The Policy Critic

Friday, October 31, 2014

Dumb and Dumber: The US Public and Congress



Boy are we stupid! 

In the old days a bunch of guys got together to draw up a new Constitution and came up with a brilliant ingenious document that has proven to be effective and flexible; until we got stupid. The very bright founders of this country could not build anything into the Constitution to protect Americans from their own stupidity, and here we are. The founders, unlike us, were smart enough to realize that power is dangerous, so they built into the Constitution ways to limit power.  They knew full well for example, that it would be stupid and dangerous to allow just one person to decide to make war, and so the smart founders made that impossible by insisting that only the Congress can declare war. They couldn’t know just how stupid the US population and Congress would become.   We and Congress have created a situation where one man can make war on anyone for any reason, a frightening scenario in the eyes of the very smart founders of this nation.

The current president, has taken full advantage of the power we and Congress have stupidly given him, and has waged war by bombing 7 countries. This President is a former Noble Peace Prize winner so imagine what is to come when a real “hawk” becomes president. Considering his predecessor only bombed 4 countries, you can see how the power has expanded exponentially. 

The founders must be rolling in their graves, disgusted that all their intelligent work in writing a brilliant document is being torn to shreds by dummies.  But how did we become so stupid so fast?

We have been frightened. We have been taught not to think, read, or reason, on our own. We have been dumbed down by corporate media who fills the airways with useless mind killing babble while acting as a parrot by merely repeating the official government narrative of anything that happens.  There is no adversarial relationship between media and the political establishment.  They are buddies who take great delight in attending banquets and dinner parties and rubbing elbows with one another.

Congress has played a major role in the usurpation of power by the President by throwing up their hands in repeated acts of Constitutional cowardice, letting Presidents have their way with his random bombing of nations.  Congress has become a pathetic laughing stock and a sitting duck target for comics like John Stewart, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver.   Congress is helpless, pathetic, and easy to pick on, so comics cannot resist and the Congress deserves all the ridicule and laughter they get.

So take a look at your Congressional Delegation. Have any of your House members of Senators called for a “declaration of War”, or are your congress people like the Lion of OZ who lacked courage? Even though your representatives to Congress had to swear an oath to defend the Constitution, they repeatedly ran from the Constitutional battlefield and continually stick their heads in the sand. So if they have abandoned the Constitution out of cowardice and violated their most basic oath of office, why do you continue to vote them back into office? Which brings us back to the “S” word again.

Have You Assisted in my Forced Feeding and Illegal Imprisonment?



So here you are 43 years old, 4 kids, and in prison now for 12 years.  What for you ask?  Nothing! Absolutely nothing, and as a matter of fact 4 years ago I was officially cleared of anything by all the authorities involved, and it was determined there was no reason for my being held.  That was 4 years ago and I am still in prison.  I feel I will never be released.  I have never been charged with anything. I have never been brought before a lawyer.  I have no constitutional rights. For 12 years I have been unable to watch my kids grow up.  Out of despair, and to protest my illegal imprisonment, I decided to go on as “hunger strike”. A hunger strike is legal, and it is an individual’s choice. It is the only means of protest I have but my captors got angry and decided to punish me for protesting.  They decided that I should be force fed and they make it as brutal as possible.  They drag me from my cell 3 time a day.  They strap me securely to a chair with five belts and hold my head in place while they take an oversized tube (they use a large tube to make it more painful) and insert in through my nose, down my throat, and into my stomach, and then begin to pump the food through the tube into my stomach. Sometimes they pump it too fast which is very painful.  They do this intentionally because they are punishing me for my protest. Sometime they coat the tube before insertion with olive oil, which can be fatal, again just to punish me for my protest. Don’t believe me?  My captors filmed 28 separate forced feedings which I think you should see.  My captors do not; they will not release the 28 filmed forced feedings.  I do not think I will ever be released even though I have done nothing wrong, and all the authorities agree with my innocence.  I do not think I will ever see my wife and children again.  I think I will be tortured with forced feeding until I die here. There are 85 others like myself, who authorities say should not be held for any reason. They committed no crime, but like me are still in prison. Is this what America is all about? Have you done anything to help me and others who are being held like this? If not, does this make you and accomplice?

This is the story of Abu Wa'el Dhiab, one of many illegally held people in Guantanamo Prison. I gathered the facts of his story from Human Rights groups and assumed his personae because he is not allowed to speak for himself.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Have You Assisted in my Forced Feeding and Illegal Imprisonment?



So here you are 43 years old, 4 kids, and in prison now for 12 years.  What for you ask?  Nothing! Absolutely nothing, and as a matter of fact 4 years ago I was officially cleared of anything by all the authorities involved, and it was determined there was no reason for my being held.  That was 4 years ago and I am still in prison.  I feel I will never be released.  I have never been charged with anything. I have never been brought before a lawyer.  I have no constitutional rights. For 12 years I have been unable to watch my kids grow up.  Out of despair, and to protest my illegal imprisonment, I decided to go on as “hunger strike”. A hunger strike is legal, and it is an individual’s choice. It is the only means of protest I have but my captors got angry and decided to punish me for protesting.  They decided that I should be force fed and they make it as brutal as possible.  They drag me from my cell 3 time a day.  They strap me securely to a chair with five belts and hold my head in place while they take an oversized tube (they use a large tube to make it more painful) and insert in through my nose, down my throat, and into my stomach, and then begin to pump the food through the tube into my stomach. Sometimes they pump it too fast which is very painful.  They do this intentionally because they are punishing me for my protest. Sometime they coat the tube before insertion with olive oil, which can be fatal, again just to punish me for my protest. Don’t believe me?  My captors filmed 28 separate forced feedings which I think you should see.  My captors do not; they will not release the 28 filmed forced feedings.  I do not think I will ever be released even though I have done nothing wrong, and all the authorities agree with my innocence.  I do not think I will ever see my wife and children again.  I think I will be tortured with forced feeding until I die here. There are 85 others like myself, who authorities say should not be held for any reason. They committed no crime, but like me are still in prison. Is this what America is all about? Have you done anything to help me and others who are being held like this? If not, does this make you and accomplice?

This is the story of Abu Wa'el Dhiab, one of many illegally held people in Guantanamo Prison. I gathered the facts of his story from Human Rights groups and assumed his personae because he is not allowed to speak for himself.