The media disappeared this story and fast. congress - silent. Only the lil people in the progressive blogosphere are reacting with shock and analysis.
What is most concerning to me is the nonchalance of Bush and Cheney now. Almost to the point of being proud and showing some braggadocio.
Pelosi remains silent as the grave.
Why?
At the same time, Bush is ratcheting up the Iran war mongering, Kristol writes ominously not to take Bush as a lame duck, and Balad is fully hardened, staffed jointly with AF and Army personnel - and it's also the brand spanking new home of the made-permanent for US use only of an enormous CSH - positioned perfectly for air assaults and retreats to and from Iran.
Bush and Cheney, I think, are getting read to declare some sort of national emergency whereby they will suspend elections and declare martial law.
Bush doesn't consider himself a lame duck - he considers himself a dictator for life - I'd take bets on that.
Who's going to stop him?
Congress - crickets - either threatened or bought off.
The Supremes? - bought off - nope
National Guard - deployed along with their equipment - not home to defend us against our domestic enemy of BushCo
Who's going to save us from that?
Of course, you can also make the case that Bush/Cheney have already affected a silent coup d'etat, and that we are already under a constitutional dictatorship.
It's not "almost to the point of being proud", it is. They are proud.
Hubris,
As you know the whole point of torture is to intimidate. So who is it that they want to intimidate ? It is us. That Bu$h gave his approval for torture has been strongly suspected for some time. The important question is why are they acknowledging this now ?
Obviously they want to get it out there so that it passes into the memory hole before they leave office and can be prosecuted for it.
I wonder what Olbermann was doing this weekend. Writing a Special Comment, perhaps?
Then again, it is Yankees-Red Sox this weekend, and the man is entitled to some leisure.
yeah, they're proud, smirking, seemingly triumphant in their atrocity...
but I maintain that karma is coming, and we all have a hand in it - just have to keep writing and talking and getting the word out to folks who don't know it.
moving Americans to pay attention, and care, and rise, has become our job: the 5th Estate.
great piece, HS
This is par for the course for the corporate media. Remember all those questions in the debates that they asked about torture and constitutional rights?
Oh yeah...they didn't.
In fact the only time I remember something even close to this it was followed by something about "hiring Jack Bauer" and "doubling the size of Guantanamo".
The evolving dictatorship in this country is fully supported by the corporate media as their patrons are in fact the main constructors. These corporations need the power and protection of the US military to go into any economy in the world and break it by force. These maniacal multinationals need similar laws and protections to stifle domestic dissent to these actions, and the outcry of the people who are coerced into supporting murder, torture, and endless occupation. Hence the creation and support of a dictator in all but name.
My only optimistic thought out of this mess is that the American people seem to be adjusting themselves to the influence of the state corporatist media. Print and broadcast media went fully along with the administration's attempt to re-brand the war in Iraq starting in late 2006 and early 2007, by making every insurgent/resistance/guerrilla into an al Qaeda terrorist or those paid off by al Qaeda. Then came the Surge. The talking heads were apoplectic when the Democratic Presidential candidates didn't agree that the shift in tactics would make or had made a difference in any meaningful way. It was perhaps the most bold-faced lie that the corporate media produced in their groupthink circle jerk, that the reduction in violence was due to the successful implementation of a plan by Petraeus to end the war.
But I digress...when everyone making the decisions at a corporate media outlet are part of the vaunted 1 percent of income earners this sort of thing naturally happens. As long as we suck up our Ramen while pretending we are rich people they will be OK.
As long as we suck up our Ramen while pretending we are rich people they will be OK.
Until such time as the whole bloody system collapses of the accumulated consequences of its own inbred incompetence.
If you think this isn't likely or even possible, I direct your attention to the royal houses of Hohenzollern, Romanov, and Habsburg.
Where were they a century ago and where are they today?
I guess it's time for Americans to learn another German word, beyond Blitzkrieg and Dachshund:
"Schreibtischtäter" - "Desk top criminal".
