Tannishblog

Via King of Zembla, an explanation of why America will not get to impeach the warmonger. I support the notion, and add whatever voice I posess to the throng, but never in my heart would I believe it possible to use the constitution to take down this god-awful president.

To do to the Liar-in-Chief what the republicans did to Clinton would be justice. Don’t expect any of that in the near future. Whil both houses, and the supreme court owned by the war party, justice is weeping behind her blindfold.

We should weep as well.

Dick Cheney suffered an Elmer Fudd moment last weekend. I can’t help wondering what the conversation was about at the time. Perhaps someone mentioned Al Gore? More likely a criticism of administration policies would bring on the incident. As usual, the official verson of the “accident” has been removed from reality, specifically from mathematical laws. TalkLeft does the math.

What kills me is the overlooked detail of The Big Dick’s medical entourage. In a purely rhetorical way, I ask: Who’s paying for the 24/7 medical detail?

Nice Job! If you can get it.

In my house, the Olympics are important.

It started for us with Atlanta, in 1996. As we have friends in the area, we though it great to sponge off their hospitality, get our young ones together for the first time, and experience something new. In exchange for the guest bedroom we would buy then a couple tickets to some venues, to share the experience. Ten years gone, Atlanta is remembered as a highlight of our life. It is indescribable the impact of seeing Olympic Park packed with humanity in revelry, without a negative glance, deed or word. I have never understood the term “solidarity” until then. And I have never felt it since.

So now, unable to travel to Turin, we gather around our little-used TV, squinting past the ghosting of the poor reception (we don’t have cable), and try to view the tidbits shown us: So little. And, of course, time and responsibilities intrude. If we could, we would park ourselves and watch it all.

Yesterday I read an op-ed piece from CNN, by Frazier Moore, that dissed the NBC coverage of the events. While I agree that any TV coverage dilutes the experience of being there, that the presentation often undermined the promotional hype, and I feel this writer has never experienced an Olympic moment firsthand. This is typical of the arrogant American mindset of dismissing offhand anything beyond one’s limited experience. No doubt, the author has never tried to ski professionally, or never tied on a pair of skates and skate backward. His closing argument is evident of his blatant, unabashed ignorance:

But that’s just me. Ahead for the networks of NBC is an amateur hour multiplied by 400. Meanwhile, the official VideOlympiad message will prevail, a snow job touting nationalism and global harmony (however much these values seem to collide). It’s a small world after all … but America first!

Here waits the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. Supple bodies; skintight fabrics. Plus inadvertent comedy: plenty of curling.

Here waits youthful promise, dedication and self-discipline (as exemplified by media sensation Bode Miller, the bad-boy role model from the U.S. Ski Team who, among other indiscretions, suggested in a recent “60 Minutes” interview that he had skied while drunk).

Here waits a sprawling drama. “The stories everyone will be talking about,” says the NBC pitchman.

As for me, I’ll accept my estrangement from NBC and, up through the Olympics closing ceremony, look for TV stories elsewhere. At the least, I can find solace in CBS’ “Survivor” and Fox’s “American Idol.” They make no bones about what they are: made-for-TV contests glorifying money and fame.

No doubt this man didn’t miss the Super bowl.

What bothers me is this is an average American perspective: most people don’t care about the higher, more human aspects of the games. Where is the appreciation of effort against odds? Where is the acknowledgement of excellence? Where is the spirit of solidarity, the shared knowledge that all people are one species, and we all have common goals, lives and needs? Where is the joy of life, as exemplified by these young people whom we all – at some point in our lives - wanted to be? No: Americans are jaded, dismissive of human achievement, and pig-headed. If anything can more closely illustrate that we are living at the end of the “American Experiment,” soon to witness the fall of the empire, it is this torpid disregard for our human heritage, this spiritless and callous display of ignorance. If, as is said, “the meek shall inherit the Earth,” where does that leave America?

… and I’ll say it again: I like Jan Schakowski!

Here’s why:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me to express your belief that President Bush should be impeached. I appreciate hearing from you, and I agree with you.

I share your outrage over the fact that President Bush misled members of Congress and the nation in order to garner support for his pre-emptive and unilateral attack on Iraq. I also believe President Bush broke the law when he unilaterally authorized secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens in 2002. President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for an issue that held significantly less importance to our democracy and did not lead to the loss of innocent civilian or military personnel lives.

