Damn the Release of the Torture Report

[rhett o rick]

Now we, as a nation, have to look at it square in the eyes. No more denial, we tortured some folks. Sorry Mr. President but we brutally tortured many people, many innocent people and for what?

Now we must decide who we are as a nation. Now we must admit we are not the world’s “Good Guys”. We, all of us, are responsible for this horrendous blight on our national soul. We all stood by as a cabal took control of our government. They manipulated our election process and had it authorized by a corrupted Supreme Court. This coup was accomplished without any noticeable resistance from our elected representatives. Many representatives approved and most of the rest acquiesced. Few spoke out.

The public isn’t without blame but having been treated as lemmings for decades they/we went right off the cliff like good little authoritarians.

The “News” Media, or more like the propaganda arm of the new Reich, instead of fulfilling their democratic function of keeping our government honest, put on a parade for the new Reich, willing shills for the new Corporatism, or dare I use the “F” word, Fascism?

Now I know you’re saying to yourself, no, no not in my America. I vote therefore I am free. But “Fascism is like a fog that comes in the night, which you will not see until the mourning(sic) light, …” * “Fascism is capitalism in decay” Vladimir Lenin and our capitalism is definitely in decay.

If you still are hiding in your denial bubble, I suggest you read: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45, by Milton Mayer, if you haven’t already.

So what will we do about it? We will growl and shake our heads and then scoot off to catch that sale on imported backscratchers at Walmart. We are a country of authoritarians that blindly support our leaders and rationalize away clear violations of our Constitution. And there are far too many of us that, not only accept the yoke of corporate slavery, but outwardly are antagonistic toward those that are fighting the creeping fog of fascism.

*I don’t have a source this quote.

[L0oniX]

1. "we must decide" They are obviously deciding without us.

[Doctor_J]

3. As they do on every issue

[rhett o rick]

4. We, the People, have declared that it's our right to abolish an unjust government.

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." (Declaration of Independence)

I think that it's not only a Right but as a citizen of the USofA, it's our obligation to abolish an unjust government.

[L0oniX]

5. I wish there was a way to get past the murdering pigs and rich assholes to access "our" government.

[rhett o rick]

6. The movement has started. It is simmering just below the surface. Now

that the R-Cons have total control of our government, the American people make wake up.

[L0oniX]

7. Like a drug addict ...sometimes you have to fall in the gutter before you get up and change.

[Enthusiast]

2. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

[L0oniX]

8. You really weren't expecting recs from the America can do no wrong element ...were ya.

Last edited Thu Dec 11, 2014, 06:21 PM - Edit history (1)

[Enthusiast]

12. I was only making a suggestion.

[rhett o rick]

11. As always I appreciate your enthusiasm. nm

[CrispyQ]

9. I predict we will "catch that sale on imported backscratchers at Walmart."

This was from 2011 - the first year of Occupy.

[rhett o rick]

10. Looks to me like the Nation is ok with fascism as long as they get their Black Fridays. nm

[Enthusiast]

13. They are relying on CNN and Fox to provide them with accurate reporting.

They wouldn't be okay with it if they they knew about it. Feck!

[L0oniX]

14. I'm looking forward to my new Black Friday game for Christmas...

Hasbro ...Game of Torture ...it's kinda like the doctor operation game only the tortured die if you over do it.

[scarletwoman]

15. Nothing is going to happen.

Whatever portion of the populace that follows the news - and there are lots and lots who don't follow news at all - are mostly going to think, "Ick!" and put it out of their heads as soon as they can. Who wants to think about that kind of shit? And there are plenty of people who will be quite happy to hear about how we messed "those people" up, but good - "America! Hell yeah!"

Our so-called representatives? There will be no Church Committee this time around, no one in DC has the stomach to hold the National Security State to account. There may be a bit of DC insider sniping back and forth, but it will be essentially meaningless in terms of anything remotely resembling actual change. The established power blocs will remain in place, the corporate media will cover it like a tennis game - "he said/she said" - and the news cycle will move on.

We the consumers will finish our Christmas shopping, the legislators will go on Recess, and by the new year we'll be treated to warm and fuzzy coverage of Mitch McConnell, the new Senate Majority Leader.

Nothing will come of this. It's just a little burp along the road of our cultural and political disintegration.

[rhett o rick]

16. You have some nerve is all I have to say.

I have a good outrage going and you have the audacity to throw some cold reality into my face.

Now I have to read some more of the report and see if I can stoke this outrage back into full force.

Please let me run with this for a day or two.

