As I recently pointed out the Obama presidency has shaped up to be a large disappointment.

Two recent examples:

1. One of the big complaints about the Bush administration was the grab of Executive power. Unchecked, unbalanced and preemptive. The Bush “doctrine” was indeed one of preemptive war. We also saw extraordinary renditions where people suspected of crimes where grabbed and moved out of US legal jurisdiction to be tortured elsewhere. Guilty until proven innocent. And if the US is wrong, too bad.

So clearly one of the big expectations was for Obama to get back on the track of the principles of the US Constitution and legal frameworks.

Turns out: Not such luck. Even while he gives pretty speeches Obama makes the case for arresting and indefinitely detaining people who might engage in terrorist activity. Not in the process, but people who are suspected…

Say what?

Preemptive arrest. Thought crime?

Obama is not only losing the left quickly, but also independents. Even liberal Rachel Maddow has had enough apparently:

2. The additional troop commitment in Afghanistan is flabbergasting to many of his supporters. Michael Moore had this to say:

“I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do,” documentary filmmaker Michael Moore said in an open letter to Obama posted on his Web site. Moore warned that Obama would tarnish his legacy, turn away his supporters and effectively crown himself the new “war president” by escalating the war in Afghanistan.

“With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics,” Moore wrote. “Your potential decision to expand the war … will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you’ve said and done in your first year.

“For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God’s sake, stop,” Moore wrote.

Stop is what many of his supporters will likely do when they are asked to donate again, or enter the voting booth the next time.

The US has been in Afghanistan since 2001. Eight long years and no end in sight. President Obama has been pondering his next move for months now and is expected to announce a decision this week.

There appears to be a total lack of honesty in the public debate.

A brief history: The war, begun under the Bush administration following the September 11 attacks, was aimed at destroying Al-Qaeda. After a strange reluctance by the US to commit full forces at Tora Bora, Osama bin Laden and key followers managed to escape into Pakistan. Shortly thereafter President Bush withdrew special forces and redeployed them to Iraq. The war in Afghanistan was allowed to linger, with limited forces and billions spent on building a supposed democracy in one of the most backward countries on earth.

The lack of commitment allowed the Taliban to regroup and regain control of large portions of the country. US casualties have been increasing in recent months. Quite an amazing feat for the Taliban considering they have no air force, no missiles, no satellites, no tanks, etc. Yet this lack of resources did not prevent Afghan fighters from pushing out invading Soviet forces in the 80’s.

So here we are, running multi-trillion dollar deficits, hugely in debt and President Obama is likely announcing the commitment of additional troops.

Why?

What is the goal? According to Secretary Clinton it is to get rid of Al-Qaeda.

Consider me confused since US Generals have already stated that Al-Qaeda is virtually not present in Afghanistan.

“I want all the foreigners to leave our country” is what one Taliban fighter is quoted in the ABC report below, which gives a good overview of the situation on the ground:

And that is the problem isn’t it? Any time you have foreign troops engaged in a war on your soil resistance will thrive. Kids that were 8-10 years old at the beginning of this war are now of fighting age and have known nothing but foreign troops in their country. Prime recruiting material for the Taliban.

The US had a job to do in 2001, with specific goals and targets. The fact that this engagement has lasted longer than World War II speaks to the failure of the US effort.

Increasing spending for this war now seem preposterous. For one, we can’t afford it. Furthermore, what is the goal, what’s the endgame, how do we measure success? How many lives and dollars are we willing to commit to combat an enemy that has no desire or ability to invade US soil (the Taliban). All questions that should have been asked in 2001, but nobody bothered.

So what is the real motivator here?

Several possible factors to consider:

1. A proposed oil/gas pipeline to be build through Afghanistan to provide direct access to the Indian ocean.
2. Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of opiates which are also needed for drug manufacturing.
3. US 2010 congressional elections. Democrats tend not to want to look weak on national defense. A retreat in Afghanistan would potentially give Republicans an opening in the upcoming elections.

I suspect those reasons will not be brought up by Obama this week, but rather the usual pablum such as “must finish the job”, “must fight terrorists”, etc..

And so the multi-billion dollar open ended drain continues. Those who voted for change must really be wondering what exactly they voted for….

The election of Barack Obama held a lot of promise for a lot of people. “Hope” and “Change” were the big buzz words. After eight years of an abysmal Bush administration that resulted in unprecedented public debt, endless and unproductive wars, unlimited increase in government power, lobbyists run amok, and lax regulation of corporate power and abuse, a new dawn was about to begin.

