Here it is, Thanksgiving weekend. There are, I’m sure, about a bazillion people writing, blogging and talking about what they are thankful for, so I will jump into the fray and mention one very important thing for which I’m am grateful and will continue to give thanks.
I am so thankful for me and those who are much more eloquent than I to be able to write blogs giving constructive criticism about our government without fear of reprisals (a caveat: as yet).
As far as I’m concerned this country has gone to hell in a hand basket for about the last thirty years. I see really not much radical change for the better in the ensuing Obama administration; however, like so many others I’m willing to establish a wait and see attitude. I see Barack Obama as a very astute and bright person. I truly hope he can resist the tremendous pressure he will be under by the Washington, D.C. establishment, the financial institutions and the military industrial complex. I have my doubts, but we’ll see…
But back to my point. Though I’m am so grateful for not having to worry about “Someone in Authority” violently knocking on my door for criticizing The Powers That Be (TPTB), I see a crack in the dyke that could spell big trouble. I’m referring to CNN reporter Drew Griffin. It appears that Mr. Griffin was suddenly on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) watch list after he aired a report criticizing the TSA about having over 1,000,000 people on said watch list. Since that report, every time that Mr. Griffin tries to board an aircraft, he is “detained.” Right after the report this began happening. Hmmm… Sounds like a reprisal to me. Of course, the TSA denies any connection. Right…and there is an Easter Bunny.
Sadly, I can imagine that there is this powerful search engine utilized by the government culling through the blogosphere looking for keywords/phrases that might target negative viewpoints of those not in agreement with TPTB. We need to be sure that we identify any activity by the government against people such as Mr. Griffin, and expose it loudly. We cannot let this slip by under the radar.
I want to be thankful every day that I can freely comment on our country both positively and negatively without negative repercussions for decades to come.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
All Are Equal Under the Law
There is an article on Yahoo! News that just came out about 15 minutes ago. The headline reads: “Obama advisers: No charges likely vs interrogators”
Within the body of the article was a quote from an interview by Vermont Public Radio. When asked if Bush administration officials would face war crimes, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Senate Judiciary Chairman said, “In the United States, no.”
In addition, “two Obama advisors said there’s little – if any – chance that the incoming president’s Justice Department will go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provided worldwide outrage.”
This is despicable! No way should anyone who perpetrated these atrocities not be held accountable. I cannot believe this injustice. This is just a furtherance of “The Powers That Be” throughout the decades enabling current administrations to flaunt the law with impunity, knowing that at the end, they will be held unaccountable by the successors. I’m convinced there is some kind of “Gentlemen’s Agreement” that when leaving office the next regime will “move forward and forget the past” and ignore any egregious behavior that’s been perpetrated on the citizens of the world by their predecessors.
However, there are those who are not going to roll over on this. Again, from the article:
“But Michael Ratner, a professor at Columbia Law School and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said prosecuting Bush officials is necessary to set future anti-torture policy.
‘The only way to prevent this from happening again is to make sure that those who were responsible for the torture program pay the price for it,’ Ratner said. ‘I don’t see how we regain our moral stature by allowing those who were intimately involved in the torture programs to simply walk off the stage and lead lives where they are not held accountable.’”
My sentiments EXACTLY! This is not about revenge or retribution. This is about ALL men and women being held accountable for their actions. No one is above the law, including presidents or ex-presidents or their staffs. At least I thought so in these United States.
The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal.” This does not mean (to borrow from George Orwell) some are more equal than others. Are we to be brainwashed into thinking that these are “Very Important People” with “Very Important Problems” that must be solved regardless of method? Then not worry about what they did to whom and who may have suffered and/or died from these outlaw policies because we “must move forward”? Forget about the past? What’s that about those forgetting the past being condemned to repeat it?
Are we really going to allow us sheep to be shorn by these "Very Important People"? We sheep should just go shopping and let the “Very Important People” take care of business in whatever manner they choose – without oversight?
We must not fall back on the mantra that there are “more Important Issues ahead,” and we must “not dwell on the past.” This sets a bad precedent for the future, letting the soon-to-be “Powers That Be” know they can do whatever they want, and we sheep will just blithely agree that the “past is past” and the “Important Issues” are more pressing than accountability. Is anyone confident that a sitting President (including Barack Obama come January) will “do the right thing” and we should just “trust him,” with whatever he chooses to do because he is a “good guy”?
