must replace the Clintons, Liebermans, Bidens,etc. with new beacons like a Brian Schweitzer or Bill Richardson or Harold Ford,etc.
In conclusion, I'm reminded of an advertising slogan..." I love you Mann!". Roy Murtishaw
Disabled Former Therapist
Father of 36 year old and 12 year old liberals
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Andy Schmookler wrote:
I agree with you on this: “I have also considered moving outside the foul-smelling box labelled, Democratic Party; so deep has been my outrage! However, our only hope is to stage a determined mutiny and wrest control of the existing structure. We simply do not have the luxury of enough time and organization to just build a brand new box.” How do we stage that mutiny?
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Andy,
Thanks for responding so promptly. I'm a rabid admirer of your energy,intellect and facility in expressing important ideas. We must organize the progressive voices via folks like yourself, Charles Sullivan, Doug Thompson, Tom Feeley, Jason Miller,Robb Kall,R.J.Crane, Dave Sirota,Phil Rockstroh,Karen Cobb,Bill Gallagher, Mark Morford, Rich Girard, Frank Rich,John Walsh...John L. Mann. Time is precious, but our heads up is a start.
Roy
P.S. I'm sending an SOS to my liberal pals and this reply.
by
Roy Murtishaw (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 78 comments)
on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 10:33:56 PM
As a refugee from the dark side you are most welcome over here in the light. You will find, should you seek them, hard working and dedicated folks, Greens and leftists of all stripes, fleeing from the corrupt Democratic Party, and, to be fair, some who were never taken in to begin with.
When Dean first threw his fedora in the ring I took the time to research his terms in State government, starting with his Lieutenant-Governorship under a Republican Governor. I was more than a little troubled by his positions on many things, among them his weakening of environmental laws for his buddies at IBM, his cutting the education budget, his weakening of the safety nets for seniors. So I never became a Deaniac and thus spared myself your hurt at his "betrayal" of trust.
The two party system is a sham and a fraud. Both parties have prostrated themselves before the corporate checkbook and neither cares one fig for the needs of the vast majority of Americans. It is long past time for thoseof us who do care to realise that our hopes lie outside either party.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 7:26:24 AM
We do have the power, as long as we don't fight among oursel
It's amazing how frustrating it is to see people on the American left denigrating other people on the American left. I've become convinced that at some point in the last 12 years, the Republicans have made it a point to sew the seeds of discord and discontent on the left and most of what we see as articles like this one are ultimately the result of over a decade of agent provacateurs in our midst intentionally trying to cause rifts. It is, afterall, the only way they can win. They don't have the numbers otherwise.
The efforts that greens and others put in blasting the Democratic Party and specific members is completely wasted effort. Can anyone point to any meaningful result? Anyone? Anything? No, of course not, unless you call George W. Bush in the White House and a Republican congress a meaningful result.
Lets face some facts. Democrats did not invent politics. They did not invent games that legislators and legislatures play among themselves all over the world, no matter how progressive or regressive. Obliterating the Democratic party tomorrow, and replacing it with whatever vision of the exact thing you wish would be in its place would result, in about 3-5 years of either the replacement's extinction, or, an exact replica of the Democratic party. You would still have the same number of people voting Republican in the red states that vote today who have the right to be represented. You would still have people all over the left spectrum with all of their disparate beliefs who have a right to be represented. There would still need to be compromises made to run the government. That is the way of Democracy.
If you look back 2000 years at the Roman senate, you find striking similarities to the legislatures of today. Intrigue, compromises, alliances, enemies, etc. If you collect 435 people at random and have them tackle a few dozen semi difficult tasks, you will see the same things start to emerge. Teams and alliances built, etc. If you want to change that, then what you have to realize is that the Democratic Party is not your enemy, human nature is.
There are a few greens in state legislatures. We have seen a few independants elected to governorships and other executive offices. Have they really acted differently? They started out differently with all sorts of promises, etc. Then what? They either conformed, or were voted out because of an inability to get things done.
What Bismark said close to 100 years ago is still true today, "Politics is the art of the possible, the art of the next best." In other words, politics is the art of compromise.
In rare cases where you see massive change in one direction due to a revolution or other upheaval such as our great depression that ushered in FDR, or the 60's which brought about Johnson and the Great Society, you almost always see a retrenchment because ultimately people will not accept that for which they are not ready and that becomes reflected in those for whom they vote. As progressive as any of us might be, we face a massive challenge in the red states and those whom they elect. Ultimately, we have to work with those people on certain things or the government will stop completely. And for those of you who answer "Good" I need to remind you that our military is overwhelmingly composed of people from the Red States and guns in America are disproportionately owned by people in Red states, so if it gets down to a complete failure of the government and anarchy and possibly revolution, I dont think those of us on the liberal/progressive side of things will like how things turn out.
by
Steven Leser (189 articles, 35 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1291 comments)
on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 11:47:13 AM
Sleser I bet you mean well, really I do, but you should revisit the last couple of decades of our political history and with regard to the collusion and complicity of the democratic party in whathas come to pass.