Here we are a year after the election and what has demonstrably changed? Preciously little. In fact, in many ways things are much worse.

On the economy:

Granted Mr. Obama inherited a mess. Years of deficit spending had driven the public debt to the highest levels since World War II (as a % of GDP). The poorly handled financial crisis and rescue packages had further compromised the federal budgets. And the Federal Reserve, a principle culprit of the economic mess via injection of excess liquidity into the economy for years, was up to its old tricks. Chairman Bernanke, a supposed scholar of the great Depression, decided to combat the economic meltdown caused by excess debt by, you guessed it, introducing more debt.

So what has Obama done? He promoted Geithner from the New York Fed to Treasury Secretary and kept Bernanke, in essence he kept the same team in place. Bernanke of course, was infamous for being totally behind the curve on the impending economic disaster..

Since becoming president, Obama’s fiscal record has become even worse than Bush’s. Both deficit and debt have spiraled even higher with no end in sight as trillion dollar plus deficits are now projected for the next 10 years.

The stimulus measures have produced no notable effect on unemployment, in fact 10.2% are officially unemployed with the shadow statistics indicating a figure around 17.5% and growing.

On the wars:

Status quo. No troops have been removed from Iraq and Afghanistan looks to be ramped up even further. Gitmo is still in place, gays are still being fired, and the military budget machine continues unabated.

Now clearly, some things take time, yet evidence of concrete measures with promise of results are woefully missing.

In fact, the greatest victim in all this is the truth. Americans are not being leveled with. There is an utter lack of transparency of information.

The two party system is indeed behold to one primary constituency: Those who pay the most. Banks paid millions in form of donations and have arguably gotten the most benefit. Lobbyists from health and pharmaceutical companies have ensured that the most expensive healthcare system stays that way. It is no accident that MRIs cost $1,700 in the US, but only $160 in Japan (NPR). Too many vultures at the trough.
Will military spending ever be cut? Both parties ensure that it won’t. Americans spend $700 Billion per year on the military, 7 trillion dollars per decade. Is it any surprise that health care and education seem unaffordable?

So Americans are subject to an instigated theater of emotion with precious few facts. It does not matter who is in charge. Republicans and Democrats have monopolized a political system that is based on the flow of money. He with the most money wins. Hence, change is only visible at the narrowest of margins, while the country heads toward financial oblivion.

Americans have been had. And many of them know it.

Remember this fishing vessel next time you order salt water fish for dinner at a restaurant. These guys work HARD!

The death of a child is always a terrible tragedy. The Travoltas seem to be very loving parents and they must be devastated. However, the circumstances of the death of their son Jett appear to be odd.

Jett was found dead on Friday after apparently suffering a seizure and hitting his head on a bathtub while on a New Year’s holiday with his parents and eight-year-old sister, Bahamian police said. His father, a keen pilot, flew the family there by private jet.

His body was discovered by his caretaker, Jeff Kathrain, at around 10am in a bathtub in the Travoltas’ suite at the Old Bahama Bay Resort Hotel on Grand Bahama Island, local police chief superintendent Basil Rahming said.

Jett had a long history of seizures and other medical problems, including complications resulting from Kawasaki disease, a rare lymph-node disorder that causes severe rashes and fevers, Travolta told investigators.

Claims that Jett suffered from autism were given fresh impetus in 2007 after a Florida neighbour of the couple, whose daughter suffers from the condition, said he approached Travolta as “one autistic father to another”.

The potential red flag here is that the Travoltas are Scientologists who reject the use of any kind of psychedelic drug treatment. Who can forget Tom Cruise’s rant regarding Brook Shield’s use of anti-depressants? Seizures can be effectively dealt with through the use of targeted drugs. If proper medication was withheld for religious reasons what is the accountability? Let’s see what facts come about. I have to admit I am a bit biased as I have very good first hand information that Mr. Travolta’s private persona is quite different from his public image. I think it would be fair to say the American public would be shocked if they knew some of the stories circulating in Arizona for example. But that doesn’t make him necessarily an irresponsible parent. But using religious belief to deny medical treatment would be irresponsible at best, and criminal at worst.