This is absolutely counter to what our country is all about. All of us should exercise due diligence in overseeing our leaders. Believe it or not, they work for us and, in theory, are supposed to promote OUR general welfare and let US enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not just the corporate elite or military industrial complex.
Within the body of the article was a quote from an interview by Vermont Public Radio. When asked if Bush administration officials would face war crimes, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Senate Judiciary Chairman said, “In the United States, no.”
In addition, “two Obama advisors said there’s little – if any – chance that the incoming president’s Justice Department will go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provided worldwide outrage.”
This is despicable! No way should anyone who perpetrated these atrocities not be held accountable. I cannot believe this injustice. This is just a furtherance of “The Powers That Be” throughout the decades enabling current administrations to flaunt the law with impunity, knowing that at the end, they will be held unaccountable by the successors. I’m convinced there is some kind of “Gentlemen’s Agreement” that when leaving office the next regime will “move forward and forget the past” and ignore any egregious behavior that’s been perpetrated on the citizens of the world by their predecessors.
However, there are those who are not going to roll over on this. Again, from the article:
“But Michael Ratner, a professor at Columbia Law School and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said prosecuting Bush officials is necessary to set future anti-torture policy.
‘The only way to prevent this from happening again is to make sure that those who were responsible for the torture program pay the price for it,’ Ratner said. ‘I don’t see how we regain our moral stature by allowing those who were intimately involved in the torture programs to simply walk off the stage and lead lives where they are not held accountable.’”
My sentiments EXACTLY! This is not about revenge or retribution. This is about ALL men and women being held accountable for their actions. No one is above the law, including presidents or ex-presidents or their staffs. At least I thought so in these United States.
The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal.” This does not mean (to borrow from George Orwell) some are more equal than others. Are we to be brainwashed into thinking that these are “Very Important People” with “Very Important Problems” that must be solved regardless of method? Then not worry about what they did to whom and who may have suffered and/or died from these outlaw policies because we “must move forward”? Forget about the past? What’s that about those forgetting the past being condemned to repeat it?
Are we really going to allow us sheep to be shorn by these "Very Important People"? We sheep should just go shopping and let the “Very Important People” take care of business in whatever manner they choose – without oversight?
We must not fall back on the mantra that there are “more Important Issues ahead,” and we must “not dwell on the past.” This sets a bad precedent for the future, letting the soon-to-be “Powers That Be” know they can do whatever they want, and we sheep will just blithely agree that the “past is past” and the “Important Issues” are more pressing than accountability. Is anyone confident that a sitting President (including Barack Obama come January) will “do the right thing” and we should just “trust him,” with whatever he chooses to do because he is a “good guy”?
This is absolutely counter to what our country is all about. All of us should exercise due diligence in overseeing our leaders. Believe it or not, they work for us and, in theory, are supposed to promote OUR general welfare and let US enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not just the corporate elite or military industrial complex.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The First 100 Minutes
I’m really glad that Barack Obama defeated John McCain. This is a great day for the United States of America. I can’t be prouder that “We, the People,” resoundingly shut down this horrible right wing oligarchy, albeit temporarily. We must always be alert for this kind of behavior in the future.
It is over two months now before President-elect Obama is sworn in. He should use this time judiciously. I believe this is what he must do. Spend the two months planning very carefully, then right after his swearing in ceremony, go directly to the Oval Office and:
1. Immediately issue the order to cease all hostilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and any other sovereign nation that we don’t know about. Establish a strict, defensive posture and DO NOT allow one more drop of blood be spilled by our troops or the Iraqi civilians due to our aggression. The order for complete withdrawal of ALL our forces in the fastest time possible should be given.
2. Immediately issue the order to shut down Guantanamo Bay and all “Black” prisons around the world immediately. We must give due process to all those interred. Water boarding will be deemed torture. All stress induced manner of interrogations will be reviewed and strictly supervised by proper authorities, even if it means some kind of international oversight. The phrase “Enemy Combatant” and its concept shall be stricken from executive policy FOREVER.
3. Immediately issue the order to establish a Committee, Commission, Special Prosecutor, World Court or whatever to investigate George Bush and his outlaw administration for “high crimes and misdemeanors” including war crimes and murder. Then prosecute the bastards to the fullest extent of the law. And I don’t want to hear from President Obama or anybody else “We need to look forward, the past is past” type of crap. Any citizen of the United States from the President on down should be held accountable for violating our laws. Allowing this egregious behavior to pass without accountability sets a very ugly precedent for any future abuses of Power.
President Obama has just over two months to prepare for these implementations. I hope he does the right thing.
