They Were Careless People

My attempts to characterize the expansive damage left by the Bush administration have yielded either painfully long lists or profane rants. In either case, the results were too tedious to post. The inauguration is just hours away, and I can't sleep until I declare something to close this era of arrogant failures. I found an appropriate metaphor at the Booman Tribune, quoting from F. Scott Fitzgerald:

I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .

I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Then he went into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace—or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons—rid of my provincial squeamishness forever.

– Nick Carraway, referring to Tom and Daisy Buchanan at the end of The Great Gatsby

Of course, Tom and Daisy would be George and Dick, or Don, or Karl, or Alberto, or many others. Thank you, Booman.
Edited 1-20-09 at 9:45 am

Waterboarding is Torture

Waterboarding is Torture. The Power of a Simple Declarative Sentence

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Holder if he agreed that waterboarding was torture and illegal. The Attorney General-designate replied:

If you look at the history of the use of that technique, used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture.

This past Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama stated his view on waterboarding in this answer to a question from George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week:

For example, Vice President Cheney, I think, continues to defend what he calls extraordinary measures or procedures when it comes to interrogations, and from my view waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration we will not torture.

Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey:
May I Have Your Attention?

(Thanks to Think Progress)

An Open Note to Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Mukasey, and Everyone Who Supported or Enabled Them:

President-elect Obama and Attorney General-designate Holder are not promulgating a new legal precedent classifying waterboarding as torture. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Mukasey, you were wrong; your circumstantial legal relativism contradicts the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution. The rule of law is not to be interpreted at your personal or political convenience.

Mr. Gonzales, your tenure as Attorney General was a failure and a disgrace. Mr. Mukasey, your choice to look the other way is reprehensible.


Torture – Ending The Ugly Reality Will Require Accountability

For nearly 8 years, propaganda, guile, and self-serving amnesia obscured an ugly reality. Most of Congress suspended critical thought and ignored its oversight responsibilities until 2006. Even then, the Democratic leadership tempered accountability with political expediency. The damage done won't repair itself. It will take a lawful reckoning to restore the rule of law and move us forward. Recently, on the presidential transition website, Change.gov, the question submitted most often was, “Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

A George W. Bush for President 2000 campaign brochure opens with these words:

I’m running for President because I want to help usher in the responsibility era, where people understand they are responsible for the choice they make and are held accountable for their actions.

It would be fitting and just that his administration ends with nothing less.

Edited 1-16-09 at 11:00 pm

The Increasingly Depressing Legacy of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney

Yesterday, 31 Republican and 4 Democratic Senators detoured Detroit's $14 billion bridge loan. The lame-duck free-trader in the White House favored granting the money. Why do I think that George W. Bush is desperately trying to avoid the chiseled-granite marker of Herbert Hoover? Are you surprised that Dick Cheney has a clue?

Update: Add another link to the chain of evidence of duplicity and incompetence: Reuters reports on a Bush administration $100 billion failure in Iraq.

Edited 12-14-08 at 12:44 pm.

A Story That Needs to End

If you read books, you likely have a preference for either fiction or non-fiction. If you're familiar with Michael Bechloss or Frederick Forsyth, you know which author's work will win you a bar bet about the U-2 affair. Both authors use meticulous research to fortify their writing, but Bechloss is a historian, and Forsyth a novelist. Contemporary media doesn't always allow such a clear distinction.

I recently heard of a government attempting to impose policies detrimental to their citizens. Drinking water would be placed at risk for chemical contamination. Workers could be exposed to increased levels of carcinogens. The activities of law-abiding citizens would be subject to surveillance, and various government agencies could share that information. Air pollution restrictions, including discharges of acids, mercury and lead would be loosened. To magnify the insult, unqualified bureaucrats would be given protected jobs in important positions. The docile population, distracted by financial problems, seemed oblivious to the damage being done.

That scenario could be fertile ground for the intrigue of a Frederick Forsyth thriller. The sad fact is that it's a true story that will be documented by someone like Michael Bechloss. That government is the lame duck administration of George W. Bush. There is no limit to the damage that he and his cronies are willing to inflict in the interest of their selfish ideology.