Indict Bush Now

The crimes of the Bush administration must be proclaimed, acknowledged and remembered because their disastrous human consequences, dictatorial tendencies, subversion of Constitutional government and violation of the rights and dignity of humanity. They include wars of aggression, the crime against peace and the "Supreme International Crime," war crimes, and crimes against humanity, genocide by military violence "with intent to destroy in whole, or in part, a national... or religious group," authorizing and condoning massive violations of the Constitution of the United States, its Bill of Rights and other Amendments, international treaties including the U.N. Charter, Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Convention Against Torture, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Geneva Conventions.

The clear duty of the American people and their elected representatives -- on which the changes in U.S. government policies essential to achieve a peaceful, decent and humane future depend -- is the vigorous pursuit of the indictment of former President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other high officials who have participated in their crimes, followed by rigorous criminal prosecution wherever the evidence, having been fully and fairly presented to a federal grand jury, results in their indictment.

The indictment of George W. Bush and other high officials is the challenge facing 'We, the People.' Will we rise to meet it? This is not a matter of politics or partisanship. It is the defense of the basic tenets of the Constitution.

Sincerely,

Ramsey Clark,
Former U.S. Attorney General

Failure Bonuses

AIG in the news again. Hundreds of millions of dollars have to be paid out in three payment for bonuses and retention to employees of the company AIG which has received the largest amount of any financial institution from government bailout money paid for by American tax payers. What kind of financial system you have going that you have to pay bonuses to people who ran your company into the dirt. In most companies an employee would get fired for losing a lot less money than these people getting bonuses lost for their companies.

"Liddy said he had "grave concerns" about the impact on the firm's ability to retain talented staff "if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury." Washington Post."

It would seem that in my uneducated opinion that these people can't be all that talented if they drove your company into the ground requiring hundreds of billions of dollars in tax payer's money to bail you out and keep you in business.

From the start I have felt that these institutions should have been allowed to fail and not have been bailed out in the first place. If we would have did that these institutions that have for only one conceivable motive, greed, would have had to down size, be more modest in their profits, and/or fold. Any institution following in their wake would be much more cautious in their approach of bad lending practices and be more fiscally responsible with everyone's money.

At the very least, the companies that are failing this bad need to have most of their upper executives fired and if they do get hired back, hired back at a rates that reflects their value, not reward them for bankrupting the institutions that they work for. If they were all fired the companies would not be under any contractual obligations to pay people for failing so miserably.

I finally agree with a Republican, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa who made the statement:

"I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little better toward them [AIG executives] is if they follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, 'I am sorry,' and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide," he said. "And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide." "Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT"

Pretty much sums up my feelings about the subject.

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I've wrote. There were quite a few things going on since January, many things worthy of writing about. A close friend of mine father died and it seems like I kind of got in a rut after that. My own father died about 13 years ago and I still miss him a lot. We had kind of a rough time during my teenage years and we were just starting to get to where we enjoyed each other's company and respected each other's differences shortly before he died. There is a lesson here for all you that still have your fathers around.

Some of the things Cheney was saying during TV interviews before Obama come into office I was really surprised that Bush didn't pardon him or the rest of his buddies before he left office. Cheney pretty much admitted that he approved the torture of detainees and a lot of the other illegal things that went on while he was in office. Cheney complained publicly that he was pretty upset with Bush not fully pardoning Libby who was involved in disclosing the name of the CIA agent who's husband spoke out against starting the war in Iraq. I was amused when Cheney was in a wheelchair at Obama's inauguration, supposedly from moving boxes. Think about it, here is a guy that was second in command, and arguably maybe first in command, moving his own boxes when he left office. Why do you suppose he was moving his own boxes? Could be that he didn't trust anyone else carrying his boxes because of what was in them? You know that was kind of suspicious when he had a fire in his office too. I never did hear what they figured was the cause of the fire. I bet there is a place somewhere that a lot of papers were burned to keep them from ending up in the wrong hands, and I'm not talking about the hands of would be terrorists.

I also been watching what's been going on with Obama's Administration to see which direction he is going to go and how much he will, or be able to fix from the Bush Administration. While Obama has been doing much to try to fix what was wrong from the Bush Administration, he is still trying to preach that we should be looking forward and not back when it comes to the illegal activities of the Bush Administration. I still feel that this is the wrong decision on Obama's part. We can not go forward without finding what all it is that needs fixing. If we let Bush and his buddies get away with the things they did while in office, future presidents will figure that they have the right to do the very same things as Bush did. At least hope isn't fully dead as many people both in and out of politics are still pushing that we need to investigate what all the Bush Administration done behind closed doors and if there are illegalities charges brought up. We can only hope that Obama will do the right thing in this situation and appoint an independent investigation on this topic. Actually for a lot of this they don't need more investigations because they already have reports from past investigations concluding that Bush took us into war illegally on false information.

