GOP's Gender Gambit

After 8 years of making the office of the Vice President the de facto President with Dick Cheney, a maneuver stealthily undertaken by Cheney and David Addington; the Republicans are now proposing to transform the same office into an apprenticeship program for the highest office of the country. George W. Bush was rendered a puppet President by the previous alteration that became so obvious he had to declare himself the "Decider" (sic). Now, the GOP hopes to make the office of the Vice President a scholarship project with experiments in gender acceptability and suitability.

The selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is undoubtedly a brilliant move. She will add luster to the boring campaign of John McCain and energize the tired and geriatric appearance of the GOP Presidential candidate. No sooner than her selection was announced, the Republican propaganda machinery headed by Fox network, expressed public opinion influencing statements extolling her qualifications and background. The media machinery of the GOP has been busy promoting her and creating news stories that step over the main candidate. Conservative bloggers who had previously rejected McCain but consistently bashed Obama are all praises for theVP nominee, and state that they will now vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin; who is a stunner and a former beauty queen.

They have now changed their minds because of a woman, after trashing Hillary because she was a woman. If Hillary had been a beauty queen, could they have accepted her? There is also the angle that Palin is not a lawyer which is ideal as far as they're concerned. Perhaps Hillary should have had 5 children too and perhaps played hockey? The conservatives have thrown their conservatism out the window because she is a Republican. And one with a lot of spunk, charisma, and a successful track record in governance and administration for at least 2 years. The Republicans have chosen someone better looking than Geena Davis to take over the Presidency as Commander-in-Chief. Strategically, her selection is a brilliant move. It is however, a gambit that is not foolproof.

The Republicans hope that Palin's youth would provide sustainable cover for the alzheimeric age of John McCain, rally the young voters to their ticket by her vibrant personality and younger than Obama's years factor, win over Hillary's supporters disgruntled by her failure to capture the DNC nomination, attract those voters who want a woman in the highest echelons of government, and provide a beautiful face for America in the global stage. Experience is her biggest drawback since 2 years as governor may not be sufficient exposure when transposed to the concerns of America today and in the next 4 years. So too would be her total absence of foreign relations and foreign policy expertise. Her role as facilitator for the President with Congress, Washington lobbyists, and power brokers could be detrimental to her longevity if she pursues her former tack. Her acquiesance, on the other hand, could transform her into a Washington type politician in a very short time.

The empowerment of women and their involvement in the highest positions of the country must be supported and advanced, provided this is not a ploy against all women aspiring for higher position. If elected and she is led to fail in this post, it would take a whole generation before another woman could be trusted with such a post or higher. America is late in this development and it has taken a long struggle to get to this point. If she is merely a smokescreen to get McCain elected to continue the policies of the Bush Administration, then this could be damaging to the idea of having a woman President in the next 2 decades.

What American voters should bear in mind is the fact that if the Republicans win, it will be McCain who will be President, not Palin. And if the expectations of the GOP about what they hope to achieve with Palin as McCain's running mate are true, then they consider Republican supporters and American voters at large as an entity with a ridiculous incapacity for logical thinking, blinded by party loyalty that discriminates against the interest of the country as a whole. Party bigwigs and strategists most probably see American voters as manipulable, gullible, and possessed with brains that are valued in the organ donor market for their slightly used or mint condition.

On the other hand, all the enthusiasm and jubilation at the appointment of the sensational Sarah Palin may be appropriate and timely. McCain, who pales in comparison to Palin, could really use the sizzle she could bring to the campaign. The GOP could truly want both their nominees to win and would want Palin to be prepared immediately for the highest post, because, shortly after the election, they expect McCain to die.

Haaarrrrwwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Concerted and Captivating Conquest by China

China opened its curtains to the world and cast a massive presence of its capacity and capability as an ascendant world power. In spectacular fashion and stunning presentation of fireworks and pageantry at the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games, China effectively used a resource it had in greatest abundance - people. Some 12,000 performers took part in the extravaganza to an estimated 91,000 people in the Bird's Nest arena, telecast to at least a billion viewers worldwide. An additional 15,000 musicians and acrobats encapsulated 5,000 years of Chinese history into 55 minutes of artistically choreographed and exquisitely illuminated sequences.

