[[superman]]
I half-seriously offered to mail a Cuban cigar to anyone who asked, if, contrary to my strong belief, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney actually went quietly into that goodnight in January. Just days after the election of Barack Obama, I’m not yet planning a trip to the Cigar Emporium. A lot can happen between election day and January 20th.
In order to try to predict the next mad lurch of bizarro American current affairs, I found it useful to ask a simple question: what would Lex Luthor do?
After an eight-year illegal usurpation of the White House, two illegal and brutal invasions and acts of war against three other nations (Iran, Pakistan, Syria), the abandonment or abrogation of various important international treaties, domestic spying, the open adoption of torture, ‘extraordinary rendition,’ the abandonment of the centuries old civilizing concept of habeas corpus, the repeal of Posse Comitatus, the building of domestic concentration camps, the drowning and subsequent ethnic cleansing of New Orleans, attempting to quash any investigation into 9/11 and subsequent whitewash, the destruction of the economy, then the looting of taxpayers to bail out Wall Street crooks. After Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Roberts, Alito, Mukasey, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, Bolton, Ashcroft, Poindexter, Abrams, Negroponte, Reich, and others in this Who’s Who of infamy, what next? Take a rest? No. Nor would Lex Luthor simply walk away. Or move to Paraguay.
The Luthor/Rove/Cheney mindset enjoys nothing so much as a double bang for their evil buck. Thus selling arms to Iran and diverting the proceeds to arm the hideous contras in Central America (and a third whammy—CIA imported crack cocaine to the USA, mostly for consumption by Blacks) must have seemed like a genius scheme. One to emulate. Win another one for the Gipper.
9/11? Fight tooth and nail to avoid an investigation into the one of the greatest crimes ever committed on US soil (I include the Native genocide and slavery as two others). Neglect to treat the area as a crime scene. Dispose of all evidence as quickly as possible (notice how so many girders are cut at a 45 degree angle—odd, isn’t it). When the clamor for an investigation becomes too loud to ignore, appoint a celebrity war criminal (no less one than Henry Kissinger) to the task, while keeping a straight face (well, a scowl and a smirk, respectively). Then utilize the public’s fear (suitably stoked), anger and ignorance to quash freedom at home and to launch invasions abroad. Another Hall of Famer.
Katrina? Ignore warnings about the levees, and when they fail, claim that no one could possibly have known that might happen. Note that (as CNN did, endlessly) abandoned Blacks ‘loot’ stranded whites ‘forage.’ As Rep (R) Richard Baker said ‘We finally cleaned up public housing. We couldn’t do it, but God did.’ When God hands you lemons… Plus, a lot of (Democrat) blacks never came back, but a lot of (Republican) whites did. Bonus!
Deregulate like crazy (ok, Clinton helped) and then when capitalism collapses, pretend it’s an act of God and give bailout billions to the greedy bums who really caused it.
So what would Lex Luthor do, knowing that his criminal infractions are so numerous and so egregious, loathing for him is so universal that even a reluctant President Obama might be forced to pursue justice or pay the price as Gerald Ford did for pardoning Richard Nixon (not that Obama would dare pardon Bush/Cheney)? Well, he’d use any means necessary to thwart Superman, including feeding him a fatal kryptonite sandwich while blaming, say, a Muslim patsy. One two. Watch out for a November, December, or January surprise. All that is required for Bush and Cheney to hang around the White House indefinitely is Bush’s signature and a(nother) false flag pretext.
On the other hand, if the illicit duo is arrogant enough to assume that they will continue to be above the law, President Obama must quickly disabuse them of that notion. They have brought disgrace upon the nation, and failure to bring them (and so many others) to justice would be to leave the whole system of justice in disrepute and invite more crime and lawlessness. The fabric of the nation has been badly torn. It can’t magically repair itself.
He must, upon taking office, immediately close Guantanamo and other prisons, including secret ones, without exception. He must end the practice of torture without exception. He must end the use of mercenaries, abroad and at home. He must apologize to all those held illegally and tortured and make restitution where possible, end the war in Iraq, rebuild (finally), pay reparations, and get the hell out.
He should rebuild in Afghanistan and pay reparations there also. Remember, the Taliban (as ghastly as they are) long ago offered to hand Osama bin Laden over to Americans if they simply showed evidence of his crimes. America refused.
He should consider cutting some of the waste in the Pentagon and concentrate on the public good, for a change.
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