Criticisms that are the truth are not attacks they are simply the truth. If you still perceive the Democrats as the solution to our problems then work to make them victorious. But do not question the patriotism or the motives of those perhaps more perceptive than you.
Your silly notation of Greens elected that have betrayed their cause comes sans reference or names, or instances of this occuring. There are no Greens in Congress I might add, not as yet.
I for one see no hope in a Democratic majority in our government, oh sure there will be investigations, even trials, and convictions, there will be lots of getting even too. But in the end it is the same corrupt system that prevails with only the names on the checks being different.
You are certainly free to disagree with this assessment, just as you are free to support whomsoever you choose. What you cannot do, not without mention, is to post a diatribe that bewails the diatribe you perceive against those who you favor.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 8:25:24 PM
Line by Line:
You: Sleser I bet you mean well, really I do, but you should revisit the last couple of decades of our political history and with regard to the collusion and complicity of the democratic party in what has come to pass.
Response: Collusion and complicity? As in, if a Democratic legislator who believes in the anti-abortion side of things and votes that way, that is collusion and complicity? There are people on the left who believe that, you do understand that, right? And, yes, around 50% of non Republicans, because I argued with a lot of them, believed in the goals of the Iraq war around the time that it started. That was their conviction, and many elected Democrats agreed with them. Some, still do somehow. So, according to YOU, no one who isnt a Republican can disagree with you out of conviction. If they vote or say anything that disagrees with you, it cannot be out of conviction or out of typical legislative compromise, it has to bear the horrible stigma and full meaning of the words collusion and complicity. Is that your position? Because that is the logical consequence of your statement. The more you analyse the completeness of what you say, the less sense it makes.
Just as you say of me, I say of you, I am sure you mean well. I am just as sure you are frustrated. I am frustrated too. Being on the losing side in any political contest that means something is always frustrating. But you are still wrong and reacting to it the wrong way and blaming the wrong people.
You: Criticisms that are the truth are not attacks they are simply the truth. If you still perceive the Democrats as the solution to our problems then work to make them victorious. But do not question the patriotism or the motives of those perhaps more perceptive than you.
Response: More perceptive than me? Now that is funny. Please name a Democratically elected federal legislative body in any country in the world at any point in history where compromise between parties does not occur. tick tock tick tock. No, you are not more perceptive than me, you have bought into a well crafted lie. The best lies are always those than can not be proven or disproven easily. People on the left who have bought into this and chastise people like me as those who 'don't get it' remind me of the punk rockers in high school who all had green and purple hair done up exactly the same way and all wore black clothes and army boots. They convinced themselves that they were all non-conformists who had some sort of higher consciousness because they rebelled against societal norms. Little did they understand that they were simply adopting the norms of a smaller society. People who have bought into the Democrats as 'collusives and complicitous' have simply bought into a different lie.
Criticisms that are convenient because neither proving or disproving them are easy and perhaps close to impossible are not truths, they are cowardly attacks beneath anyone on the progressive left.
By the way, I dont need you to tell me to try to make the Democrats victorious. I am always working to try to do that and I think that is obvious. That is what this discourse is part of. The question is, what will you do?
You: Your silly notation of Greens elected that have betrayed their cause comes sans reference or names, or instances of this occuring. There are no Greens in Congress I might add, not as yet.
Response: Here is a list of elected Greens. http://www.feinstein.org/greenparty/electeds.html . I'll make you a deal. We will each pick ten of them at random who are members of a legislative body and analyse their voting on the issues. I'll interview a few of them and give you a few choice quotes. I am willing to bet that there are plenty of votes on which they have compromised with Democrats AND Republicans. According to you and others in this thread, any vote that is even a hint of a compromise is damning to a Democrat, so I guess we can apply the same standard to elected Greens. Are you willing to go through that exercise? It could be quite embarassing. As a matter of fact, you have already lost. One of my choices is Green Party member and elected member of the Maine State Legislature, John Eder. I went through his list of votes and I can already tell you he has voted Yea on several items sponsored or cosponsored by Republicans. So, now what are you going to do?
You: I for one see no hope in a Democratic majority in our government, oh sure there will be investigations, even trials, and convictions, there will be lots of getting even too. But in the end it is the same corrupt system that prevails with only the names on the checks being different.