The opening ceremonies undoubtedly mesmerized the 91,000 spectators at the Birds Nest, with elaborate costumes and a giant screen at the center of the field; plus 29 sets of pyrotechnics representing the editions of the games. Those who watched at the arena were generous and unanimous in their praise. What was evident was the determination of each participant to provide their best efforts without mistakes, yet their pride and enthusiasm for their involvement and contribution resonated ceaselessly throughout; and their joy, marked the genuine smiles on their faces as their respective sequences came to a close. It was China's grandest coming out party and they were awesomely successful.

The event was very capably handled by Chinese Film Director Zhang Yimou, who took over after American Director and Oscar Winner Steven Spielberg backed out for political reasons. Having over a billion people in their country, it was not difficult to find a worthy, if not better, replacement for Spielberg; apart from knowing, sharing, and caring for, the aspirations of the Chinese people.Ten months of rehearsals plus a US $ 40 billion budget for the hosting of the games paid off handsomely for the Chinese.

US President George Bush may have attempted to downplay China's imminent success by citing the country's human rights record in a recent speech, but he attended the games nonetheless together with 90 other Heads of State who ignored calls for a boycott. Earlier on CNN, Larry King was interviewing Christian music recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman about the tragic death of their adopted daughter who was born in China. It may be dismissed as pure coincidence but the timing is certainly in bad taste. The awaited event that would earn China enormous praise was akin to being discredited by the fact that Chinese children were being adopted by the US. Much of the interview covered the process, procedures and costs of adopting children. However, these efforts failed to diminish in any way, the global response to what China had to offer. In some respects, it was the proverbial sun rising in the east, after it has gone down in the west.

Western leaders have a lot to learn about the meaning and practice of respect in Asia. Admonitions about human rights, military conflicts, among others, from countries whose own hands have been dirty for much longer periods and in several continents, are futile attempts to project themselves as better. It is a delusion of unworthy leaders who believe they can convince others of their higher moral authority by putting others down. Coming from one whose tenure has brought more damage to the face, image and economy of his country than any one of its past Presidents; and whose national conscience carries no remorse nor apology for what they had done to their native inhabitants, the admonitions are spits aimed at the heavens that will only splatter on their faces.

Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed it succinctly when he remarked, " it's inevitable that people from different countries may not see eye to eye, so we should try to expand our common ground on the basis of mutual respect". Politics has no place in sports, and it must be reiterated that it was the Western nations that initiated and perpetuated such practices; not the east, not the Asians, and certainly not China. China's hosting of the games has brought honor and glory for its country, and its courteous and diplomatic management of the proceedings will bring the same upliftment and pride to most, if not all, of Asia. This is the inevitable outcome of this event, and it will strengthen China's influence in the region, and the rest of the world.

Haarrrrwwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Addington's Assault on America

Americans have yet to comprehend the devastating impact of its legal strategies in the War on Terror that has defaced the country's image in the global community, and has tarnished the nation's soul. The "New Paradigm" made a mockery of the Constitution and disregarded ideals consistent with American values which the country once so proudly proclaimed, and nearly succeeded in overturning 200 years of jurisprudence that defined the limits of the President's powers - by making war a substance of dictatorial prerogative. The chief architect of this abomination is David Addington.

The New Paradigm was structured from an interpretation of the Constitution that would compel America's founding fathers to commit harakiri. It provides that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to violate the Civil Liberties of its citizens, trash International Laws, and contravene the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War if national security so requires. All known legal boundaries are eliminated, and illegal surveillance, torture, secret and prolonged detention shall be used to allow the Pentagon to contain terrorists, preempt and prevent future attacks. It devised a system of detention and interrogation called "rendition" that placed suspects outside of the US and beyond the reach of Criminal and Military courts, whose stringent standards on evidence and protecting defendants rights were seen as too complex. Instead, Military Commissions were created and the suspects were not designated as prisoners of war but as illegal enemy combatants - a legal euphemism to go around the established standards of the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners.

