Obama Sides With Critics

"They honor me with their lips

but their hearts are far from me."

Don't worry, I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. And I certainly know lip service when I see it (those who claim not to are fellow practitioners!). But I did get a muffled chuckle today with our dear leader rhetorically chiding himself and speaking how "these deaths will haunt us as long as we live." Well, not me. Just those who executed them, supported them or failed to question them. Day will come when many look down on their blood soaked hands and say, "But I did nothing!" Yes, that is exactly how they got stained.

Bold and brave critics of the President's death squads have forced him out into the open to reveal his "haunted" soul - not that he intends to do anything about it. A true recognition of one's errant ways is by change in behavior. But change does not mean adding a fig leaf while still carrying out the same executions. It's sort of like saying we're not going to revoke the death penalty but we want to "codify" the process to say how really, really sorry we are we're offing you - guilty or innocent. The religious rituals attached simply have no meaning and the effective result is the same at the end of the day.

"Their worship of me

is made up only of rules taught by men."

I suppose until the end we will maintain the fantasy we can kill all the "terrorists" in the world and then we'll suddenly be safe to run free through the streets in paradise. The Utopian goals of our death squads are nonsensical and obviously impossible. Sensing his part in this debacle, our President has come out against "a perpetual war-time footing". Well, that's mighty white of him! But how can it ever end as long as he propagates that drone strikes "save lives"? Ah, the poor reluctant warrior, he "hates" pulling the trigger but his bullets are just as deadly.

Hey, quit your griping. We're haunted already! Meanies!

"For the record, I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen -- with a drone or a shotgun -- without due process. Nor should any president deploy armed drones over U.S. soil." Sounds like a SNL skit with the President holding a joystick while he speaks. But since he is employing drone strikes without due process he obviously believes it's constitutional while revealing plans to one day bring this tactic to America. After all, had we drone striked the Boston bombers wouldn't we have saved lives?

It's a curious disconnect. A man spends money day and night because he believes he can never run out - and that's how he winds up bankrupt. We believe the constitution makes us free therefore we're safe signing away all our rights - and that's how we lose freedom. And these very extrajudicial killings we claim we make us safe are in fact what bring us into the line of fire: justifying, legalizing and extolling terroristic tactics. Deeming our downfall impossible is what enables it to happen (ram that iceberg!).

The guilt of Gitmo is also plaguing our President.

The facts speak for themselves:

•Detainees in Guantanamo now: 166
•Detainees facing active charges: 6
•Detainees cleared for immediate release, but stuck in the camp: 86
•Guantanamo inmates on hunger strike: 103
•Hunger strikers strapped down and force fed: 30
•Prisoners who have died in custody: 9
•Children the US has held at Guantanamo: 21
•Detainees tried in civilian court: 1
•"Unreleasable" detainees who can't be tried for lack of evidence or torture: 50
•Prisoners released by the Bush administration: 500+
•Prisoners released by the Obama administration: 72
•Current annual cost to US taxpayers: $150 million
•Days since Obama first pledged to close Gitmo: 1579
•Days since first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo: 11 years, 4 months, 11 days

Sometimes words come back to haunt us too:

In that May 21, 2009, address, the president argued U.S. national security interests needed to conform with the nation's commitment to human rights and the rule of law. "I believe with every fiber of my being that in the long run we cannot also keep this country safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values," he said at the National Archives and Records Administration.

At one point a Code Pink heckler interrupted the President and like a faux martyr he stands there taking his just desserts - as if that could make up for anything. Sort of like letting that black boy you're about to lynch mouth off at you - then you lynch him anyway. Such a moral killing! Maybe if a high powered lawyer issues a "directive" that can change wrong to right. Or maybe one simply needs to take a poll to determine what's right. All in favor of witch burning say "aye!"

"Nobody's perfect." - Charles Manson, banker apologist

Of course, the greatest threat to America is her banking system. On that, our fate is already sealed. Praising the economy now is as silly as doing it ten years ago. Nothing has been done to reel in the banksters or stop the gambling of public money. It's like partying on the rent money knowing it will be the next guy's problem when the rent comes due. The powers-that-be know what is going on is an illusion but it's rationalized by saying people need to "feel confident" even if it's by false hope. So whatever happened to actual hope? Guess it got drone striked.