Agencies: Crime and the Damage: Healing

I have heard good and bad news coming out of Washington the last few days.

Some of the good news is I have heard that Obama was going to go through all the different agencies of our government, and restore them to what they should be in contrast to the way they were left from the Bush Administration. Many agencies, especially anything having to do with oversight, were completely gutted and broken. One of Bush's ways of making oversight agencies useless was to peel back funding over the years so that their staff was reduced to the point that they could not carry out their tasks required of them to do their intended jobs. Another thing the Bush Administration was good at was to put political appointees in oversight of the agencies, even though they had no scientific background, they would control the public release of reports by picking and choosing what information makes it out of them agencies to the public, this way any information that did not support the administration's agendas or ideologies would not be officially supported by agency reports.

It has been in the news more and more that Bush will possibly/probably pardon himself and most the people in his administration before leaving office in January. This would be totally outrageous. There is also talk from the other side of the isle, the Democrats, that they don't want to dwell in the past, but look to the future. So Democrats aren't concerned with bringing up charges or impeaching the Bush Administration. They talk like if Bush does pardon himself and others in his administration it will be an act of healing for our government. This is all horse pucky. The things the Bush Administration is has done should no way be pardoned with the approval of Congress or Democrats as "healing". Bush and members of his administration all took their positions by swearing an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States, they did not do this. There were numerous issues of broken laws, spying on Americans illegally with the help of telecommunication companies, torture of detainees, giving out the name of a CIA operative, destroying evidence, refusals to comply with subpoenas, capturing people off the streets of other countries without their government's permission, holding people indefinitely without charging them, lieing to gain support for the Iraq war that had nothing to do with 9/11, and the list goes on and on... If Congress allows Bush to pardon any of this, it doesn't make them healers, it makes them accessories. Two years ago when many Democrats were voted into office it was because they promised to reign in the lawlessness of the Bush Administration and bring the war in Iraq to an end, we have been lied to. Now they don't want to do their duties to impeach Bush and Cheney for their illegal actions while in office, this is why they have one of the lowest ratings for congress. Again I say they are not healers, they are accessories to the crimes. If the House members do not act to impeach Bush and Cheney they should all be prosecuted as accessories to the crimes of the Bush Administration. And, believe it or not I tend to classify myself as more of a Democrat than a Republican.

My Complaints Against Democrats

Although I lean more towards Democrats, there are things going on that disturb me. One of the biggest things that bother me, and I no doubt bothers other people who have been watching the Democrats is that they are not picking up the ball when it comes to doing their constitutional duty to protect our constitution.

When Senator Rockefeller, after giving a press release about how the Bush administration bent intelligence to rally support for the invasion of Iraq, was asked if anyone in Bush administration should be charged for misleading the people and congress to get support for going into war, his response was something on the order of, it would be a grand act. If I were asked whether in the grand scheme of things it is something that should be done the same as in the issue of impeachment, I would say yes, but if you are asking if we are going to do something about it now, the answer is no. If we were to take on something like this it would take up all our time, there would be no time left to take on the important issues of things like global warming.

While I agree that there are other important issues, I do think that the Bush administration and what has transpired during their control of Washington is riddled with very important issues that need to be addressed. Global warming is a big issue, but no more important than addressing the audacities of the Bush administration. Looking back on the last eight years there are the issues of leading the country into war with Iraq, presidential powers during war time, weapons of mass destruction, the illegal wiretapping, holding prisoners labeled as enemy combatants for years without charges, the secrecy of the administration on issues of releasing CIA agents names, the firings of prosecutors, missing emails, torture, non bid contracts, and the list goes on and on. These things are as important if not more than anything that the Democrats need to try to accomplish in the time left before the presidential elections. Democrats were voted into office on the platforms that they would end the war in Iraq and bring in government accountability, this they have not done. Instead they are mired down in the stonewalling of their investigations and the lack of enough votes to pass veto proof bills. Even though people and governments across the country want government accountability and impeachment for the wrongs they have observed, it seems no one in the Democratic party is listening. Basically in my opinion most Democrats have been totally spineless in the shadow of this falls elections and I'm willing to bet that has a lot to do with their low approval ratings.