Reflections From a Murky Pond

Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise made both The Pirate Code and the fact that it’s more of a guideline famous in America. It seems that President Obama liked the movies so much that he’s applying the same standard to his on rules.

In 2008 Obama’s “Lobbyist Code” was set forth:

If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied, during the previous two years.

— Sen. Barack Obama
During the 2008 Presidential Campaign

But Associated Press (AP)  is reporting that the Obama Administration will have to bend its own lobbying rules if William J. Lynn III is to become the next Deputy Defense Secretary. Mr. Lynn was a registered lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon until July, 2008; that puts him well within the exclusionary limit previously committed to by the Obama Administration.

But apparently Lynn’s disqualification for the 2nd highest position in the US Defense Department do to being a lobbyist for a defense contractor isn’t that much of a problem.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that even the toughest rules require “reasonable exceptions” and that the waiver provisions were added to allow “uniquely qualified individuals” like Lynn serve.

Even Sen. Carl Levin, Obama’s fellow Democrat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said that relying on such wavers to fill key positions would fail to reinforce the supposed intent of Obama’s lobbying rules.

You see, Obama’s Lobbyist Code…It’s more of a guideline…Arrrrr!

To all my Conservative and Republican readers,

We are now the Opposition. As our opponents shouted so stridently over the last eight years, dissent is patriotic. So I give you this message:

Do Not Go Quietly Into that Dark Night

Resist! Dissent! Be the Opposition in every proper and true way. Use your voice, your wealth, and your vote to struggle against the political, financial, and cultural ruination of America. But do not loose sight of your goals. Do not fall into the trap of sedition and cultural treason. Do not dissent for the sake of dissent and partisan political ambition; only rage against that which is truly wrong. Do not do as the They have done.

😉 Think of the image above every night before sleeping and ask yourself what you’ve done that day. If you can sleep with the thought that that face might be displeased with you then you’re a braver soul than I – and it’s my avatar!

President Obama is off to a quick start as the 44th President of the United States. I’ll give him credit for rolling up his sleeves and getting right to work.

Today, Thursday January 22, 2009, Pres. Obama issued three (3) separate executive orders dealing with the Guantanamo Bay detention camp – aka Gitmo – and the interrogation techniques that will be allowed in the future under his administration and US law.

• The 1st executive order demands that the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay be closed within one year.
• The 2nd executive order formally bans torture by requiring the Army field manual be used as the guide for terror interrogations
• The 3rd executive order will mandate a systematic review of detention policies and procedures and a review of all individual cases.

This is an action on Obama’s part that will make a lot of his constituency happy. The Liberals had nothing good to say about Gitmo or the US’ current methods for extracting information out of the terrorists, terrorist sympathizers, and illegal combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay. Even many more conservative and pragmatic Americans like myself welcome Gitmo’s closing, if for different reasons than Liberals.

But before the Liberals get too happy and the more militant and/or Utilitarian Conservatives too angry, one should see how this reduction in the US’ repitoire for dealing with- and extracting critical information from our terrorist enemies is set to play out.

According to David Espo, an AP Special Correspondent, at least two more executive orders are expected in coming days, according to two Obama officials who of course spoke only under the condition of anonymity.

• The 1st executive order will require all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while questioning detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding.
• The 2nd executive order will set up a study of interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual, including some that may be more aggressive than those currently permitted.

So Pres. Obama wants to eliminate the US’ alleged use of torture to interrogate terrorists and illegal combatants – at least from a legal perspective. He may or may not be intending to dramatically alter what interrogation methods are allowed to the CIA and the rest of intelligence community. I wonder just how the his more Liberal constituency is going to like this latest departure of Obama’s from the ideology they projected onto him?

Personally, I’m strongly against making such changes to the U.S. Army Field Manual. It’s one thing to tacitly condone trained and hopefully dispassionate professionals from the intelligence community using harsh techniques to interrogate prisoners / detainees. It’s quite another to explicitly allow such methods to the military who will often be operating in emotional and heated conditions in the field. I don’t like the possible ramifications of that, both to others and to our troops.

In ancient Rome, when a great victory was achieved the leader of the Roman forces was rewarded with a Triumph.  The celebrated commander would be called the triumphator.

The ceremony honoring the triumphator consisted of a spectacular parade, opened by the doomed chiefs of conquered peoples, followed by wagon loads of gold and other spoils captured during the campaign, musicians, dancers, and placards drawn with scenes of the war. Then followed the victorious general at the head of his troops

The triumphator rode on a chariot, known as a biga,  pulled by two white horses.  A slave behind the triumphator held a laurel crown over his head, but not touching it. This slave’s primary duty beyond holding the crown was to repeat continuously “Memento mori.” – Remember thou art mortal.

I’m often amazed at the fundamental wisdom of the Romans. They knew that great triumphs and the shouted and repeated adulation of the masses would lead even a seasoned and well grounded  person down the path to hubris, megalomania, and eventual costly failure.

With his recent victory and the almost cult-like adulation of many of his followers, who in America needs this service more than our newly installed 44th President, Barack Obama? I think all of our Presidents should have had some walking beside them offering this reminder, but Obama needs it more than most.

He’s young, inexperienced and has had a meteoric rise in power. All this accomplished with the accompaniment of adoring crowds chanting his name and singing paeans in his honor.

With no disrespect intended towards Pres. Obama, I think it will be difficult for him not to start believing his own press. Harder still for him to remember that he is but a President, not a savior of America or the messianic figure that he his held to be many of the masses.

For your own sake and the sake of the nation you now lead, Mr. Obama, “Memento mori.” – Remember thou art mortal.

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008 the Liberals and the vast majority of Blacks – with the tacit help of the Conservatives and Values Voters who stayed home in droves rather than vote for the centrist Sen. John McCain – elected  Sen. Barack Obama to the office of President, and on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, America Inaugurated him as the 44th US President.

From November 4th through January 20th the American media and the blogosphere have been abuzz with one single meme – America has elected its first Black President. In an orgy of self-congratulation the media has made sure to focus on Obama’s race, either centering articles on it or injecting references to it in articles about the incoming POTUS. It is difficult to find anything on the election or Obama what doesn’t mention he’s our 1st Black President.

The blogosphere has been similarly awash with such things, but also includes more direct – and often gloating – glorification of our electing an African-American or Black President. They’ve tend to also include claims that Obama’s is the fulfillment of MLK’s Dream, paraphrase and/or parrot Michelle Obama’s “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country,” comment, or crow variations of, “My President Is Black” – often including, “— and now so is yours!”

In response – in what is admittedly at least in part a fit of peevishness and Distopian angst – I’ve personally dubbed January 20, 2009 as Black Tuesday.

All bitterness, angst, and peevishness aside, I have a couple of significant issues with the intense focus on the meme or trope of Barack Obama being America’s first Black or African-American President. I will never deny that Obama’s race made his election historically significant. I don’t think it should be the defining theme of President Obama though. That (mis)defintion would do a great disservice to both Obama and America.

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