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CounterPunch
October
1, 2002
Born Without
a Spine
by
RON JACOBS
One of my favorite running episodes on the early
Saturday Night Live television show was that of the Lupners,
where Jane Curtin played Mrs. Lupner, Gilda Radner was her
daughter, and Bill Murray played Todd the boyfriend. Of these
episodes, my favorite line of all was Mrs. Lupner explaining
what happened to her husband, whom I assumed was dead. "Poor
Mr. Lupner," she once said. "He was born without a
spine."
This seems to be the case with the US
Congress, as well. In a shameful retreat from their constitutional
and moral responsibilities, the majority of the House and Senate
seem ready to give The Great Leader Bush carte blanche in Iraq
and wherever else he wishes to send US soldiers to kill and
die. (That is, if they haven't already done so by the time you
read this.) Not that I'm convinced too many of these men and
women have any morals when it comes to matters of war and money
anyhow, but still they could at least ask the right questions
concerning the morality of the slaughter about to commence.
But then again, did they do that back
in 1964 when LBJ wanted to go to war? Have they opposed the
incredibly muderous sanctions against the Iraqi people? Did
they ask any questions last year when Dubya wanted to attack
anybody anywhere that he could blame the murders of 911 on?
I guess that Congress is never really much of an opposition
when it comes to killing in the name of the Empire.
But wait, wasn't there a big to-do between
Tom Daschle and GW? Weren't some members of Congress concerned
about the language in The Great Leader's draft legislation that
gave him all powers needed to "restore international peace
and security in the region", and didn't they get rid of
that? In a word, no. The new bill, which was agreed to by Bush,
continues to give The Great Leader (and I quote CNN) "the
power to use U.S. military force to defend U.S. national security
and to enforce U.N. Security Council resolutions. "
The only discernible difference I can
derive from reading the new language is that Bush would have
to tell Congress he was launching an attack and then tell them
every 90 days that he was continuing said attack(s). This is
their stronger language. Sure, a few Democrat senators (and
a dozen or so House members from both parites) want something
more forceful but they have been told that this is as much
as they are going to get so the majority figure they might as
well go along.
Well, excuse me if The Great Leader isn't
exactly quaking in his fancy cowboy boots. He's probably enjoying
a good chuckle over barbecued ribs with Donald Rumsfeld instead.
You gotta' wonder what drives the majority
of our elected representatives. It sure isn't moral principles.
Hell, it's not even partisan politics. These folks might as
well let the White House vote for them.
They are so cowed by the swaggering
at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. that it's hard for me to believe that
there really are three separate branches of government anymore.
After all, the Judicial Branch became an Executive subsidiary
back in December 2000, remember? Just like in Great Britain,
the only way the antiwar forces can be heard is in the streets.
Our legislative outlets are effectively
closed, although at least Parliament had a bit of a rebellion,
even if it was ignored by The Great Leader's lapdog, Tony Blair.
It is essential that everyone who opposes this war and the rush
towards it get up off their ass and into the streets wherever
they live.
This isn't just another US-sponsored
killing spree. It's the future of the planet.
Ron Jacobs
is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground.
He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Yesterday's Features
Rep. Barbara Lee
Alternatives
to War
Kurt Nimmo
Iraq: The
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Zeynep Toufe
"We
Own the World, We Ignore the Children"
Dave Marsh
The Troubador's
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Tariq Ali
Taking
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Neve Gordon
Bush's
War of Self-Adulation
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September
21 / 22, 2002
Alexander
Cockburn
An Entire
Class
of Thieves
Tom Gorman
The Press & Sabra
and Shatila
Amelia Peltz
Anniversary with Life
in Palestine
Susan Martinez
By the Hand
of the Father
Ben Tripp
Advice from
a Polemicist
Adam Engel
From Above:
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Chris Clarke
The Ann Coulter Test
Tariq Ali
Doing as the
Romans Did
Mokhiber / Weissman
The Bush Victory
in Iraq
Ralph Nader
Greed Without Limits
Thomas Croft
The Life of Jim Cummings
Anthony Gancarski
Concerned Citizen:
a serialized Novel,
Episode One
Wolff, Dailey, Metres
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Poet's Basement
September
20, 2002
Joan Hoff
Debating
War:
the Forgotten Tradition
Norman Madarasz
Lessons from a Cyncial Master Jean
Chretien's
New York State of Mind
Mitchel Cohen
Toxic Wastes
and
the New World Order
Peter Lee
Why Bush
Wants This War
Bruce Jackson
20 Questions
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War Against Arabs
Krystal Kyer
Greenwashing the Marketplace
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by Alexander
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and Jeffrey St. Clair
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