American Warmonger

Dick Durbin - Bad For America

I'm sure you have heard the accusations by Senator Dick Durbin (D) that Guantanamo Bay is like a Soviet Gulag or Nazi Germany. He even likened the situation to Pol Pot's regime in Vitnam. He stated today, after several military support groups went into action, that:

...the comments were intended to compare "torture" at Guantanamo to torture during the Nazi regime, not to equate Americans at the base to the Nazis and similar groups...

Excuse me? You're comparing the actions of marines to the actions of Nazis...but not comparing the people. Is anyone else having a hard time wrapping their brain around this one? They act like Nazis but aren't being compared to Nazis? Am I the only one that spots the inconsistencies here? Lets go to the original quote, maybe it will explain things better:

...those actions could have been done "by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pol or others – that had no concern for human beings."

Nope, just as disturbing as when I first heard it. Just as pointed against our troops. Just as destructive towards America in general. It's his right to spout off nonsense like this, but we sure as hell don't have to like it. In fact, this act coupled with a few others borders on the treasonous. No, it's not outright treason, but when you put everything together and see the pattern it starts to get close.

Dick Durbin, it turns out, has a history of attacking just about everything Bush puts on the table and some things he has absolutely no bearing on. From Gitmo, to appointments, to even missile defense, Durbin has been riding the president's backside with no regard for who it hurts, as long as it goes against the president. Don't believe me? Well then, let me plead my case...like you could stop me...HA!

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Linking to this open post at Mudville Gazette.
Since it's an open post about "A toast to our soldiers" here's a Durbin related toast:
May Durbin and his ilk learn what real torture is about.

In 2001 Bush spoke about ramping up missile defense. Well, Durbin didn't like Bush back then. Here's Durbin's take on Bush' plan for missile defense:

The President's position is an invitation to an arms race. It would violate existing arms control treaties and ask us to defend our nation with a technology that some of our nation's best scientists do not believe is reliable.

Maybe it's just me bu it sounds like he's likening the plan to the cold war with the USSR. I guess there's a history with making accusations of grandiose proportions, particularly if they attack Bush.

If you remember, Durbin was one of the Democrats that initially questioned Gonzales before the senate voted him in. Basically, he didn't really give him a question but more of a scolding. He didn't really like his answer about the Abu Ghraib scandal:

I respectfully disagree. Blaming Abu Ghraib completely on renegade night-shift soldiers ignores critical decisions on torture policies made at the highest levels of our government – decisions that Mr. Gonzales played a major role in making. If we are going to hold those at the lowest levels accountable, it is only fair to hold those at the highest levels accountable.

He then went on to attack half of the administration for alleged abuses of Geneva Conventions that had absolutely nothing to do with Gonzales. He was grandstanding and trying to give the administration a black eye. He was taking a dig at Bush while causing Gonzales harm. Rather unfortunate too, considering he had called Gonzales "an impressive individual with a record of achievement and an inspiring personal story" not moments before.

Of course, Gonzales isn't the only Bush appointee he has problems with. Bolton caught his ire just as bad, if not worse than Gonzales got it. Just because Bolton is a roughneck doesn't make him a bad candidate for the U.N. It definitely doesn't make him milquetoast, that's for sure. Anyway, Durbin has a problem with his hard charging style:

“John Bolton has repeatedly demeaned the United Nations; he boasts that he has worked against non-proliferation; he has brow-beaten intelligence analysts who would not doctor their findings to suit his political preferences; and he dangerously inflated assessments of weapons of mass destruction.
...
What a contrast to suggest John Bolton should succeed John Danforth as our man at the U.N. Danforth, a statesman and a well-spoken public figure, cleared the Senate unanimously. John Bolton is embroiled in a controversy of his own making over his suspect qualifications.

Funny, I thought it was the liberal senators that brought up some improvable accusations that made his reputation suspect. Silly me, I guess it's the fact that he's a mean guy. Does that mean we should ban mean guys from working in Washington now?

Stem cell research is something I disagree with the president on. I think they should be readily available. I also understand that he has religious convictions about using embryos. I can respect that even though I don't agree with it. What does Durbin think:

The current policy, which limits federal funding only to embryonic stem cells that were derived by August 9, 2001 when Bush first announced his policy, is severely limiting America’s ability to find the treatments and cures for the deadly and disabling diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury, that affect more than 100 million Americans

Pop quiz!
Name me one of the above diseases that stem cells have actually helped? Anybody? Anybody? You in the back. Yeah, you! The guy laughing. What's that? None? Is that your final answer? Need to phone a friend? Okay, good. You're right! Congratulations!

To date, there has been absolutely no breakthrough, major stride or even a baby step made with embryonic stem cells. I am not discounting that the can potentially be used to assist in these diseases. I am discounting the myth that stem cells will be a miracle cure just as long as Bush gives the scientists free reign over what many people consider life.

We've all seen the gas prices lately. They suck, pure and simple. The Democrats are mad that Bush won't release some of our oil reserves for this emergency. Is it an emergency? Are we going bankrupt as a nation because our gas is over two dollars a gallon? Well, it turns out that even though we'd like to see lower gas prices we're still surviving. It doesn't appear to have slowed anybody down in the least. If anything it has helped us remove ourselves from the burden of oil. Today there is a back order for ALL hybrid electric cars on the market and last year's car of the year was the Toyota Prius, hands down. Of course, that's not good enough for Durbin. We must release our oil reserves:

“President Bush is looking the other way while consumers in Illinois are paying the price for the Administration’s inaction. Opening the Strategic Reserve now can bring about price relief to hard working families in Illinois and across the country.”

