Skip to main content

Weaseling Out


When you read my account with Doug Feith and with others, you will see the sort of weaseling out of individual responsibility, the total and abject failure to accept involvement. Read Mr. Feith’s book. on how to fight the so-called war on terror. And it’s as though the man had no involvement in the decisions relating to interrogation of detainees. And yet, as I describe in the book, the man was deeply involved in the decision making from step one. So it’s about individual responsibility. And there’s been an abject failure on that account.(Think Progress)

You could take Phillip Sands' word for it or you can see Feith trying to escape responsibility yourself. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should tell you that I've seen the edited interview that was broadcast, but I can't bring myself to find the full 20 minute interview at The Daily Show site.

These people defy reality. Everyday they look reality in its face, deny its existence, and act as if it's not happening. They believe that if they say often enough that what we think happened, isn't what really happened, that Iraq could have happened to anyone; that they have not left the country less safe, our military weaker; that the country is not worse off than it was 8 years ago; that there are not more terrorist attacks worldwide than before the war on terror began. that becomes the new reality. Is there really anyone left who doesn't feel that everything this administration says is either a lie or bullshit?




(Crooks and Liars)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

'Anti-racism', All Trap, No Honey: A Discourse About Discourse

One of the things that prevents me from writing more often is the sense that I'm just writing the same thing repeatedly from a slightly different angle. In a nutshell, all I'm saying is that moral idealism substituted for material goals will not lead to justice, but is an argument against materialism. I'm a dumb person's low rent Adolph Reed Jr. translator. I'm a "class reductionist" who understands that when the discourse is reduced to just class there's nothing as important as food, water and shelter that's left out. I often find myself contending with people who insist that there is, unable to name anything. They don't understand that they're making an argument against economic redistribution, or they don't care. There are no concrete manifestations of systemic racism or any oppression that are not dealt with through economic redistribution. When people say that economic redistribution won't end racism, what they mean is that ...

Toolkit

Meet the F--kers http://movies.crooksandliars.com/TDS-Meet-the F--kers-9-7.wmv http://canofun.com/blog/videos/tdskatrinagwblewinsky.wmv Iraq war delayed katrina relief effort, inquiry finds http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1003-01.htm http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article316682.ece TIMELINES http://talkingpointsmemo.com/katrina-timeline.php http://www.thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline http://mywebpages.comcast.net/duncanblack/npr2.htm http://mywebpages.comcast.net/duncanblack/npr1.htm pt. 2 -the president's timeline http://canofun.com/blog/videos/tdsbushtimeline.wmv -gov. blanco declares a state of emergency Friday, August 26, 2005 http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=973 -gov. blanco asks the president to decl a re a federal state of emergency Saturday morning, August 27 , 2005 http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976 -the president declares a state of emergency Saturday, August 27, 2005 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releas...

It's Not About Cats or Haitians: Why It's Not Racist to Question Importing Millions of Poor Migrants

The most memorable moment of the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was his assertion that in Springfield, OH "they are eating the dogs, the people that came in, they are eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there." The quote has inspired several surprisingly catchy songs and accusations of racism and xenophobia. The statement is based on assertions by residents of Springfield. It has supposedly been debunked because the city manager said he has no credible evidence of pets being taken, despite residents of the town continuing to suggest it is happening. Either they are lying because they hate Haitians or they are accurately describing their experience of the Haitian influx to their town. Are the descriptions xenophobic only if they are false or because they are shared publicly at all? Accusations of racism or xenophobia are reflexive responses to any possibly negative assertion about black or migrant subjects. It does not mat...