George W. Bush, like the old European monarchs, claimed he possessed inherent rights and implied that those who question such prerogatives might have treasonous motives. รขโฌลAs President and Commander-in-Chief, I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country,รขโฌย Bush responded to stories of his authorizing wiretaps on U.S. citizens without getting legal permission. Bush then turned on the leakers.
รขโฌลIt was a shameful act for someone to disclose this very important program in a time of war,รขโฌย said Bush. รขโฌลThe fact that weรขโฌโขre discussing this program is helping the enemy.รขโฌย Bush did not consider รขโฌลshamefulรขโฌย
the 2003 disclosure of a covert CIA operativeรขโฌโขs name to the media (Valerie Plame) by members of his staff. Nor did he recall that he assured the public that รขโฌลa wiretap requires a court orderรขโฌยฆ Itรขโฌโขs important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in the placeรขโฌยฆรขโฌย (April 20,
2004)
W didnรขโฌโขt seem to sense any contradiction between what he said and did. He also denied that the U.S. practiced torture as the press revealed that his war on terrorism had spawned torture at Guantanamo, Cuba, Abu Ghraib, Iraq and at secret CIA-run prisons throughout the world. He also did not like the medias reporting on U.S. agents kidnapping suspected terrorists and shipping them elsewhere
(rendition) for torture and interrogation. For the Bush family such issues did not merit discussion as holiday conversation.
Indeed, the inner circle felt satisfied that on December 17, Bush had defined the proper position in his national radio address (and on TV). Wire tapping U.S. citizens without warrants was รขโฌลfully consistentรขโฌย with his รขโฌลconstitutional responsibilities and authorities.รขโฌย (cnn.com, December, 17, 2005)
A week earlier he had snapped at a reporter who raised the constitutional question. รขโฌลI donรขโฌโขt give a goddamn. Iรขโฌโขm the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.รขโฌย
One aide apparently said. รขโฌลThere is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.รขโฌย
รขโฌลStop throwing the Constitution in my face,รขโฌย Bush screamed back.
รขโฌลItรขโฌโขs just a goddamned piece of paper!รขโฌย (Doug Thompson, Capitol Hill Blue, Dec 8, 2005)
A Democratic Member of Congress told me that Bushรขโฌโขs display of arrogant power exceeded Nixon. รขโฌลBush justified his violation of laws by referring to a Congressional resolution to fight al-Qaeda, passed after 9/11, that he claims transcends the Fourth Amendment, the right to spy on U.S. citizens because Presidents have inherent powers to fight wars that Congress did not declare. Constitutional law? Or fascism?รขโฌย
Bushรขโฌโขs imperial managers invoke รขโฌลnational securityรขโฌย ยญ without defining other than as รขโฌลcombating terrorismรขโฌย ยญ to justify circumvention of court warrants and congressional oversight.
The รขโฌลimportantรขโฌย people, however, bank presidents and corporate CEOs, ignore such trivia. They had deciphered Bushรขโฌโขs feeble รขโฌลcompassionate conservativeรขโฌย code before he ran for the presidency. They assured their stockholders that the Bush Administration aimed above all else to enhance the worldly proprietary interests of the super rich.
Bush has allowed an atmosphere of tolerance in awarding defense contracts, coincidentally, many of them to corporations that had also heavily contributed to the Bush political coffers or had close ties to the Administration. (Vice President Cheneyรขโฌโขs old company, Halliburton, got no-bid contracts in Iraq.) รขโฌลExecutives at some companies with military contracts have increased their salaries by 200 percent since 9/11,รขโฌย wrote Sarah Anderson. (Alternet, Dec. 17)
The big oil companies also got huge windfall profits after Bush invaded Iraq. The film รขโฌลSyrianaรขโฌย dramatizes oil tycoons and other corporate bosses paying fortunes to lobbyists to get the powerful to support Middle East war. The rest of the business elite takes for granted ยญ as it normally does ยญ that the government will protect the interests of the very propertied classes. The moguls, therefore, seem uninterested when the Bushies disregard traditional rules and abdicate conventional responsibility.
Congress, for example, under Bushรขโฌโขs guidance, cut food stamps and Medicare as Members rushed to adjourn at the end of the year ยญ parties at home and a little campaigning for the 2006 elections.Thatรขโฌโขs Washingtonรขโฌโขs political culture. The vast public, more than half of which will not vote, gets distracted and possesses little memory.