There are other things I disagree with the Obama on, but in general I agree on many of the things he's doing. At least Obama is trying a different path instead of the stay the coarse plan that Bush pretty much stuck with. I'm ok with the closing down of the secret prison in Cuba and not sending detainees to countries that do torture. I agree of the process of telling everyone involved that torture is not an option. What did we gain with the Bush Administration's approval of torture? We got some of the worse criminals outside the Bush Administration that we can not try in court because of the torture. I also agree with the gradual getting our troops out of Iraq, a place that we never should have been in the first place.

Maybe this is enough for now to get the creative juices flowing. Don't forget to check back again.

I'm almost afraid to talk about this subject for another 6 days because it still would be enough time for Bush to blanket pardon a lot of his administration. But it really scares me the way Obama talks about he would rather look to the future instead of spending too much time looking back. There is something just wrong about not looking at the past in regards to the Bush Administration. There are just too many questions that need to be brought out into the open, answered and some form of accountability established. I think it would be a big mistake for Obama not to address the wrongs of the last eight years of the Bush Administration

The Bush Administration has from the start refused to hold itself up to any oversight. It has stonewalled Congress with information in the forms of email and video tape, refusing to let people even testify in House hearings, the Bush Administration has been one of the most secretive Administrations in modern times.

We can't begin to right the wrongs if we don't investigate the past well enough to tell what wrongs have been committed or set in motion. As far as making sure that any crime committed would be taken up, there has been numerous reports from Congress itself stating the many laws broken both within the United States and internationally that have been approved by Bush and Cheney and others in the Bush Administration so that there should be no question that there should be trials taking place.

By not addressing the wrongs that took place during the last administration we can not start to get our reputation back in the rest of the world as a country that stands for our high ideals. Being branded as a country that does torture does not make us friends around the world, it helps dangerous organizations recruit members of people that want to stand up against the U.S.

We will not get our reputation back with the rest of the world if we let these issues slide into the past. The American people deserve better than to have to wait until some UN or world commission holds Bush and his Administration accountable for their crimes. To show the rest of the world that we do stand behind our country's high ideals we can not do anything less than hold the Bush Administration accountable for its wrongs against the American people and people of the world. It is embarrassing to be an American until we restore our laws and our honor with the rest of the world.

Gaza/Cuba: Do Embargos Work?

This article is about my feelings in regards to Gaza being big in the news because of Israel bombing it in reaction to the constant barrage of small rocket attacks into southern Israel. I claim to be no expert, in fact I do not know too much about Israel and Gaza other than things I have heard in the news and read about on the Internet. I may have my facts wrong, after all I'm not a history professor that has been studying the history of the Middle East or other places, I'm just a guy off the street thinking about the things I see and hear in the news about a place far from home on the other side of the world. If you have different views or other facts or know of my facts being wrong tell me about it, you could change my viewpoint and make me have to revisit the matter in a new blog.

When I first heard about Israel going into Gaza and bombing them I thought, well you can't expect Israel to sit there while rockets keep raining down on them and not retaliate. Then I started paying a bit more attention to what was being said and what was going on over there. Thinking about the embargo against Gaza I thought about Cuba closer to the United States.

I have been reading about Cubans eating patties of red mud because they are starving. I'm not sure if the people of Gaza were starving by that degree, but they are now for sure. The main reason the U.S. doesn't get more crap about Cuba is because of a few miles of ocean between us. Otherwise they would probably be out throwing rocks at us or firing crude rockets towards us. I think that Gaza is kind of like that. They are closed off from the outside world between Israel and Egypt. The amount of anything needed for daily life is restricted at the boarders. Kind of similar to a bunch of rats stuck in the bottom a barrel, they have no life, no food, and no way to get out. As things get disparate they are going to viciously attack anything edible that gets near them or start attacking each other. By firing unguided rockets into Israel factions in Gaza have no intentions or hopes to bring down Israel, they are just trying to spread the misery, bring attention to their plight, and show their discontent with the conditions that Israel is and has been imposing on them.

As in many other conflicts between countries there is a wide disproportional of technology and fire power being used. Israel controls the airways, the water ways around Gaza, firing guided missiles and smart bombs killing hundreds, Gaza is firing unguided missiles and mortar rounds killing dozens. The people of Gaza can not leave to have Israel and Hamas fight things out, they are forced to keep moving around between the two waring groups trying to stay clear of the crossfire. They have no food or water and they are running out of medical supplies. The people have no where to go to escape the crossfire and even the UN has stopped taking in supplies because they are being fired upon. With the whole world in an economic recession everyone seems to be content with destroying homes and businesses and using up valuable resources. There are no solutions for a peaceful end and there is no honor.