Somebody who does not get his hands dirty, but instructs others to do the dirty deeds. This administration has far too many of them
The fact that Bush openly admitted this happened,with pride,really should surprise no one. These prick bastards have got away with EVERYTHING,every single criminal act. Confident no one will do a thing to them. If this was a functional democracy there would have been frogmarches and trials underway now. There would have been hours of broadcast news telling the public the truth,pages of print media with indepth reporting. Functional being the keyword here. If you've ever dealt with a bully of any sort,you know;the more they get away with the more they'll do. I truly shudder to think of what we DON'T know. It will take decades to recover from the damage they've done to this country on every level.
IMO,one huge reason the world has such a low opinion of America is because Americans aren't doing a thing to make this madness stop. A few protests here and there isn't going to cut it.
Fuck impeachment.
Time to call the guys at the Hague.
I believe the original counts of The Great Indictment are still good:
1. Conspiracy to seize power
2. Conpiracy to wage aggressive war
3. Waging a war of aggression
4. Crimes against humanity
This story's going nowhere. Apparently, Obama had the audacity to hint at the bitterness that dwells across the fruited plain and the NationalSecurityMedia State has decided he must be shut down.
disgusting, tragic and not at all surprising.
A Mom Anon: If this was a functional democracy there would have been frogmarches and trials underway now. There would have been hours of broadcast news telling the public the truth,pages of print media with indepth reporting. Functional being the keyword here.
We don't have a functioning democracy. We're in the "Decadent Crumbling Empire" phase of our history and have been since the start of 2005 (though the election-theft at the end of 2000 certainly got the ball rolling).
Until such time as the whole bloody system collapses of the accumulated consequences of its own inbred incompetence.
Well said, Stormcrow. That's actually happening now, only in slow motion because the Fed is pulling out all the stops to keep the whole horrible mess duct-taped, Krazy-Glued, and rubber-banded together for a little while longer.
When I look around me, I see that everything about this country is such a fucking joke now. Our new national nickname should be "The Dribble-Glass Nation".
This story's going nowhere. Apparently, Obama had the audacity to hint at the bitterness that dwells across the fruited plain and the NationalSecurityMedia State has decided he must be shut down.
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia and the chocolate ration has been raised to 25 grams!
I'm with The Wanderer.
Team Torture to The Hague!
Time to rebuild Spandau Prison.
Or reopen Alcatraz.
Lock these sociopathic scum away.
Then throw away the keys.
Given the psycho-sexual make-up of these freaks, I'm sure there was a lot of wood in that room as they discussed these techniques. "Hey Laura, time for a little discipline, heh, heh, heh, heh". Ball-gag for Cheney, anyone?
"Pelosi remains silent as the grave.
Why?"
because both the ReThugs and the Dems in DC support the empire
another simple answer to a simple question
A Mom Anon: what the fuck are we supposed to do, we got to wait untill elections to have any chance at cahnge...and then the polititions lie, all of the republicans and at leasta thrid of the ems want endless war and are protourte...protests don't work and tend to cause a backlash agenist your cause. have fun protesting, tell em if it gains you anything, i wont hold my breath waiting though.
we steped up to the plate in 2006, we told the goverment to stop the war...they have ignored us, it takes two years before we have another shot at it.
Dubya is the torture president and he heads the torture administration.
And always by Dubya's side was his faithful dog, I mean companion, the VP FUtus of Borg.
Their motto: semper quiritatio. Always screaming.
For of you who are not in the know, here is a scoop.
Neoconservatism is a Satanic cult. Why do you think they seek
100 years of death of maiming in Iraq that will result in a Shiite state
and very rich oil companies? Did you ever stop and think: what's in this
for us? Nothing, unless you are a member of a Satanic cult. After all,
Al Queda was not in Iraq until chief Satanist Dubya attracted them with
an illegal, immoral, unnecessary war.
To Dubya, you are the enemy. That's why he reduced your constitutional
rights to a fair and speedy trial, your right to counsel, and curtailed
your freedoms against search and seizure, rather than putting up a
fence on the border and checking everything and everyone that crosses the
border. Did anyone notice that all the terrorists come from Saudi Arabia
which Dubya did not attack? There is a bonus in all this. If you agree to
die for oil profits. If you agree to die to keep oil expensive and scarce. Dubya
may shed a tear for you.
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