In Oakland, California, part of that public, some not yet of voting age, struts down a street where the faces are black, Asian or Hispanic. Many do not speak English. The teenagers dressed in baggy pants, grew up in these grey streets, flanked by decaying warehouses, garages, body shops and taquerias. A group of Central American day laborers wait for work on a corner where old newspapers blow and empty plastic soda cups litter the sidewalk. Occasional cars stop and hire some of them to help move furniture or clean a back yard. The Central Americans ignore the black teenage posse.
A passing patrol car slows down. The cops stare at the men on the corner ยญ illegals? ยญ and at the swaggering teenagers. If the boys change their choreography to indicate that cops intimate them it would amount to surrender. So they maintain hip hop rhythms. The cops ooze by, then speed up. A radio alert to stop a real crime? Two boys run combs through their carefully coiffed hair, as if to call attention to the expensive sculpting on the tops of their heads.
Several turn up the volume on their digital music players so they can parade in rhythm to the hip hop.
The kids donรขโฌโขt demonstrate any overt acknowledgement that they might have won a very minor stare-down skirmish in their never-ending struggle for respect. Later, they will probably discuss it at length. On the street, however, they maintain the cool faรยงade, based on protocols that predate them.
They will retreat to someoneรขโฌโขs house, smoke weed, or crack, and talk shit about possible future crimes and fantasies of owning expensive cars. No one will mention Bush or his policies, which have curtailed their access to medical care and cut down on the food stamps their mothers can obtain.
Their street lives focus on the enemy gangs and the ubiquitous cops.When cops stop them, it means automatic search. If cops find drugs or drug paraphernalia, it means Juvie. A Public Defender usually wonรขโฌโขt have time to prepare a case, so the kid serves time. Thatรขโฌโขs American life.
In Piedmontรขโฌโขs hills, teenagers donรขโฌโขt walk the streets in groups. They drive expensive cars and wear whatever their expensive tastes dictate. They donรขโฌโขt achieve identity, respect and self-esteem through things. Theyรขโฌโขve always had everything they wanted.
Unlike the teenagers in the flats, the Piedmonters understand that the primary job of police is to protect them and their property in case larcenously intentioned kids from the flats should wander up there. The Piedmont kids drink and use drugs, just like the gang bangers. But the police stop them only if theyรขโฌโขre driving out of control ยญ for their own protection. When a rare bust occurs for DUI or possession, high priced lawyers convince judges to offer their young clients probation ยญ or find technicalities on which to get them released.
Such class segregation, with a heavy racial component, has existed for centuries. So, whatรขโฌโขs new? Some African Americans have acquired wealth and even own houses in Piedmont. Millions more have joined the middle classes. But the destiny of the majority, the poor black, the Hispanic and Native American people, remains unchanged.
In Washington, the Bushies hope the political class will forget or overlook the policy peccadilloes and instead count their money made from tax cuts and the loose atmosphere provided by Bushรขโฌโขs incompetent regulators to get rich on insider trading.
The boys in Oakland have little to trade. Many will not graduate from high school and will find their way into the California prison system. รขโฌลThe majority of inmates come from the poorest sectors and are mainly Hispanic and black,รขโฌย said a nurse who has worked at two California state prisons. รขโฌลIn the Youth Authority [men between 18 and 25] at Chino, lots of the guys expect to join their fathers and grandfathers at Folsom and San Quentin [state prisons].รขโฌย
Two of the baggy pants wearers tell me, smiling, that they have friends and family in the system [prison]. One considers joining the army รขโฌลand going to Iraq or wherever.รขโฌย The others laugh when a boy yells: รขโฌลSomeone gonna put a cap in your ass over there.รขโฌย
The Piedmont kids will go to expensive colleges, graduate and become CEOs and professionals ยญ like their parents. On New Yearรขโฌโขs Eve, both sets enjoyed parties, booze and drugs, sex and making resolutions.They, like the Bushies, were F. Scott Fitzgeraldรขโฌโขs รขโฌลcareless people.รขโฌยIn The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald described how รขโฌลรขโฌยฆthey smashed up things and creatures and retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness รขโฌยฆ and let other people clean up the mess they had made.รขโฌย
So, Happy Clean Up for 2006!
ZNetwork imalandira ndalama kudzera mu kuwolowa manja kwa owerenga ake.
Ndalama