If this NSA scandal happened under Bush it would already be over

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is getting serious respect from many journalists and Americans. Coleen Rowley and Valerie Plame were hounded out of their careers without much keening from journalists or their fellow Americans. What would the main reasons be for the difference in treatment? If Snowden had let loose during George W.'s presidency, the White House would be telling the press to  "Watch what you say." George would remind us that "I am a war President." Dick would convince us, just by the sneer on his face, that "we must work the dark side." And that would be about that.

Bill Clinton's Syria comments are a precursor of a Hillary Presidency

Slate has an article about Bill Clinton and John McCain appearing together in a question and answer session. About Syria Bill said, "... Obama risks looking like a "total fool," a "wuss," and "lame" if he keeps the U.S. largely on the sidelines.

—"You just think how lame you’d be… suppose I had let a million people, two million people be refugees out of Kosovo, a couple hundred thousand people die, and they say, ‘You could have stopped this by dropping a few bombs. Why didn’t you do it?’ And I say, ‘because the House of Representatives voted 75% against it?’" Clinton said. "You look like a total wuss, and you would be." (via DB)

—"If you refuse to act and you cause a calamity, the one thing you cannot say when all the eggs have been broken is, ‘Oh my god, two years ago there was a poll that said 80 percent of you were against it.’ You look like a total fool," Clinton said. (DB)

Excuse me, I'm getting old, but is this man who implies that President Obama might look like a wuss and a total fool the same man who was President when the Hutus slaughtered their Tutsi neighbors in, oh what was it, oh yes the Rwandan Genocide. You know, that thing where ten-cent machetes and rocks and sticks were used to murder something close to a million people? Gosh, a president who just sat back and let something like that happen would be worse than a wuss, huh? Unless he was too busy getting blown under the desk to do anything. Now that would be understandable by the men of America. Apparently, the women, too, now. Is it the guy who pressured Haiti into buying cheaper American rice, wiping out Haitian self-sufficiency in its traditional food source? That guy was a total fool. Or worse. I take this as a salvo for Hillary's White House run. My God, she's going to run against Obama!  

the NSA scandal is peanuts - it's Guantanamo

I am in no way surprised at the NSA scandal. With all the shenanigans our Military/Industrial/Secrecy/Prison Complex pulls - you know little things like totally unnecessary wars in Viet Nam, Iraq, the Reagan-era South American illegal incursions, etc. - why be shocked? From the atom bomb on, American government has proven that no new technology will be kept from its war arsenal including the dirty ones - chemicals and germs. So we have this vast new network that can track all information - internet connections, computers, and smart phones - hell they can track one's every key stroke. Did people think they wouldn't use it? Or did people not pay ANY attention when the Patriot Act was passed?
Our Congress passed a law called No-Child-Left-Behind that commands schools to hand over information to military recruiters! The books you check out from your public library are legitimate information of interest to the government - according to the Patriot Act. These last two outrageous laws were passed under President Bush. 9/11 happened on the Bush/Cheney watch. Where was the outrage then? In truth much of the outrage that may have been extant was not reported.

Now we have the media frenzy about the NSA leak and, of course, it's President Obama's fault. I feel bad about Obama. I truly believe he is a good, Christian man who will bear full blame for crimes he may have committed, but which prior Presidents also committed and got away with. I fear our fellow citizens who have worked and fought in Afghanistan will be killed and harassed as they draw down and leave Afghanistan. I fear we will, as in Viet Nam, leave behind collaborators to face ruin as we did to so many Vietnamese. Obama, of course will bear the blame, not Bush.
Here are some things I think were and are far more worthy of being outraged about.
1. No hard, locking cockpit doors on commercial airplanes. My God, I was a preteen when I first noticed a plethora of plane hijackings and now I'm 63. My memories are that it was almost always Palestinians hijacking planes to Cuba. If you live in a dangerous neighborhood you lock the doors.
2. The shrug-your-shoulders response to the assassination of JFK. I asked many people over the years if they thought Oswald acted alone, and if not, did they think our government played a role. The overwhelming majority answered yes, Kennedy was killed by our own government. I grew up in Texas so most of the people I asked were grown-up relatives, grown-up church members, etc. The U.S. House Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1978 that a conspiracy was likely involved in the murder of JFK. I have come to believe that the casual acceptance of Kennedy's death is the proof that the United States of America lost it's soul in November, 1963. Indeed, there is no more such thing as the United States of America. There is a place called the USA where we pretend to honor freedom and justice, where we go through the motions of elections, but George Carlin was right - the U.S. is a club and you and I don't belong. Not even our worthy soldiers belong. But the CIA, the NSA, the Pentagon, the billionaires whose money comes from government jimmying with the system (like bankers) belong. They are Americans. It's their world. The rest of us just live in it. And die for it.
3. Guantanamo. You've seen the MIA flag right? If not you can see it on most Harley Davidson motorcycles on the other side from the Stars and Stripes. Or at a Veterans cemetery. My first memory of these flags is after we left Viet Nam and there was a belief among many that there were living U.S. soldiers still in Viet Cong prisons. People still believe this. And they will NEVER forget or FORGIVE, right? To do so would be unAmerican. Can we possibly admit that other peoples may feel the same way about their loved ones?
For over 10 years the United States has held innocent human beings in Guantanamo. These people have been tortured. The innocence of most of these prisoners has been apparent for a long time to fair-minded people. This from the nation that lead the way in establishing the Nuremberg Principles at the end of World War II. Is this not the action of a nation with no soul? A nation gone rogue? A nation that places itself so high in self estimation that they can do no wrong?
Jesus said in Matthew 25:40 that "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 

