Who Thinks Bush is a lot like Hitler?
The organization World Can't Wait has run an advertisement urging a rally on October 5 to "mass resistance" to begin to "Drive out the Bush regime." After listing various Bush sins, the advertisement declares "People look at all this and think of Hitler – and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come."
The advertisement lists the following endorsers:
James Abourezk, Aris Anagnos, Anti-Flag, Edward Asner, Russell Banks, Ed Begley Jr., Harry Belafonte, St. Clair Bourne, Gabriel Byrne, Margaret Cho, Ward Churchill, Kate Clinton, US Rep. John Conyers Jr., John Densmore, Jesse Díaz Jr., Ariel Dorfman, Tom Duane, Michael Eric Dyson, Steve Earle, Niles Eldredge, Daniel Ellsberg, Eve Ensler, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jane Fonda, Michael Franti, reg e. gaines, Martin Garbus, Wavy Gravy, André Gregory, Paul Haggis, Sam Hamill, Suheir Hammad, Kathleen Hanna, Stephen Hays, Merle Hoffman, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Bill T. Jones, Rickie Lee Jones, Sarah Jones, Brig. Gen. (ret) Janis Karpinski, Casey Kasem, Ron Kovic, Jonathan Kozol, Jessica Lange, Lewis Lapham, Mark Leno, Rabbi Michael Lerner, George Lois, US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Mark Crispin Miller, Tom Morello, US Rep. Major Owens, Ozomatli, Grace Paley, Harvey Pekar, Sean Penn, Jeremy Pikser, Harold Pinter, Frances Fox Piven, Sister Helen Prejean, Michael Ratner, Boots Riley, Mark Ruffalo, US Rep. Bobby Rush, Susan Sarandon, James Schamus, Richard Serra, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Gary Soto, Nancy Spero, Gloria Steinem, Lynne Stewart, Serj Tankian, Jonathan Tasini, Sunsara Taylor, Studs Terkel, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Naomi Wallace, Lt. Ehren Watada, US Rep. Maxine Waters, Cornel West, Saul Williams, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Ann Wright, Howard Zinn.All I can say is that I'm disappointed with Wavy Gravy, but not surprised about most of the rest.
Can't figure out why Rep. Maxine Waters would want to hug Adolf Hitler but yet every State of the Union she has a aisle seat and does just that, it must be the uniform.
[DK: I don't agree with all your criticisms for Bush; for instance, I think his father is a much stronger contender to get into the finals of the "worst President ever" contest. But your broader point is well put.]
Not that I'm surprised by this, but it's not exactly like you are out there condemning the rhetoric on the other side. Fair and balanced, just like FoxNews. Congrats for being the mouthpiece of the right. Don't see you condemning the ads referring to people as baby killers for supporting stem cell research or calling to task those who assert that politicians who support labor organizations are on the graft. I understand your point, but you'd have much more credibility if you were espousing your condemnation on both sides of the spectrum.
I thought officers stayed out of politics. Did the lieutenant just violate the UCMJ with that signature?
For me, the most surprising absences are U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and her former boss, Oakland mayor-elect Ron Dellums.
Perhaps the process of getting Mumia's signature in prison took so long they didn't have time to get all the usual suspects.
Nick
Where's Danny Glover? Maybe he's too busy at Castro's bedside to sign anything.
The one who ran Abu Ghraib during the scandal???
What in the hell is she doing on there? I'm assuming it is some sort of "Bush made me do it, I'm really not an abusive jailer!" kind of thing.
Well, seeing as Lt. Watada is a deserter, what's one more UCMJ violation?
Not old enough to have lived through the Carter administration, are you?
Yes, the dreadful crap they've created, sung, and/or appeared in speaks for itself.
I'm old enough to remember the Kennedy/Nixon debate. While you may have objections to the policies Mr. Carter pursued, I think you'll be hard put to come up with plausible accusations of Mr. Carter violating the law, as can be done with Mr. Bush.
Unilateral abrogation of a defensive treaty with Taiwan, without senatorial consultation or approval.
Next?
It always appalls me that people are not satisfied with just labeling someone as a bad President...they have to claim that they're the worst in history. This strikes me as mostly demonstrating a lack of knowledge of US History. I'm not an expert or even a maven, but even I know that we've had Presidents who supported the spread of slavery into other countries (Pierce, my nominee for worst ever), supported the spread of slavery into the West (Pierce again), declared support for the Confederacy after leaving office (Pierce yet again), resegregated the Federal govt. (Wilson), led us into real wars of imperial expansion (McKinley), and pushed through real sedition laws (Adams and Wilson).
And none of those was in the same league as Hitler, AFAIC.
Next?
Wow, you really nailed that one.
The ad is great. You can mail in the coupon at the bottom with your donation of $200-$5000. Among the evils they will stop are:
War!
Theocracy!
Katrina!
So to sum up: Give Ed Asner 5 grand, and he will be able to control the weather (without the crutch of divine intervention.)
I also noticed that their plan is to create the political conditions that will force Bush out of office early. It would be gauche to suggest any of these fine people would end up in prison after this little stunt (besides the guy who's already on death row and the one due for court martial), but remind me again what hurdles we're going to make them jump before their dreams are realized and they get to be locked up for their brave dissent?
IIRC, your retired rank is usually one rank higher than the rank you held when you retired. So John Smith, Major (ret'd) means that John Smith retired as a Captain. I don't know all the details of this rule, but it seems like Karpinsky would be able to call herself Brig. Gen. (ret) not because she once held that rank, but because she retired as a Col.
That is a rather silly assertion in an attempt to gain moral authority. Besides, I didn't read too many people really disgusted by the comparison, rather they think it is dumb and that the comparison says more about the signatories than Bush. Really, I read more humor than disgust.