I was hopeful that David Gregory would be a good choice for heading Meed the Press. I am now sorely disappointed and maybe that’s my own fault. But I was hopeful after seeing him in clips like these. His recent interviews, however, have been very softball. This clip below with Chris Matthews though makes it perfectly clear as to why: He’s an apologist. Apparently he views the media to have a role in asking questions and taking notes. No follow-up, no challenge on the facts, no debate, no pointing out of factual errors or lies. Whose role is that? Apparently you the citizen. Are you kidding me? David, seriously why did you go to journalism school? We, the American people, NEVER have the chance to ask questions or confront our leaders. We can vote ever so often but we depend on you, the media, who have access to hold those in power accountable to the truth.

One of the key reasons that the Bush administration got away with so much bullshit over the past 8 years is precisely because you guys wouldn’t dig, wouldn’t challenge enough. It’s pathetic. Your view seems to be that journalism is intended to give those in power a platform with which to spew their propaganda unchallenged. Classic example is the 2nd clip below: Question 1: Your approval rating is low, why is that: Bush: bla bla bla that doesn’t address the question or the truth. Follow-up question by Gregory: Let me ask you about your style. Please, what seriously is the value of an interview like this? None, whatsoever. Gregory and others like him in the media should resign. We need a demanding media who watches out for the public and challenges the powerful. A good example is the third clip, when an Irish reporter asks Bush some difficult questions.

Israel began phase 2 today and ground troops entered Gaza. As we posted previously no nice guys on either side, the situation seems unsolvable. If we view it from a purely military perspective we have to acknowledge the following: Peace will never be achieved until your enemy is utterly destroyed. That has been a plain fact of life for all of human history. That’s just the way it is. Is Israel prepared to go all the way? I don’t know. If their goal is to find all the Hamas rockets it seems they have to go house by house by house. That seems like a brutal task and one not likely solvable by January 20th when Obama will be sworn in as president. The reality is that Israel will increasingly come under pressure politically to stop, so they have to move fast. Anyone who wants to argue either side of this conflict should also get a clear view of what is happening on the ground. You will not see it in the main stream media, but we can show it here. Be warned though this footage is very graphic and it shows civilian casualties. It is not abstract it is real:

Is it me, or was he struggling to keep a straight face?

I’m sensing he’s trying to outdo Clinton with his instant classic.

I received this email from a friend. It makes a very good point:

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother hurried him along,  but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Well at least it’s out in the open. Some people are perfectly content to use blowtorches on suspected prisoners. Whatever it takes. And the hypocrisy on top: It’s ok if Americans do it, but it’s wrong for others to do it to Americans.

We’ve discussed this torture issue at length here and here.

No discussion of the possibility that the unspeakable could be done against innocents. Given the track record of incarcerating innocent victims in Gitmo you would think that some might pause to think. But they don’t care. They buy into the simple minded and stupefying argument of the ticking bomb which, of course, has no practical relevance in the first place. It’s a hypothetical, and it’s wrong. Torture does not work. Despite how many times they argue that is does, it doesn’t. It’s immoral, it’s unethical, it’s illegal, it’s barbaric, and it’s stupid. I cant make it any clearer than that.

This clip gives a good overview of the arguments:

On the record, on tape, on video, Vice President Cheney admits his involvement in rendering the US Constitution invalid and authorizing war crimes. Torture is a war crime. The US has signed the Geneva Convention.
Anyone who claims that the “enhanced interrogation” techniques were not torture is encouraged to go through the techniques themselves. I doubt they could handle them without screaming for them to stop. Shy of that opportunity I would encourage Americans to read Nazi Germany’s Gestapo manual on “sharpened interrogation”. Proud of the company we kept? This is the America of freedom, democracy, the shining light? The America that defeated Nazism without resorting to these methods? Notice no water boarding was authorized. We took that from Pol Pot and the Spanish Inquisition.

More background here:

The Iraq war was a major strategic blunder that cost thousands of lives and over half a trillion dollars. The Bush administration pursued a particular angle to convince the American people that the war was necessary. That angle was principally based on the threat of WMD. Even Karl Rove admitted that the war would not have take place without the belief that weapons were there.

Now we are witnessing an amazing case of attempted historical revisionism, or more bluntly, a pack of lies. Vice President Cheney now claims that we would have gone to war even if he had known there were no WMD. Oh really? What was the ultimatum based on? Give up WMD’s or we attack. That was the argument.  Disarm from what? Would we have stated an ultimatum in the first place? On what basis would we have attacked? How could Saddam have avoided war? The entire argument is absurd, and it has to be. It is not based on the facts. The facts are that WMD, in particular the stated threat of a nuclear attack on the United States was used as the central premise to justify an invasion.