Right now in Guantanamo, Cuba Jesus Christ is on a hunger strike. American soldiers, under orders, are force feeding Him to keep Him alive so that He may continue to be tortured. His people feel emotions that range from abject misery and horror to absolute hate and dreams of revenge. They will do more than fly an MIA flag. Someday an innocent American soldier will be tortured in revenge. Someday a terrorist attack will kill innocent people because they are filled with hatred of Americans.

Jesus said in Luke 18:14 that "...for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

While American's are shocked, SHOCKED to learn that the NSA is violating their privacy, from all over the world chickens are coming home to roost. God help the innocent among us.

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Elizabeth Colbert Busch deserved to lose

There is a line of demarcation in American politics. That line separates those who will do ANYTHING, support ANYBODY, believe any thought as long as they are wrapped in the flag and waving a Bible. And on the other side are the majority of the American people. The majority will not win essential elections until it's candidates realize they must stand AGAINST Republicans. Look at how remarkably far Republicans have gone while running on empty - empty of everything except contempt for the rest of the world, a desire to kill, kill, kill, and a compulsion to hand the rest of our wealth to the rich . So why do we have Democratic candidates like Elizabeth Colbert Busch who distance themselves from the signature achievement of the Obama presidency? She thinks Obamacare will be "expensive," implementation will be "extremely problematic," and it needs "an enormous fix." Well, who the hell can we count on to take care of that extreme problem but a Republican!
Democrats as a group are shy, not to say pathetic wimps, about standing up for a cause and standing together for a fight. Democrats as a group are losers. The party must be taken over from the bottom up or else a new party must arise because Republicans rule the world and they know it.

we create men who don't give a damn

I just read this story on Slate, "The Guantanamo Memoirs of Mohamedou Ould Slahi." Read it here. This is only one of the many stories of false imprisonment and shameful behavior by our government. I note that he began his link to his tortured future by aiding the United States in its battle against Russia in Afghanistan. He is only one man. A man whose story is now known. How many more are there who will die in disgrace and agony and innocence?
The contempt of the United States government towards people who once worked on its behalf is legendary. Remember the lines of Vietnamese who were abandoned at the U.S. embassy in Saigon? They had served the interests of our government. They had been promised they would be protected. We left them to the Communists.
Here in the United States we imprison hundreds of thousands of people for the same crimes that the rich get away with. Nonviolent people who are busted for pot possession. Innocents whose DNA evidence, once uncovered, is ruled inadmissible and retrials denied. It seems that every week there is a new man released after proof of his innocence is uncovered. How much of this will it take before We the People rise up in support of political candidates who will restore honor to our criminal justice system? When will the voices of those military leaders who know that torture is wrong if only because it invites the torture of Americans?
In my album "Contrary" I envision a man who is released after 20 years of unjust punishment. I sing of his outrage, his desire for revenge finally resolving into a desire to escape society altogether. His need for inner peace winning out over violent revenge. Here is where you can stream the songs for free on a Weebly website. And here is my YouTube video of the song "Fear the Man."

about innocence lost and George W. Bush

Hearing so much said about George W. Bush and his new library brought to mind my song cycle "Contrary." It's about an innocent man falsely accused and imprisoned. I had in mind the Guantanamo prisoners as well as all those falsely imprisoned in America - men, mostly - and men who know the wrong done to them. How the hell can one suppose that a man can emerge from such a trauma and not have revenge on his mind? Isn't that the true reason America still has prisoners in Guantanamo? But should we not fear the reprisals of their friends and families even if we keep them imprisoned until they die? How much deliberate wrongful suffering can be inflicted on innocent people IN OUR NAME before WE THE PEOPLE of the United States put an end to the shame? Our national policy in countries, like Iran and Cuba for instance, is based upon denying to the common people the commerce that we freely bestow upon Red China!! We visit poverty and suffering upon the common people in the expectation that they will rise up against their governments. What a shame on us! We create suffering and condemn those who seek revenge. We should be so lucky as to create men who just want to get away and live their lives, like the hero of "Contrary."
You can hear my homage to George W. Bush here on YouTube.
You can stream the album here for free.