I've heard of 'brevet colonels' and such in the post-Civil War period, where someone would wear the rank of colonel but still be paid as a major or lieutenant colonel. I think I've also read of posthumous promotions for those who died heroically. But I don't think the U.S. military currently promotes people on retirement. It's only a single data point, but my father retired from the Navy in 1974 as a commander and I have never in 32 years heard any hint that he might be able to claim the title of captain in any context. Unlike Karpinski, he wasn't disgraced or reduced in rank before he retired, so I would think it even less likely in her case. It looks as if she 'refuses to accept' her demotion and claims a rank she is no longer entitled to.
dk35:
The implication that there is something false or pretentious-plus-false (if that's what 'faux' is supposed to mean here) about our disgust for Bush-Nazi comparisons is itself disgusting.
Linguistic pedants:
Shouldn't Wavy Gravy's name go later in the list, alphabetized under W instead of G? The New York Times once famously referred to 'Ice T' as 'Mr. T', but surely no one would call Wavy Gravy 'Mr. Gravy'.
The chain of command must have gotten mixed up. Bush and Rumsfeld are responsible for torture but not the general in charge of the prison. She, putting in her claim for the Chutzpah Gold Medal,gets to sign petitions.
To the non-dismay of her fellow humanists. And after almost six years when exactly does this nazi state kick in? Bush has a little more then two years to go, he better start hustling. Maybe he's saving the best for last!
Article 88, UCMJ
“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
The list is otherwise not newsworthy, except in the sense that it shows what the right has been left with in terms of political rhetoric when their own positions have beccome so indefensible.
Good thing to know that "political correctness" and the "You Can't Say That" crowd isn't limited to liberals, though.
Huh? They can say whatever they want, and we can criticize them for it. Duh.
George Bush didn't declare a state of emergency, abrogate the Constitution, and make himself President for Life! We win! Yay!
However, it's not unusual for an officer who is being retired to be promoted one rank on the day of his retirement, to goose his pension.
Just a little game officers play among themselves at our expense.
The Secretary of Transportation?
What about the Secretary of Health and Human Services?
Ultimately, Congress has to sign off on all the officer promotions at a certain rank. In addition, a service member has to serve a given number of years at the rank--3?--to be eligible to receive retired pay at that rank.
Someone who is in the midst of a scandal might be allowed to go somewhere and quietly finish out their three years (if there are just a few months left), but you're not going to see anyone being promoted on their retirement date so they can retire with a higher pension.
If all the teaching of "never again" which I, as a Jew who lost family due to the Nazi regime, is to be believed, I see no reason why the comparisons shouldn't be pointed out. What is sad in my opinion is that the Bush cult seems so out of touch with reality that you would rather defend this President rather than engage the issues.
Sister Helen (not Jean) Prejean is a real person, played by Susan Sarandon in a movie. It's a bit disorienting to see both in the same list, but there's no duplication.
jgshapiro:
Yes, it looks like disgruntled servicemen and -women can criticize politicians all they want, as long as they make sure to stick to lieutenant governors, mayors, members of the president's cabinet not specifically listed, individual congressmen but not all of them together, and so on.
Everyone:
No definite answer yet, but it certainly looks as if Col. Karpinski is claiming a rank to which she is not entitled. Perhaps I should ask the question on a milblogger site to get a definite answer.
dk35:
It's hard not to look smug and arrogant when arguing with someone who offers as "facts" statements that are either false, highly arguable, so vague as to be irrefutable (that's not a compliment), or utterly irrelevant to the asinine Bush-Hitler comparison. To take one small example: if Hitler had confined himself to 'illegally spying' on German citizens, he wouldn't even have made the Top 50 of 20th-century tyrants, would he? And what is this group of "second-class citizens" to which you refer? I suspect you're not talking about Hawaiians with no native Hawaiian blood, who will indeed be second-class citizens if the Akaka bill passes. Are you talking about gays who want to marry? If so, how is Bush "creating" their second-class citizenship? It's not as if gays were ever able to marry (each other, I mean) before Bush was inaugurated.
Dude, supremacy clause. Like... duh. Its generally accepted that the president has the power to terminate treaties. This is why the case against Carter at the supreme court was not reviewed. Although the constitution is vague on who has the legal right to terminate treaties, precident stands that the proposal and termination of treaties is a presidential power under the supremacy clause.
Next?
Anti-Flag is a punk band from Pittsburgh known for their strong anti-nationalism stance and their belief that, among other things, patriotism is just a tool wielded by politicians to gain public support for otherwise unpopular causes...hence, their views on Bush and the war in Iraq. Their last two albums have been directed at criticizing the Bush administration in general and its handling of the "war on terror" in particular. And an interesting side note: in 2004, Rep. Jim McDermott gave a speech praising Anti-Flag for its efforts in encouraging young people to vote.
Yes, I knew that. (Sorry about the Helen/Jean confusion.) I was trying to be facetious. Similarly if the letter were signed by both Julia Roberts and Erin Brockovich. (Which I suppose is not out of the question.)
This is my understanding as well. FWIW, once you get high enough (usually around the O-6 level), almost everyone gets a DP, and the promotion decision actually comes down to whether you have enough friends at the Pentagon.
I have never heard of an officer being promoted the day before retirement.
Presidents do not need the Senate's consent to withdraw from treaties.
Poster Child:
It does happen. For example, the Marine colonel filling the slot as head of criminal law matters for the Navy/Marine Corps (I can't remmeber if the title is Deputy JAG or what, but he is called the "O-2") traditionally gets promoted to Brigadier General on the day of his retirement. I don't think this affects retirement pay much, if at all. Its main significance is that it lets the guy be called "General" for the rest of his life.