While no member of Congress has yet declared a charge of impeachment against President Bush for the false statements he made about pre-war intelligence or for implementing an illegal domestic spying program, I agree that Congress must act to uphold our democracy and make President Bush accountable for his misguided policies and false declarations. If a resolution impeaching President Bush comes up for a vote in Congress, I will support it. In the meantime, I am a cosponsor of H.Res. 636 and H.Res. 637, resolutions censuring President Bush and Vice President Cheney for their actions.

I am also a cosponsor of H.Res. 635, a resolution to authorize an investigation as to whether grounds exist for the House to exercise its impeachment power. Again, thank you for contacting me on this important subject. I will continue to do all I can to make the Bush Administration accountable to the American public and the world for the misguided war it started in Iraq and a Presidential power grab that poses a
challenge in the deepest sense to the integrity of the American system of government. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance to you in the future.

Sincerely,

Jan Schakowsky,
Member of Congress

We need more like her! Global war is NOT the answer to today’s problems. Slandering dissent is NOT an ingredient of a healthy democracy. Lying is NOT leadership! We demand accountability!

OK. The NY Times has a two-fer of obtuse observations that should be so obvious as to be not worthy of printing. The first article states that low-fat diets do not cut health risks. Normally, I don’t care about such matters, but this quote made me want to shout “D’oh!”

“These studies are revolutionary,” said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. “They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy.”

Maybe the Republican party is right about just how stupid and gullible the Americans public is. The second NY Times article extends my last statement to the opposition: Some Democrats Are Sensing Missed Opportunities. Now, that does elicit a resounding smack on the proverbial forehead.

Asked to describe the health of the Democratic Party, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said: “A lot worse than it should be. This has not been a very good two months.”

“We seem to be losing our voice when it comes to the basic things people worry about,” Mr. Dodd said.

Democrats said they had not yet figured out how to counter the White House’s long assault on their national security credentials. And they said their opportunities to break through to voters with a coherent message on domestic and foreign policy ‚— should they settle on one — were restricted by the lack of an established, nationally known leader to carry their message this fall.

Stating the obvious, it seems, is news these days. Reporting about the war is out. Taking the president to task: Ditto. Burning embassies is passe, especially if their not ours. Who cares about the Danish anyway? Reporting about immanent famine in Africa just wont sell papers in New York either, apparently. So we resort to lame reportage.

Must be a slow news day.

Oh! Here’s a surprise: “Bush Budget will increase Military Spending.” No Shit.

Bush, hoping to get his domestic agenda back on track after a year of political setbacks, unveiled a budget blueprint with a heavy emphasis on keeping the country strong militarily. It would also make his first-term tax cuts permanent, at a cost of $1.4 trillion over 10 years, and still achieve his goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009.

Where does he get all the money? I figure my taxes from now until my death have already been spent on this war. And we haven’t even gotten into Iran yet. But we will: to wit:

“My administration has focused the nation’s resources on our highest priority — protecting our citizens and our homeland,” Bush said in his budget message.

Whenever I hear the word “homeland” I keep mistaking it for “motherland” which dredges up all kind of German imagery. No doubt from my youthful passion of watching movies like “the Great Escape”. It is undeniable, however, that our administration has taken whole chapters out of Goebbel’s book of propaganda whole cloth.

——————–

Meanwhile, in an adjacent reality, Senate Democrats snipe each other over slightly less pressing issues. Barack Obama gets spittled upon my John McCain. This is much preferable, you see, than actually trying to unite to take out the ruling party. If they actually achieve that, then they would be forced to try to lead this country. It’s much easier to be the downtrodden underdogs, whining about supper leftovers and mistreatment, than to be the movers and shakers they pretend they want to be. Career politicos only concern themselves with having a job until they retire, just like in any other industry. The higher goal of protecting the rights and safety of the plebeians, John McCain reminds Mr. Obama, is for naïve freshmen and not for the tenured professionals.

To Quote:

“I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics, the public interest isn’t always a priority for every one of us,” McCain wrote. “Good luck to you, senator.”

I wish the whole nation “good luck.” We’ll need it as the Democrats waffle while the Republicans continue World War 3 in pursuit of American-owned Middle East oil fields. How else can we detach our dependency on foreign oil? By taking over those countries and making of them America Lite. Exactly what the Chinese did for Tibet, we now attempt in Iraq. Will we all live through this mess? Only with luck.