Peace on Earth Goodwill Towards Man

I know the United States is as bad as any of the rest the countries, but during this holiday season when supposedly we are to think of peace and feel love towards our fellow human beings it is too bad that there are so many people in so many countries at war with each other. If I were to pray for anything it would be for the world population to be at peace with each other. It all seems so senseless for us to kill each other.

The very area of the world that first promoted peace and goodwill to the world is one of the areas that is most caught up in the fighting. The U.S. is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia just had a squabble with Georgia and is supplying Iran with missiles and showing support for Cuba, Israel is fighting with the Gaza strip, the British, Pakistan, and India are all either fighting or building up troupes to fight, the pirates in Somalia, almost everyone is involved in one way or another in various wars and confrontations with other countries. What good is it? What is war good for? Who really profits by war other than the small handful of arms suppliers and how much do they promote war between the different countries of the world?

Think of the world's economic problems, the problems with pollution, the dwindling non-renewable resources. Think of all the money that is wasted fighting each other. Think of the grief war causes in loss of life and limb, and the falling of financial markets. Russia bankrupted itself keeping up the cold war with the United States. It is all such a waste. Think of all the money being spent on the machines of war, the amount of oil used in powering these machines.

Now think of all the good that could be done if all this money spent warring was instead spent trying to find solutions to the world's problems. Think about if all the human resources spent on trying to destroy each other and our resources was instead used to improve the lives of people around the world, how much good could be done and how much better prepared we could all be when oil and other renewable and non-renewable resources does run out. We work together in space with people from the same countries that we fight on the ground.

We are all people, all human beings. We might be different colors and speak different languages, but we are all the same. We all have pretty much the same goals. We all want to find someone to love. We all want to raise our families, we want to provide for our families. We want to take pride in what we do to provide for our families. We all morn when we lose loved ones. We all want to be healthy and have our basic necessities met. We want to have a clean, dry, warm places in which to live, we want to be free of diseases and disabilities. When we take up arms and kill people we are killing people who are just like us in more ways than they are different than us. The people who are killed all have mothers, fathers, family and friends that will miss them when they are gone.

We must all try to figure out how to end this madness.

Free Money

People, it is time to call, write, or Email your representatives in government office. We are getting ripped off big time over this bailout deal. According to an Associated Press article the banks and institutions that have received part of the first half of the $700 billion government bailout package are saying that they don't know what they are doing with the billions they have gotten from American taxpayers. They claim that they are not even tracking that money which is pretty sad and unbelievable. You can read the article from the Associated Press here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_secrets

Here is a copy of the Email I sent to one of my representatives:

Dear Congressman Obey,

I have just read an Associated Press article about the unaccountability the banks and financial institutions have with the almost $350 billion dollars they have received from American taxpayers in the form of a government bailout. Here is a link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_secrets

This is totally unacceptable and I would hope that there are going to be some accounting for the money these institutions already have received before they get a dime more out of the second half of $700 billion earmarked for bailing these businesses out. It's unacceptable and unbelievable that these businesses would receive billions without tracking what they are doing with the money, if this is really the case they are not fiscally responsible enough to receive any more taxpayer money. If they were lending money out you better believe that they would want to know what the intended purpose of that money was and they would keep track of it.

It burns me that Bush had to have the line about the businesses that have their troubled assets bought up in the government bailout scheme have to follow the rules of the bailout bill, but then Mr, Paulson instead bought up stocks in their companies effectively voiding out any oversight or accountability for the money they received from taxpayers. What the heck is that Paulson guy doing anyway? The Bush administration and Paulson basically got what they asked for in the first place, a large amount of money with no restrictions on what was done with it or who it was given to. Something is wrong when the administration asks Congress for that much money to do one thing and then after they get the money they do whatever they want with it anyway, don't you guys feel like you been hoodwinked? I do, even though its what I expected in the first place. You people in the House and Senate better be getting together and demanding information and accountability about the first half of the $700+ billion before you release any of the second half of the money or you all are going to have as high of approval ratings as Bush enjoys, and that wouldn't be good for your future elections. I just find this totally unacceptable.

Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Update:

This is the letter I received back from Congressman Obey:

Dear Mr. Chapek:

Thank you for contacting me to express your concern about how the Treasury Department is implementing the bank rescue program.

I absolutely share your concern. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is holding a series of hearings, with some already underway, about the implementation of the program. This is going to continue to be a challenge in the coming months and will be one of the many major issues President-elect Obama will face when he takes office in January.

Please be assured I will keep your views in mind if further legislation is brought to the Floor of the House this year and also into the next session of Congress.

Thank you again for taking the time to get in touch.

Sincerely,

David Obey
Your Congressman