A brief reference to the U. of Michigan fight song, after this weekend’s visit to Ann Arbor, where, notwithstanding an early asthma attack and a late foot problem with my big toe, completed the Ann Arbor Marathon in more or less the usual time, for my second marathon since I turned 50, 36th marathon finish overall and 20th state.
The song presumably does not apply to the Obama Administration, nor to its newest public enemy no. 1, former NSA/CIA employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden, now bizarrely seeking refuge in Chinese controlled Hong Kong.. Snowden merely confirmed what I certainly thought had been true since before the Obama Administration even took office, let alone decided to out-Bush Bush on virtually every regressive and awful policy available (from expanding the war in Afghanistan and the formerly known as war on terror to keeping GTMO nice and open…. right down to extending “the Bush tax cuts”)… that being…
Snowden outed the government on its “PRISM” program which, unsurprisingly, is designed to capture all electronic communications, be it phone calls, e-mails, text messages, or internet usage… we presume it can cross-reference with things like GPS and automatic toll paying devices and probably your dishwasher and choice of cable viewing. I commend the media for the pivot… obviously, I only listen to alleged progressive media, such as National Propaganda Radio (NPR), which started to throw words around like “possible treason” and “undermining national security” with respect to Mr. Snowden, who, like Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, should instead be up for a Nobel Peace Prize, if not possible sainthood. Notice instead that the “Peace Prize” went to my college classmate Barack– the figurehead of our war machine. Well, the damned thing is freaking named after a dynamite merchant, so what should we expect?
Oh… the polling shows… “it’s o.k. if you’re a Democrat.” In other words, public principled opposition to the government’s intrusion on your life is based on whether you think the other party is doing it.
The most repressive and dangerous regime in the world is, and has been for some time, based in Washington, D.C.: the American corporate financial national security state. It is relentless, can (and does) kill with impunity, and will let nothing stand in its way… if necessary in its own belief system, it will take actions that result in the ultimate destruction of life on this planet… certainly human life. To the extent that a few courageous people are willing to risk death and torture at the hands of such a regime is a testament to their courage, if not possibly their rashness and foolhardiness.
And let’s face it: the only real difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush is the personal likeability thing… their policies are indistinguishable (except, as far as we know, Bush never ordered hits on American citizens).
Alrightie then. We got ourselves a never-ending war– certainly, the war on whistleblowers goes on… even the same day that the Obama Administration eases up a tad on its own war on young women… just letting the Founding Fathers slow down the spinning in their graves just a little.
tdog
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