Justin Sloan, Flickr Creative Commons
I’m getting excited to go see Bill Clinton at the CT Forum this Friday. It’s rather coincidental that there is an impeachment bill sitting in Congress as I type:
Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., has introduced a resolution declaring that should the president use offensive military force without authorization of an act of Congress, “it is the sense of Congress” that such an act would be “an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.”
I’m not even going to bother arguing the merits of this “impeachment” or how ridiculous it is when opponents of any president try and use impeachment to un-do the will of the people. (As far as I’m concerned only the people should be allowed to impeach the president they elected — you know, like those recall elections the states have.) What really bugs me about this is how useless and wasteful it is.
There is a presidential election coming in November. If the people disapprove of Obama enough, they’ll have their chance to get rid of him then. It is offensive to me that our government is wasting time and money on something this silly. Not only will this bill likely die a miserable death, but even if it succeeded, what would it do? Eject the president a couple of months before the election? Give us President Joe Biden?
Seriously, Congress, this is what you’re spending your time on? As though no president has every used military action without declaring war before (and in much broader, longer conflicts)?
Besides, it’s pretty clear that Congress doesn’t really know when a war is legitimate or not anyway (ahem, Iraq)… so I’m not sure I trust them to be making the decisions either.
So here is my plea, please stop wasting our time and money, Congress, and start making some attempt to actually govern.
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From afar, it looks like the Republicans have done a surprisingly good job of hampering Obama throughout his term, while also blaming him for being so hampered. It’s a classic case of dragging a man down and then kicking him while he’s down there. All things considered, I think your president has performed rather well; and if the pressure he’s under isn’t the most severe I’ve seen any president face during my lifetime, it’s right up there.
These days I prefer the alternative view, which is why I’m hooked on the foreign news channel Russia Today. I even have an RT t-shirt, bought for me by a Moscovite ex-girlfriend.
I used to watch it a couple of years ago. It was interesting as it gave fascinating insights into Russian culture. For whatever reasons I stopped tuning in, but found it again a couple of months ago. Now it’s a full-on 24 hour propaganda machine. According to them, America has the most corrupt government in the world. Some people may go along with that view. I dunno though, I think the old saying about glass houses comes into play here. I don’t trust anything any media source says, but on Russia Today they are absolutely shameless. There’s a guy called Max Keiser, who prattles on in such a manner that it seems questionable whether or not he believes the things he is saying. He raises some valid points: he hates Goldman Sachs (who wouldn’t?), but his ultra-out-there attacks means he projects the image of a nut. Then there’s a woman who to my mind is exactly what the Devil’s daughter would act and talk like. Her name is Alyona Minkovitz, and while she sounds very American, she also manages to at the same time sound like a Russian pretending to be an American.
It’s all very peculiar.
RT actually sounds like fun to watch, and I think I’m starting to understand where Fox News sends their mental patients/anchors for training.
As the most ridiculous politician in the world, London Mayor Boris Johnson would say: “You have the position exactly.”
It’s just like watching Fox. Fox for Communists. It’s great.
Oooh. I’ve just invented something: I’m going to broadcast a channel which is a split screen, showing Fox on one side and RT on the other. The idea will be that, by process of elimination, something resembling the truth might occasionally be found somewhere inbetween.