It is over two months now before President-elect Obama is sworn in. He should use this time judiciously. I believe this is what he must do. Spend the two months planning very carefully, then right after his swearing in ceremony, go directly to the Oval Office and:
1. Immediately issue the order to cease all hostilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and any other sovereign nation that we don’t know about. Establish a strict, defensive posture and DO NOT allow one more drop of blood be spilled by our troops or the Iraqi civilians due to our aggression. The order for complete withdrawal of ALL our forces in the fastest time possible should be given.
2. Immediately issue the order to shut down Guantanamo Bay and all “Black” prisons around the world immediately. We must give due process to all those interred. Water boarding will be deemed torture. All stress induced manner of interrogations will be reviewed and strictly supervised by proper authorities, even if it means some kind of international oversight. The phrase “Enemy Combatant” and its concept shall be stricken from executive policy FOREVER.
3. Immediately issue the order to establish a Committee, Commission, Special Prosecutor, World Court or whatever to investigate George Bush and his outlaw administration for “high crimes and misdemeanors” including war crimes and murder. Then prosecute the bastards to the fullest extent of the law. And I don’t want to hear from President Obama or anybody else “We need to look forward, the past is past” type of crap. Any citizen of the United States from the President on down should be held accountable for violating our laws. Allowing this egregious behavior to pass without accountability sets a very ugly precedent for any future abuses of Power.
President Obama has just over two months to prepare for these implementations. I hope he does the right thing.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Same Old...Same Old
I’m writing this two days before the 2008 Presidential election. I’m mentioning this so that the reader (most likely only me) of the future can have a perspective of my viewpoint once the mists of time fade the immediacy of the post.
It appears that Barack Obama has the election well in hand. However, knowing the tenacity of the Republican “win at all cost” attitude, this certainly can’t be written in stone. If McCain were to win, we will continue the horrible path we’ve been on for the last eight years. “Maverick” does not wash with me at all, and, thankfully the vast majority of the population. Since January of 08, I maintained that McCain would win in a narrow victory. I believe his poor handling of the recent and ongoing economy debacle plus his pick of Sarah Palin as his VP running mate sank him big time.
Unfortunately, I really don’t see much of a radical change in an Obama administration.
Here’s what I see. Obama has already advocated a “Permanent War” mindset (i.e., more troops to Afghanistan) which practically no one has dared to vocally dispute. Of course, this pleases the Military/Industrial Complex, so he is serving those masters. He re-authorized the Patriot Act in 2005.
During the Primary Run, he was adamantly opposed to the FISA bill, yet when he won the Democratic Ticket, he proceeded to vote for the bill. He voted for the $750 Billion bailout bill, that the financial institutions are now jockeying to consolidate their positions and buying up smaller banks with the money instead of helping out the mortgage crisis. He’s for the Death Penalty, “Clean” Coal (Give me a break!) and Nuclear Power.
These certainly are not radical departures from our current situation. Obama will be under a huge amount of pressure from the multinational corporations and the aforesaid Military/Industrial Complex to accede to their demands. I don’t see him successfully resisting that pressure.
Finally, Bush has established immense power to the Presidency. Very close to totalitarianism courtesy the meek and mild Congress. I really don’t think anyone inheriting that power is going to beneficently give it all back. The prolific signing statements exempting the President from laws will continue, the feckless Congress will obligingly give Obama whatever he wants, and the band plays on…
I do believe he is a better choice than McCain, but I’m not leaping in the air and clicking my heels about it.
Bottom Line? “Meet the new boss…”
One last thing – what’s with the countdown clock to the first closing of polls on the cable channels? This is supposed to lend an air of “drama” to the election? Do these bozos really think that people are concentrating on the clock, waiting with breathless anticipation for it to hit zero? Like, a “clock” will increase their ratings over another cable news station? This is ludicrous!
I propose that a countdown clock should only be used to count down the last days/hours/minutes/seconds of the state-sanctioned murdering of another human being, then televising the actual event in “living” color. The death penalty is done for the “People,” is it not? Then let the “People” have a good gander at this execrable behavior of society! Pathetic…
It appears that Barack Obama has the election well in hand. However, knowing the tenacity of the Republican “win at all cost” attitude, this certainly can’t be written in stone. If McCain were to win, we will continue the horrible path we’ve been on for the last eight years. “Maverick” does not wash with me at all, and, thankfully the vast majority of the population. Since January of 08, I maintained that McCain would win in a narrow victory. I believe his poor handling of the recent and ongoing economy debacle plus his pick of Sarah Palin as his VP running mate sank him big time.
