An Open Letter to Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

AfterDowningStreet

Dear Chief Prosecutor,

Congratulations on your request for an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan. When the rule of law cannot be justly enforced within a nation, it must be enforced internationally. In that regard, I would like to recommend that you seek an arrest warrant for the president of my nation, the United States of America. I have read your letter of February 9, 2006, in which you decline to seek prosecution of George W. Bush, and I believe new evidence compels another review.

With all due respect for the difficulty of your work, the case you have brought against the president of Sudan has followed quite different standards than those applied in your refusal to prosecute the president of the United States. In fact, you have refused to consider prosecution of George W. Bush because the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court. But Sudan is also not a member of the International Criminal Court. Were you to consider the evidence of international crimes in Iraq as it exists today, and to consider the crimes committed on behalf of the president of the United States by members of the United States military and mercenaries employed by the United States, I believe you would find a case for prosecution that met the standards you applied, and applied well and admirably, to the president of Sudan.

I hope President Obama signs us up with the ICC. I'd like to see our war criminals in 'Orange'.

Totally Gay Happy Meals

Mark Morford, comments.

It is the end of the nutball Christian right. Here is your proof. To go

Somewhere in all this, a moral, a lesson. Perhaps a curious anecdote about how, in this country, it seems like every agenda, every stupid idea, every rancid fireball of ignorant religious fanaticism nevertheless gets its moment, its 15 minutes, its desperate shot at guiding the culture, just to see if it can, if there's something of value, if there's something to be learned.

And when it comes to the sad Christian nutballs, well, the lesson appears to be wildly obvious indeed: Avoid the sad Christian nutballs, now and forevermore. Hell, even God could've told you that.

Amen.

Time for some campaignin'...

JibJab

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A joke?

The Republican sense of humor:

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, "Where is that marvelous ape?"

Is this the kind of 'humor' we can expect from the man who wants to be President?

John McCain, caring about womens' issues one rape joke at a time.

Late today, see yas when I get home.

Update:

What he said:

The thing about the McCain rape joke is that it isn't just horrible because it's a a joke about a woman liking rape, it's about a woman who is explicitly beaten senseless until she becomes unconscious and raped and she enjoyed the experience.

Quote of the Day

Cindy McCain:

... Mrs. McCain believes that the only way to get around is by "small private plane."

Elitist much?

A goose for the sauced...

Politico

Oh please click!

One of the covers is a lot closer to the mark than the other one...

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Take yer pick!

Click to gay up

Lotta good BBQ and military bases there too...

The Legacy of a Lunatic

In the post just below this one, I tried to summarize Bush's legacy in a short paragraph. Can't be done. There will be hundreds of books about it later after he's out of office and people start coming out from under rocks to tell what they know. For money. If they had any sense of patriotism, or even truth or common decency, they'd be screaming it from the rooftops as we speak. Metaphorically, of course. If you actually scream from rooftops, no matter the truth of your message, you get locked up. Don't ask me how I know this.

In the meantime, I found a pretty good summary of what his legacy will be. Here's some excerpts. The rest is Below The Fold, in toto and without comment, because I want this one to be handy.

NanceGreggs

Perhaps the most glaring reality of Bush’s presidency will be the fact that it was never a true presidency at all. The result of selection rather than election, it was marked not by sound strategy, but by stagecraft; not by purposeful action, but an endless array of photo-ops meant to capture merely an image of leadership in a constant attempt to obscure the truth that no such leadership ever existed.

While the smoke-and-mirrors experts continue to proffer their own creation – the man with the bullhorn in the wreckage of the Twin Towers, the man landing on an aircraft carrier declaring that the mission had been accomplished, the man sharing Thanksgiving dinner with his troops – the reality lurking behind the curtain is less than heroic or honorable: a lackadaisical fool reading a children’s book in the midst of mayhem, a smirking coward parading around in a flight-suit, a mindless, uncaring clown offering a plastic turkey to the men and women he was about to send to their deaths.

From the beginning, Bush surrounded himself with incompetent cronies, yes-men, and sycophants with a lust for influence, and handed out positions of power to people whose blind loyalty was the only measure of their suitability. Qualities like honesty and strength of character were never assessed, and were in fact an obvious hindrance for those who aspired to the inner circle.

A large part of Bush’s legacy will undoubtedly be his administration’s ability to spin the worst behavior into something noble, the most blatant lies into something too truthful to be questioned, the most heinous crimes into something heroic, all couched in language meant to divert the mind from reality, and the soul from guilt.

