OBAMA HITS A HOMERUNLast night's White House Press conference gave the public assurance that there is profound intelligent life at the helm who fully grasps the significance of his historic moment and the challenges before the country.
What a welcome change.
He struck the perfect tone on all areas of inquiry- and assured the public that he wasn't interested in running car companies or banks and is using the current measures to right a course so off the tracks by the abysmal policies of the past administration . The government is not looking to hold on to any equity of nationalized industries.
He didn't hide from the anger of the pro-life crowd in the Notre Dame uproar and noted that he does have a committed team of reasonable pro-life people working cooperatively with pro-choice people to reduce abortions because there is common ground between reasonable people with the common goal of eliminating unwanted pregnancies that result in abortions. The days where the abortion politics of the strident hateful republican extremist contingent that seeks to make it a perpetual wedge issue without solving the issue is over. The day of people who would rather make petty celebrities of themselves on this issue by hateful rhetoric rather than adopting a child or supporting a pregnant woman or having a child themselves for example have run its course. Tiresome and obnoxious.
Republicans far and wide now admit that this isn't productive- and the moderate defection from the party indicates exactly how off the wall offensive this cultural shift has become. The Spector defection was completely predictable. The Republicans have lost Pennsylvania- both Senators now are Democratic, the Governor is Democratic and this is the bellweather for the reasonable rhetorically responsible rest of the country.
Obama indicated he did agree that waterboarding is torture. We did torture people. He didn't need to say that Bush did lie about it. We all know Bush lied, Condi lied and Cheney like a rabid dog still snarls from the sidelines taking potshots to preseve his crippled legacy defending the indefensible. Winston Churchill, Obama noted, held detainees during WWII and stated and meant that England does not torture. It is a hallmark of a civilized people that torture is not permitted. When Bush said it with crossed fingers behind his back he
was simulating drowning, shackling people to cages like dogs, sending electrocution charges through people and forcing public masturbation and humiliation. Sickening. Bush and Cheney should be the next Exhibit in the Museum of Torture in San Gimignano, Italy (google it).
The question remains concerning whether there should be prosecutions over torture and a more serious 9-11 commission than the whitewashed version that is currently peddled as truth. The first commission did not have subpoena power- so only witnesses who wanted to come came and offered what they wanted to- which was the lock step party line. A Joke. The report contains gaping holes, illogical references, evidentiary short-shrifting and is an incomplete picture of the events of September 11. Jamie Gorelick, a token Democrat on the Commission and veteran of the Clinton Administration indicated in a Q&A before attorneys with the American Constitution Society that she was disappointed that Condi Rice did not appear and that she fought a battle to obtain subpoena power but lost that battle. While the report gets much play in terms of promoting its national security recommendations the issue remains that we do not have the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth because the commission wasn't a complete thorough investigation and lacked basic investigative tools and necessary funding to do a thorough job. Pat Leahy continues to be correct that we need a fuller investigation with proper financing and subpoena power as to the entire mess.
The political question of whether it will "move the country forward" for everyone in the US to learn that the events were done with the full duplicity of the Bush Administration or not is a separate question as to whether the public still has to eat the half truths that are propelling the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. It may be that if we have a public
mia culpa and full disclosure we will be so universally loathed that it will cripple our foreign policy objectives. But here's the news flash; most of the Europeans either under the radar or publically think we were full of it anyway and highly suspect the official 9-11 story to be completely ludicrous. How on earth does the Pentagon get a plane hit it without any protection- when it should be one of the most protected military installations in the world with all the wars we are waging around the world. It is inconceivable, for example that Cheney diverted F16s from Langley the wrong direction over the Atlantic rather than shoot the plane down before it hit the pentagon as has been reported during the massive early morning FAA confusion. People just don't buy it. The perfect circle in the uncharred field in Shanksville looks more like a CIA drone missile hit and there is too much counterspeculation that the plane must have been shot down mid air for its debri to find its way ten miles away through thick woods in an upstream lake.
In Washington, where attorneys go back and forth between large firms at million dollar salaries and government, and where Democrats and Republicans alike populate the partner ranks of these large firms, the lawyers will not be the ones typically promoting full disclosure of all the issues because they have a vested interest in their partners not getting in trouble or disgraced- or financially hit. Defense contractors own a lot of these larger firms. But this should not dissuade people like Leahy from pressing for fuller disclosure and investigation. Neither should it cramp the style of Eric Holder, as beholden or not as he is to Jamie Gorelick or his old firm.
Would this Administration be better off airing the full truth and nothing but the truth? Wouldn't it at least make the country more unified if the skeptics were put to rest if in fact the 9-11 report is ninety percent correct as Gorelick states? It's the ten percent missing that has people most worried- and very credible respectable people will completely lose faith in the government if it cannot be trustworthy on basic credibility pertaining to 9-11- the most devastating internal
catastrophe to hit the country since Pearl Harbor- and the justification that has been used to kill over a million Iraqis.
Are we going to wait for Spain, Germany and the International Criminal Court in absentia to brand the culprits war criminals or are we going to take some steps to ensure that we have done everything we can to get to the full truth of these critically important facts.
These are a few questions that still need answering.-------
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HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU REALLY ABOUT ELIMINATING ABORTIONS?
For those who wish to assist the efforts to eliminate unwanted pregnancies to eliminate abortions, consider assisting the
Catholic Alliance for the Common Good- a voice of reason.
Dear Supporter: After 14 straight years of decline, the teen birth rate in the United States increased by five percent between 2005 and 2007. While motherhood and children are a gift, early pregnancy and parenting strongly compromise opportunities. Teen pregnancy has been directly linked to poverty and income disparities. A child born to an unmarried teen mother without a high school diploma or GED is nine times more likely to endure poverty. Girls born to teen mothers are 22 percent more likely to become teen mothers, and sons of teen mothers are more likely to end up in jail. People of faith and religious leaders are in a unique and powerful position to help end this vicious cycle. Given the recent increase in the teen birth rate, we need to keep this critical issue in front of the press. Consider calling a radio or TV producer to suggest they do a story about teen pregnancy in your area and alert them about the 8th annual
National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy on Wednesday, May 6! Click
here to learn more about how people of faith can help reverse this trend or click
here for more information about The National Campaign.Thanks! The Catholics in Alliance Team
Of course, God never went away, we just didn't give him all that much play. Adrian Wooldridge is the bureau chief of sorts of the Economist Magazine here in Washington and previously wrote the "Lexington Column."
A positively delightful character and I highly recommend you have him speak to your event.
