Much to talk about. There’s a bunch of wierdo’s running around throwing tea bags at things because they evidently just figured out that in America we all have to pay taxes for the services we take for granted. There’s two wars (that’s the term I keep hearing in the news – to me they should be called occupations because I don’t think we have a clue as to the enemy in either place), the economy’s in the tank, and I could go on – but, in my mind, the big news is that the President that I helped to elect (OK, my couple hundred dollars over the course of the campaign didn’t really do much, I just like to think it did because I’ve never sent money before) doesn’t have the guts to face the Right Wing Republicans head on when it comes to all the MISERABLE DEEDS they did in the NAME OF ALL OF US during the administration of one George W Bush! This isn’t pragmatism, as far as I’m concerned, this is cowardice!

OK, some may argue that we actually should “Look forward instead of backward” and that it would not serve a purpose to lay blame for the misdeeds done IN OUR NAME while Bush was President. Well, I would tell you that it DOES serve a major purpose to “Look forward instead of backward” and that would UNFORTUNATELY be to almost guarantee we will be having this conversation again – PROBABLY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER! If not us, then our children or our grandchildren. This, in my view, is EXTREMELY shallow thinking on the part of Obama. You might think I’m being a bit extreme myself when I use the word “cowardice” in my description. However, I honestly can’t put my finger (or, I guess, more appropriately, my mind) on a better word. President Obama has been courting Republicans, who are acting like complete whackos since he took office, almost more than he’s courting his own “base,” that is the people responsible for getting him elected. And believe me, I’m one who wants him to succeed – MAJORLY! But this seeming bent to appease Republicans has been very annoying, and then today President Obama came out with some decisions – attributed directly to him – that as far as I’m concerned are disgusting.

If you’ve been reading any of my posts you know that I have been first predicting, and now deriding, President Obama’s continuance of the Bush illegal wiretapping program and, worse than that, his unwillingness to allow the legal system to rule on the program – continuing (and actually expanding on) Bush’s ridiculous claim of “States Secrets” as the reason the courts can’t decide whether or not the government is intruding into our privacy by wiretapping without warrants. This in itself is over the edge to me. If “We the People” can’t get this unacceptable decision overturned we are virtually guaranteeing our children and grandchildren of the reality of “Big Brother” listening to their conversations and reading their emails in the future. Should there ever come a time when they really need their privacy from the government they will have us to thank for standing by while this guarantee was wiped away from our constitution. Now, It’s getting worse – AND FAST!

Supposedly, we elected Barrack Obama for “Change we can believe in.” He has said, during the campaign, that he would “fix” the FISA legislation once in office – an apparent lie – he has said that “No one is above the law in this country” and yet he’s allowing the illegal wiretapping to continue and now, today, said that there will be no prosecution of those responsible for the reprehensible torturing that took place under George W Bush’s regime – so, apparently another lie. And, as you can see, I’m going to call it what it is. I’m sick and tired of making excuses for people in public office when what they are doing is lying. And this one is as egregious, if not more so, than the warrantless wiretapping lie. If you didn’t see or hear the news today, another four “memos” from the Bush White House were released (thanks to the ACLU – for all you ACLU haters out there) that comfirm the worse fears of all of us who have been disgusted with the idea that the United States government would not only condone torture, but would authorize it – and by “it” I mean torture in the worse sense of my imagination.

Tonight, as I was listening to the published details of the memos, I tried to picture myself being put into a box the size of a coffin and I started to get clostrophobic just thinking about it. Now, I know what it feels like to be clostrophobic because I’ve had a couple of MRI’s, and even though both ends of the machine were open, I was unable to breathe until they gave me a sedative before going in. To picture being in the coffin size box and then having them put insects in there – all I can say is WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? (keep in mind that EVERY expert on gaining information from detainees says that torture doesn’t work) There was much more on the list that was distributed, and thinking back to John Yoo’s reluctance to say that burying someone alive is torture (his caveat was that as long as you dig them up before they die, well, then he’s not sure that would be considered torture – UGHHHHHHH!) These people are SICKOS! And then, Barrack Obama does the unthinkable, after the release of the memos(I guess we can be thankful, at least, that he did that), and says that those who participated in this CLEARLY ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR would not be prosecuted because they were “Just following orders!”