[jeepers]

17. That Declaration of Independence thing you read

Drops like a stone don't it. I have concluded that in as we don't live in a democracy the folks just don't get it. We are our own worst enemies.

[sabrina 1]

18. The Patriot Act replaced the Declaration, they were 'purists'

haven't you heard? The Patriot Act was prepared years before they got that 'traumatice event of the magnitude of Pearl Harbor' to get the people to 'go along'.

This coup, and I believe it is a coup, didn't happen over night.

I agree with Scarlet Woman above that not much is likely to happen. They have gained too much power at this point.

However a small part of me wants to believe that there ARE some good people in our Government who have been simmering over what has happened to this country and that there is some momentum for them right now.

And we need to support them, because speaking out against the powerful can be a dangerous thing.

Udall, Levin and others who have been trying for so long, need to know that the people support them on this.

[rhett o rick]

21. Once again sabrina, you speak for me. While it looks hopeless there are those in high places

that sympathize, that recognize that letting the Oligarchs run rough shod over the country isn't the best for any of us. At some point the brave will step forward like Eric Snowden and speak out.

[sabrina 1]

22. I think there are more than we know. Even during the Bush years

there were many Republicans, I found out, who simply quit the DOJ because of Bush/Cheney's abuse of the Constitution.

I remember the day Comey resigned eg. I didn't know much about him other than he was the assistant AG and had stood in for Ashcroft while he was in the hospital.

Normally I couldn't bear to watch any Republican on TV at that time, but something about him caught my attention.

I couldn't put my finger on it but he seemed to be trying to send a message. And he was crying. What he said was something along the lines of: 'I want to thank all of you who worked with me to preserve this country's system of justice'. And then he said 'to those of you who are no longer with us, I want to think you also'.

It was weird, he had tears in his eyes, and 'those of you no longer with us'! I got the feeling they were not there for a reason and he was thanking them for something other than their service.

Later we learned the whole story. And his demeanor and words that day made more sense to me. We know now that many people in Bush's DOJ who knew if they spoke out, what would happen to them, decided to leave rather than participate in the law breaking of that administration.

And when you look, had we not been so blindly partisan, most of the Whistle Blowers from that era were Republicans.

And they were persecuted, so I can understand people whose consciences would not allow them to continue, even though it meant an end to what could have been a great career enhancer for them, didn't blow the whistle, but they quit.

[rhett o rick]

23. One of the things that keeps me going is the bravery of people like Edward Snowden.

I think there are more like him that are willing to give up their lives, literally, to bring an end to this march toward fascism.

[sabrina 1]

24. Yes, it takes great courage to stand up alone against such power.

I am glad to see the polls on Snowden, last time I checked, are not agreeing with the 'he's a traitor' crowd or even with the 'he broke the law' crowd either. A majority of Americans, despite all the propaganda against him, do 'not view him as a traitor'. That must be disappointing. Their propaganda isn't working as well as it used to.

[KoKo]

19. Now we must decide who we are as a nation.

There we Are.......

[merrily]

20. Your OP omitted the most important thing: What's the discount on the backscratchers?

I am kidding, of course. Gallows humor.

Well, according to some DUers, we can find us some "folks" with money (preferably some positive fame, for name recognition, too) and try to persuade them to run against the candidate the Party and its donor list is backing, then work our hearts our for those candidates, even though we'd have no professional strategistst to guide us and no big donors, other than our recruits. I don't see that as a terribly realistic alternative (and very much doubt that the folks proposing that we do it see it as a realistic alternative).

IMO, realistic alternatives are very limited, but I do think we are making progress. Even if their motives are not great, some writers and speakers with figurative megaphones are at least acknowledging from time to time that something left of New Democrats exists. This is contrary to their usual practice of pretending every Democrat, including Obama, is wild-eyed liberal or a Socialist.

I don't know if appointing Warren as special liaison to liberals, or whatever she is, was well-intentioned or not, either, but that certainly is another acknowledgment that something left of center right exists within the Democratic Party.

I think everyone always knew we were here. Now they are ready to acknowledge that. That ain't everything, but it's something.

We also have our primary votes. you can always even write in someone for a primary without helping a Republican. Some think of that as throwing away a vote. I have come to think of anything else as throwing away my soul (if I may ask that readers not take that in the religious sense--I just dont have a better word for "the essence of who I am and what I believe in."

Unless you live in a purple county (Presidential), or the popular vote promises to be close anyway (as was Baker-Coakley), you can consider writing in a Democrat in an election without helping a Republican.

Beyond that, I don't know what is both (1) realistic and (2) capable of being discussed on DU without violating the TOS. And that doesn't require millions of dollars for consultants, TV ads, etc.