by Laura Knight-Jadczyk
17 April 2009
from
SOTT
Website
If you are looking for some good bedtime reading
full of juicy tales of crime and corruption, cliff-hanging episodes,
fiendish villains, damsels in distress, besieged heroes, complex threads of
action and more, you don't have to look any farther than the recently
published
Conyers Report - Reining In the Imperial Presidency -
Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush.
It took me a few days (what with doing other
things) to get through its over 400 pages (including appendices, references
and notes), and I can tell you that it is some seriously page-turning stuff.
This is especially interesting considering that it could have been a very
dry document, being put together by the House Committee on the Judiciary.
But it isn't dry.
Just reciting the plain facts (with notes and references)
of the presidency of
George W. Bush lays bare the pathology
of American politics in a way that no amount of dramatic writing could
improve upon. I highly recommend reading it in full!
Actually, I was going to try to condense it for the site here but there was
just SO much great, turgid prose that could NOT be left out that, by the
time I was done "condensing," I still had over 200 pages of the main text! I
kid you not, you will NOT believe some of the stuff that is in this
document!
Of course, it's not like we didn't know this stuff already - it's sure been
gone over thoroughly on the alternative press (and somewhat, in the
mainstream press) for the past 8 years - but the fact that it now exists as
an official document produced by the U.S. House of Representatives turns all
that "alternative news" into a different kind of data. It's official now. I
mean, really REAL.
Reading this report does give one a bit of hope that there ARE individuals
in the murky halls of government who can actually see what is going on, have
normal human reactions to it (like being appalled, disgusted, shocked, etc)
and declare that such behavior is absolutely unacceptable in any way, shape,
form or fashion.
The problem is, as I mused while reading it,
exactly what effect can it possibly have in a conclave of pathological types
where the inmates have taken over the asylum? Probably not much.
Among the more interesting parts of the report are the Recommendations (the
"Findings" at the end of each section are pretty good too.) There are 50
separate recommendations that, if followed, would go some way toward putting
the US government back on track. It wouldn't fix everything, of course, but
it would at least clean out some of the more pathological elements in
government. And that is why none of the recommendations are likely to be
followed.
(I have decided to at least publish the
recommendations here on sott.net - you can figure out a lot of what the
document reveals by reading these terse summations of what's wrong and how
to fix it.)
Conyers comes right out and says that
Obama
ought to "finally begin an independent criminal review of activities of the
outgoing Administration." So far, we don't see any sign of that happening!
In fact, we see just the converse.
Poking about on the net, all I've seen is more of the same-old, same-old:
"Let's put it behind us! Let's make nice and shove our dirty laundry under
the rug!"
Conyers recommends to the Attorney General, Eric Holder:
"The Attorney General should appoint a
Special Counsel to determine whether there were criminal violations
committed pursuant to Bush Administration policies that were undertaken
under unreviewable war powers, including enhanced interrogation,
extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance. ... In
this regard, the report firmly rejects the notion that we should move on
from these matters."
What we see actually happening is that senior
Democrats are definitely shy of a full-scale investigation, whether by a
"truth commission" or a special prosecutor, into possible crimes committed
under
Dubya.
The Repugnicans are, of course, adamantly
against any inquiry. One wonders just how much stuff Dubya has on the whole
gang of them as a result of his Illegal Wiretapping? (You don't have to be
pathological to have dirty laundry!)
I think that Obama is really missing an opportunity to not only do the right
thing, but to assure himself an honorable place in history by immediately
launching dozens of independent investigations into a lot of things. (Of
course, we suspect that he never had any intention of bringing real "change"
to government anyway, I'm just speaking rhetorically here.)
More than that,
I think that Obama and the gang are really mis-reading the mood of the
country. People do not WANT to "just get over it." They don't want to "put
it all behind us."
The American people - and the rest of the world - want
blood!
And, based on reports I've been reading, they will have blood one way
or another. Not only are people "going bonkers" and killing everybody in
sight at an unprecedented rate, Americans are arming themselves to the
teeth.
Conyers is, at least, reading this signal accurately. In a statement posted
on his website, the chairman writes:
...the administration still has much to do
to restore the rule of law to its rightful place. A nonpartisan,
independent accounting of what happened must take place, and the new
administration must do more to roll back its predecessor's policies on
issues ranging from signing statements to the state secrets privilege.
Following that, he notes:
I have noted press reports describing the
criminal investigation being carried out by Judge Garzon of Spain. In
the apparent absence of any independent criminal investigation of
torture allegations being carried out in the U.S., and considering our
obligations under the 1984 Convention Against Torture, I understand this
step by a serious and respected jurist. In the end, however, it is
America's obligation to police its own compliance with U.S. and
international law.
The latest news is, of course, that there will
be no Spanish prosecution. There are pathological people everywhere, even in
Spain.
But in spite of the fact that the Spanish Initiative has failed, the people
of the world - normal people with consciences - represented by civil
liberties and human rights organizations and progressive groups, have been
agitating for the US Congress to launch a serious, unbiased criminal
investigation into the Bush administration. (I would suggest a completely
new 9-11 investigation, too!)
