If a cherry tree falls, and nobody saw?

President Obama is treating Super-PAC money the way he treats every other moral dilemma. He says, to paraphrase, "I will not keep my word because of Republican behavior".

Source: Presidential about-face

One of his first promises to American voters was that he would close the Guantanamo gulag. He would do this in his first year, but it turned out that Republicans wouldn't let him and that was that.

I was reminded of how offensive Guantanamo is to the foundational ideas that made America great when reading an article on unpersons in unhistory by Noam Chomsky. Here is an excerpt that personalizes what Guantanamo means to a human being, and what the president's promise-breaking entails:

"the first Guantanamo case to come to trial under President Obama: that of Omar Khadr, a former child soldier accused of the heinous crime of trying to defend his Afghan village when it was attacked by U.S. forces. Captured at age 15, Khadr was imprisoned for eight years in Bagram and Guantanamo, then brought to a military court in October 2010, where he was given the choice of pleading not guilty and staying in Guantanamo forever, or pleading guilty and serving only 8 more years. Khadr chose the latter."

Source: Anniversaries from "Unhistory"

This is like George Washington shrugging when asked about a fabled cherry tree, is it not?

Addendum: Kevin Drum is a writer I respect and he takes a different view of the Super-PAC story. Here is a link to his viewpoint:

Not hypocrisy

Hey may be right up to a limit, and that limit might be drawn by the consequences of your actions on others.

When you take bribes you validate bribery. So the question is, does validating the actions of people like Jack Abramoff harm society more than it will benefit from another four years of president Obama?

Time will tell, but my instincts tell me no.

Warm wind

What's the biggest lie that president Obama told in his State of the Union address last night?

We've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.

Source: POTUS SOTUA

American excellence in health care costs

Sarah Kliff has an interesting chart posted at Wonk Blog which shows how bad care-inequality is in America:

Source

Following her source to the OECD I found this quote:

"In the U.S., 42 percent reported not visiting a doctor, not filling a prescription, or not getting recommended care. This is twice the rate for every other country but Australia, New Zealand, and Germany."

What is dangerous about this is disease only gets stronger when treated with half-measures. It is where penicillin-resistant strains come from.

Will the masters of America ever realize that their own health depends upon public health, and that disease doesn't grant pardons?

The clown-car called the GOP doesn't have an answer for this except to say, "Pay more or die".

Keep Wall Street Occupied

Here is a simple way to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement

Occupy Wall Street

Wanna see a great video on #OWS?



Wanna read a great article about what motivates #OWS?

Cheat, Cheat, never beat

Have people finally had enough of the fascialist (fascism/socialism is domination of government by a ruling class) governance that is currently tear-gassing peacefully assembled people petitioning their government for redress?

We are at the point that the very idea of America is being pepper-sprayed, cuffed, and jailed. Can it be resurrected? It'll take the morality of the common good. The belief that out of many, we are one, that together we are stronger if we work towards something higher than our own narrow concerns.

Screw the middle class

Biden: The "middle class has been screwed"

Moe: "Yes, and on your watch too."

Like a wet blanket

Al-Qaeda's central strategy was to draw its Western foes into economically ruinous wars in Muslim lands

Source

That is something worth remembering as we look back on 911 and forwards on our budget.