Torture Memos Release: Why Are NeoCons So Mad?

Neo-Cons like Dick Cheney, Michael Hayden and Newt Gingrich are up in arms about the release of legal opinions justifying torture during the Bush administration.

Why are they so enraged? They can't be really that mad about "secrets" when the memos simply detail what reporters have already written countless stories on. There is no national security jeopardy in that.

No, they are worried about something else: Being held accountable for creating those opinions, and being written down in history as the authors. Simply put, they are scared for their own backsides!

President Obama's decision in releasing the memos was as much about protecting and restoring patriotic values to our government as it was about protecting the very CIA officers ordered to carry out torture.

I applaud the President's decision to stand strong for our values, while at the same time granting amnesty to the CIA employees who followed Dick Cheney and his Torture Cabal's heinous orders.

By releasing the memos, and at the same time protecting the CIA officers ordered to carry them out, President Obama is doing something no one in the Bush Administration ever did: he is holding those who give the orders accountable.

Its time to bring accountability back to our government and this is a great step. Its time to hold people like Dick Cheney responsible for the programs he initiated.  And this is only the beginning.

Neo-Cons famously like to send subordinates out to do the dirty work. They send troops to die while sitting comfortably in their royal living rooms. They draft opinions on torture thinking they can sacrifice their employees, and avoid responsibility for themselves.

So keep this in mind when you watch how fuming mad Cheney gets from all of this. Remember, for the first time in a decade he may well be worried about being found responsible in all of this.

Put simply, he's worried about protecting his own backside when he thought employees at the CIA would take the fall for him. Not this time, Dick.

Thanks for your time,
D. Tree

Threat of Right Wing Extremism Rising

CNN reported today on the growing threat of right-wing extremism and neo-Nazism on the rise in America as a result of the election of our first African American president.

Of course anyone paying attention has seen the signs since Obama was nominated, with the FBI reporting a sharp increase in the number of assassination threats from day one of his candidacy.

But some on the far-right either want to sweep this news under the rug, or they are in denial about some of the less savory elements of our society.

conservative radio talk show host Roger Hedgecock was not persuaded. "If the Bush administration had done this to left-wing extremists, it would be all over the press as an obvious trampling of the First Amendment rights of folks and dissent," he told CNN.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, CNN did not do their full research when printing this story, because Bush DID name left-wing groups as a domestic terrorist threat when he was president!

The extreme right-wing likes to think they are perfect citizens, somehow singled out and always the victims, but its a fake victim mentality. Perhaps they are too self-absorbed in their own angst to recognize and understand what is happening around them. The ironic thing for people like Mr. Hedgecock who either ignore the facts or deny them, Bush conveniently left out right-wing extremists on his domestic terror threat report because they have ties to the Republican Party,

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not include extreme right-wing groups, some of which have ties to the Republican Party, on its list of potential terrorist threats, according to a report last month by the Congressional Quarterly, a publication with high-level sources in Congress and the federal government.

Is it all starting to make sense now? The article continues,

"It is remarkable that there is no mention of the anti-abortion, militia, racist and homophobic groups that do not “publicly ... promote nonviolence,” but rather openly advocate the killing of blacks, gays, abortion providers and government workers. Moreover, these groups have acted on their words.

Fascist, racist and anti-abortion groups are responsible for nearly all the terrorist attacks in the United States—with the exception of September 11, 2001—over the past two decades. These include the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which killed 168 people, as well as bombings of abortion clinics and assassination of abortion providers, and multiple cases of individual rampages, like that of Benjamin Smith, who went on a killing spree directed at blacks, Jews and immigrants in 1999."

We must acknowledge that we have elements in our society that are broken and have been for a long time. I accept that believing in free speech means hateful people like this can say whatever they want short of inciting violence. But when they make threats on the President, or on any American citizens or places, they should be taken as seriously as any other terrorist group.

Thanks for your time,
D. Tree

Challenging Alex Castellanos on "Change"

CNN's Republican strategist Alex Castellanos published a commentary this week in which he claimed the President is not living up to his promise of Change, and - in a remarkably childish "I'm rubber you're glue" moment - went so far as to boast that the 2012 GOP message will be "Change."

Funny, Mr. Castellanos, it appears that the GOP has been obstructing every major effort for Change since Obama was elected.  How convenient for you, then, to claim he isn't bringing "Change" about!

That kind of reminds me of a kid stealing a baseball and then claiming he should be captain of the team because no one can hit a home run!  Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, eh Mr. Castellanos?

But of course Castellanos is intelligent enough to realize this.  Castellanos ("Father of the Modern Attack Ad") is only doing what he does best: making disingenuous arguments.

Let's take a look at some of the other boilerplate arguments Castellanos and other Republicans have been using:

Obama is "Increasing the size of the US Government" - I wonder if Castellanos realizes it was a Republican president who oversaw the last big increase.  Take a look at this Wikipedia page on the Federal Budget and you will notice that George Bush oversaw a  38.7 precent (1.2 Trillion Dollars!) increase in spending during his two terms.  And most of this tax money spent on an unnecessary war. 

Now think about this: While increasing the budget, George Bush redistributed wealth to the richest - the same Wall Street Execs and Bankers we now see getting outrageous bonuses.  If these guys are getting all the tax breaks, then who is paying for all the war?  The rest of us.

Obama is increasing George Bush's budget by 13.8 percent.  This increased spending is due largely to the huge rescue packages for those same bankers and insurance companies who benefited so much for George Bush.  You can't blame Obama for getting stuck with George Bush's tab!

Besides deflecting blame from themselves, what republicans are really mad about is not the size of the budget, but what we will be spending it on: Education, Energy Reform, Healthcare Reform, and Jobs.  This is the Change the American People demanded in the last election.

Republicans want to use government as a police force and friend of the rich. Dems believe in the government intended by our founders: to maintain a healthy and productive Country.  Our founders had no problem with the government they created, why do Republicans seem to hate it so much? 

We should expect more of these rubber-stamp Republicans employing the same tactic as Alex Castellanos: stand in the way of Change, then point the finger at President Obama for not living up to his election promises.  Simultaneously, they offer no no new ideas, instead preferring to recycle the same ones that got us into this mess.

It appears that the GOP has fallen back on their old ways: when you don't have anything new to offer, repeat the same lies about the opposition until people start to believe it... and that doesn't bode well for the GOP in 2012, because people have become wise to their ways and the electorate is much smarter now than they were in 2000 and 2004.

Good luck MR Castellanos, your party is going to need it!