I am simply not drunk enough

[solarbird]

I'm not drunk enough to talk about this right now. (Which sadly means I am not drunk at all, but let's leave that aside.) So have a bunch of links and one substantial ecerpt. Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings gets some of it right, but doesn't to my mind go far enough:

Our system of government is built on the separation of powers: Congress passes laws, the Executive implements those laws, the Courts interpret them, and all of us, including the President, obey them. This system is currently under threat. Our President and his advisors believe three things which are wrong individually, but disastrous when combined. These are:

(1) The President can do whatever he wants during wartime, whether or not it violates the laws.

(2) It is always wartime, and the battlefield is everywhere, both at home and abroad.

(3) The President has the right to keep what he is doing completely secret. No one -- not citizens, not Congress, not anyone -- has the right to force him to reveal what he and others in the Executive are doing.

As I said, each of these is wrong individually, but the combination of all three is absolutely toxic. And the secrecy is crucial: if no one knows what the Executive is doing, no one can challenge it.

The FISA controversy puts all three principles together.

Here, while I can still bring myself to care: the neocons who made the whole Iraq war mess go are working on revisionist history to try to make themselves into oppressed heros. Over at National Review, they go on about how the plan was never to bring democracy to Iraq. Spencer Ackerman discusses the five million displaced Iraqis and how the US propaganda machine uses individual stories to distract from that.

Creationist fuckheads like Ken Ham at Answers in Genesis get to lead prayer breakfasts at the Pentagon. Nouriel Roubini at RGE Monitor thinks an Israeli strike against Iran is more and more likely, pointing to an article in Der Spiegel. Also, if you go to the front page right now and open the "Will Israel Strike Iran?" spotlight issue, you'll get a set of bullet points detailing why and what happens if that balloon goes up. And Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Have a bulletpointed list of articles on the US torture state:

• Routine Abuse At Bagram
• "If the Detainee Dies, You're Doing It Wrong"
• McClatchey's is running an ongoing series on the US torture regime called Guantanamo: Beyond the Law:
  • We Got the Wrong Guys
  • I Guess You Can Call It Torture
  • A School for Jihad
  • "Due Process is Legal Mumbo-Jumbo"
  • "You are the King of this Prison"
• Undersecretary for Defense Feith Refuses to Testify
• Senator McCain is a consistent opponent of habeas corpus

Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

Have you read "the Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein?

[solarbird]

I haven't. It sounds quite depressing, but that could be my current mood as much as anything else.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had to get out "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden to cheer myself up.

[emrecom.livejournal.com]

There's nothing in Klein's book that would surprise you. It's a well-organized primer about for-profit neo-colonialism and surrounding moral nihilisms.

[firni.livejournal.com]

I'm finding it interesting so far.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Pssst. Wanna trade OPML files?

[solarbird]

um... what? What're you using them for in a livejournal context?