Based on that enabling excuse ALL THE GERMANS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE GERMAN INTERNMENT CAMPS JUST BECAME INNOCENT! You’ve got to be kidding me Barrack Obama! Where did you get your law degree – from the same university as John Yoo? What are you thinking? Let me give you a bit more advice (OK, I know that Barrack Obama is not going to read this post – he didn’t read the 3500 word “letter” I wrote him expressing my disgust with his continuance of the warrantless wiretapping) – the people who committed these ILLEGAL ACTS were holdovers, to a large extent, from the people who perpetrated the last great infringement on the American people – THE WATERGATE BREAKINS OF THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION – and of course, Gerald Ford chose to “look forward instead of laying blame” as you put it – and then 30 years later people like Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld resurface and “Here we go again.” Mr. President – do you really think that your generosity to these criminal thugs will be the last we hear of this kind of garbage? Let me tell you, if “We the People” can’t get through to you, and fast, and cause you to fix the error of your thinking – someone involved in this will resurface and we’ll see a repeat, and – like this compared to Watergate – it will probably be worse.

And the idea that this will be too divisive, to me, is pure cowardice. WE HAVE LAWS IN THIS NATION THAT HAVE SERVED US WELL FOR OVER 200 YEARS. The idea that you can selectively enforce them, as the head enforcer, and expect me as a sixth grade teacher to be effective in teaching 11 year old kids that they must follow the rules, IS LUDICROUS! What on earth are you thinking??? In fact, with all respect Mr. President, ARE YOU THINKING AT ALL? Or are you so afraid of the wrath of these Republicans that you think they will ultimately be thankful that you “let them off” and then, miraculously, start becoming rational patriots? GIVE ME A BREAK Mr. President! This is a VERY BAD SIGN! I actually thought that this nation was on the road to recovery. What I’m beginning to think is that you believe if we can just prop up Wall Street – people will be happy because the economic news is brighter and we can just go on believing we are the World’s only “Supre Power.” I can tell you that I’m disgusted with what I’m seeing – and the problem is there’s no place for people like me to go. There’s no way I will fall in line with the Right Wing Whackos who are going to be in your face no matter what (the sad reality is that when enough of your supporters get disgusted like me and decide not to vote at all, we will end up with more whacko Republicans in office and the cycle will repeat itself, ughhhhh! again!). It appears that the only recourse is back to that place of apathy, thinking that it doesn’t matter who gets elected in this country, you can’t trust them to “DO WHAT’S RIGHT!” And, in the case of our leaders condoning these horrific forms of torture, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD KNOWS THIS WAS NOT RIGHT! Here’s the hypocritical truth about this – we (the United States of America) had Japanese soldiers “who were just following orders” prosecuted after World War II for doing what you are looking the other way from! THIS IS DISGUSTING BEYOND MY BELIEF!

Here’s what really bugs me (well, actually, it all really bugs me) – thinking about “supporting our troops.” Lindy England and about 6 or seven other “grunts” who were “just following orders” at Abu Ghraib are sitting in some military prison somewhere as the only indication that “the United States does not torture” – as you say Mr. Obama. Now, how disgusting is that? Lindy England, if I remember correctly was a private first class, and possibly a member of some Army reserve unit that was woefully undertrained for the mission she, and her compatriots, were given. THIS MAKES ME SICK TO MY STOMACH JUST THINKING ABOUT IT! And Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and George Bush are all going to spend the rest of their lives enjoying the wealth they gained from putting private England and the others in that spot – and believe me, they have not the slightest bit of remorse for this! THESE PEOPLE ARE CRIMINALS and they should be standing in a court of law defending themselves for their actions. If a jury says they are innocent, then that is the end of the problem – THAT IS HOW WE DO IT IN THIS COUNTRY! If you, President Obama, allow these thugs to bypass that process you are doing every decent law abiding American citizen a disservice. You are saying loud and clear exactly what President Nixon got wrong prior to his impeachment that “If the President does it, it must be legal.” Let me tell you this President Obama, just because someone is elected President, that doesn’t mean they are not a criminal! My disgust is turning to anger as I’m writing this post, so I will draw it to a close – please if you read this and you agree with what I’m saying, email it to others in the hope that more people will express their disgust with our President openly refusing to enforce our laws – this should be a BIPARTISAN concern!