Crossposted from Docudharma.
I believe in compassion, mercy and forgiveness...but when great and grievous wrong has been done, you don’t skip straight to forgiveness. No, the first stop on the path to redemption is called justice.
When former governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state of Alabama, Don Siegleman gets thrown in federal prison for 9 months for being a progressive democrat and has to go around the country begging for justice once they finally let him out on appeal bond (fruitlessly I might add – they never did vote contempt for Karl Rove) then something is desperately wrong in this country.
The fact that we didn’t impeach Bush shows how much justice matters in this country – and I still say that those who opposed impeachment were either stupid, complicit or flat out fucking traitors. People of good conscience will be mourning the consequences of not impeaching Bush for many decades to come. Future historians will surely wonder WTF were we thinking?
The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job. New York Times
Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department's top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies -- including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions -- into senior civil service posts. Washington Post
Read more about how Bush is screwing us on his way out in clammyc’s excellent post, President @$$hole
We hear it all the time, the USA is a nation of laws. But is it true? The answer is, only if you’re poor and powerless. If you or I break the law, we will pay and pay dearly. We have the highest rate of incarceration of any nation on earth, and our prisons are godawful. The so-called justice routinely meted out to the poor is so harsh as to violate the very concept of justice, while the rich and powerful do whatever they want: invade unoffending countries, slay innocent people by the millions, torture helpless prisoners, steal from the poor to give to the rich, make a mockery of every standard of decency, or defile the Constitution of the United States. And they get to take their ill-gotten gains back to their luxurious homes and their pampered lifestyles with an arrogant smirk and big FUCK YOU to anyone who doesn’t like it.
The catalog of horrors perpetrated by the Bush administration and their democratic enablers like Pelosi and Reid is absolutely mind-boggling – and we won’t even know about much of it for years, if ever. These are crimes, and not minor ones. The offenses against the environment alone are staggering and with dire consequences for us all.
The rich and powerful have been running amok – grabbing everything they can and stealing the whole world blind. Is there anyone who will stand up to them? The answer is no. Anyone who could stand up to them is in it with them. Even our hope for the future, President-elect Obama is opposed to bringing the thieves and torturers to justice.
"I think you reserve impeachment for grave, grave breaches, and intentional breaches of the president's authority," he [Obama] said.
Source
I supported Obama and I am trying to hold out hope that he will end up doing the right thing, but any way you slice that statement it’s pure bullshit. Grave, grave breaches? Bush? Naaaah. Boys will be boys I guess.
And I haven’t even touched on the great trillion dollar rip-off.
My guess is that they will shove this down our throats and the pain everyone hopes to avoid will simply be delayed somewhat and increased substantially while the greedheads are rescued with OUR money.
This is the biggest rip-off ever.
And their pretense at oversight is laughable.
Your Money or Your Life – Bushco’s Last Grab
Turns out I was right about that.
Treasury Inspector General: The Bailout Is 'a Mess'
In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders.
Along the way, the Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package.
Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed.
"It's a mess," said Eric M. Thorson, the Treasury Department's inspector general, who has been working to oversee the bailout program until the newly created position of special inspector general is filled. "I don't think anyone understands right now how we're going to do proper oversight of this thing."
Alternet
So now we’re just going to forgive and forget. Pretend like nothing of any consequence has happened here. Maybe we’ll have a nice little commission to sweep it all neatly under the rug. Let bygones be bygones. I mean really, who needs justice?
I can’t believe we are just going to roll over for these assholes – AGAIN!
I, for one, will hate to see it go.
Peace out.
OPOL