Sunday, July 26, 2009

YEAH, DISAPPEARED.

Incoming U.S. presidents take an oath:

to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

George Bush's response to threat (9/11 or whatever) was:

Screw the Constitution, I'm gonna defend the PEOPLE of the United States.

This is an applause line in most of America.

AugustoPinochet-1-4

While his rhetoric is way smoother, President Obama's policies regarding the constitution are almost identical to those of George Bush: detention without trial, torture (only when necessary, and then after rendition), warrantless wiretapping and postal intercepts, government secrecy.

CHP_constitution1

The word "disappear" commonly has been an intransitive verb. You could say, "He disappeared," but you couldn't say, "I disappeared him."

Fascist South American juntas changed that. They arrested some, murdered some, and they "disappeared" others.

Q: What happened to Jose?

A: The government disappeared him.

Bush asserted and Obama agrees, the U.S. President has the right, duty in fact, to disappear anyone, anywhere, anytime, for national security.

ElSalvador_MotherOfDisappeared

It's come to this. The notion of actually protecting the Constitution has been rendered, de facto, quaint.

You know, a truly slick, truly in-command guy would have said, "Hold on, Justice Roberts. Start again and get it right."

Wouldn't that have been great!

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