Chris Matthews does a good job here of challenging Frank Gaffney on the facts, well worth watching. Gaffney bases his entire argumentation of on woulda, coulda, shoulda.. Of course he did not risk his family’s lives on that premise, but he states the American troops did have to die. Just unbelievable. Either they have no conscience or they are in denial:

Amazing video of twisted logic expressed by President Bush. First he makes the argument that Iraq needed to be invaded since it has been a “major theater against Al-Qaeda”. When the reporter confronts him with the reality that it only became an Al-Qaeda theater after he invaded, Bush responds with: “So what?”.

How dumb does he think the American public is? Seriously.

The analogy would be to say:

” Hey we needed to operate to prevent an infection from spreading.”

“But there was no infection prior to the operation”

“So what?”

Footage from Greece, and apparently the Greek police is running out of tear gas.

Another proud moment in US legislative history:

Totally absurd.

Update: Anyone notice how there is talk of a new Bill of Rights at the end of the clip?

The Internet is filled with videos of Taser abuse by the hands of trigger happy police. Who can forget the horrible and unnecessary death at the Vancouver airport?

Promoted as a safer way to handle difficult arrest subjects Taser use has exploded since its introduction. With deadly consequences: Over 400 people have now known to have died from Tasers. Not death row convicts, but often people have died for very minor infractions, including this latest nightmare:

Despite the rather old news that Tasers can kill, the news media continue to be littered with reports of trigger-happy Taserers, many of whom should be relieved that their victims lived. This week in Oklahoma, police Tasered a man who had gone into diabetic shock while driving, which caused him to spin out of control on the road

The fact is Tasers can be deadly. As such, they should only be used in the rarest of circumstances and not as a first resort instead of reason. I mean seriously:

Mike Huckabee has a reputation as a good debater, but he was clearly destroyed here in this clip with Jon Stewart. Why? Simple. There is no reasonable argument against gay marriage. There are only homophobic fears. The “definition” issue is not an issue. It’s a lame excuse and a front. The religious right stands exposed again.

Good interview here between Bill Ayers and Chris Matthews. Shocker again, that Bill Ayers does not come across as the foaming at the mouth terrorist that the McCain made him out to be. The real shame here is, again, that the media did not challenge the McCain campaign on the facts in any serious way during the election cycle. Hence, politicians were allowed to spread demagoguery to the American public with no restraint. It’s called propaganda. It’s called making things up that are not real. This called lying. If we don’t rid ourselves of this campaign culture we will truly end up being a banana republic. Obama’s win, despite all these efforts, gives me hope.

Judging from his 1st month managing the transition, I’m very optimistic.

The Daily Show sums it up pretty well:

The consistent ability of the Bush administration to do the wrong thing on any issue is nothing short of amazing and totally infuriating. Even the Republican strategist here has a hard time defending this latest effort: Have the EPA rule against cleaning up our drinking water:

Fascinating exchange here that aired on Abu Dhabi TV. The topic: Women’s rights and marriage. I highly recommend watching it:

The cleric loses the intellectual argument, but it does not matter. Religion dominates the social life in Saudi Arabia. Intellectual reasoning is not required. Religious law is all that matters. This is a prime example why religion cannot be allowed to dictate public policy.

Reality: These people hate each others guts. The video below is graphic, but gives you a sense of the tensions and the difficulties in ever establishing a solid peace agreement. You won’t see this type of video in the MSM.

Background:

Graphic video footage showing settlers fighting with Palestinians in Hebron and shooting two men at close range in the hours after a settler house was evacuated by police yesterday.

The film, recorded by a Palestinian resident in Hebron, shows settlers attacking his house, which was in a valley close to the three-storey building where dozens of settlers were evicted by Israeli riot police. In t More..he hours after the eviction, Jewish settlers rioted in Hebron, throwing stones at police and Palestinians and setting fire to Palestinian trees and attacking Palestinian homes. Most of the violence took place between the evicted house and the nearby hardline Jewish settlement of Kirya Arba.

