Kollwitz, The Propeller

Having shown over the last seven months, since taking control of the legislative branch that they are at least equal to the Republicans when it comes to avarice, the Democrats set out this past weekend to demonstrate that, when it comes to cowardice, to blatant, unmitigated, ass covering politics they are every bit a match for Republicans.

Who impeaches the Congress? What in our Constitution protects the citizens of this country from a completely rogue government? When all three branches have abrogated their constitutional obligations, who will stand up for, who will represent the people of the United States?

Where must we search, to whom do we go for protection from the power of the wealthy corporate classes who are stealing our wealth, our livelihoods, and our future, who are spitting on our laws and our history as they sacrifice our Children and Grandchildren on the profane altar of their greed, in their eternal wars for profit and power?

Where is the opposition? Where do we go for redress of grievances when every institution of government is in the hands of the enemies of the people?

The UN has been trying, in vain to arrive at a definition for terrorism that would be acceptable to its members.  Different definitions vary the number of victims of terror over the past 50 years from hundreds to hundreds of thousands, and while I would think neither number is close to correct, it raises the very pertinent issue of "what is terrorism?"  But while debating whether to make the definition so narrow as to rule out any resistance against occupation or to make the definition so wide as to include all killings of civilians, we lose site of the fact that terrorism itself has changed, that it has now become a psychological weapon.  And since this fact changes how you have to fight terrorism, this needs to be focused on by the UN.

While the smoke, dust and ash was still settling from the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration's mad political scientist, Karl Rove, retreated deep into his undisclosed laboratory and began to create his dream; the pinnacle of his life's work...the ultimate political monster.

Working in the dead of night not unlike the witches from MacBeth, he concocted his monster from a powerful mixture of stolen parts of the body politic: a yellow belly, a lilied liver, trembling hands, rubber legs, lying eyes, and, worst of all, the heart of darkness.

He programmed his monster to listen to only his voice and vowed then and there that this creation would become the power behind his plans.

And the mad scientist succeeded in creating his alter-ego, Fearenstein.

You know what's interesting about assassination....did you ever stop to think about the people we kill? It's always those who tell us to live together in harmony and try to love one another. Jesus, Gandhi, Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X, John Lennon. They all said live together in harmony... BAM! Right in the head. Apparently we aren't ready for that yet. - George Carlin

We might add Yitzhak Rabin or Anwar Sadat or Medgar Evers to Carlin's list. Far too many can be added. Sigh. Why do we kill the peacemakers?

An examination and quotes below the fold...

When they married in 1948 my parents, like most of their generation, were New Deal Democrats. They were part of what would later be called "The Greatest Generation", coming of age during the Great Depression and tested by war. Having seen a world with great deprivation and danger, they had a near religious belief in the power of government to do great good. Their faith was well founded. They had seen first hand a government that had literally fed the starving, brought light into darkness, educated the ignorant, gave power to the powerless, and defeated unimaginable evil.

After a few years, the GI Bill allowed my parents to buy a small yet comfortable house in the suburbs and move from the crowded apartment in Brooklyn that they shared with my aunt and uncle. For my father, the son of immigrants, the opportunity to start a family and own his own home seemed nothing short of miraculous. This country and its government were nothing short of the embodiment of the shining city on the hill in my parents eyes.