It's About Time

Dick Cheney is acting up again, making the rounds of pundit shows. It is hard to say who is the most evil human being on the planet, but Cheney is certainly a top contender. He is an advocate for torture and murder, without reservation or discernment of victim, other than "suspicion." It could be anyone, foreign or domestic. Salon has a great analysis. I had this response:

Excellent analysis. Except for one thing. The completion of the Cheney plan could not have taken place without the attacks of September 11, 2001. They were way too handy. At the very least the Bush criminal regime engaged in VERY active negligence in advance of the attacks. In the Senate 911 hearings the questioning was easily deflected with bureaucratic doubletalk. Too easily. Bush was allowed to testify in private, not under oath, and with Cheney available to coach his testimony.

The criminal negligence in advance of the attacks is both clear and prosecutable, even now. Their negligence led to the deaths of 2997 victims in the 911 attacks, 5281 military deaths in the "war on terror," countless Iraqi and Afghan deaths, thousands of deaths of NATO troops, and deaths of many hundreds of innocent people in drone attacks.


There is no statute of limitations on murder, and in international law there is no statute of limitations on war crimes. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell (yes, Powell), Wolfowitz, Perle, and others will be prosecutable for the rest of their misspent lives.

In Economics there is a term known as "as-if," used to explain behavior that can't be directly traced to a motivation, but inferred. Using the "as-if" principle, the Bush regime behaved as if they were consciously enabling the 911 attacks. They couldn't have done a better job of enabling if they were indeed actively planning the attacks, and therefore it can be safely inferred that they in truth were paving the way for the attacks. The way they behaved afterward is consistent with what guilty parties would do to deflect attention away from their criminality, and especially from holding them responsible.

And, in the news of the day, the president is ending our ruling elite's isolation of "Cuba," announcing that he is establishing diplomatic relations, plans to open an embassy, and exchanged prisoners. I responded to a National Public Radio story about the announcement in this comment:

I'm sure the term "game changer" is being bandied about, but what may be more appropriate is momentum shifter. This is a brilliant move on several levels. One is that Obama has pulled the rug out from under the "Republicans," the mythical "right wing," Fox News (where a collective primal scream can be heard), the parasitic and manipulative Miami Cubans, and whatever national security "interests" (and their money backers) might have in continuing this evil campaign against Cuba.

One of the benefits of the change in policy just might be the return of Guantanamo Bay to its rightful owners, the people of Cuba. If Obama can't close the illegal prison any other way, he can just revert Guantanamo to its rightful owners.

We can look back with some amusement, and some anger and indignation at all that has happened in our relationship with Cuba since 1959. Ridiculous attempts were made to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro, including an exploding cigar, poisoning, and terrorist attacks. An attempt was made to blame the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Castro. A frustrated and paranoid Castro invited the USSR in with its nuclear missiles, and as a result we almost engaged in a disastrous thermonuclear war.

Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is now earning the award. His momentum shift came just in time. Hopefully it will be enough to reverse the harm that has been done to not just Cuba over the decades, but to our own country. Here's hoping he follows up on this momentum shifter with many others. He has two years left in which to do it. He's off to a great start.

 Momentum is shifting everywhere. It's about time. The silliness we have been experiencing since about the time JFK was assassinated couldn't go on forever. I don't mean to be a Kennedy apologist. It's just that in phenomenological terms the great decline began the day he was killed. Symbolically and mythically, attempts were made to blame his assassination on Fidel Castro. Now we can start a new myth.
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Here's a song to celebrate with.

Buena Vista Social Club.

Here's some celebration music from another part of the Caribbean.

Here's a song for old times' sake.

We should never forget John O'Neill, who worked tirelessly to prevent the 911 attacks, but was thwarted by the Bush criminal regime. He died in the World Trade Center.