120 days: The Orwellian Double-Speak of the Obama Administration
I know it has been a while since I have blogged. I will try to blog more and if anyone wants to read and respond in kind please do. Please excuse any puntuation errors or mispellings.. I am writing this quickly because there are so many news stories that are begging my time. Please spread far and wide:) THANK YOU!
After the success of Last Night's Ground Zero Lounge presentation “A Pirate’s Lie For ye” I sat down to prepare my next presentation “Toughening up Your Emotional Skin.” As I was looking over the news of the day I noticed a new headline that caught my eye: Obama open to prosecution, probe of interrogations.
I was stunned because just last night I was ranting about the decision that I thought was made quite clear by Eric Holder that there would be no prosecution against those who tortured during this continuous war on terror. Am I seeing double speak within the ranks of the Obama administration? Is this a “waffle” because the original decision not to prosecute sent a very troubling message to those who voted for him based on his promise of “change?”
This is more confusing than anything else as we see that the Obama tribe has not reversed decisions on wiretapping, the war on terror or even the Patriot acts I and II. In a classic “cover one’s ass” moment White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said in a television interview over the weekend that the administration does not support prosecutions for "those who devised policy." Later, White House aides said that he was referring to CIA superiors who ordered the interrogations, not the Justice Department officials who wrote the legal memos allowing them. Something is not right here, or we are seeing that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
Obama said an investigation might be acceptable "outside of the typical hearing process" and with the participation of "independent participants who are above reproach." This, he said, could help ensure that any investigation would be a tool to learn, not to provide partisan advantage to one side or another.
With one flip flop President Obama has immediately rendered my Ground Zero Lounge sound like a concocted hate piece aimed at discrediting the administration without precedent. Luckily I have pictures of articles and quotes from Eric Holder stating that the torturers would not even see a trial or even prosecution.
However, I am confident in the idea that they will never see prosecution. It is human nature that if one cannot find a solution to a problem, they usually ignore it. There have been so many distractions lately in the news that the American people won’t even bat an eye at the idea that Obama didn’t act either way. The same way the American people really don’t care that Osama Bin Laden was never caught, killed, or brought to justice.
I am beginning to think that we are living in the mindset of old Soviet Russia. Back in the day, when something happened in the Soviet Union, or even Cuba there was a heavy censoring of news or a double speak scenario that confused and attempted to obfuscate the inent or meaning. If you can recall the days of Chernobyl, news of the nuclear reactor accident was heavily censored by Russia. Now we see that one decision that is reported is immediately changed sending a confusing message to the American people. In fact the Obama administration stance on the matter is that “we need to move on.” That seems to be the failsafe answer for Washington. When we ask about the weapons of mass destruction we are told that it is to move on, when we ask about Osama Bin laden we are told it is time to move on, and now with the prosecution of torturers we are told that it won’t happen, then we are told that it could happen and then we are told that it is time to “move on.” What a joke.
Going after the torturers according to Pelosi and her ilk would be too divisive. How about NOT going after them would show that we are complicit with the Policies of George W. Bush. We were complicit with the 9/11 attacks and with every other thug we have climbed into bed with , from Noriega, to Hussein and Bin laden. If torture is too divisive then I guess that it is a bi-partisan endeavor and is as volatile an issue as abortion and capital punishment.
This is outrageous.
The frightening thing is that this type of complacency is what fueled the Nazi philosophies. They crept in little by little and as the Jews, gays and gypsies were being tortured and murdered it was literally overlooked because the results of the torture and mayhem were recorded by doctors and psychologists. Ever wonder how a body reacts when boiled? Or how long it takes for a body to sustain brain damage after oxygen depletion? or how mind control can create a sleeper asassin? Well, we can thank the Nazis for all of those statistics. Back then, it was the equivalent of pulling wings of flies in their opinion, or putting the magnifying glass on the ant to see how long it would take before the heat pops it like a kernel of corn.
Well what do you know? Here is a link that will make you cringe:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041703690_pf.html
Man I love it when we can find out that we as a country can act just like monsters and flip flop on the idea that it is bad or good or eerily similar to a quiet underhanded pogrom.
Oh and if that isn’t enough you can read this wonderful CIA document that was found in a Cryptome:
http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf
Apparently the doctors were there to make sure that the prisoner would not die when he was tortured. They also determined through psychological evaluation what the prisoner feared. One in particular feared insects, so they put him in a cramped space with one. Well our conscience will be clear with the new administration Leon Panetta, Obama’s CIA chief has now said that that they are planning on “outsourcing” for new torturers in countries where torture is routine. This means that we will be as innocent as Charles Manson and let others do our handiwork. Helter Skelter is going down, just not here in the U.S.A.
My Rant last night about the Pirates of Somalia was more about the differences between Pirates, Presidents, Kings and Emperors and how their continued war has made this planet a toxic waste dump. How they are going to tax us with carbon taxes to help curb greenhouse gasses. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to take away their methods, of torture, their depleted Uranium bombs and clean up the toxic cesspool that is the result of 20th century wars and cold war?
If Change is what they are after, then maybe Obama himself should realize the potential that he has to show the world that we “really can” instead giving us these half assed “maybes” and “we’ll sees.” I want to believe, but somehow I see the lie buried in the middle of the word and wonder if betrayal is looming on the horizon.
Take a look at this pseudo-school house rock presentation
http://www.piratesandemperors.com/
I am once again inviting you to attend the Ground Zero Lounge. It is at 8:00 PM. at Dante's, SW 3rd and Burnside and if there is anyone that you could pass this invitation to I would appreciate it. I also have available any and all of my slide presentations and recordings that I will copy and send you for $10.00. Many people have already expressed interest in purchasing them. I appreciate the help.
Take care
Clyde Lewis
Ground Zero