The rest of the article points out this little factoid:

In the fall of 2000, the Clinton Administration announced a swap of 30 million barrels over 30 days, causing crude oil prices to quickly fall by over $6 per barrel and wholesale gasoline prices to fall $0.14 per gallon.

So what does a release really home to gain? 14 cents a gallon? The marked fluctuates more than that in a WEEK! If releasing 30 million barrels of oil will only give us 14 measly cents and drop the price of sweet, light crude a meager six bucks no thank you Mr. Durbin. I'd veto that bill any day of the week.

Medicaid is something many people take seriously. Many people depend on it to survive. Bush decided on Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to take full control of the issue. That wasn't good enough for Senator Durbin. He wanted assurance from Bush that he would force the 15 person committee to be fully bipartisan:

Medicaid is in need of independent and bipartisan review to ensure the long-term viability of this critical health care program, and the American people deserve more from the Bush Administration than a stacked commission that will lock out important voices in this debate.

Good show Dick. Way to tell Bush where to stick it. I'm sure appointing the Health and Human Services Secretary to select a panel for the issue isreally stacking the deck. Does Durbin ever look at this stuff before he says it?

Something I don't fully agree with is increasing the minimum wage. It seems to me that very few people are effected by it and most places, unless you're fast food, pay you more than minimum anyway. Many people believe other than me and that's completely fine. It's a matter of opinion. Durbin is one of those people and that's fine too. He believes it's time to increase the minimum wage. Maybe he's right. Let's see what he has to say about the minimum wage:

“It is a matter of priorities. Republicans are breaking the rules of the Senate to confirm extremist judges instead of using the rules of the Senate to help hard working families.”

Um...Senator Durbin...that argument is over and done with. We've moved on to the minimum wage now. Maybe you could obsess a little be less.

Another bill the good Senator Durbin was hard at work on would allow for reservists in the federal government to get paid by the government to cover what they weren't getting paid when they went active. This is basically a bill that would make government service employees eligible to receive a stipend to cover costs in the case of being recalled to active duty. It was voted on and passed bipartisanly in the senate but didn't make it past the conference committee. You have to face facts, some things just don't make it into a budget; You have to pay for other things. Durbin was peaved:

“That’s why it is so troubling to me that, for the third time, a bipartisan measure to correct this inequity was stripped from the final legislation behind closed doors in conference committee.”

“The Bush Administration opposed the inclusion of the Reservist Pay Security in the supplemental appropriations bill, saying it would ‘have a negative impact on morale and unit cohesion.’ If that is the case, why would the Defense Department’s own website praise employers that make up the pay difference for their workers?”

Can someone explain to me how Bush is in charge of a conference committee? Is there some strange loophole in the checks and balances that allows the president to go into a closed-door session and tweak a few things he doesn't like? I guess I missed that one. It really sounds like Senator Durbin doesn't like Bush to me. He blames him for nearly everything. I'd be willing to bet that if he stubbed his toe he'd say it was Bush's fault..

This is just a culmination of precursors to the big one that happened this Tuesday. This Tuesday he made the statement that put him over the top. Before Tuesday all he was doing was disliking the president. Tuesday was the day he hurt America. He compared the minds of our troops to the minds of true torturers. In his eyes they had become Pol Pots and controllers of an evil American Gulag. Tuesday they became Nazis acting on the policies of the evil General Bushitler:

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Fantastic Senator Durbin. Our American troops are no better than some mad regime, no better than Nazis, no better than Soviets in their Gulags. Your words bring be to tears senator. It truly pains me to see a man so consumed with hatred for one man would condemn his military bretheren. So what do you claim was as ruthless as the ovens? What could be as evil as the experiments? What could be as damning as the slave labor found in Soviet Gulags?

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

God forbid we subject them to extremely loud rap music. Oops, sorry, Allah forbids. Lets see, Rap music, a cold room, chained in the fetal position for a day (not bad if you're laying down, no circulation is lost) and extremely hot conditions over 100 degrees (isn't that a normal day in Iraq? aren't our soldiers wearing Kevlar in 120+). Sure, that's absolute torture of the worst degree. Maybe we should show the good Senator some videos of what real torture is? Maybe he's just lost his mind?

This should be plenty to validate my concerns about Senator Dick Durbin's motives against the Bush administration. It gives me the impression that he as either lost his mind or become consumed with hate and rage for the president. It's to the point that he may be effecting his own beneficial causes in the process.

You see, Durbin is not completely a bad guy. I could have combed his record and come up with just as many statements about how he's trying to help the troops. There are at least three separate acts (Veteran's Disability Benefits and the Welcome Home G.I. Bill) just this year that he has been one of the major influences on. This has to be understood to really feel the full impact of what he said about the troops at Gitmo.

It is my opinion that Dick Durbin really does love the troops. It is also my opinion that Durbin hates Bush and the Republicans every bit as much as Howard Dean does. Maybe he's just trying to oust Dean as the head of the DNC? I really think what has happened is that Durbin hates conservatives to such a point as to effect his cause for the troops.

Have you ever seen someone so blinded with hate and rage that they would hurt their own family members just for a shot at hurting the person that made them mad? For me this is what is taking place with Senator Durbin. He has lost his focus and is now destroying his own cause.

Posted by aakaakaak at June 17, 2005 10:33 PM