Savannahmann
Savannahmann's JournalI will admit having my own issues.
I've written about some of mine before. Candidate Obama promised to end the PATRIOT ACT, and reauthorized it with a signature at the last minute. It is one of a few pet peeves of mine, that we so easily wipe out the rights protected under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments. Do I think he will get rid of it in the second term? No. But on the other hand, neither will Robme, so its a wash there. Both seem dedicated to ignoring these flagrant violations of the Constitution. Guantanamo Bay's torture camp is another issue with me, and again I don't see Robme doing anything about it. Now, I can give him a pass on Guantanamo Bay, because the Congress refused to fund the shut down. But that bothers me too, because DEMOCRATIC Party members voted to continue torturing and indefinite detention of those accused, but who will never have a trial.
You mention the Corporate control of the Country. I was thinking about that very thing when President Obama promised to appoint a Secretary of Business. So the whore the corporate masters speak to will either be in the Oval Office, or one step below the Oval Office. Some choice there right?
What really bothers me is I grew up in Southern California and reached voting age in the 1980's. That was when we all stood for certain things. We were opposed to Reagan's radical military agenda. We were opposed to police abusing the rights of the accused. We were all united in our efforts to end the threat of Nuclear War. We were mocked, but we stood firm about our ideals. We believed in those things, and the Politicians we nominated reflected our beliefs, and voted that way. Now, we elect the Democrats because they are Democrats, even if they're to the right of Satan because we need the seat to get the majority. Of course, to get the vote from the fascist we have to keep moving right.
I'm not suggesting we not vote for Democrats, far from that. I am suggesting that after the election, win, lose, or draw. We need to have a conversation about what it means to be a Democrat. Some core principals we can all agree upon. We should have a handful, perhaps a half dozen guiding principals that we all agree upon. Womens Rights, Percentage of budget that will go toward education, Percentage of budget that should go toward the Military Industrial Complex in non war times.
In other words, guiding principals that we can use to send a message to our elected officials, that we want change, in the way they govern, and the way we support.
I saw a video were 47 cents of every dollar paid in taxes goes to the Military Industrial Complex in the form of the DHS, Military, CIA, and all the other "security" flag waving nonsense. That is insane. That is what the Nazi's did, and we did to defeat them. That was an all out no civilian car produced rationed gasoline and tires war effort.
I know this rambled a bit, and I'm sorry. Like you my support for the Democrats is absolute, but like you I have serious concerns about the direction of this party, and our nation.
Interesting isn't it?
The one thing nobody has noticed is this. Why haven't the defense attorneys made this argument during closing arguments. The Jury system came from history, and was codified under English Law during the Magna Carta. This was to take a power away from the King. The King, or Government could accuse you of a crime, try you for that crime. But the King could not convict you of that crime. That power was reserved for the people, the peers we all know from the Bill of Rights. However, most people don't realize that the purpose of the Jury was never intended to simply decide had the person done the action accused, but was the law JUST, or Justly applied.
St. Augustine taught civilization that an unjust law, was no law. The second purpose of a Jury was supposed to be the question of Just Law. Was the law just, and was it justly applied. There are tens of thousands of examples of unjustly applied laws. From girlfriends who had no knowledge of the actions of drug dealers and who are serving decades because someone has to pay for it, to people who didn't know the action was a crime. The second most asinine phrase is Ignorance is no excuse. If you don't know what the rules are, it is impossible to follow them.
So the jury has the ability to return Not Guilty verdicts because the law is unjust, or unjustly applied. Yet a vast majority of the people who serve on Juries don't know this right. The example I gave the Judge when I was questioned about an example was pre Civil War. It was a Federal Crime to assist an escaped slave. To the best of my knowledge nobody was ever charged with that crime. However, I'd like to think that if I had been on a jury, I'd have found the individual not guilty of assisting someone who wanted freedom.
The Jury could find these people who are guilty of nothing more than growing Medical Marijuana not guilty because the law is unjustly applied. The defense attorney could argue for the jury to do just that. After a while it would become a cause celeb, in which Juries would joyously find the defendant not guilty because the law was unjust, or unjustly applied.
We the people have a grave responsibility as Jurors, not just to decide if the person did it, but is the Government right in prosecuting them?
I'm not so sure
First, let's be honest. The Fast and Furious program was started under BushCo. It was an amazingly stupid response to the absolute lack of control on the border regarding gun smuggling to the Cartels in Mexico. As we all know, the Cartels would be reduced to sling shots in less than a decade if we would ban guns like the other civilized nations. Instead, we keep handing the guns to anyone who has the dollars.
Congressional Oversight is one of our most important checks. We learned the hard way what happens without it. We saw the Viet-Nam war, Nixon's abuses, The Glomar Explorer of Project Jennifer Fame. The CIA assassinating anyone they didn't like without so much as a nod from anyone accountable. The School of the America's training thugs to keep dictators in power in Central and South America. All of these were started, and run, because of lack of Congressional Oversight. Even when we had control of Congress. That is because of the long tradition in Washington of Voting Conservative, and the issuing statements that are liberal.
Congress has the authority to request documents, and wouldn't you like to know who in BushCo cranked this up? Wouldn't you like to know who refused to shut it down when we got the White House from those lying bastards? Why didn't one of the new appointee's take one look at this program and demand to know if someone was insane? It was a stupid idea, which we have long expected from the idiot in chief Bush. Yet we are smarter, and we not only didn't shut it down, we let it expand. WE LET IT. We claim it was to learn who the guns were going to. They weren't going to single moms who valiantly defend their families from hordes of bad guys as the NRA claims. They were going to Criminals. Of course, we already knew that when the Mexican police asked us to identify who bought the gun in the United States and tell us that six Mexican Cops were killed by baddies with that gun.
We already knew they were going to bad guys. There wasn't anything else to learn about the destination except that they were bad guys and they used guns to murder and intimidate the same as the rest of the gun toting racist assholes here in the United States.
I want to know why we didn't do the right thing. Why didn't we shut this down ten seconds after learning about it. Imagine if you will we found out that Bush had violated a treaty and put a Nuclear (Which he can't pronounce to save his life) weapon in space. Would we be angry. You bet your ass we would. Would we forgive Obama for obeying the law? No, we would celebrate that obedience to a higher ideal, the obedience of the treaty that prohibits that action. What would they be able to say if it took them years to admit it?
It was a bad plan from the Bushies, and we should have shut it down ten seconds after we learned about it. Somebody dropped the bowling ball on their foot big time. We are better than this, and we should have just given all the documents to Congress long ago, and then released them to the Press with a description of the program.
"A program started under President Bush was not shut down when we got involved. Those responsible for that program, including the people appointed by us were fired, and face prosecution for violation not only our laws, but those of a sovereign state Mexico. We are appointing a prosecutor to find out when Bush knew, and what he knew. We believe we may find a memo somewhere that shows when aides were able to brief the President on the program using hand puppets."
We had some political cover then. Now, all we have is the cry of witch hunt. But the problem is this. We didn't shut it down, who knows how many Mexican civilians died because of that. Who knows how many Mexican army, and police are dead. All we know for sure is a Border Patrol officer was killed by a gun we gave the cartels. Bush started it. We should have stopped it. We expect this kind of stupidity from them. We are better than that. We should have been better.
Somebody has to pay for this disaster. Right now, Attorney General Holder is the one in the firing line, because he won't give Congress those who are responsible. Of all the things I'm proud of with our President. This is one of those things I am not proud of, I am ashamed of. I really don't understand why we did this. I wish I did. I wish I could understand how, who, and why.
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