The footage shows a settler firing a handgun and injuring two Palestinians, Hosni Abu Se’ifan, 40, who was hit in the chest and is now in a stable condition in hospital, and his father, Abd al-Hai Abu Se’ifan, 65, who was hurt in the arm. Others from the family then overpower the gunman until armed Israeli security guards from the Kiryat Arba settlement arrive and shoot several rounds over the heads of the Palestinians. The Abu Se’ifan family have frequently been targeted by settlers in the past.

B’Tselem handed the video to Israeli police in Hebron last night and was “demanding that the assailant is immediately brought to justice and that the involvement of the security guard be investigated”.

More background here:

Nearly 3 million pilgrims chanting prayers converged Saturday in a valley just outside the holy city of Mecca at the beginning of the 5-day hajj pilgrimage, a lifelong dream for many Muslims.

The pilgrims from about 100 countries left Mecca after completing the first ritual of the hajj by circling the sacred Kaaba stone structure seven times inside the Grand Mosque, which Muslims all over the world face during their five daily prayers.

Dressed in white robes, pilgrims piled into and on top of buses on their way to a ritual of prayer and reflection in Mina, 3 miles east of Mecca.

Saudi Arabia has deployed some 100,000 security personnel to keep order during the hajj. Thousands of them patrolled the route to Mina on foot and in vehicles.

President Bush has repeatedly stated that he will let historians judge his presidency.  Well, it looks like he wants to preempt history’s judgment by assembling a spin team to manage the message. Rachel Maddow has the run down on the story:

Spin over substance, nothing has changed. The good news: The Internet and YouTube. Spin becomes much harder when so much more historical information is now available at our fingertips.

David Gregory is taking over as host of Meet the Press. Gregory is an able journalist and has, on occasion,  asked some tough questions of President Bush. I had to cringe though watching this little exchange here between him and Brokow.

Both seem to give Bush the benefit of the doubt and imply that Bush tried to be a “uniter not a divider”. They leave the impression that Bush earnestly tried to work in a bipartisan way, but that Republican members of Congress wouldn’t let him, or that it was his agenda’s fault. That notion strikes me as romantic at best and revisionist at worst. Bush’s track record in deeds as opposed to his words shows a man deeply opposed to any compromise. His agenda or the highway. In fact, the central theme in the failure that was the Bush administration, was his disdain for any views other than is own. Dissenting opinions were not only ignored, but actively suppressed. Bush’s efforts to circumvent the will of Congress by the way of executive signing orders were unprecedented. Let’s also not forget that Bush never vetoed anything that the Republican led Congress put in front of him in terms of spending. His big veto of course was against a children health care bill sponsored by Democrats.

No, Bush was as partisan as they get, with a distrust of others, a disdain for earnest debate, and a stubborn arrogance toward views of others. He was the classical divider, and Brokow and Gregory should know better and acknowledge this.

My fellow men, heed the lessons:

Don’t expect the GOP to move toward the center any time soon. Despite a crushing defeat, not only based on record, but also based on an increasingly less appealing social agenda (to the majority), the moderates in the party are getting drowned out. The volume is dominated by the right base who see themselves encouraged by the crowds Sarah Palin drew and the defeat of gay marriage amendments across the country. This clip with Mike Huckabee is a good example of the type of discussion that is going on.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the GOP will be out of power for a long time. They keep ignoring the larger societal trends of increased tolerance.

Ironic that the crowd that does not believe in evolution finds it hard to adapt to a new reality and changing conditions.

Somehow I have a feeling this commercial would not make it past the censors in America:

What a frustrating interview. He claims he never compromised his principles. Authorizing torture obviously doesn’t fall within his principles. But pulling out of Iraq would have compromised his principles. But worse, he acknowledges he wishes the intelligence on WMD in Iraq had been correct. What an atrocious statement, for two reasons:

1. There was plenty intelligence that suggested they didn’t have WMD. It was suppressed and he didn’t want to hear it. This ideologue’s mind was made up.

2. Notice his regret is about the intelligence being faulty, not the fact that many thousands had to die because of a faulty decision he, and he alone made.

Terrible arrogance and lack of humility. Bush also skirted around the question whether he would have invaded Iraq if there had been no evidence of WMD. The truth is he would have never gotten Congress’ authorization without it, that’s why the claims were trumped up. I sure hope that at some point the details of what really happened will come out. I’m afraid the truth will hurt.

Worst. President. Ever.

As usual, The Daily Show does a great show exposing the absurdity that is our media landscape: