Logic, Law, Justice, and Freedom

It's tiresome, dealing with ignorance. George W. Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Phylis Schlafly's absurdly stupid husband. The California woman protesting against gay marriage, and except on a few miraculous good days Thomas L. Freidman of the New York Times. They all have right to be heard. But the rest of us have a responsibility to respond.

We have had good presidents. FDR. Harry Truman--despite the gravest error of modern times, the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. I would not agree that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was justified; I would argue forever that the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki was criminal. So was the fire-bombing of Dresden, carried out by the United States and Britain.

Since World War II, we have had Truman's war in Korea, stupid in hindsight. And ten other wars, stupid and immoral and criminal in foresight. Johnson's lies to get us into Vietnam: the admitted fabrication of that attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. (The CIA was operating in Vietnam as early as 1962, according to CIA operative Paul Corscadden.) President Kissinger and his stooge Richard Nixon, bombing Cambodia.)

Stupid Gerald Ford, and poor Jimmy Carter: both feebly tried to have war; Ford with Nortnh Korea and Carter with Iran. Carter's attempt was much more perverse: a bunch of young Iranis had captured 50 CIA agents in the U.S. Embassy in Terehan; we couldn't release their names--or confirm their number--because they all had multiple identities and passports. The world was lucky: Carter's attempt to start WW III failed when his attack forces' helicopters went down in the desert. At time, our European friends were trying to reach a diplomatic solution to the situation in Teheran; but Carter was running for reelection, and needed to prove that he was macho. To hell with diplomacy.

Reagan didn't get to have war. But he reminisced about his combat flights in World War II--though of course those took place only in movies. He did manage to bomb Lybia, and to invade Grenada.

George I wanted a war, and he got one. He was quite a guy: remember when he said that the reason he had been so outrageously vulgar in the vice-presidential debate with Geraldine Ferraro was that he "just wanted to kick a little ass"? In August of 1990 George I decidedto go to war, though he insisted that was looking for peace. In January of 1991 he went to war, as planned.

Bill Clinton began his presidency beybombing Basra, in Iraq. Why? To prove that he was as ruthless a murderer as any other American. An Iraqi had been accused of plotting to murder George I. According to American law, an accusation is the same thing as a conviction, so Clinton prempted any court, and trial, and bombed Basra. Oddly, the man was never brought to trial. Count a few deaths for murderer Bill.

And then we got George II. And now we have Barak Obama.

Is Mr. Obama a good president? Well, he told us that he would restore "habeas corpus," but he hasn't. He promised to close the U. S. concentration camp at Guantanamo, but he hasn't. He promised an end to U.S. torture, but he hasn't ended it. And he told us he would end our illegal war in--our invasion of--Iraq, and our illegal war in Afghanistan.

He is a very bright man, but he has failed at everything. And in addition to no "habeas corous," the continued operation of the concentration camp in Cuba, torture, and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are now invading and attacking Pakistan.

So . . . what about all those good things? I had intended to talk about them. But--sorry--I am too depressed to talk about justice and law and society and community and goodness and freedom and all those other un-American ideas: ideas that have been a part of human history for at least the past 8,000 years.

Maybe I will try again. Right now I am too depreseed--as I always am, when I think about our country. Funny: the only times I can feel good about us are when I read about Sarah Palin or Mitch McConnell.