Even the once respected term moral Christian has been forever tarnished, having now been attributed to a torturer, a warmonger, a widow-maker, a non-repentant creator of orphans, of limbless soldiers, of multitudes of homeless, hungry, sick and dying people whose fate is of no concern to he who is not ignorant of, but blatantly dismissive of the very teachings he pretends to follow and revere.

Perhaps the most enduring part of any president’s legacy is the remembrance of their most obvious personal quality. In this instance, surely Bush will be best remembered for his arrogance – an arrogance born not of an overly-exuberant recognition of his own abilities or record of accomplishment, but merely reflective of a sense of entitlement to be praised for that which he never achieved, and rewarded with adulation and respect that was clearly never earned.

And the tales that will be told of Bush’s presidency will be rife with tragedy; tales of soldiers who died fighting not for freedom but profit, of cities left to drown amid apathy and incompetence, of corporations given free rein to exploit the vulnerabilities of a nation’s people, of an administration that plundered our treasury, saddled us with unconscionable debt, circumvented the rule of law, and left our Constitution in tatters.

Despite the best efforts of the revisionists, the spinmeisters, the propagandists, and those simply unwilling to admit that they were hoodwinked by an inept scoundrel and his attendant snake-oil salesmen, it is the truths of George W. Bush’s failed presidency that will be the basis of his legacy.

In light of that fact, Worst President Ever might be the kindest title that history eventually confers.

If I seem obssessed by that punk son of a bitch, it's only because I am frustrated by not being able to bitch-slap his head right off his shoulders.

Bush's legacy demands the head of bin Laden

Steve Weissman

If Osama bin Laden consciously set out to lure the United States into an ever-widening, never-ending and militarily unwinnable war, President George W. Bush is providing exactly the war the bearded one wanted. Start with Iraq, [...]

Move on to Iran, where the New Yorker's Sy Hersh has caught Washington sponsoring what can only be called terrorist attacks within the country, while Mr. Bush now tells the Israelis to go ahead with their preparations for possible aerial strikes against Tehran's nuclear enrichment and other facilities.

On to Afghanistan, where the CIA's hand-picked Hamid Karzai has predictably failed to become a viable national leader, mostly because his fellow Pashtun tribesmen see him for what he is - the Afghan face of a foreign military occupation. [...]

And so to Pakistan, where the Pentagon is systematically destabilizing the newly elected and highly fragile civilian government, as the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its task force sit menacingly off the Pakistani coast.

Allahu Akhbar! What more could bin Laden want?

Yeah, Bush makes me invoke the name of the Almighty as well.

Why, then, their suddenly renewed interest in finding bin Laden after so many years of letting him run free? The answer is both simple and shabby. During Mr. Bush's short stay in London in mid-June, the Sunday Times reported that he had ordered his troops to capture bin Laden before the administration leaves office as a way to secure the Bush legacy. "If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place," the Sunday Times quoted one US intelligence source. "Bush is swinging for the fences in the hope of scoring a home run."

Is giving bin Laden the martyrdom he craves worth destroying civilian democracy and risking a civil war in Pakistan? To George W. Bush and the hyper-military John McCain, the question is hardly worth asking.

This may not be politically correct, but I hope bin Laden can avoid death or capture until after 1.20.09 so as to leave Bush's legacy at 100% - corporate running dog, shredder of the Constitution, neocon imperialist warmonger, borrower-and-spender enough to make U.S. a third-world country, an unbelievably incompetent politically motivated toady who gathered others of his ilk into positions of power, let-'em-eat-cake attitude toward the American people, destroyer of the economy, domestic and international felon many times over who ruined America's stature in the rest of the world possibly for generations if not permanently, and an arrogant, smirking little coward of a fascist bully, an international embarrassment to us all with his Ugly American buffoonery, and a constant incorrigible liar. I could think of lots more if I sat here long enough.

The one - I say again one - good thing he has done is to flush the Repuglican't party down the shitter for the next 20 years. Hopefully until his butcher's bill is paid, which could be a lot longer.

The 'Terrorist Army' ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. watch list of terrorism suspects has passed 1 million records, corresponding to about 400,000 people, and a leading civil rights group said on Monday the number was far too high to be effective.

...

President George W. Bush ordered in the current list in September 2003 as a way to wrap several growing terrorism watchlists into a single government database compiled and overseen by the FBI, through a Terrorist Screening Center.

Suspected terrorists or people believed to have links to terrorism are included on the list, which can be used by a wide range of government agencies in security screening. About 50,000 individuals are included on the Transportation Security Administration "no-fly" or "selectee" lists that subject them to travel bans, arrest or additional screening.

...

Personally, I'm surprised Mrs. F and I aren't on the list. We leave the country twice a year for two weeks at a clip and our passports fill up with entry/exit stamps before they expire. Thank God for Republican ineptitude or we'd get jacked up constantly.

