Sickens.
Not Surprises.
No I am not surprised at the non-indictments of murderous cops. But it sickens me.
I am far from surprised from the contents publicized so far of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. And I fully expected what we have gotten from Brennan and Cheney and the blowhards on Fox News.
The contents of the report are sickening.
The "defenses" being offered for the brutality that was done are as sickening as the original brutal acts.
That the White House and the #2 House Democrat whipped votes for a horrible "cromibus" with all the nastiness contained therein thereby pretty much guaranteeing - if the Senate goes along - both another Wall Street meltdown that will be bailed out by We the People (whatever happened to moral hazard?) and the final distortion of democracy into a Potemkin Village to mask the plutocratic takeover of our politics and government means it is time for Progressives and Liberals and real Democrats and anyone with both a brain and a conscience to walk away from this administration and those ranking Democrats who are betraying our Democracy.
But unfortunately it is not just racism, and torture, and large scale greed.
Tom Harkin is supposed to be a Liberal. Then why in Hell has he moved to pay off education loan lenders by cutting funding for Pell Grants?
If Obama is opposed to torture, why are not there criminal investigations of the CIA, starting with the destruction of the waterboarding tapes, a destruction that was NOT properly authorized even within the CIA?
If this administration and the Democratic leadership of the House is in theory committed to the environment, why agree to a bill that slashes even further funding for environmental initiatives?
If this administration and the Democratic leadership of the House believes in real fiscal responsibility, why agree to a bill that slashes the enforcement budget of the Internal Revenue Service?
I refuse to watch TV right now.
If the Liberal and Progressive Senators will not filibuster this bill, then they have succumbed to the terrorism of Wall Street and the Tea Party. The Republicans not only take hostages, they get Democrats to acquiesce in their slaughter.
The real damage being done to this country is incalculable.
The same unwillingness of some House Democrats to stand for principle is exactly why Dems lost the House in 2010, lost the Senate in 2014, and continuing along this path even if they win the Presidency in 2016 it will be a hollow victory, because there will be no American Dream left for any except the superrich and the few minions upon whom they choose to bestow a few crumbs.
So I ask myself, as a teacher of AP Economics is what we teach about how economics is supposed to operate have any validility?
And I ask myself, as a teacher of Government, do we still have a government based on the notion of We the People? What is there to teach? We have seen the meaning of the Constitution eroded - the 4th Amendment, the 5th Amendment, the 8th Amendment (because let's be clear, waterboarding was punishment, rectal "hydration" was punishment, clearly cruel and most certainly unusual), habeas corpus, Equal Protection of the Laws.
Yes, we have seen some advances - in marriage equality, in gays being able to openly serve in the military where they already served often with distinction.
I am sickened.
Tomorrow is a day of Economics classes.
I am supposed to be teaching the theory of the firm. Somehow it does not account for the notion that Citibank and its peers can undo legislation designed to protect the economy in order to enrich themselves.
Monday I will again teach Government. Will we still have a meaningful government?
Understand that what is happening is just the start of what could be some very dark times ahead.
I know this.
I will have nothing to do with the Wall Street banks. I will deal personally only with credit unions and independent local banks.
I also know this.
When the people fully understand how badly they are being screwed, there is going to be hell to pay.
We have already seen the protests over Ferguson and Staten Island and Cleveland continue to grow.
Somehow if I have any hope it comes from that.
From the belief that perhaps, just perhaps, what we are seeing is the equivalent of the last gasp of an Ancien Regime before the guillotines made their appearance.
And I know this. I have lived long enough that I am not afraid for myself. That makes me and those like me a danger to those who are seeking to destroy or acquiescing in the destruction of what we hold dear.
Because I have a big mouth and I am not afraid to use it.
And sometimes, just occasionally, people will pay attention to what I say or write.
Or maybe I am just delusional.
Maybe nothing we say or do matters.
After all, there are some on the other side politically who would be more than happy to put us in their equivalent of Chinese reeducation camps. And they are the more generous - think of those willing to kill gays and people of color and Muslims and Jews and liberals and anyone who disagrees with them.
So this is my screed.
Make of it what you will.
These folks make me sick.
The thing is, when I get sickened I get determined.
And having nothing to lose, that makes me dangerous.
What about you>