Unfortunately, I really don’t see much of a radical change in an Obama administration.
Here’s what I see. Obama has already advocated a “Permanent War” mindset (i.e., more troops to Afghanistan) which practically no one has dared to vocally dispute. Of course, this pleases the Military/Industrial Complex, so he is serving those masters. He re-authorized the Patriot Act in 2005.
During the Primary Run, he was adamantly opposed to the FISA bill, yet when he won the Democratic Ticket, he proceeded to vote for the bill. He voted for the $750 Billion bailout bill, that the financial institutions are now jockeying to consolidate their positions and buying up smaller banks with the money instead of helping out the mortgage crisis. He’s for the Death Penalty, “Clean” Coal (Give me a break!) and Nuclear Power.
These certainly are not radical departures from our current situation. Obama will be under a huge amount of pressure from the multinational corporations and the aforesaid Military/Industrial Complex to accede to their demands. I don’t see him successfully resisting that pressure.
Finally, Bush has established immense power to the Presidency. Very close to totalitarianism courtesy the meek and mild Congress. I really don’t think anyone inheriting that power is going to beneficently give it all back. The prolific signing statements exempting the President from laws will continue, the feckless Congress will obligingly give Obama whatever he wants, and the band plays on…
I do believe he is a better choice than McCain, but I’m not leaping in the air and clicking my heels about it.
Bottom Line? “Meet the new boss…”
One last thing – what’s with the countdown clock to the first closing of polls on the cable channels? This is supposed to lend an air of “drama” to the election? Do these bozos really think that people are concentrating on the clock, waiting with breathless anticipation for it to hit zero? Like, a “clock” will increase their ratings over another cable news station? This is ludicrous!
I propose that a countdown clock should only be used to count down the last days/hours/minutes/seconds of the state-sanctioned murdering of another human being, then televising the actual event in “living” color. The death penalty is done for the “People,” is it not? Then let the “People” have a good gander at this execrable behavior of society! Pathetic…
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Hound 'Em Big Time
A couple of days ago, Janine Boneparth of CODEPINK tried to put Karl Rove under citizen’s arrest. He was at the annual Mortgage Bankers’ Association. Good for her! According to their web site, “CODEPINK has been birddogging Karl Rove as he tours the country…”
I believe all of us should join CODEPINK in this endeavor. The Public should unite to hound these B******s in the Bush Administration (former and current) who led us into the murder of thousands of our soldiers and hundreds of thousands Iraqis.
In a coordinated mass effort by us, wherever they go in public, we (the local populace) should attempt to place them under citizen’s arrest. Their only recourse would be to go to security ridden venues via security vehicles. They should never be allowed to have access to public venues whatsoever. Let them never see the light of public space. Drive them into the dark where the Gollums (if there were such creatures) of the world live.
By all rights, they should be rotting in jail. Since the Power Structure currently entrenched here in America will not pursue these scumbags, we should endeavor to make sure they will live in fear of being harassed by us if they EVER come into our space.
I truly hope that one day, someone will have the courage to haul these criminals before a tribunal and finally make them pay for these egregious crimes.
I believe all of us should join CODEPINK in this endeavor. The Public should unite to hound these B******s in the Bush Administration (former and current) who led us into the murder of thousands of our soldiers and hundreds of thousands Iraqis.
In a coordinated mass effort by us, wherever they go in public, we (the local populace) should attempt to place them under citizen’s arrest. Their only recourse would be to go to security ridden venues via security vehicles. They should never be allowed to have access to public venues whatsoever. Let them never see the light of public space. Drive them into the dark where the Gollums (if there were such creatures) of the world live.
By all rights, they should be rotting in jail. Since the Power Structure currently entrenched here in America will not pursue these scumbags, we should endeavor to make sure they will live in fear of being harassed by us if they EVER come into our space.
I truly hope that one day, someone will have the courage to haul these criminals before a tribunal and finally make them pay for these egregious crimes.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Socialize That Speculation...Privatize That Profit!
So the Washington and Wall Street elite are still playing the “Socialized Speculator/Privatized Profit” game as they have for decades. It continually amazes me how the “Trust Us” attitude is so pervasive among them. Though I must admit it’s worked in the past to great effectiveness (Iraq War, FISA, etc.). All one is supposed to see on the surface is “The Sky Is Falling!” scenario. I mentioned in my last post how no detail is given about exactly what will happen if the current crisis is left unchecked. The old “It’s so bad we don’t want to panic you” mind set is definitely in play.