David Addington is Vice-President Dick Cheney's General Counsel, and their partnership dates back to the late 80's and early 90's. Both share the belief that the Presidency was weakened by the reform movements after Vietnam and Watergate, and that the Office of the President was meant to be very powerful. When Cheney became Vice-President, Addington masterminded the transition of setting up the most powerful Vice-Presidency in American History. He merged the office of the President with Cheney's into a single Executive Office under the rationale' that the Vice-President is the executive and implementer of the President. Cheney thus became the de facto President of the less than intellectual lightweight George W. Bush, whose eloquence and use of the english language is slightly below the level of porky pig.

Addington is a summa cum laude Foreign Service graduate of Georgetown University who also earned honors at Duke Law School. After 9/11 he was the only lawyer in the Bush Administration's inner circle who was ready and prepared to provide legal certainty at a time of momemtous political and legal confusion. This gave him enormous power and influence in crafting the paradigm that sunk America's respectability and credibility as a just and humane society.

Despite his legal brilliance and mastery of National Security laws, Addington's creations manifest ignorance of military law or the laws of war. Military Commissions can try only violations of the Laws of War, and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts is not a crime under these laws as established by the Nuremberg trials after World War ll. Otherwise, all soldiers can be charged with conspiring to fight for their chosen side. In addition, his model has failed to produce results. Of the 700 detainees at Guantanamo, only 8% are alleged to have associated with Al Qaida, 55% never engaged in any hostile act against the US, and the rest were charged with spurious crimes like fleeing from US bombs. All but 5% were captured by non-US players, many of whom were bounty hunters.

Addington is a reclusive operator unknown to most US voters. But his arrogance, expressed in legal machinations that defy congressional oversight, public accountability, and a predilection for what is legally plausible rather than what is morally upright - even if it is a convoluted method of proving his philosophy of Presidential power. He has become so obsessed with this philosophy to the point of madness, that he would destroy all notions of America's fairness and proceed to construct rules with a vested interest in conviction. He frequently cites Lincoln's suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus during the civil war, which Lincoln never claimed an inherent right; as justification for placing National Security above the rule of law. In this, he has turned a historical aberration into a dogma of Presidential prerogative.

David Addington has assaulted America's honor among the community of nations which has damaged the country's reputation beyond what any other US President has done. But it is the face of George W. Bush that will be dragged to the slime and the mud for this atrocity; and it will be the American people who will carry the burden of this shame. The only real restitution that can be obtained for this crime is to make him a stateless person with sanctions on any country that would grant him asylum. Then we will witness what justice will be unleashed by the forces the New Paradigm sought to demolish, to this dog of war.

Haarrrrwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Sources: Jane Mayer, The Hidden Power
The Legal Mind Behind the White House War on Terror
The New Yorker

Jeffrey Steinberg, Cheney's Lawyer Addington Penned Key Torture Memo
Executive Intelligence Review

Bob Herbert, Madness and Shame
New York Times

Unperturbed, Unsurprising, Unpopularity

George W. Bush can be credited with the highest rating among US Presidents - in disapproval. In the latest CNN Opinion Research poll, 71% of Americans disapprove of how he is performing his job as President, making him the most unpopular President in modern American history; more unpopular than the unlamented Richard Nixon who escalated and lost the Vietnam War and was on the verge of being removed as President before he voluntarily resigned.

Pessimism about the war in Iraq has grown, and support for this adventure has fallen to 39%; while those opposed to the war has risen to 68%. When the success of the "surge" was announced in January, almost 50% of Americans believed that the situation was going well for America, now it is merely regarded as an added statistic in the Bush Administration's penchant for false hopes, if not outright lies.

Five years after proclaiming that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended", amidst a large banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, American soldiers continue to lose their lives in the war with the cost running up to more than half a trillion dollars. Some argue that the mission supposed to have been accomplished was the "shock and awe" method of invading Iraq. Certainly American weaponry and technology can provide accurate and mesmerizing destructive force as well as killing and maiming capability that would shock civilization to revulsion, but it is only a piece of the larger objective - to destroy weapons of mass destruction.

