Power Corrupts But Absolute Power is Much More Fun: King Obama

Although it might be a little unfair to single out Bush lite as the villain of the piece, the Constitution and the mythical rights of man, have after all, been under assault for decades.

This story is I suppose of primary interest to Americans, but once I read the opening paragraph, it was destined to appear on these pages, if for no other reason than to drag out the ever topical, Eddie Izzard.










You can't have just one Eddie Izzard.

King George III Won: Happy Fourth of July!
by David Swanson
4 July 2011

The Declaration of Independence is best remembered as a declaration of war, a war declared on the grounds that we wanted our own flag. The sheer stupidity and anachronism of the idea serves to discourage any thoughts about why Canada didn't need a bloody war, whether the U.S. war benefitted people outside the new aristocracy to whom power was transferred, what bothered Frederick Douglas so much about a day celebrating "independence," or what the Declaration of Independence actually said.

When you read the Declaration of Independence, it turns out to be an indictment of King George III for various abuses of power. And those abuses of power look fairly similar to abuses of power we happily permit U.S. presidents to engage in today, either as regards the people of this nation or the people of territories and nations that our military occupies today in a manner uncomfortably resembling Britain's rule over the 13 colonies.

Or perhaps I should say, a large portion of us take turns being happy or outraged depending on the political party with which the current president is identified.

"We have been sliding for 70 years to a situation where Congress has nothing to do with the decision about whether to go to war or not, and the president is becoming an absolute monarch." Thus spoke Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) on the floor of the House recently, some years after having refused to back the impeachment of President George W. Bush, thus facilitating the slide toward the current situation.

Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago, recently commented that President Nixon had finally won. Although Ellsberg was acquitted of criminal charges, the facts made public, and Nixon compelled to resign, all of the abuses of power Nixon faced possible impeachment and prosecution for have now been legalized (or made acceptable practice): warrantless spying, searches and seizures, baseless secrecy, assassination attempts, etc. By the same logic, King George III is as big a winner as Richard M. Nixon. A quick survey of the charges brought against King George III on July 4, 1776, is illuminating: more

While we are with Bill Maher, try this below, and then watch the moral indignation from Friends on Fox in reply. Seemingly, the three bobble heads majored in the same history course as Michele Bachmann, or is it just selective amnesia when it comes down to the nasty Nazi's major role in covering up the rampant paedophilia practised by the godly men of the Buggery Club.