Here are a few points of what’s currently going on I want to mention:
1. Glenn Greenwald relates in his fine blog that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson let Lehman Bros. fail, yet bailed out AIG. Turns out his old pals at Goldman Sachs, where he was CEO, had an exposure of $20 billion or so if AIG failed. Hmmm…
2. At fivethirtyeight.com, it’s noted that of 38 incumbent “toss-up races” only eight voted for the bill. Of the secure incumbents the vote was close to 50-50. Interesting is it not how obvious big money controls our Congress when the connection is thrust into the spotlight by a “crisis”? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out those toss-up incumbents were aware that a vote for the Wall Street-friendly bill would not go well with their constituents.
3. When this “crisis” was first announced, the impression was given that “any moment” the entire economic world would collapse without giving Mr. Paulson an immediate, absolute unmonitored control of $700 billion to bail out the bozos who ripped us off (i.e., the “speculator socialization” model). Well, here we are…some two weeks later and the sky has not fallen. This was just another imminent “mushroom cloud” tactic to try to push an agenda counterproductive to “we, the people.” What’s really painful is that we’re now being told that the $700 billion figure was an arbitrary figure pulled out of someone’s a**. This quote is from Forbes.com: "In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy. 'It’s not based on any particular data point,' a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.'" WTF!?!?
4. Now there is word out that a private telephone conference was held between the Treasury Department and “Financial Service Industry Members.” You can find more about this at nakedcapitalism.com. Another fine example of marginalizing the populace in order to keep them in the dark from the wheeling and dealing for the taxpayer’s money.
As each day goes by, more and more egregious (dare I say “illegal”?) behavior is being exposed by our elected officials (who are not representing those who elected them, rather, those who furnished the major bucks to get them elected) and their partners in Wall Street. This has got to stop. Hopefully, this uncovering of the rock these villains are conspiring under will stay lifted until the upcoming election. Perhaps the people will be smart enough to understand and do what they can at the voting booth, though, personally, I doubt it.
Here are a few points of what’s currently going on I want to mention:
1. Glenn Greenwald relates in his fine blog that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson let Lehman Bros. fail, yet bailed out AIG. Turns out his old pals at Goldman Sachs, where he was CEO, had an exposure of $20 billion or so if AIG failed. Hmmm…
2. At fivethirtyeight.com, it’s noted that of 38 incumbent “toss-up races” only eight voted for the bill. Of the secure incumbents the vote was close to 50-50. Interesting is it not how obvious big money controls our Congress when the connection is thrust into the spotlight by a “crisis”? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out those toss-up incumbents were aware that a vote for the Wall Street-friendly bill would not go well with their constituents.
3. When this “crisis” was first announced, the impression was given that “any moment” the entire economic world would collapse without giving Mr. Paulson an immediate, absolute unmonitored control of $700 billion to bail out the bozos who ripped us off (i.e., the “speculator socialization” model). Well, here we are…some two weeks later and the sky has not fallen. This was just another imminent “mushroom cloud” tactic to try to push an agenda counterproductive to “we, the people.” What’s really painful is that we’re now being told that the $700 billion figure was an arbitrary figure pulled out of someone’s a**. This quote is from Forbes.com: "In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy. 'It’s not based on any particular data point,' a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.'" WTF!?!?
4. Now there is word out that a private telephone conference was held between the Treasury Department and “Financial Service Industry Members.” You can find more about this at nakedcapitalism.com. Another fine example of marginalizing the populace in order to keep them in the dark from the wheeling and dealing for the taxpayer’s money.
As each day goes by, more and more egregious (dare I say “illegal”?) behavior is being exposed by our elected officials (who are not representing those who elected them, rather, those who furnished the major bucks to get them elected) and their partners in Wall Street. This has got to stop. Hopefully, this uncovering of the rock these villains are conspiring under will stay lifted until the upcoming election. Perhaps the people will be smart enough to understand and do what they can at the voting booth, though, personally, I doubt it.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Another Fear Tactic
Senator Christopher Dodd and Representative John Boehner were on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" yesterday. I don’t have the transcript, but the following took place during the interview (in general terms).
Both men told Mr. Stephanopoulos that when they were briefed last week about the fallout of the AIG and other financial institution failures and what the immediate results were going to be in the upcoming days (literally), the consequences were so horrifying that there was shocked silence in the room for 10 to 15 seconds.
Now here’s what gets me. Mr. Stephanopoulos asked them what was said that was so horrifying. Both stated that they wouldn’t relate exactly what was said in order to not “scare” the public, or to put it another way – “Trust us, it’s bad.”
Excuse me? Trust “them”?? We elected these people. Now that they are the “Elected Ones,” THEY feel it’s not in OUR interest to understand everything that’s happening? We are too “fragile” to hear what’s what? We poor, dumb folk just don’t unnerstan’ dem impo’tant thangs?
I’m sorry, but in my opinion (and I’m sure a lot of others) the biggest fear to have is fear of the unknown (or “fear itself” as Roosevelt once said). To not know exactly what is looming is worse than understanding and coping with the problems at hand. How dare these people (whom we elected!) pull this crap on us! I guarantee that those clowns in office think that everybody not in the Washington, D.C. establishment (or “elite”) are just a bunch of rubes who don’t know s**t from Shinola.
This is clearly another in a very long line of fear tactics that is being used by those in power to cow the people into letting them do whatever is necessary to benefit them and not us. Let me repeat: Them…not us. “If you don’t let us handle it they way we need to (read: “To further our interests and profits”), YOU will not BELIEVE what is going to befall you!” In other words, “Go shopping, we’ve got it covered – as long as you let us…or else!”
Just look at what happened. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson originally was going to be given full authority to disburse $700 billion, not be held accountable for his actions and not even have to divulge what he did with the money.
This ramming through Congress an economic “fixit” bill is strikingly similar to the ramming through of the Patriot Act. In a major climate of fear, the Patriot Act was passed without even Congress taking a long, hard look at it. The end result was a severe cutting of our basic freedoms. Now here we go again. Who knows what will also be in this “emergency economic fixit bill”?
Fortunately, so far, clearer heads are prevailing today, Monday. This free hand Paulson was being given might not be so free once it all shakes out (and I certainly hope so). Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research was on Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!” program this morning. He advocates that any banking outfit that comes hat-in-hand for any of our taxpayer money should be severely penalized for their actions, such as a major slashing of the salaries of the CEOs. I wholeheartedly agree.
Both men told Mr. Stephanopoulos that when they were briefed last week about the fallout of the AIG and other financial institution failures and what the immediate results were going to be in the upcoming days (literally), the consequences were so horrifying that there was shocked silence in the room for 10 to 15 seconds.
Now here’s what gets me. Mr. Stephanopoulos asked them what was said that was so horrifying. Both stated that they wouldn’t relate exactly what was said in order to not “scare” the public, or to put it another way – “Trust us, it’s bad.”
Excuse me? Trust “them”?? We elected these people. Now that they are the “Elected Ones,” THEY feel it’s not in OUR interest to understand everything that’s happening? We are too “fragile” to hear what’s what? We poor, dumb folk just don’t unnerstan’ dem impo’tant thangs?
I’m sorry, but in my opinion (and I’m sure a lot of others) the biggest fear to have is fear of the unknown (or “fear itself” as Roosevelt once said). To not know exactly what is looming is worse than understanding and coping with the problems at hand. How dare these people (whom we elected!) pull this crap on us! I guarantee that those clowns in office think that everybody not in the Washington, D.C. establishment (or “elite”) are just a bunch of rubes who don’t know s**t from Shinola.
This is clearly another in a very long line of fear tactics that is being used by those in power to cow the people into letting them do whatever is necessary to benefit them and not us. Let me repeat: Them…not us. “If you don’t let us handle it they way we need to (read: “To further our interests and profits”), YOU will not BELIEVE what is going to befall you!” In other words, “Go shopping, we’ve got it covered – as long as you let us…or else!”
Just look at what happened. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson originally was going to be given full authority to disburse $700 billion, not be held accountable for his actions and not even have to divulge what he did with the money.
This ramming through Congress an economic “fixit” bill is strikingly similar to the ramming through of the Patriot Act. In a major climate of fear, the Patriot Act was passed without even Congress taking a long, hard look at it. The end result was a severe cutting of our basic freedoms. Now here we go again. Who knows what will also be in this “emergency economic fixit bill”?
Fortunately, so far, clearer heads are prevailing today, Monday. This free hand Paulson was being given might not be so free once it all shakes out (and I certainly hope so). Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research was on Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!” program this morning. He advocates that any banking outfit that comes hat-in-hand for any of our taxpayer money should be severely penalized for their actions, such as a major slashing of the salaries of the CEOs. I wholeheartedly agree.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)