The weapons of mass destruction in Iraq do not exist, as suggested by UN inspectors and declared by Saddam Hussein. The main objective therefore is pointless, and all other sub-missions that make up this miserable misadventure are senseless. And all the lies that were woven out of this misery are breaking out at the seams. There are so many that it ceases to "shock and awe" even the Republicans. If Nixon was forced into a retreat, at least he had the sense to do so. If he was pressured to resign, he recognized the need to preserve the institutions and the systems of government. But Bush, with all his lies, bumbling statements and dopey facial expression is beyond embarrassing. It is painfully humiliating. His unpopularity does not elicit surprise, it evokes a desire to erase this memory from any form of collective or individual recollection.

American superiority in war and weaponry is built along conventional warfare, but they are no match for guerilla or urban warfare. They avoid casualties while the enemy is willing to die.That difference will make the war endless, and that's exactly what John McCain proposes, up to 100 years. For a man with questionable citizenship, he is willing to commit America and its resources for a war with no objective - save perhaps the profit motives of Halliburton and allied partners who are friends of George Bush.

Haaarrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!

McCain Masters Mike

John McCain boosted his stock as the front runner in the GOP primaries after a critical win in South Carolina over closest rival Mike Huckabee. Winning by a slim 3 percentage points at 33% to Huckabee's 30%, McCain garnered 19 delegates as against Mike's 5. The win holds a special significance for McCain since it is in South Carolina where his previous attempt at becoming a US President fell through when he was beaten by George W. Bush 8 years ago. Also, the state's history in terms of primaries and elections is that it successfully picks the eventual party nominee since 1980. A sort of superstition that McCain probably enjoys.

The slim victory is not a very safe one, primarily because McCain was unable to set a foothold on the party's conservative bloc. Huckabee made strong emphasis of his conservative Christian credentials which netted him 40% of the votes of Born Again and Christian evangelicals who comprise about 60% of the voters. Of the non-evangelicals, Huckabee obtained only 12% as against McCain's 40%. McCain won in the areas where a lot of veterans reside and among blacks living in the coastal areas. Fred Thompson took a slice (16%) of the conservative votes that would have otherwise gone to Huckabee, but the end of the road for Thompson has come even with his 3rd place finish. Campaign funds are his biggest dilemma, and his weak showing,even in South Carolina, marks the end of his trail.

What is critical for John McCain is the persistent doubt about his immigration and Iraq War positions that alienate him from the party's conservative base. McCain is a sentimental favorite and his win is perhaps partly an expression of atonement for his loss here in 2000, where the lamented George W. Bush victory broke the back of his campaign, and subsequently became President. In part too, his victory can be viewed as personal charisma or likeability, because of his grandfatherish style and soothing manner. Another contributor to his victory is the strategy employed in positioning his friend Fred Thompson, to remove votes from Huckabee. The ploy obviously worked, and Fred can now take a bow and wait for his anointment as the Vice-Presidential running mate.

The GOP race remains wide open despite John McCain's breathing space. The economy was the number 1 issue followed by immigration in South Carolina. The Iraq war was in third. If these are the priorities of conservative America, McCain stands to have difficulty as the race progresses. In a contest that may be decided by the number of delegates up to convention time, the South Carolina primary produced only 19 delegates for the winner. Mitt Romney did well by avoiding South Carolina and picked up 18 delegates in Nevada. As it stands nationwide, Romney has 66 delegates pledged versus McCain's 38. Mitt's funding is solid and stable, McCain's fund sources may be trickling in. Viewed from this perspective, its easy to see why Mitt is confident of ultimate victory. It could be a long and expensive drawn out battle and he knows he has the resources to weather the costs. As to whether he can convince the majority of states with his funds on February 5, well that's another matter. Romney's problem is believability. He changes positions like he changes his underwear!

Haaarrrwwwk...Twoooooph...Ting!