The 'War on Terra' and the birth of 'Homeland Security' are just two more ways the Republicans pay off their donors. The Rethugs have done a great job of turning the U.S. government into a vehicle to allow the rich to get richer. "Government contracts" and "federal funding" are merely different names for "food stamps" and "welfare checks" for the wealthy at the expense of those who really need it. The spectre of terrorism enables no-bid contracts and little oversight. An ongoing war, half a world away, allows them to do it with little to no scrutiny.

The Republicans rail against 'social programs' yet have built one for themselves. In the 21st Century, the U.S. government works for the rich. 'Terror' and 'Security' are merely phrases designed to force the rest of us into going along with it 'for our own good'. The Iraq Occupation makes certain we'll have enough enemies so they can keep up the illusion, same with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is not in the interest of Big Business to end them. Without the threat of Death looming around every corner, Americans wouldn't let them get away with it.

Without big, bad enemies, there would be no need for the 'military-industrial complex', no need for 'Homeland Security', no need for the fear and paranoia that allows the government to waste our money on programs that are wasteful at best and totally ineffective at worst.

As my commanding officer said to me a little over 25 years ago: "Son, pray we always have the Soviet Union and the Communists to demonize. I'd hate to see what they'd do if they had to find another enemy to justify their existence."

It meant little to a 20 year old kid at the time but today I can appreciate what the Colonel was trying to tell me. I find it very hard to believe that if the threat the Soviet Union (let us remember, the Soviets had thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at us that could reach the continental U.S. in minutes) posed did not force us into this postmodern nightmare at the height of the Cold War, a couple guys in a cave can do it today. I can't believe we could extract intelligence agents and operators from behind the Iron Curtain 30 years ago, yet can't seem to locate and kill Osama bin Laden and his posse.

I posit that it is not in Wealthy America's interest to do so.

Great thanks to Mr. Petulant for the link.

Quote of the Day

The Rude Pundit:

...

Sweet jesus, it's so easy to just blithely go on with our lives, pushing the knowledge of what's right aside and telling ourselves, until we maybe even believe it, "I'm happy, I'm content, and nothing's to be gained by tearing shit apart." Except we know that the only way to go forward is to tear it apart and see what's left to build.

Indeed. It's time for some pain in order to make America be America again.

And by the way, it's Bastille Day. Maybe it's time for us to have one of them too ...

The stench of hypocrisy 18

The Misfit adds to the list:

... Yes indeed, another virulently anti-gay Republican politician is busted while having sex with another person of the same sex. This particular asswipe was outed by his own wife, who found him in the marital bed with one of his assistants.

...

As always, I ain't the one who gives a shit what two consenting adults do, but those who live in glass houses shouldn't get stoned.

On the cartoon ...

You know, the New Yorker one of Obama and his wife.

My two cents:

They have a right to print anything they want. It's still America ... mostly. That said, it's not funny and it's not thought-provoking. Satire? Maybe but it's a reach. It's certainly in bad taste. Big deal. The Rethugs have done worse.

There are bigger things to worry about than a magazine trying to drum up readership.

Don't call our shit 'Bush'!

Folks in Frisco are defending their shit plant from being named after Bush!

Think Progress

What we didn’t expect was that most of the opposition was coming from people who didn’t want to name anything. They just wanted to forget about the past eight years and move on or they felt that this is a facility that does something really quite useful and it would be inappropriate to put his name on it. […] If you get to the point where people are defending the sewage plant, that’s a sign that things have not gone so well.

Earlier in the segment, McConnell noted the logic behind the name change idea: A wastewater treatment plant’s “job is to clean up a mess and so in that respect we think it symbolizes what the country is going to embark on as [Bush] leaves office.”

Audio and many comments.

Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In

WASHINGTON—A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.

"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."

The current economic woes, brought on by the collapse of the so-called "housing bubble," are considered the worst to hit investors since the equally untenable dot-com bubble burst in 2001. According to investment experts, now that the option of making millions of dollars in a short time with imaginary profits from bad real-estate deals has disappeared, the need for another spontaneous make-believe source of wealth has never been more urgent.

"The U.S. economy cannot survive on sound investments alone," Carlisle added.

[...] "At this point, bubbles are the only thing keeping us afloat."

And Bush is popping them with his tongue...*

I suspect a little satire here, but not much.

*Fart/bathtub reference.

Ah, to dream...

Click to embiggen

Can we start a pool to see which one will cheat the hangman like Goering did?

As Oil Firms Seek Drilling Access, Exports Set Record

CNBC with a 'recommended read'.

While the U.S. oil industry wants access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, U.S.-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.