While Western Media is busy selling papers, grabing eyeballs, or whatever it is they’re doing with the story of Muslim backlash to provocative depictions of Muhammed, a small voice if reason from the Arab Quarter is not being heard.

Listen to it.

It is dangerous and, frankly, more than a little stupid to view world-scale political issues through a microscope. The tiny things one sees are blown way out of proportion, while the vast majority of happenings are lost in the unseen periphery. Such is one of many problems with the media today; endless repeats of few happenings, looped every ten minutes to drown out the shy voice of reason. After all - reason never sold a newspaper.

The price of “Freedom” and the cost of “Democracy” is not to be taken lightly. What we “Amuricuns” take for granted is how much we’ve already paid for our perceived rights. Meanwhile, a quarter way around the globe, we see the price is much higher than we would prefer to believe.

NY Times has a great graphic depicting all the deaths in January due to the “insurgency” in Iraq.

A nice word - insurgency. It kind of make us forget that they’re actually fighting for their way of life, for the safety of their homes and families, and for their jobs against an imperialist superpower. Didn’t this used to be called a “rebellion?” But then rebellions, we’ve learned, sometimes are worthy causes. Better use a new term…

Walking a tightrope of despair, I escape today. My recent promotion is threatening to upend my fragile balance. See my previous post on “Bucking the Trend,” it infers some of the issues therein. Friday, my daughter came home from high school in a fret caused by the school’s faulty system of class pre-enrollment, and their lack of cohesive counseling on the topic. She took most of an hour to calm, and when the wife came home, she reduced the poor girl to tears with the first question.

Yesterday, the daughter and I shared a quiet day doing our own things together about the house while the wife worked her once-a-month-on-the-weekend job. Evening weather was bad – freezing snow flurries – but dinner was hot and timely. When she got home, traffic had her so worked up she was in too hyperactive to calm down. Instant disruption: Whatever peace we gained throughout the day now lay shattered. I made he mistake of reminding my wife that her problems were over, that she could begin to calm down. Instead, she exploded and stormed off from dinner. She later said she felt hurt at my lack of empathy.

Some days, no matter how we try to duct tape our lives, things fall apart. At work this is happening, and now at home. Today, I mope about in a haze, my emotive glands as sore and swollen as the disk in my lumbar region. Even my escape-of-choice seems empty today.

I thought I had my depression cycle tamed after I quit the drugs and cigarettes, after I started meditation. It seems prolonged stress awakens that unhappy ghost. Please forgive my unburdening onto this (usually) political blog a glimpse into my fractured personality: Catharsis is needed. If viewed as the symptoms of a victim of the American Dream, it all ties in anyway. Pretending that other people read this, relate to it, and send their silent understand and well-wishes, may sustain me toward healing. In advance, I thank you.

Three cheers for Dennis McNamara, special UN advisor on internal displacement, for speaking truth. He points the proverbial finger at the G8 for continuing to supply arm to African nations:

From CNN:

“Guns are at the heart of the problem … There is one slogan I would like to suggest for 2006: No Arms Sales to Africa. Zero. Not an embargo, not a sanction, a voluntary cessation of all arms sales to Africa,” McNamara told a news briefing.
“The kids on the streets of Nairobi, Khartoum, Abidjan and Monrovia have guns in their pockets or up their sleeves … We provided the arms. We the West, we the G8,” he added, referring to the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

In a free society, we are free to distribute arms to the underclass for a profit. Never mind the immorality of the deed: If it’s good for an industry, we do it. Then we can look the other way as corporate leaders give thousands to candidate who promote the selling of more weapons to impoverished children. This is capitalism. Folk, and there’s something deeply un-American in the criticism of it. Better we should host giant entertainment blitzes for western audiences, to capitalize on the plight of others, without actually addressing the underlying problem:

“The pop concerts save the kids for a short period of time. They do nothing about the underlying problems,” McNamara said.
“Twenty years after Live Aid, the farms of the Ogaden of Ethiopia are as impoverished and likely to have famine as 20 years ago. Nothing has changed on the ground, in fact it has gotten worse,” he added.

All good intentions aside, the real issue needs saying, and Dennis did just that:

“The rape victims of eastern Congo don’t give a damn about debt relief. They want to know who is raping them, who has provided the guns and can they get HIV tests.”

Kudos, Mr. McNamara: Too bad no one in position of power sill do anything about it.