Much of this pressure has been focused on the
fact that Bush and Cheney clearly sanctioned - and may even have directly
ordered - torture. But, just in the past few days, Obama has made it pretty
clear that he's going to follow the "Let's shove it all under the rug and
put it behind us" school of political shenanigans.
That, of course, suggests
that Obama might just turn into a "Unitary Executive" himself.
Maybe he likes what Bush did and plans to follow
suit with a few token humanitarian gestures to palliate his worshipful
followers? That's not so strange in the world of politics.
What to do?
I don't know if it is any comfort to anyone to know that there are,
obviously, some people in Congress who can really see what's going on and
know what ought to be done; the Conyers Report is evidence that this is so.
Read it yourself, please, before you start ranting back at me!
Unfortunately, they don't seem to be aware that what they are describing IS
pathology - predators disguised as normal humans.
As to what to do to pressure the present administration to follow the
recommendations of the report, I really can't think of anything that will
get a bunch of compromised legislators off their black-mailed backsides and
cut their own throats by investigating the gang that holds all the aces.
Don't hold your breath.
The only thing that can possibly achieve anything at all is if the human
population of this planet would become fully and accurately aware of
pathology in politics and really join together to simply refuse to support
it one instant longer.
All our efforts should be focused on that one
thing: to expose the Elite for what they mostly are: psychopaths, and expose
that fact to the greatest depth possible, in a way that truly convinces
people - even the fence-sitters - that if they do NOT do anything, the day
will come when it is too late (and that day is fast approaching).
The clear conviction that we are being ruled by madmen should be enough to
scare the bejeebies out of anybody - heck, it keeps me awake at night!
And
that fear of what will come (as it surely will) if nothing is done now, can
be a powerful motivator for people to band together, to help one another, to
educate one another, and to bear the hardships that will naturally come when
everyone stops supporting
the Pathocrats (pathological people in power).
Remember that the hardships that are chosen are
a lot easier to bear than the ones that are imposed upon us.
How to stop supporting them?
There are a number of ways, but none of them will work unless the vast
majority of people join in. Only half isn't good enough. And to get the
majority activated will require education about the real problem as I just
mentioned. But, once people really recognize pathology in power, once they
become free of the chains that bind their minds and hearts, then the
artificially created barriers between this group and that group, will
disappear and we will rediscover our common humanity and desire for a better
world for our children.
So, if people could focus on the problem:
psychopaths (and other pathologicals in power), here's what
really might work.
A massive global strike of all normal human beings against Pathocrats would
do the trick. If everyone simply refused to work for anybody who exhibited
pathological traits - whether a government, a company or an individual -
that would start a chain reaction that would strip the power away from the
pathological minority that try to make us think that they - and their ideas
- are normal and in the majority.
Ever hear of the "Moral Majority"? Well, that
was a complete scam; those people were neither moral nor were they a
majority. They just were organized and very loud.
-
Imagine if all the normal people who work for the government (the majority,
remember) simply walked out of their offices and refused to be the
bureaucratic drones for a corrupt government elite? All the secretaries, administrators,
bookkeepers, clerks, and so on?
-
Imagine if all the normal humans working for
the power companies decided to just turn off the power that runs the homes
and offices and businesses of the pathological elite?
-
Imagine if normal
journalists with principles and a realization of what we are really facing
would join with citizens on the street to take over the major networks so
that the control of news was restored to the people?
-
Imagine if all teachers who understand that
government should not be interfering in education just sent their pupils
home with letters explaining that parents should keep their children at home
until the government is forced to hand over the needed funds for schools and
agrees to keep their nose out of telling teachers how to do their job?
(Assuming that the teachers are qualified, of course).
-
Imagine what would happen if everyone stopped
paying their credit card bills, their mortgages, took all their money out of
the big banks and put it in credit unions or created new credit unions?
And
so on.
I'm sure you can imagine many more similar scenarios!
See, there are all kinds of ways to simply pull the plug on pathocrats that
are pretty much non-violent and enormously effective! We don't have to wait
until there is some sort of "trigger" to violence or revolution.
We don't have to wait for the "last straw" which
we know, of course, is coming. Why wait until people are so angry that they
act in ways that are not well-considered, ways that bring down horrible
Weapons of Mass Destruction on their own heads? Because don't think for a
moment that the real danger out there is from crazy Islamists that "hate our
freedoms." Oh, no!
The people who really "hate our freedoms" are
pathological and they are in power all over the globe with rare exceptions.
No, indeed, if there is going to be any use of WMDs, it will be done to us
by our own governments.
In the meantime, how about reading and then printing out copies of
the 400+
page Conyers Report and mail it to your Congresspersons with a letter
demanding that they back the recommendations.
Can you imagine if 200 million U.S. citizens
printed that door-stopper and mailed it to Washington???
That actually makes me smile...