The surge in exports appears to contradict the pleas from the U.S. oil industry and the Bush administration for Congress to open more offshore waters and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

"We can help alleviate shortages by drilling for oil and gas in our own country," President Bush told reporters this week. "We have got the opportunity to find more crude oil here at home."

U.S. consumers are paying record prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, which the Bush administration blames in part on tight supplies.

While the administration argues that more supplies would help to bring down prices, U.S exports of diesel fuel in April averaged 387,000 barrels per day, up almost seven-fold from 59,000 barrels a day in the same month a year earlier.

It isn't for our benefit Bush wants to open up new drilling. It's so his oil cronies will have more to sell everywhere. And for healthier currencies than the dollar.

We will, of course, continue to be screwed and Bush will continue to lie and blame the Democrats.

Yes, we have to change our energy consumption habits. Yes, we must develop other sources of energy. Yes, we need to get rid of oil men in power so we can get a sane energy policy.

And yes, we will continue to pay through the nose. The bottom line is the bottom line.

Moral waivers ...

Or, Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel. Via Avedon, the Army is taking anyone they can get:

...

A yearlong examination of military and civilian records by The Sacramento Bee involving hundreds of troops who entered the services since the Iraq war began identified 120 cases of people whose backgrounds should have raised the suspicions of military recruiters, including felony convitions and serious drug, alcohol or mental health problems.

Of those, 70 later were involved in controversial or criminal incidents in Iraq.

...

The 70 were among the tens of thousands of military personnel recruited or retained as the armed services, entering the sixth year of the Iraq war, lowered educational, age and moral standards and granted a growing number of waivers to applicants whose backgrounds previously would have barred them from serving.

...

That's it. Take violent, anti-social offenders, hand them a rifle, and tell 'em it's okay to kill brown folks. And we wonder when shit like Abu Graib happens, or when they come home and commit violent crimes against American citizens.

These clowns shouldn't be allowed to possess a BB gun, let alone be put in a war zone, and is a testament to how badly the situation in Iraq has crippled our military. The latest line from the White House this weekend is that there will be "a drawdown" of troops from Iraq, but that's only to send them to Afghanistan because we don't have the reserves to fill in the gaps (though Afghanistan was treated like the red-headed step-child from Day One) our half-assed commitment created.

Cdr. Huber:

... The Bush spin machine was quick to declare that the administration is considering increasing the pace of the pullout from Iraq (as if they were actually considering "pulling out" in the first place), not as a reaction to Maliki's invitation to pack sand, or because the force is collapsing from the deployment tempo, but because the extra troops are needed in Afghanistan.

...

The real moral waiver came when the U.S. Congress gave these assholes carte blanche to start this war and continue to fund it into its sixth year. Unfortunately, the way things are going, any grip we get on Morality is a long time coming. As long as insane foreign policy is considered mainstream, we will continue to field a military made up of convicts, gang bangers, and low lifes. Atrocities will continue and American credibility will continue to circle the bowl.

John McCain wants to stay in Iraq forever? Answer me this. Where is he gonna get the troops? Or is he just gonna empty out the prisons?

Cross-posted at API.

The reason why ...

You should vote for Barry regardless of his moron FISA vote:

...

The Senate has shown they will confirm a doorstop if the president wants them to. There are no Teddy Kennedy's who will lead the charge against another Bork. This is one reason why I'll vote for Obama enthusiastically. A President McCain will throw the wingnut zealots the most reactionary, federalist society hack he can find, like bloody bloody meat to a piranha tank. He doesn't care about anything but paying off his rich friends and making war. Whatever our problems might be with Obama we know that he won't do that.

...

That goes especially for the Hillary people who are still holding a grudge (though I believe the number of Hillary supporters who'll vote for McCain is a lot less than the media makes it out to be).

Where's Waldo Turdblossom?

Following up on Friday's post, Rove has been found. Check it out at NotionsCapital.

Karl Rove is roving the beaches of the Crimea, not the committee rooms of Congress. Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times reached the former White House Senior Svengali by cell phone in the Eastern European resort to ask for his reaction to the death of Tony Snow.

Ukraine does not have an extradition treaty with the US, according to the Congressional Research Service, and ”Contempt of Congress” may not be a crime in the Crimea. At least we don’t have to worry about Mr. Rove obtaining undue influence over the Crimean president — there isn’t one. The Head of State of Crimea is the President of Ukraine (Viktor Yushchenko).

Karl may be checking out the employment possibilities, thinking his particular Machiavellian talent would be well suited to their kind of politics. I hope he gets the job. What he doesn't know about politics in that region is that they're likely to kill him. I hope he likes soup.