themcglynn.com/theliberal.net

The White House has raised executive privilege so often lately that one really needs a scorecard to keep track of when and by whom and in response to what inquiry. But one never has to ask why – because they are stonewalling their criminal, civil, moral wrongdoings. If you were on the fence about the legitimacy of the assertion of executive privilege in the U.S. Attorneys scandal, the CIA surveillance probe, or the Vice President’s energy policy formation, just stop and read about Pat Tillman.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070726/NEWS07/70726085/1118/RSS&imw=Y

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2996532

Pat Tillman was a pretty good pro football player for the Arizona Cardinals. After 9/11, he and his brother felt compelled to join the military, and they enlisted in the Marines. Tillman was sent to Afghanistan, maybe the highest profile soldier in the war on terror. Sadly, he was killed. The military orchestrated a nice tribute to him, and he was honored as a war hero who was killed by enemy fire.

But he wasn’t. He was killed by American troops in an incident of “friendly fire.” But that conclusion leaves some doubt as he was shot multiple times in the forehead from a distance of approximately 10 yards. What really makes matters worse is that the military chain of command knew, and directly obfuscated the story and the subsequent investigations. And they knew long before the eulogies, long before the honors, long before the tributes. But they stonewalled and it took three for four inquiries to root out the real story. They have retired a couple officers and generals, with one general facing demotion, and the matter is done.

But it isn’t. Henry Waxman’s congressional committee has subpoenaed the White House for records as to how far and high the cover-up went. Predictably, the White House has claimed executive privilege. Why? Because the sycophant generals who surrounded Bush and Cheney when the White House decided to go into Iraq are implicated, because Bush used Tillman as a non-response response to Abu Ghraib and in the election at a time that he likely knew or should have known.

I would like to say or predict that this will end with just desserts. But I no longer have such faith. Bush has stacked the judiciary so much in his favor, and has successfully placed such loyalists (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11433231) on the District of Columbia federal district and appellate bench and the Supreme Court that there may be no relief, no recourse, no justice.

I want my country back,
The one that doesn’t spend its treasure on death, destruction, and endless war,
While ignoring the needs of its citizens, its poor, its children.

The one that doesn’t torture its captives,
That doesn’t imprison them for years without charging them with any crime.

I want my country back,
The one whose government does not reward the wealthy few
At the expense of the common good,

The one that doesn’t spy on its citizens without warrant,
The one whose leaders do not lie to cover up their illegal actions.

I want my country back,
The one whose president and vice-president do not promulgate fear to
Silence and dis-empower their fellow citizens,

The one whose president and vice-president do not put themselves above our laws,
Whose president and vice-president do not attack and degrade our Constitution.

I want my country back,
The one that has attempted to live up to its ideals:

The country of the abolitionist movement to free our slaves,
The country of the labor movement to ensure the rights of workers to organize,
The country of the feminist movement to address the inequalities suffered by women,
The country of the civil rights movement to secure the rights of black Americans,
The country of the anti-war movement to stop the madness of the Vietnam war,

The country that has existed in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans,
As they have struggled to make it a place of justice for all.

I want that country back.

These men, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales,
Surely, they are not the rightful leaders of such a country.
Surely, they are a mistake, an aberration.
These men and those who do their bidding
Are small people: small in vision, in compassion, in intellect.
They are arrogant, incompetent, and corrupt ideologues.
They do not understand the values of our democratic way of life,

They do not honor our Constitution.

We must take our country back from these who would subvert our democracy.
It is now our turn to take up the struggle for a just and honorable America..

It is now our task to take our country back.

Mary Oleary-McGlinn

******

All of us who would have supported the abolitionist movement,
who would have identified with the righteousness of the labor movement,
who would have seen the feminist movement as an essential struggle for our democracy,
who would have marched in Selma for civil rights and in Washington for peace–
our country needs us now, petitioning our representatives to change the policies of this rogue administration; pressuring the current candidates for national office to describe specifically how they will repair the state of our nation at home and our reputation and standing in the world; and demonstrating in the streets of our local communities and in Washington, demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq and the beginning of the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.

March in Washington, September 15th, 2007
VoteToImpeach.org
ImpeachBush.org
ANSWER Coalition.org

For those of you who really want commentary worthy of the issues of the day, the choices are clear – Stewart, Colbert, or Olberman.  The “mainstream” media outlets have fallen so far off the charts, that we are left with the (considerable) talents of comedians and former sports anchors pretending to be the media news.  Yet, they do a better job.  Routinely.

Look no further than Sen. Richard Lugar’s (R-IN) recent break from the Bush White House on Iraq.  Most of the media played it up, directly or indirectly, as a moral stand of some significance, something approaching a watershed moment.  A moderate-ish Republican breaking ranks.  Here is a sampling of the print media’s coverage:

The New York Times:   Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee and a steadfast supporter of the president, has conspicuously broken ranks with him on the Iraq war, warning that the United States’ standing in the world could be irreparably eroded if the White House does not change strategy soon…For months, Mr. Lugar has kept his skepticism about the president’s Iraq policy largely to himself, seldom offering anything beyond a hopeful wait-and-see statement. A soft-spoken cardinal of foreign policy, Mr. Lugar is known to his colleagues as anything but a bitter partisan, which made his remarks all the more stinging…

The Washington Post:  …Lugar’s spokesman Andy Fisher said the senator wanted to express his concerns publicly before Bush reviews his Iraq strategy in September.  “They’ve known his position on this for quite a while,” Fisher said of the White House…

Bravo, Sen. Lugar, right?  Well, not really, as Steven Colbert points out.  Go to http://www.crooksandliars.com/Media/Play/18930/1/TCR-Lugar.wmv/ to see just how courageous this actually was.  Yet, Lugar will be lauded and he’ll get his little parades on the Sunday morning shows.  Timmeh and Schieffer and Stephanopolous will fawn and play the game.  But will anyone poke him with a stick like Colbert?  No, because if the Libby trial showed us anything, the media is much a part of the game as are the politicians.

Lugar is neither courageous nor honest in his actions, but will be treated as such by the media because they need him.  The media is neither responsible nor honest in their coverage of him, but we will watch and listen because we need the media.  We are neither responsbile nor courageous in our diligence, but Lugar will pacify our anger at the war by seeming reasonable.  So who is left as the voice of reason and courage in King Bush’s court?  The jesters, but we kid ourselves into thinking that they are only jesting.

-BooRadley