geneva, geneva
The present Attorney General had a more colorful job before he took over as the number one law man in America. Yes, Mr. Gonzales was an advisor to President Bush before he moved on. During his stay as "advisor", Mr. Gonzales signed to memos that stated that, "the Geneva convention rules do not apply to America's present situation regarding prisoners of war". This memo also goes on to redefine torture. In the memo, it can only be called torture if the prisoner dies or has serious organ damage. Everything up to that, is okay. Mr. Gonzales signed off on it, he is one degree of separation from the president and his cabinet.
The prison in Cuba that has an one way door installed on it, was recently labeled by amnesty International as one of the worst prisons in the history of mankind and it was a modern day Gulag. For those of you who don't know, Gulag is a bad prison in Russia. Very bad.
Upon hearing the news that his baby was looked upon unfavorably, Defense secretary Rumsfeld, said it was not a Gulag and that it was offensive to say so. Stating that our country is the most kind and decent country in the world and has offered peace to all countries in times of need. What that has to do with our treatment of prisoners is beyond me. But anyway, he was mad. So it made the president mad, because he knows to follow other's leads. So, the president got mad, didn't say why, but he knew he was mad.
The Geneva convention is over 70 years old. If you don't know what it is, let me tell you...
A bunch of nations survived world war one and saw massive destruction not only to the soldiers, but the landscape. In order to maintain value in the soil that wars were to be fought on, these countries came up with rules of warfare. Mostly sane rules; no chemicals, no cheating, no hiding, no mistreating the ones that give up, etc. The rules went into effect and the world signed off on it. Even Hitler followed the rules... somewhat. He did. And every war since has mildly followed the rules. But the rules regarding prisoners of war have said many an American from seeing the end of his/her life on foreign soil. You could say that the Geneva convention made it possible for many people in this world to be here. Good idea for some of you.
America has not always been good at holding the president accountable and recently, one of the greatest mysteries of American politics came to a close when Deep Throat revealed himself to the world. He was responsible for blowing the whistle and showing the world that the executive Branch of Government can be abusive and needs to be watched. Deep Throat brought down a president and showed Americans that politicians can be shady and mean. You would think that that lesson would resonate loudly today. How more obvious is the abuse of power of this present administration or the last? hmmmm...
We did learn something from Deep Throat. It's not the abuse of power, it's not the scandal. It's the control of the media that is important. The reason no one sees what's going on today is because the present administration has a firm grip on media relations and information sharing. The first such control in the history of the American Presidency. They don't want you to know what's going on. Why? Homeland Security issues... please move along.
30 people have died in our custody since the war began. That's pretty amazing by prison standards, considering that you don't see 30 killings in 3 years at the worst prison systems in America, and those guys are pros. AND, the killings have all been from abuse by the guards!!! Again, Mr. Rumsfeld says, "don't let the actions of a few bad seeds determine your opinion of the whole system". Rummy forgets the greatest tenet of the military, the chain of command. NO matter what happens, the person at the helm takes the fall. That's the way it works, unless you work for the present administration. It used to be that if a soldier committed a grievous act, this commanding officer paid the price and was penalized as well. Now, it's every soldier for himself. I don't know if any soldiers read this but remember this, IF you are asked to kill someone in the name of your country, it could come back to haunt you when the country takes some heat for what you have done and needs someone to blame it on. If I were you, I wouldn't listen to a word anyone said. You're being used.
Mr. Gonzales is now the Attorney General, which guarantees that there will be no criminal action taken against the present admininstration for war crimes, or any other kind of crimes. When I think of the present administration I see this in my head...
I see the men (I have my doubts about Condi Rice) all sitting around a small table, smoking, counting money that is stacked up in large boxes all around them with "oil" stamped on them. Bush is on the floor, playing with a toy car, spinning in a circle and making VROOM noises. Someone opens a door and says, "They found out about the Prison thing". There's a chuckle and someone says, "Hey! Someone nab another kid and make it messy, we need at least two weeks out of this one!" The man at the door smiles and walks out. The rest of the table continues to count cash. One of them looks up and says, "we need some more money, what can we do?" Another voice in the dark, "How about a new health risk, or a new virus. Those work pretty well for fund raising". Condi rice, "I think it's easier if we stop buying so much and just keep the money." First voice, "what can we cut that we haven't already?" Rice, "how about the military?" First voice, "genius. pure genius. And ironic, we run on a stronger country platform and then we cut the military and keep the cash for something else... like, like uh.." They all say in unison, "HOMELAND SECURITY!" Perfect. No oversight and no legal parameters.
They stay rich, the world validates their opinions of us by watching us get rich while they suffer at our hands, and the administration tells the people of the US, we are doing it all for a stronger America. Genius.
I may be on a plane to Cuba tonight!
The prison in Cuba that has an one way door installed on it, was recently labeled by amnesty International as one of the worst prisons in the history of mankind and it was a modern day Gulag. For those of you who don't know, Gulag is a bad prison in Russia. Very bad.
Upon hearing the news that his baby was looked upon unfavorably, Defense secretary Rumsfeld, said it was not a Gulag and that it was offensive to say so. Stating that our country is the most kind and decent country in the world and has offered peace to all countries in times of need. What that has to do with our treatment of prisoners is beyond me. But anyway, he was mad. So it made the president mad, because he knows to follow other's leads. So, the president got mad, didn't say why, but he knew he was mad.
The Geneva convention is over 70 years old. If you don't know what it is, let me tell you...
A bunch of nations survived world war one and saw massive destruction not only to the soldiers, but the landscape. In order to maintain value in the soil that wars were to be fought on, these countries came up with rules of warfare. Mostly sane rules; no chemicals, no cheating, no hiding, no mistreating the ones that give up, etc. The rules went into effect and the world signed off on it. Even Hitler followed the rules... somewhat. He did. And every war since has mildly followed the rules. But the rules regarding prisoners of war have said many an American from seeing the end of his/her life on foreign soil. You could say that the Geneva convention made it possible for many people in this world to be here. Good idea for some of you.
America has not always been good at holding the president accountable and recently, one of the greatest mysteries of American politics came to a close when Deep Throat revealed himself to the world. He was responsible for blowing the whistle and showing the world that the executive Branch of Government can be abusive and needs to be watched. Deep Throat brought down a president and showed Americans that politicians can be shady and mean. You would think that that lesson would resonate loudly today. How more obvious is the abuse of power of this present administration or the last? hmmmm...
We did learn something from Deep Throat. It's not the abuse of power, it's not the scandal. It's the control of the media that is important. The reason no one sees what's going on today is because the present administration has a firm grip on media relations and information sharing. The first such control in the history of the American Presidency. They don't want you to know what's going on. Why? Homeland Security issues... please move along.
30 people have died in our custody since the war began. That's pretty amazing by prison standards, considering that you don't see 30 killings in 3 years at the worst prison systems in America, and those guys are pros. AND, the killings have all been from abuse by the guards!!! Again, Mr. Rumsfeld says, "don't let the actions of a few bad seeds determine your opinion of the whole system". Rummy forgets the greatest tenet of the military, the chain of command. NO matter what happens, the person at the helm takes the fall. That's the way it works, unless you work for the present administration. It used to be that if a soldier committed a grievous act, this commanding officer paid the price and was penalized as well. Now, it's every soldier for himself. I don't know if any soldiers read this but remember this, IF you are asked to kill someone in the name of your country, it could come back to haunt you when the country takes some heat for what you have done and needs someone to blame it on. If I were you, I wouldn't listen to a word anyone said. You're being used.
Mr. Gonzales is now the Attorney General, which guarantees that there will be no criminal action taken against the present admininstration for war crimes, or any other kind of crimes. When I think of the present administration I see this in my head...
I see the men (I have my doubts about Condi Rice) all sitting around a small table, smoking, counting money that is stacked up in large boxes all around them with "oil" stamped on them. Bush is on the floor, playing with a toy car, spinning in a circle and making VROOM noises. Someone opens a door and says, "They found out about the Prison thing". There's a chuckle and someone says, "Hey! Someone nab another kid and make it messy, we need at least two weeks out of this one!" The man at the door smiles and walks out. The rest of the table continues to count cash. One of them looks up and says, "we need some more money, what can we do?" Another voice in the dark, "How about a new health risk, or a new virus. Those work pretty well for fund raising". Condi rice, "I think it's easier if we stop buying so much and just keep the money." First voice, "what can we cut that we haven't already?" Rice, "how about the military?" First voice, "genius. pure genius. And ironic, we run on a stronger country platform and then we cut the military and keep the cash for something else... like, like uh.." They all say in unison, "HOMELAND SECURITY!" Perfect. No oversight and no legal parameters.
They stay rich, the world validates their opinions of us by watching us get rich while they suffer at our hands, and the administration tells the people of the US, we are doing it all for a stronger America. Genius.
I may be on a plane to Cuba tonight!
posted by Daniel Loomis | 8:55 AM
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