Response: Hope for what? What is it you are looking for? Purity of ideals? Purity of votes? Ideals according to whom? You? Me? A DLC Democrat who believes in the DLC platform? A PDA (The new Progressive Democrats of America, the new progressive movement in the Party) who believe in what they believe in? A Green? A Socialist? To what particular branch of leftism do they have to be true to in order to appease you? Can they NEVER do what legislators in every other elected legislature in the world do and compromise to run the government? Are they never allowed to do that?
You: You are certainly free to disagree with this assessment, just as you are free to support whomsoever you choose. What you cannot do, not without mention, is to post a diatribe that bewails the diatribe you perceive against those who you favor.
Response: Actually, I am free to do all of that and more. The only way you can achieve what it seems you and others in this thread want to achieve is via a dictatorship. A very specific and special dictatorship that is run by people who all think the same on every single issue and are completely unaccountable to constituents who might think differently. A democratically elected legislature will always frustrate you and cause you the conundrums that you are railing against here.
by
Steven Leser (189 articles, 35 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1291 comments)
on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 9:12:47 PM
As this is no forum it is not a place for such give and take as this. Nor is your point well crafted or important enough, frankly, to continue such discourse.
You may be willing to accept the votes on Homeland Security, the abysmal No Child Left Behind bill that leaves all children behind, the vote to invade Iraq, the silence and acquiescence of your party in the selling of America piece by piece. You may continue to remain loyal to a party thathas sold you out for years, I am not.
What you call political expedience, business as usual , or compromise I call self serving enrichment of oneself at the expense of the rest of us. Your standards may be so low as to wish the success of these wealthy and isolated fools who care not one whit for the ideals of our founders, you may call this reality, I refuse to do so.
I have heard from blindly loyal fans of the status quo before, those who refuse to understand that this nation has been sold , the constitution used as so much toilet paper, and our rights all but voided. You are simply one who lacks vision and an overview. You are not a part of the solution, frnakly, though you think you are, sad.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Friday, March 10, 2006 at 10:45:26 AM
Dear John L.
The last time I got mail addressed to Mr. Murtishaw; it was from the IRS. So now that the smelling salts and nitro have kicked in...let me say, "Thanks " for your warm response to my note. I also sent copies of the notes to Dem senators and congressmen and received ONE reply....Russell Feingold! Why am I not surprised! Love You Mann,
Roy Murtishaw
Pine Bluff, AR
John Mann wrote:
From: "John Mann" To: mrtshw@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: John L. Mann's Letter And My Reply
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 02:50:31 +0000
Dear Mr. Murtishaw,
I'm sorry it's taken this long to get back to you. My Inbox is overflowing
with responses to 'Dear Howard'. What's happening is far beyond anything I
could have dreamed of, let alone hoped for. I've even been invited to be a
guest on Bob Kincaid's radio program.
I wanted to thank you for your kind words and your help in propagating the
necessary message I feel is conveyed in my essay. I first emailed Democratic
leadership (Dean, Pelosi, Reid) over a month ago. To this day I've never
heard anything from any official representative of the Party. But I'm
certain that your efforts alone, notwithstanding all the people I've heard
from and the forwards of 'Howard' I've seen from them, Democratic leadership
has a new take on the displeasure they've incurred from heretofore loyal
Dems.
God bless you sir, and I love you too, man.
Most sincerely,
John L. Mann
takedeadaim@hotmail.com
by
Roy Murtishaw (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 78 comments)
on Friday, March 10, 2006 at 8:58:17 PM
If you want to look at people who are really doing something constructive about what you all are talking about, you need look no further than http://www.pdamerica.org/ Progressive Democrats of America. Rather than ranting, creating rifts and destroying, they are building a new Progressive organization, empowering and making themselves into a force for change. They've already built a group powerful enough to become an important caucus within the Democratic Party. I am supporting this group with time, effort and money even though I do not completely agree with where they are on a few things. Fact is, if you take PDA as the left most part of the party, and the DLC folks as the right most part, I am about two thirds of the way to PDA, but not completely there. Nevertheless, everything that I have seen indicates to me that the far left progressives in the party need to have more of a voice and this is the way to do it.
by
Steven Leser (189 articles, 35 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1291 comments)
on Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 11:08:16 AM
You need a reality check, Sleser, honestly...You think that your way is the only way, that if you believe something to be fact it just is. You are not alone in this narrowness of focus and limited
vision of course, that is one reason we are in this mess.
You follow your conscience and I will follow mine, I doubt our paths will cross just as I doubt you will be effective. I do hope that, some day and in some way, you grow enough as a person to realise that it is not your way or the highway, but, in my heart, I hold little hope for you.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Monday, March 13, 2006 at 7:41:20 AM
